AT&T

AT&T rolled out its LG Vu phone today, as well as information on the Mobile TV pricing scheme that will be supported by the new 3-inch widescreen handset (and its yet-to-be-released $199 brother, the Samsung Access).

AT&T’s Mobile TV service will be available in 58 markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. We tested the service in New York City.

For $13 a month, AT&T will give you access to four core news stations: CBS Mobile, FOX Mobile, NBC 2Go, and NBC News 2 Go. But we’re not all boring accountants looking for the latest market news, are we? Of course not. That’s why we suggest dropping the extra $2 per month (big spender), for access to the more entertaining stations like Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Nickelodeon, and PIX (Sony’s movie channel). Now you’ll be able to watch South Park or Days of Our Lives from your cubicle. For the first 60 days of launch, a CNCRT station will broadcast recently recorded concerts from big-name artists such as Jay-Z and Rage Against the Machine. (Then again, how recent could those be?)

Read on to see our full review and a hands-on video showing some of the Vu’s features in action.

Read the rest of this entry »

This morning AT&T added a third BlackBerry Pearl to its lineup, the GPS-enabled Pearl 8110. Previously, AT&T offered the BlackBerry Pearl 8100, which is now available only as a refurbished device for $79.99, and the Wi-Fi–enabled 8120 ($199).

The new 8110 is priced at $149, $50 cheaper than the 8120 and with many of the same features, including a 2-MP camera, 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to music, and a side-loading microSD slot for adding music and video to your BlackBerry. It also has the same SureType keyboard.

Oh, and it comes with an “exclusive Indiana Jones ringtone.” If you thought BlackBerrys were still just for business, there’s your proof that it’s not. On the business side of things, though, AT&T is hoping that the Pearl strikes interest in potential AT&T BusinessTalk subscribers, a service that lets small businesses talk to multiple phones on the same contract for free.

Read the rest of this entry »

I shot over to an AT&T store in Manhattan this morning to get a multi-finger hands-on with the Microsoft Surface. At CTIA we learned that AT&T would be deploying the Microsoft Surface in a select number of stores for a trial period.

The store I visited had three or four of these tables spread throughout the customer display area, and each one had about eight phones tethered to it. When I walked up to the Microsoft Surface it came up just below my waist; it’s perfect for leaning over to play with, and about a foot and a half taller than a coffee table. The display itself was large and bright and had a textured finish to it. It’s hard to explain. Think somewhere between glass and sandpaper.

You can use two fingers—although the screen can detect many objects touching it—to pull and push the map to zoom in and out. If you’ve used an iPhone you’ll be a pro the first time you touch the Surface. We zoomed around the map, which displays the signal coverage in your particular area, and compared two phones. Click through for a hands-on video and more details.

Read the rest of this entry »

At the AT&T media luncheon, we saw a live demo of Microsoft’s Surface, a product that AT&T announced it would use in its retail stores to assist customers in purchasing handsets and plans.

During the demo, an AT&T employee showed us how customers will be able to zoom in on a map of the United States to check coverage in their area by seeing colored overlays displaying whether certain areas have GSM, EDGE, or 3G access across the United States.

Would-be customers can also drop a handset on Surface to get more information about it; information flows out into diagrams that list specific phone features and services supported by the phone. Users can listen to ringtones or choose data and voice plans.

Read the rest of this entry »

At the AT&T media luncheon today, AT&T claimed that its popular smart phones, including the likes of the BlackBerry Curve and Palm Centro, would be replaced by 3G versions of the same handsets in the “coming months.” We learned this after someone in the crowd asked why other carriers, Verizon for example, have a high-speed Curve and AT&T doesn’t. The defensive response above followed, that all of AT&T’s smart phones would soon be 3G capable—including the long awaited 3G iPhone.

So I was walking through the CTIA Emerging Technology Awards pavilion in the LVCC’s Central Hall today and what do I see? The 3G-enabled Moto Z9, complete with AT&T branding. Sure, this phone has been leaked already, but it was nice to see it in the flesh.

Although we couldn’t pick up the Z9 because it was tethered to the display, we did play around with it for a few minutes and snapped some pics. We don’t know pricing or exact availability yet but I can tell you what the little info card said next to the device and what we saw running. Here our impressions so far.

Read the rest of this entry »

Verizon Wireless and Sprint customers have had mobile TV access for some time now. Yesterday AT&T caught up by announcing its Mobile TV platform, which will be available in May for the LG Vu and the Samsung Access handsets. This morning, the dual-band 3G and quad-band GSM Samsung Access was officially announced.

The Access has many features we’ve grown accustomed to, like a 1.3-MP camera with 8X digital zoom, as well as Java, Video Share, and Bluetooth 2.0 support. The most notable physical feature of this candy-bar style phone is its 2.3-inch 240 x 320 landscape display which Samsung claims will offer DVD quality while playing back TV shows from networks including CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTX, NBC 2Go, NBC News2Go and Nickelodeon.

The pictures show a microSD slot for expanding picture and music storage, and while we don’t yet know what size microSD Card it supports, I’m guessing it’s around 8GB. A corded stereo headset is provided in the box, but please, Samsung, just once, could you include a 3.5mm headphone jack instead?

The Samsung Access will be available in May at the launch of AT&T’s Mobile TV platform, and pricing has yet to be determined.

Around this time last year I was visiting Rome on vacation, and, while it was packed with incredible sights and history, my visit today was nearly as awe inspiring, albeit on a different, more geeky level.

As you may already know, I cover cell phone news for LAPTOP, so when I was offered a press tour of AT&T’s Global Headquarters—the heart of AT&T—to see the Global Network Operations Center (GNOC), pronounced “knock,” you can imagine my excitement. It’s the location where all of AT&T’s network, Internet, data, voice, and wireless information are monitored.

As I walked into the stone building, I couldn’t help but notice a statue garden with the words, “Rivers of the World Reflect The Art Of Networking,” engraved on one of the art pieces that sat just near the front entrance.

I had never thought of large network providers being like rivers until then; our phones, computers, and televisions all sit like ports along a river that sends and receives data to different destinations. AT&T, in many ways, acts like the ship.

I was fortunate enough to sit down with Chuck Kerschner, network operations director, to get a tour and have a few questions answered.

Read the rest of this entry »