AT&T

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IntoMobile is reporting an AT&T varient of the Verizon Droid Bionic might just be on its way. If you don’t know what you’re looking for the above image doesn’t exactly tell you much. IntoMobile explains:

The small code following the version number is what to look for. You can see three mentions of the MB860 and one of the MB865. Well, a quick Google search for MB865 will return results for the Motorola Atrix 4G but if you do a search for MB865, you’ll get results for the Droid Bionic.

The GSM Bionic will likely be a slightly bigger version of AT&T’s popular Atrix.  The Atrix already has the qHD display and dual core processor.  It also got a Gingerbread update this weekend.

As rumored, Samsung just broke the news: The Google phone is finally coming to AT&T.  The Nexus S will be sold through Best Buy and Best buy Mobile (right next to the  Sprint and T-Mobile version) for $99 with a two year plan.  Interestingly, no mention of of ‘4G’, real or fake.

Now Verizon is the only major carrier not to carry the Nexus S.

Full release follows:
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AT&T announced at a media event today that Sony’s Xperia Play will be available on their network. AT&T didn’t give an exact date or pricing, but said that the Play will land on its shelves by the end of the year. AT&T’s Xperia Play will be running Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, making it the second 2.3 phone on AT&T’s network alongside the Status (OK, that’s sad). Also, AT&T’s Xperia Play will bring support for 21Mbps HSPA+ 3G and a new “Stealth Blue” color option. No word if AT&T will change up pre-loaded games from the Verizon/international versions.

Image via Engadget
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AT&T this morning announced first two devices 4G LTE devices, both Mac compatible: A 4G LTE mobile hotspot and a 4G LTE USB modem. If you live in any of AT&T’s five 4G LTE markets (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, with more coming by the year’s end), you can take advantage of 4G LTE speeds. Those living outside the initial 4G LTE coverage needn’t worry because AT&T, as they say, will have the only combo LTE/HSPA+ network and both devices feature HSPA+ support as a fallback technology. “Our customers will receive a more consistent mobile broadband experience that supports simultaneous voice and data connections and higher speeds than others can provide outside their LTE footprint”, AT&T argues. More on the devices, availability and price points after the break.

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AT&T announced today that the HTC Status, or “Facebook Phone”, is going to be available July 17th for $49, on a 2 year contract (minimum $15 data plan). For those who can’t get enough of Facebook, the Status is available for pre-order today. The phone packs a designated Facebook button, QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel camera, and runs Android 2.3. Best Buy will be running a special promotion, offering an exclusive mauve color. For the younger crowd who can’t get enough of Facebook, this could be a great phone — and especially for the price tag. Hit up the press release after the break.

via BGR

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As far as AT&T is concerned, the Atrix is about the best Android Smartphone you’ll find (no disrespect to the monsters Infuse and Inspire).  In my February Fortune Review I called it the new”King of the Androids” for its qHD display and dual core processor while still being smaller than a Galaxy S.  A lot has happened since then

Today, 9to5toys.com posts one heck of a deal:

With activation of a new 2-year contract, Amazon Wireless offers the Motorola Atrix 4G Smartphone for AT&T Wireless for 1 cent with free shipping. That’s $50 under our April mention and the lowest total price we’ve seen for this phone. (It’s also a current price low by $100.) Sales tax is added where applicable. Features include a 4″ 960×540 color touchscreen, 1GHz dual-core processor, 5-megapixel camera, 720p video capture, microSD card slot, 16GB internal memory, 802.11n wireless, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, Adobe Flash 10, USB 2.0 connectivity, and Android 2.2 OS (FroYo). A $36 activation fee applies.

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Of course, it ain’t the first phone to be called a Facebook phone. But if you’re fan of Zuckerberg’s social network, you should give this one a chance. What’s the number one thing for Facebook (excluding photos)? Yes, status updates. That’s what guided HTC to put a dedicated Facebook share button on the aptly named Status handset, to cater to the Facebook generation that cannot fathom letting an hour go by without firing up a couple of status updates.

Apart from the button and the BlackBerry-style physical QWERTY keyboard that sits below the screen, the Status packs in an 800MHz chip, a five-megapixel camera on the back and a VGA camera out the front, a 1,250 mAh battery and a 2.6-inch touchscreen with a 480-by-320 pixel resolution – all driven by Android 2.3 Gingerbread. AT&T wouldn’t say when the phone would be available. Full release and t he complete front shot of the device right below.

via BGR

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While we’re at it, check out the sharp decline of RIM’s once powerful BlackBerry platform.

It’s always a good idea to take whatever analysts are predicting with a healthy dose of skepticism. That said,  Needham’s Charlie Wolf cites IDC data that portrays Android as losing ground to iOS in America. Android, of course, is the country’s leading smartphone platform which in the first quarter grabbed a whopping 49.5 percent of the smartphone market while Apple’s iPhone had 29.5 percent. The momentum cannot continue forever so it’s little surprise then that Android controlled 52.4 percent of the market in the quarter-ago period. Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt calls this Android’s “first sequential loss ever in any region of the world”, quoting Wolf’s Monday note to clients:

In our opinion, this is just the beginning of Android’s share loss in the US. The migration of subscribers to the iPhone on the Verizon network should accelerate this fall when Apple coordinates the launch of iPhone 5 on the GSM and CDMA networks. The iPhone could also launch on the Sprint and T-Mobile networks.

It looks like ol’ Charlie’s trying to offload some AAPL shares. He argues that…
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From 9to5toys.com:

If you want a solid, unlocked Android phone that is sure to get the latest updates, Ebay has a deal for you today. Heights Deals is offering a new in the box Nexus One with Radios for 3G on T-Mobile and EDGE on AT&T for just $260 without a plan and free shipping.  The Nexus One was the original Google phone and is still among the first to get the latest builds from Google.  This one comes with 4GB of internal storage (Expandable+32GB via MicroSD), 3.7-inch AMOLED display at 480x800px and a 5-megapixel camera.

Since it is new in the box, it comes with Android 2.1 but is immediately upgradable to Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread.
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While it isn’t officially official, HTC’s CEO Peter Chou has come out and said it would unlock all of its phone’s bootloaders.

Quote from HTC CEO Peter Chou: “There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience.”

It will be interesting to see how the carriers react to this.  The Sprints and T-Mobiles likely will be ok with this (they carry the Nexus S afterall) but Verizon and AT&T?  That’s another story.  GDGT is awaiting clarity on those and other issues.  Expect a Press release from HTC soon.

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Color us blue (no pun intended), but this has got to be one of the best AT&T television commercials yet. Dubbed “Spider”, it sports the new Samsung Infuse 4G said to have colors “so real that it’s almost unreal”. Why “Spider”, you ask. Just watch…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcr2uWkJkzI&w=670&h=411]
Notice how he simply grabs his shoe magically from under the table?

According to PocketNow, Samsung is gearing up for the US release of AT&T-compatible Google Nexus S. The pearly white model is labeled with the model number GT-I9020A instead of SGH-Ixx7, indicating that the handset will be sold directly through the carrier. The publication nevertheless noted:

It’s still unclear if this will be available directly from AT&T — like the Sprint Nexus S 4G — or strictly from third party retailers, as is the case with the T-Mobile-flavored Nexus.

A version of the Nexus S designed to work with AT&T’s 3G network was first uncloaked this January in an FCC certification document. The Android-driven handset supports AT&T’s 850/1900MHz WCDMA bands, in addition to Bluetooth, single-band 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. It also supports the 13.56MHz band required for the RFID functionality.

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Bad news for data-hungry Android fans. According to DroidLife, carriers are pressuring Google to selectively block third-party apps which enable tethering on Android devices. Worse, they seem to be succeeding at it, too. This change in stance affects the many tethering programs on Android Market such as Wireless Tether. The site did a little digging to discover that even though browser-based Android Market lists tethering apps, they cannot be installed on the devices authorized on the Verizon network. Commenting on the above image, the site wrote:

What you are seeing, is my list of devices, all of which cannot accept this app.

Tethering apps allow consumers to use their cellphone’s 3G connection on a notebook. While cellular data consumed this way still counts against your monthly data allotment, such programs effectively avoid carrier-enforced tethering plan that cost between $30-$45 a month and upwards.

The news follows AT&T’s warning last week that unofficial tethering will automatically trigger the extra $25 fee. Meanwhile, This is my next reminded that selectively blocking software by carrier request is at stark contrast to Google’s proclaimed openness. The publication reminded that the last year’s auction for the C Block 700MHz spectrum that Verizon now uses for its LTE network came with the promise of open applications and handsets, saying Google pushed the bid past the $4.6 billion mark in an effort to ensure those licensing conditions would be in place.

Ah, the carriers – you gotta love those guys. The Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg once likened them “the Soviet ministries”, the definition which is still true today. No matter how you call them – the Soviet ministries, wireless operators, telcos or just carriers – they are at odds at all times with both handset makers and (especially) platform providers.

Google could be an extreme example because the company neither sells handsets nor the open-sourced Android operating system nor its many online services that are offered free of charge. Yup – you guessed right – Google’s in it for advertising and carriers are loving it provided they get a piece of the action, too.