AT&T announces new Mobile Share plans, to launch in late August

We knew for a while that AT&T would eventually follow Verizon’s example and move to a shared data model for its plans but we now have the official details.
Today, the carrier announced that starting this fall, customers will be able to choose new Mobile Share data plans that come with unlimited talk and text and a common pool of data that can be shared between up to 10 devices.

AT&T’s new scheme is quite similar to Verizon’s Share Everything plan – both plans have tiers for data, with the price per gigabyte being higher for the lower tiers. In addition, you will have to pay a fixed fee per added device (of which at least one must be a smartphone). On AT&T, you will have to pay a monthly $30 per feature phone, $20 per laptop or netbook, and $10 for a tablet or gaming device. For each smartphone, you will have to pay between $45 and $30, depending on the size of your data bucket.

As a quick example, a family with two smartphones and a tablet that uses a maximum 6GB of data per month will have to pay $170 per month: $35 for Smartphone 1 + $35 for Smartphone 2 + $10 for the Tablet. The two smartphones will have unlimited voice and talk, and will share the 6GB of data with the tablet. If you go over your monthly data allowance, you will have to pay $15 per GB.

Unlike Verizon, which completely phased out their old plans, AT&T is playing it safe and keeping their other plans. In other words, new customers won’t be forced into the new pricing scheme for now.
What do you think about AT&T’s new pricing model? Is it convenient or just another scheme to help customers part with their money?


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Samsung SPH-L300 For Sprint LTE Hits FCC; When Will It Launch?

We first heard of the Samsung SPH-L300 back in early May, when a User Agent Profile for the smartphone revealed quite a few of its specs. It wasn’t very long after that when we got our first look at the handset in the flesh, but news of the model has been very quiet ever since. Today the handset returns to our attention as the FCC has published the phone’s certification paperwork, clearing the way for its release.

From what we were able to glean from that UAP, the SPH-L300 sounds like a mid-range device with some decent hardware at its core. Components like a WVGA display keep this Android from measuring-up to top-tier handsets like the GS3, but the SPH-L300 should have a very capable dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 SoC powering it. Couple that with a gigabyte of RAM, and we’re looking at something that falls somewhere between the HTC One S and One V in terms of power.

Some other specs we’re aware of, like only 4GB of on-board storage, further reinforce the point that this will likely be a budget-priced model. Frankly, we can stand some more capable models like this filling-out that sector of the market, so we’re quite curious to learn more about the SPH-L300 and when Sprint might be thinking of launching the model.

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Quad-core Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD to launch in August for under $500

Whether we like it or not, the wait for a true “iPad killer” has extended much longer than expected and is not set to end very soon. Samsung and Asus have come up with more than decent 10-inch tablets the past year or so, while Amazon and Google have released some really competitive 7-inchers. However, to be completely honest, there still isn’t one Android flagship that can truly go head to head with Apple’s iPad(s) in terms of hardware performance and software reliability.
But what if that “iPad killer” was to come from someone else than today’s top Android makers? Impossible, you say? Well, you’ve probably never heard of Huawei’s MediaPad 10 FHD, a 10-inch quad-core beast unveiled back in February and officially priced earlier today.
And if the MediaPad was intriguing months ago based simply on its tech specs, the tablet has now become a product to really wait for, based on its features, but also pricing. Powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz Huawei K3V2 processor and featuring 2 GB of RAM, the 10-incher will start selling for “less than 3,000 yuan”, according to official statements from Yu Chengdong, the company’s head of the Consumer Business Group and Senior VP of Huawei Technologies.
Now, 3,000 Chinese Yuan would convert into about $475, so you might dream to get the MediaPad 10 FHD for less than 400 bucks. Then again, we’re almost certain that “less than 3,000 yuan” means 2,999, so don’t get carried away! Still, $475 seems like a very small price to pay for what the tablet promises to bring to the table, and it’s also very likely for that Chinese“mark” to be lowered in the US after all.

Chengdong’s official statement provides some insight on the tablet’s release date, promising to get it out in “late August”. Huawei’s VP didn’t mention if that timeframe is for a Chinese only release or for a worldwide launch, but we’re guessing it’s the former. However, we’re almost certain that we will be seeing the 10-incher come to the US, so there’s a good chance it will be up for grabs stateside as soon as the first leaves will start to fall.
To get a better picture about all the fuss surrounding the MediaPad 10 FHD, you should know that, aside from that very snappy chip under its hood and the 2 GB of RAM, the slate will also be coming with an 1920 x 1200 IPS LCD panel, Android 4.0 ICS, HSPA+ support, 8 MP/1.3 MP dual cameras, 8 GB of on-board storage, and a microSD card slot.
The MediaPad 10 FHD is not set to break any records in terms of battery life and will only come with a 6,400 mAh unit capable of running for around six or seven hours of heavy use, but then again the very slim profile (8.8 mm thickness and 589 grams weight) will most likely make up for it.
It’s far too early to even think this 10-incher will be able to steal some of Apple’s popularity in the tablet arena and be a true “iPad killer”. But it’s clearly not too early to say that the name Huawei (see how to pronounce it here) will be on the lips of many tech users these coming months. Ascend P1 + Ascend D Quad + MediaPad 10 FHD = so much win. Do you guys agree?


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