AllThingsD was able to sit down with T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm, who offered insight into why the carrier hasn’t yet come to a deal with Apple to officially carry the iPhone on their network.

“The key reason we didn’t have the iPhone in the past is we are on different band than globally the market was,” Humm said. “That is something which will change over time. Chipsets are also evolving to be able to allow for more bands.”

This, however, will change with the failed merger attempts from AT&T. When the deal fell apart, T-Mobile walked away with a cool $3 billion and additional AWS spectrum needed to support a device like the iPhone.

However, Humm also pointed out that, even with more spectrum and newer chipsets, Apple would still need to add that AWS support, or T-Mobile will remain without an iPhone.

Source: AllThingsD

Rene, Georgia, and Seth talk Santa Siri commercial, sexism charges, AT&T and T-Mobile deal, Nuance buying Vlingo, how to replace your iPhone 4 vibrator assembly, jailbreak, Facebook Timelines, Kindle updates, FPS games, and more. This is iPhone and iPad Live!

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TmoNews is reporting that some unlocked iPhone users may be picking up T-Mobile’s 3G network in small areas of the Pacific Northwest — specifically limited pockets in Nevada, Utah and California — due to spectrum reallocation under the 1900MHz band.

Most unlocked iPhone users are relegated to 2G due to most of the T-Mobile 3G network running on the AWS spectrum of 1700MHz/2100MHz. We’re not exactly sure what they’re reallocating the spectrum for, however, multiple reports have surfaced from Howard Forums detailing a jump in speeds and, more specifically, the 3G network indicator popping up in the statusbar on their unlocked iPhone.

It’s possible that T-Mobile could be testing spectrum allocation for new devices or simply to expand their network range for existing devices that already support the 1900MHz band, but again, there’s no concrete evidence on what precisely they’re up to. If you’re lucky enough, however, you may be able to hop onto their 3G network depending on the area you’re in.

Source: TmoNews via Howard Forums 1, Howard Forums 2

AT&T has capitulated under Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DoJ) opposition and decided to abandon their efforts to merge with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA.

The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.

AT&T will have to pay DT the $4 billion break-up fee, and press ahead with a roaming agreement.

So, how we feeling about this? Happy? Angry? Did the government just save us from an even smaller oligopoly of telco providers, or did they interfere with the natural course of capitalism. And what if anything does this mean for the chances of an official iPhone on T-Mobile?

Source: Street Insider

Following a Federal Communications Commission proposal for hearings on the deal, AT&T has withdrawn its FCC application to buy T-Mobile USA from parent company Deutsche Telekom while simultaneously announcing they’re continuing to try and get DoJ approval. Still at stake — a ton of AT&T’s cash.

As a result of the FCC’s action, AT&T expects to recognize a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion ($3 billion cash and $1 billion book value of spectrum) in the 4th quarter of 2011 to reflect the potential break up fees due Deutsche Telekom in the event the transaction does not receive regulatory approval.

Once again the proposed AT&T – T-Mobile USA merger — AT&T-Mo if you’re nasty — proves itself to be the Schrodinger’s cat of the wireless industry. And that’s not good news for T-Mobile users still waiting… and waiting… and waiting… to get an official iPhone on their network.

Source: AT&T

AT&T still offers the fastest data speeds, with HSPA 14.4. Verizon claims the best network coverage. Sprint is the only major carrier still offering unlimited data to new iPhone owners. C-Spire is the only small carrier to pick up the iPhone 4S to date. T-Mobile… you have to work for it and it’s EDGE only, but that means you must really love them to stick with them!

But now that you have a choice, TiPb Nation, we’d like to know who you chose and why? Was it speed? Was it coverage? Was it data? Was it customer service? And did you switch from a different carrier to get iPhone 4S on your current carrier? As always, vote in the poll up top and give me the details in the comments below!

• Insert original carrier AT&T SIM cardDial 611 for AT&T customer service hotline and drop the call
• Turn on Airplane Mode
• Take out AT&T SIM card
• Insert T-Mobile SIM card
• Make sure WiFi is off ( also tap on ‘Forget this Network” to make sure it doesn’t connect automatically later)
• Switch off Airplane Mode and iPhone will search for network. This is followed by the Apple splash screen appearing.
• Activation Required will be displayed on the screen
• EDGE network will activate automatically – notice the ‘E’ on the top left corner of the screen
• Wait for about 20-30 seconds and turn off the phone
• Turn on iPhone and the same Activation Required screen will be displayed
• When you see one signal bar, tap on Use Cellular Connection
• Eject SIM card
• Activation Required screen will be displayed the second time
• Insert SIM card
• Unlocked!

Source: 9to5Mac, @Chronic, Danielscalab.com

While Apple has launched the iPhone 4S on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, and is even about to launch on regional carrier, C-Spire, T-Mobile says they’re still waiting for their turn, and for a version of world’s most popular handset that runs on their rare AWS high speed frequencies.

T-Mobile thinks the iPhone is a good device and we’ve expressed our interest to Apple to offer it to our customers. Ultimately, it is Apple’s decision. The issue remains that Apple has not developed a version of the iPhone with technology that works on our fast 3G and 4G networks. We believe a capable version of the iPhone for our 3G and 4G networks would offer an additional compelling option for our customers on a fast 4G network. However, the iPhone is not the only option to experience the benefit that smartphones offer.

Note: When T-Mobile talks about 4G, they mean HSPA+, not the truly next-generation LTE. Like several smaller carriers in the US and Canada, T-Mobile operates their higher speed network on the AWS frequencies, which means the current iPhones can’t run on them. (An unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile can only run on their older, slower, 2G EDGE network.)

Maybe Apple doesn’t want to complicate their current one-model-rules-them-all strategy of a single GSM/CDMA world phone, and simple adding AWS to the radio stack isn’t an option, or maybe they’re waiting to see how the AT&T-Mobile merger pans out before deciding.

All we know for sure is that T-Mobile customers remain among the increasingly smaller group without access to a fully functional iPhone on their carrier of choice.

Source: T-Mobile

In a company blog post earlier today, Cole Brodman, Chief Marketing Officer for T-Mobile USA, told customers that they were interested in offering a “no-compromise iPhone experience” on their network, but offered little details on the negotiations between the carrier and Apple.

We’ve heard from many customers who love their T-Mobile service, but are disappointed that we don’t carry the iPhone. To these customers, first, thank you for your business. Please know that we think the iPhone is a great device and Apple knows that we’d like to add it to our line-up. Today, there are over a million T-Mobile customers using unlocked iPhones on our network. We are interested in offering all of our customers a no-compromise iPhone experience on our network.

One interesting takeaway is the current amount T-Mobile customers using an unlocked iPhone on the service. Although T-Mobile has never offered the iPhone to its customers, over a million users have been able to unlock the iPhone to run on the network.

Funny, though, that Brodman went into how T-Mobile offers a plethora of Android devices to cull would-be iPhone users until they’re officially under the Apple umbrella. Given recent surveys suggesting roughly 31 percent of current Android device owners are planning on jumping ship to the iPhone as their next purchase, this doesn’t bode well for T-Mobile who currently has the lowest number of US customers (around 32 million).

It will be interesting to see how the AT&T/T-Mobile merger plays out and if that will have any impact on T-Mobile finally offering the iPhone to its customers.

Source: T-Mobile via AndroidCentral

T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman held a townhall meeting today where he told employees that the company would unfortunately not be included among the carriers getting the iPhone 5 when it launches later this year.

We are not going to get the iPhone 5 this year.

TiPb previously heard that the T-Mobile iPhone 5 launch was already being prepped, so either that information was inaccurate, something has changed, or iPhone 5 isn’t the iPhone T-Mobile is getting (budget iPhone?, iPhone 4S? Who can keep track at this point?)

Could T-Mobile be the only major US carrier without an iPhone in its stocking this holiday season, or could they still have an iPhone party before the end of 2011?

[TmoNews]

If the US Government and the Department of Justice weren’t enough, now the AT&T and T-Mobile US merger has to go up against… Sprint. Yes, adding some measure of insult to potential anti-trust injury, Medium Sized Yellow has sued to prevent Big Blue and Small Magenta from combining to form… slightly bigger Blue with just a blush of rose. (And yes, this is me taking the news far, far less seriously than Sprint intended.)

“Sprint opposes AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile,” said Susan Z. Haller, vice president-Litigation, Sprint. “With today’s legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal.”

Sprint’s lawsuit focuses on the competitive and consumer harms which would result from a takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T. The proposed takeover would:

• Harm retail consumers and corporate customers by causing higher prices and less innovation.
• Entrench the duopoly control of AT&T and Verizon, the two “Ma Bell” descendants, of the almost one-quarter of a trillion dollar wireless market. As a result of the transaction, AT&T and Verizon would control more than three-quarters of that market and 90 percent of the profits.
• Harm Sprint and the other independent wireless carriers. If the transaction were to be allowed, a combined AT&T and T-Mobile would have the ability to use its control over backhaul, roaming and spectrum, and its increased market position to exclude competitors, raise their costs, restrict their access to handsets, damage their businesses and ultimately to lessen competition.

While it does feel like slapping a parking ticket on a guy already facing Federal court, you gotta admire Sprint’s moxie. And if all 4 US carriers score iPhone 5‘s this fall, competition might never be fiercer.

[Sprint]

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The United States Department of Justice has filed its opposition to the AT&T – T-Mobile US merger on anti-trust grounds.

AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent low priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market

AT&T was pursuing the merger in an attempt to get T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum to use for a bigger, better LTE 4G roll out.

(Probably smart that T-Mobile wasn’t waiting on AT&T to get iPhone 5.)

This story is still developing and we’ll update with more information as it comes in.

[Bloomberg, thanks Jack!]

TiPb’s hearing that T-Mobile is well on their way to prepping their iPhone 5 roll out, likely for this October (which just so happens to coincide with the timeline we previously heard Apple was considering for launch). If Sprint iPhone 5 rumors are to be believed, along with previous rumors of iPhone test units running on T-Mobile, we could finally see Apple’s devices on all four major US carriers this year.

While also a GSM/HSPA/HSPA+ network, T-Mobile iPhone 5 would have to work on AWS (Advanced Wireless Services, which operate in the 1700 and 2100 bands), a very different set of 3G frequencies than AT&T. Whether or not Apple could combine all those frequencies into one GSM iPhone 5 antenna array, never mind a single CDMA/GSM “world phone” that could work on Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile, is the question.

AT&T is also into the process of trying to acquire T-Mobile US, in part to use their AWS spectrum to boost AT&T’s own LTE 4G rollout. How, if at all, that would affect an AWS iPhone 4 is unknown. However, Canadian carriers Moblicity, Wind, and Videotron use the same 3G bands as T-Mobile US, so an AWS-compatible iPhone 5 would still have some limited international appeal.

Sure, AT&T might be trying to buy T-Mobile US, and sure, T-Mobile got into the microSIM game before AT&T and Apple made them famous, but it looks like now T-Mo is actually going after iPhone and iPad owners before the former, using the latter.

Already have a GSM phone or iPhone that you need to activate—or have an unlocked GSM phone you want to use on the T-Mobile network? Just get a Micro SIM card and choose a plan. Slip the ready-to-use Micro SIM Card into your phone and you’re ready to go.

And why not, there’s reported over 1,000,000 unlocked iPhones already on the magenta network.

When I roam in the US, often at trade shows like CES, I often have to switch between AT&T and T-Mo, as often as I change buildings. That’s not an option for US iPhone users, but if you’re willing to live with EDGE speeds and pay for a second plan you could have the next best thing.

(Though yeah, the two year contract is nuts)

[T-Moble via App Advice]

Seth Weintraub over at 9to5Mac heard from a T-Mobile USA spokesman that their network is already home to over 1 million iPhones, and this is without the benefit of an Apple contract, T-Mobile supplied micro-SIMs, or support for their AWS 3G/4G bands. That means, right now, there are over a million people willing to jailbreak and unlock, or buy an unlocked model, manually cut their SIM cards, and go 2G EDGE only just to be on T-Mo with their iPhones.

There have been rumors that iPhone 5 would support T-Mobile’s AWS HSPA and HSPA+ bands, and AT&T is trying to buy T-Mobile and if that goes through, it probably means iPhones for everyone.

If a million customers are willing to go to the effort of doing it on their own, how many would go iPhone if it was officially offered?

Are you running your iPhone on T-Mo? If so, how’s it working for you?

[9to5Mac]

With rumors of iPhone 5 potentially adding a third US carrier, would you rather that carrier be T-Mobile or Sprint?

T-Mobile is GSM like AT&T but would require different, AWS bands for 3G. They also offer “4G” over HSPA+, which iPhone 5 just might support. However, AT&T is trying to buy them, so they might get the iPhone that way sooner or later. Sprint is CDMA like Verizon but would need access to their network. They also offer “4G” over Wimax, which Apple will probably never support because LTE will be a much bigger, more global technology. (See our wireless networking glossary for what all those letters mean.)

If you could have only one for iPhone 5, T-Mobile or Sprint, which would it be?

9to5Mac reports that the next iPhone — rumored to be released in September — has hit final testing stages, with variations of ‘N93′ and ‘N94′ models suggesting a possible release on Sprint or T-Mobile.

The next generation iPhone has reached the final testing stage (aka “AP” stage [Thanks, Chronic!]) and is now being carried around by high level Apple and carrier executives [...] While snooping around the iOS 5.0 SDK we located references to “N94″ and “N93.”

Verizon previously let slip that the next iPhone will be a world phone, supporting GSM+CDMA on a single chip and thus cutting out the requirement of Apple producing separate devices for the two carriers. With N93 and N94 variations in play, this further indicates T-Mobile as a likely candidate for carrying the next iPhone which is rumored to be an iPhone 4 packed with the new A5 chip.

In addition, they were told Apple and Verizon are still in negotiations to bring FaceTime over 3G while the next iPhone will keep the same 5MP camera sensor, most-likely due to production delays with Sony.

If true, is that a deal breaker for anyone? And if Apple adds a US carrier, would you rather it be T-Mobile or Sprint?

[9to5Mac]

Forbes reports that Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek has proudly entered our iPhone 5 release pool , adding his voice to the many others that claim Apple will be releasing the iPhone 5 in September. Sort of. Misek states Apple will be going with ‘iPhone 4S’ as the name, following in the footsteps of the 3G to 3GS upgrade, and will not support LTE because the Qualcomm chipset isn’t ready just yet. He also believes Sprint and T-Mobile will be onboard at launch.

According to our industry checks, the device should be called iPhone 4S and include minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ support [...] As for LTE, he says the Qualcomm LTE chipset Apple would have used “is currently not achieving yields sufficient for inclusion in the iPhone 5.”

But he also says that “industry checks indicate Apple will likely announce Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile as new carriers.”

Adding China Mobile would further propel Apple’s presence in the Chinese smartphone market. Rumors of the ‘iPhone 4S’ name picked up last month when some developers were reportedly receiving beefed up iPhone 4 units for testing purposes.

Expectations that the next iPhone will be released in September have been mounting, but Apple could always have a surprise up their sleeve at WWDC in June.

What are your thoughts?

[Forbes]

Jonathan Geller of BGR scored a look at an internal Apple iPhone prototype, N94, running on T-Mobile’s AWS 3G bands.

We have verified that the phone itself is running a test version of Apple’s iOS, much like the one we saw in those videos from Vietnam, and it includes internal Apple test apps like Radar and Apple’s employee directory app. [...] Combined with the fact that it wouldn’t make sense to release an iPhone 4 on T-Mobile at this point in time, we’d wager that Apple is just testing the new T-Mobile-friendly radio with its current iPhone 4 hardware, possibly in preparation for integration in a future device.

The AT&T/GSM iPhone 4 was N90, the Verizon iPhone 4 was N92. With AT&T attempting to buyout T-Mobile and transition the T-Mobile spectrum to LTE, who know what this was, is, or will be. Several Canadian carriers, like Wind, Dave, and Videotron use the same AWS spectrum as T-Mobile but are a relatively tiny target market.

Either way, it’s interesting to see more prototypes leaking, and to catch a glimpse at what Apple’s working on inside the vaults of Cupertino.

Anyone holding out hope for that T-Mobile iPhone anyway?

[BGR]

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Rene, Georgia, and Mickey Papillon, the Cell Phone Junkie, discuss more iPhone 5 rumors, iOS 4.3.1 bug fixes, the AT&T T-Mobile buyout and what it means for iPhone, when will we get LTE, AT&T’s war on Jailbreak tethering, lawsuits, Google, #dickbar, and more! This is iPhone Live!

Show notes and all the week’s iPhone news after the break!

Announcements

• White Diamonds artistic crystal cases for iPhone and iPad [Give away]

iPhone 5

• iPhone 5 NFC: Yes, no, maybe so?!
• More iPhone 5 metal back, 4-inch screen, NFC rumors

iOS 4.3.1

• iOS 4.3.1 coming within 2 weeks?

Carriers

• UPDATED: AT&T acquiring T-Mobile US, what does it mean for iPhone?
• AT&T to use T-Mobile spectrum for LTE
• UPDATED: AT&T cracking down on jailbroken MyWi users?
• More on AT&T’s war on Jailbreak tethering
• Second AT&T iPhone 4 commercial again shows off simultaneous voice and data

News

• Apple release three new “if you don’t have an iPhone…” ads
• Apple’s new iPhone ads should be called App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store
• Head of Mac OS X software, Bertrand Serlet is leaving Apple
• Apple to extend AirPlay video streaming licence to third parties?
• Microsoft announces remote device management… for iPhone and iPad?
• Apple sues Amazon over App Store trademark, Microsoft sues B&N over Android
• Sony Xperia Play videos get NSFW on iPhone!

Apps

• Google updates Latitude and Places apps, check-ins now included
• Controversy over the Apple approved ‘Anti-Gay app’
• Angry Birds Rio for iPhone, iPad released!
• TiPb Asks: What Twitter app are you using for your iPhone?

Hosts

• @reneritchie
• @GeorgiaTiPb
• @TCPJ_Mickey

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

AT&T has confirmed they’ll be using their newly announced T-Mobile US acquisition — more specifically T-Mo’s 1700MHz AWS spectrum (currently providing 3G and “4G” HSPA+) — for a bigger, better LTE rollout (“4GS?”). See the slide above for details.

Apple hasn’t announced any plans for an LTE iPhone or iPad yet but as the technology matures and coverage improves they almost certainly will. Meanwhile we can hope for better HSPA+ support in iPhone 5, as current iPhone and iPad radios max out at 7.2Mbps.

(See TiPb’s guide to wireless networking terms for what all that alphanumeric soup means.)

We spent quite a bit of time talking about this, and other elements of the deal, on iPad Live! last night so if you missed it, be sure to check it out when it hits iTunes and RSS tonight.

If you’re a current AT&T iPhone user, do you think the new, combined network might finally resolve the long-standing coverage and connection problems? Does it give you any greater faith in a solid LTE rollout?

[AT&T via Android Central]

AT&T will be buying T-Mobile USA from parent company Deutsch Telekom for $39 billion in stock and cash.

“This transaction represents a major commitment to strengthen and expand critical infrastructure for our nation’s future,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO. “It will improve network quality, and it will bring advanced LTE capabilities to more than 294 million people. Mobile broadband networks drive economic opportunity everywhere, and they enable the expanding high-tech ecosystem that includes device makers, cloud and content providers, app developers, customers, and more. During the past few years, America’s high-tech industry has delivered innovation at unprecedented speed, and this combination will accelerate its continued growth.”

Stephenson continued, “This transaction delivers significant customer, shareowner and public benefits that are available at this level only from the combination of these two companies with complementary network technologies, spectrum positions and operations. We are confident in our ability to execute a seamless integration, and with additional spectrum and network capabilities, we can better meet our customers’ current demands, build for the future and help achieve the President’s goals for a high-speed, wirelessly connected America.”

Deutsche Telekom Chairman and CEO René Obermann said, “After evaluating strategic options for T-Mobile USA, I am confident that AT&T is the best partner for our customers, shareholders and the mobile broadband ecosystem. Our common network technology makes this a logical combination and provides an efficient path to gaining the spectrum and network assets needed to provide T-Mobile customers with 4G LTE and the best devices. Also, the transaction returns significant value to Deutsche Telekom shareholders and allows us to retain exposure to the U.S. market.”

The deal could take a year to finalize and still faces regulatory approval, but it would make AT&T the largest carrier in the US by a healthy margin with almost 140 million subscribers.

AT&T was the exclusive US carrier for iPhone from 2007 through 2010 and remains the only GSM/HSPA carrier in the US to offer iPhone. While also a GSM/HSPA carrier, T-Mobile 3G operates at a different frequency than AT&T and is currently not supported by the iPhone.

How and if that will change, and whether or not Apple will support T-Mobile’s 3G band in future software or hardware update remains unknown. By the time the deal closes in 2012, however, iPhone 5 will already be on the market.

In terms of consumer choice and pricing pressure, there’s still only one iPhone model so selection won’t be the issue. Voice prices. Data prices. Tethering prices. T-Mobile was competing with better plans at better prices. The new, combined AT&T-Mo won’t do that. Likewise, Apple sells unlocked iPhones directly in Canada and many other countries. Would they do the same in the US once there’s no more GSM/HSPA competition? That will depend on their contracts, no doubt.

Again, it will take a year or so for the deal to come together, and there’s a lot that could still happen in the meantime. What are your thoughts? Eager to get more spectrum and better potential support for 4G, or upset at the decrease in competition and the unification of GSM/HSPA service in the US?

UPDATE: T-Mobile has put up a new release and it includes the following bullet point about iPhone. (And that iPhone gets its own bullet point shouldn’t go without notice.)

Is T-Mobile USA getting the iPhone?

T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G.

[Business Wire, T-Mobile]

T-Mobile is burning a lot of ad dollars lately telling us our AT&T and Verizon iPhones — running on HPSA 7.2 and EVDO Rev A respectively — are slower than the Android phones they have running on their HSPA+ network.

Take a look at what you get from Android™ phones vs iPhone®. The full web experience, with fast uploads, downloads, and streaming entertainment, all on the fastest 4G smartphones running on America’s Largest 4G Network™ with the most affordable 4G data.*

Okay. T-Mobile didn’t get an iPhone yet but they have seen the “I’m a Mac” commercials. Got it. Any other take away?

[T-Mobile via Engadget]

UK mobile networks, T-Mobile and Orange have slashed the price of the iPad which could mean the iPad 2 is right around the corner. Both networks currently offer the iPad at a subsidized price when you sign up for a 24 month data contract.

Originally Orange offered the iPad 16 GB WiFi + 3G for £199.99 ($323) for existing customers or £229.99 ($372) for new customers, now that has been slashed to just £99.00 ($161). T-Mobile also now offers the same model iPad for £99.00 ($161)  but only to existing customers. The downside of course is the 2 year data contract that you have to sign up for at around £25.00 ($41) per month.

Usually on the run up to a product refresh, it is common practice for vendors to look to dump inventory by cutting prices. The more cynical amongst us may also point out that the original prices were a little on the extortionate side to start with. This price cut may just enable Orange and T-Mobile to actually sell some iPads now.

Either way, we do expect to hear some concrete iPad 2 news very soon, watch this space!

[Techradar]

Are you switching to the Verizon iPhone and if so what smartphone or feature phone are you switching from? We know some AT&T iPhone users are making the big switch as are some Verizon BlackBerry and Android/Droid users but also a lot of feature phone users might be making the smartphone plunge for the first time. (Bye bye flip phone!)

Let us know where you’re coming from in the poll above and tell us your story in the comment below!

A new survey from ChangeWave takes a look at how many AT&T subscribers are looking to switch to the Verizon iPhone. The news isn’t pretty: it reveals the highest churn rate AT&T has seen since ChangeWave began surveying mobile subscribers. A total of 4,050 subscribers were surveyed, with 15% of AT&T and T-Mobile users saying they were likely to switch carriers in the next 90 days, compared to only 4% from Verizon.

Diving even deeper with AT&T specifically, things don’t look much better. The survey was conducted before the Verizon iPhone was officially announced, but still shows 16% of AT&T subscribers were looking to jump ship to Verizon once they have the iPhone. Another 23% said they weren’t sure, but could possibly make the switch. But when they looked at AT&T iPhone users only, they found as high as one-in-four (26%) were likely to leave AT&T for Verizon.

This somewhat falls in line with our own poll showing 41% of readers would be sticking with AT&T, while 15% were willing to switch for the Verizon iPhone. Although 15% is a pretty big chunk, it doesn’t feel like we’ll be seeing a mass migration from AT&T to Verizon, although the impact will definitely be felt by AT&T in the coming months.

The culprit? It looks like AT&T users aren’t satisfied with reception under the network (42%) along with issues with dropped calls (27%), and although AT&T has been making upgrades to their infrastructure (dropped call rates dropped from 6% to 4.7% since the last survey) to help with the problem, it may be too little too late for AT&T with some of their iPhone customers.

So how much do you think the Verizon iPhone could disrupt the carrier market? And more specifically, will you be making the switch yourself? Let us know in the comments!

T-Mobile has a new ad that pokes fun at the iPhone 4 on both AT&T and Verizon. It has the same flavor as the “I’m a Mac” commercials and the man playing the part as the iPhone 4 has both Verizon and AT&T with him, but he can’t tell them apart because he is slow on both networks – they don’t have “nationwide 4G” like T-Mobile.

Check out the ad after the break!

[YouTube]

We have all heard the rumors of the iPhone going to Verizon in early 2011 but today we are hearing word from Analyst Shaw Wu with Kaufman Bros., that Verizon is not only interested in obtaining Apple’s widely popular iPhone but they may be willing to pay a price to keep it out of the hands of Sprint and T-Mobile.

We are hearing that (Verizon) does not want iPhone, the hottest selling smartphone, available on T-Mobile USA and/or Sprint and may be willing to pay for exclusivity to itself and AT&T,” Wu wrote. “For these reasons, (Verizon) could be more willing to give in to Apple’s terms.

Wu also told investors that Google’s Android operating system has begun to lose some of its luster with Verizon and gaining a device like the iPhone could greatly increase subscribers on their network.

If true it seems as if it just creates the same situation we are in now in the U.S. except we will have one other option. What do you think about Verizon possibly being willing to pay to keep the iPhone off of the Sprint and T-Mobile networks?

[ AppleInsider ]

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG reported yesterday that profits for the September quarter beat expectations but said that poor performance in their U.S. business is due to its lack of ability to carry the iPhone. Chief Executive Rene Obermann said:

Consumers like T-Mobile but they also want to have the iPhone, which T-Mobile USA has no chance of getting in the short term.

In Europe, Deutsche Telekom, had exclusivity with the iPhone but they have recently lost that perk. With rumors of the iPhone coming to Verizon, things aren’t looking good for T-Mobiles future in the U.S.

[ Apple Insider ]

T-Mobile has been the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in Germany since the first iPhone in 2007, however there is new evidence to show that T-Mobile may lose its exclusivity to O2 and Vodafone in the coming weeks.

• The O2 Germany website, has launched a ‘keep me informed’ page, that offers “the latest news and everything to know about the iPhone 4 on O2”

• The Vodafone website has launched a similar page that allows you to sign up and select which iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS you want to be notified about.

Both carriers are yet to announce any official pricing or release date, however one source at iPhone-Ticker.de has said that Vodafone will have iPhone 4’s starting Wednesday 27th October, with prices starting at €729 and as high as €849, off contract.

Rumoured contract prices start at €169,90 for the handset and €45 a month for the low-tier contract, to as high as €119,95 a month, with the handset at €1 for the higher-tier contract.

This marks the end of T-Mobile’s exclusivity in Germany, and sees them join the likes of the UK and Canada in the list of multiple-carrier countries. Unless and until Verizon iPhone (or Sprint or T-Mobile) rumors prove true, the US remains exclusive to AT&T.

So, any T-Mobile Germany iPhone users tempted to switch?

[iPhone-Ticker.de, AppleInsider]

by George Lim

Credit Suisse has run a survey asking, if AT&T lost iPhone exclusivity, would users switch to another carrier like Verizon. 23% said they would go to Verizon while 3% would go to Sprint and 2% to T-Mobile.

When TiPb ran a Verizon-only switching poll, 34% of our readers said they’d make the switch in a heartbeat, while 20% said they were AT&T for life, and the said it would depend on the plans and rates.

We’ll only know for certain when and if iPhone goes non-exclusive in the US, but that’s got to happen at some point, right? The only question is whether or not it happens before a white iPhone 4 ships, or the Beatles hit iTunes…

[Business Insider]

Videotron launched their mobile unit today and along with Nexus One and BlackBerry Bold 9700 they said Apple would announce an AWS 3G (the higher spectrum 3G used by upstarts Wind, Moblicity, and Videotron in Canada, and T-Mobile in the US) “in the coming months”.

My usual thinking is that carriers have little if any forward knowledge of Apple’s plans, so take this with a Quebec-sized grain of salt.

If Apple wants to have a truly universal GSM/HSPA 3G phone, however, they’ll need to enable or add those AWS frequencies at some point.

[Engadget Mobile]

Cult of Mac is claiming an exclusive, highly placed source has told them iPhone 4 is coming to T-Mobile US as soon as Q3:

Talks between Apple and T-Mobile are at an advanced stage, our source says, and it’s 80 percent likely that the iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile in Q3.

The source works at T-Mobile but asked not to be quoted directly and to remain anonymous because they aren’t authorized to talk to the press.

T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, like AT&T, but they use a 3G band probably not even supported by iPhone 4′s 5-band radio (though rumors suggest Apple might simply have chosen not to list it). If it’s not supported, Apple will either have to add that band to future units, or produce a new model just for T-Mo.

So anyone believe this? Anyone at least appreciate the break from the usual Verizon rumors?

[Cult of Mac]

Even before Apple announced the iPhone 4 was coming to the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan on June 24, AT&T announced new, tiered and capped data plans and aggressive upgrade options for the new handset. Internationally…? Cricket chirps.

So here’s where the power of the TiPb nation comes in. We’ve put as much as we could find below, but if you know more about carrier plans and upgrade options in the UK, France, Germany, or Japan, drop it in the comments and we’ll update the post.

UK iPhone 4 pricing

O2 UK

Monthly plans begin at 100 minutes and 500 MB of data priced at £25 for a 24-month contract and £30 for an 18-month contract and ramp up to unlimited calling and 1 GB of data priced at £60/£65. A footnote to O2′s pricing matrix indicates, however, that the carrier will continue running a “promotion” offering unlimited data for all smartphones until October, at which time the company will offer additional data in 500 MB (£5) and 1 GB (£10) buckets.

For £20 a month you can buy off your existing contract to become eligible for upgrade faster. [MacRumors]

Vodafone UK

Leaked [Engadget]

France iPhone 4 pricing

Pending…

Germany iPhone 4 pricing

Pending…

Japan iPhone 4 pricing

Softbank

Black only (no info on white), pre-orders begin June 15, 5pm online and in store. Proof of identity required.

• 57,600 yen ($624) for the 32GB model
• 46,080 yen ($500) for the 16GB model
• COD or 24 payments of 2,400 yen/1,920 yen.
• Value plan Unlimited Data for 4,410 yen per month
• Basic plan starts at 1,029 yen a month, tops out at 4,410 for unlimited
• Value plan subsidizes 1,920 yen a month for 24 months.
• Basic plan subsidizes 1,440 yen a month for 24 months.

A two year commitment for a 32GB iPhone 4 will cost you 57,600 yen but return 46,080 yen in discounts bringing a total difference of 11,530 yen or around $125 USD. A 16GB iPhone 4 will cost 46,080 yen with 46,080 yen discount or a whopping 0 yen!

[Mobile Japan via 9to5Mac]

Keep it coming!

Is AT&T to blame for the poor iPhone experience in cities like San Francisco and New York, where calls drop, data fails, and bars depict signal strength with no real connection behind them? And if so, what can they do about it — build more network infrastructure, create tiered pricing, or maybe just give up on exclusivity?

Dan Lyons, writing under his nom-de-guerre Fake Steve Jobs recently posted a curse-filled parody, describing an entirely fictional, frighteningly plausible conversation between his character and an equally fake AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson. It’s climax:

And now here we are. Right here in your own backyard, an American company creates a brilliant phone, and that company hands it to you, and gives you an exclusive deal to carry it — and all you guys can do is complain about how much people want to use it. You, Randall Stephenson, and your lazy stupid company — you are the problem. You are what’s wrong with this country.

I stopped, then. There was nothing on the line. Silence. I said, Randall? He goes, Yeah, I’m here. I said, Does any of that make sense? He says, Yeah, but we’re still not going to do it. See, when you run the numbers what you find is that we’re actually better off running a shitty network than making the investment to build a good one. It’s just numbers, Steve. You can’t charge enough to get a return on the investment.

AT&T has made billions in profit off of its user base (and off the iPhone!) and many of those users think it would behoove AT&T to take a large portion of those profits and re-invest them in expanding and improving their network. AT&T claims they’re doing just that, especially in high iPhone-density cities like San Francisco (now getting the 850Mhz band) and Dallas (upgrade to 7.2Mb HSPA). And as Fake Steve so deliciously skewered, AT&T Mobile CEO, Ralph de la Vaga has unfathomably discussed stopping users from using their devices under the “unlimited” data plans AT&T markets to them.

But is the problem really AT&T?

The New York Times recently ran an article claiming AT&T had a great network despite consumer dissatisfaction… a great network for every other phone other than the iPhone. Of course, few other data-centric phones are as numerous as the iPhone, and none are as easy to use, or have as many users using as many data-centric features. Not to mention other carriers, such as Rogers in Canada and GSM networks across Europe don’t seem to report the sheer number of problems AT&T users do. (We also remember with horror what happened when CrackBerry.com‘s Kevin took his just-release Rogers BlackBerry Bold to New York.) Perhaps it’s the unique combination of AT&T’s specific network setup and Apple’s iPhone radios.

Either way, the perception problem is entirely AT&Ts at the moment and even with new customer-facing strategies like “Mark the Spot“, an app that lets iPhone users report problem areas, it’s not likely to change any time soon.

So let’s say AT&T does invest billions in infrastructure — more fast 3G HSPA bars in more places. It’s the right and logical things to do, and the thing Fake Steve absolutely nails AT&T for being too greedy to go about doing. The end result of that could be higher user satisfaction — and where do that lead?

Many suffer poor AT&T service just to own an iPhone. If they didn’t have to suffer any more, if AT&T’s network was considered as vast and solid as Verizon’s, how many more might jump on it? Could even a greatly enhanced and expanded AT&T handle 10 million more people getting iPhones and using even more data, requiring billions more to keep up, and who knows how much to actually get ahead of demand?

AT&T’s stick to go along with their network expansion carrot is, of course, capped data and tiered pricing. 3% of users “watching video” (or unofficially tethering, perhaps), using 40% of network resources. (And again, AT&T sold their bill of goods as “unlimited” so it’s hard to sympathize). But even capping, throttling, and/or tiering those 3%-ers won’t stop the millions of other hitting AT&T’s towers over and over again like high volume machine-gun fire. It’s not tenable. (Unless they’re willing to accept their destiny and become “dumb pipes“, then we’ll talk).

So that leaves moving the iPhone out of AT&T exclusivity and onto other US networks. It’s happened in the UK and Canada.

AT&T acknowledges it will happen eventually. The date is unknown to anyone outside the contract-signers, but exclusivity is generally pegged to end in 2010 — perhaps the end of 2010.

It won’t be an easy transition — T-Mobile uses a different frequency for their 3G bands and Verzion and Sprint use an entirely different radio technology. (Yes, even if Apple sold the iPhone 3GS unlocked, for use on any carrier, the only US carrier that whose 3G network is compatible right now is AT&T). That means, even with Verizon being interested, Apple would have to add T-Mobile’s bands, perhaps switch to an entirely new, GSM/CDMA hybrid radio so that it can reach America’s three other networks. A non-trivial solution to say the least, but perhaps a necessary one now.

If volumes keeps growing, even Verizon couldn’t handle the iPhone by itself either. Just like new highways ease traffic congestion, letting the iPhone speed along several carriers might just make it better for everyone involved — including AT&T.

If anyone can do it, Apple can. If not, Google might just be waiting in the wings…

TechCrunch is reporting that sales of the iPhone app iFog [$0.99 - iTunes link] have shot up following a T-Mobile commercial for the myTouch (their rebranded Google Android Magic, which in no way is meant to glom any mind share from i(Pod) touch), where Saturday Night Live alum, Dana Carvey demonstrates a similar Android app.

Given Apple’s much vaunted 85,000+ apps, it’s interesting to see that iPhone owners will look to the App Store, rather than competing platforms, even when competitors show off apps. Congrats to the developers for the boom-by-proxy.

Maybe Carvey should have shown off Google Voice?

The Register, (via Engadget Mobile) is reporting that T-Mobile UK is slipping unlocked iPhones to high-value customers in an attempt to keep them from switching to the exclusive UK iPhone carrier, O2.

It seems if you do indeed appear to be a big spender on T-Mobile, you just need to find a willing customer service rep, threaten to take your money and go to O2, and they’ll slip you an unlocked iPhone (smuggled over from T-Mobile Germany, perhaps?). Apparently, however, they’re limiting this to 150 units a week so as not to be too overt — or called out to joust by angry O2 bigwigs.

Any UK readers nab one?

Colossal blunder to be sure, but is it a blunder in content, or was it just made live before it was finished and authorized? Are we seeing the first signs of a real, honest-to-Jobs iPhone 32G? Decide for yourselves, though Engadget reminds us that the original iPhone was prematurely posted by T-Mo Germany two years ago. Could this be the double d’oh!?

(But really, T-Mo, you couldn’t have used a faded out, stock photo of an iPhone 3G there? My eyes. Ouch. My eyes…)

[via AreaMobile]

We’ve asked if AT&T’s service had made you consider dumping your iPhone 3G. But even if the iPhone was available on other US cellphone networks, what choices would you have?

Many people would love to get the iPhone on Verizon, but the current generation Verizon network is CDMA, which is not compatible with the iPhone’s GSM radio. This means that, until everyone moves to LTE 4G in a few years, existing iPhones won’t run on Verizon (or Sprint for that matter).

That leaves T-Mobile. Unfortunately, T-Mobile has different 3G bands then, well, the rest of the GSM world, which means unless Apple changes the iPhone radio (unlikely), you would only get 2G/EDGE on T-Mobile, slower speeds, and no simultaneous voice and data.

Is that a deal breaker for anyone? Or would having the iPhone on T-Mobile, even on 2G/EDGE still be better for some of you than your local AT&T coverage?

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! More below!]

Google’s Android is the future of smartphones. At least, it’s one of the possible futures. Alongside the iPhone, it’s the OS I’m most intrigued by, and that the two companies have chosen such different strategies in tackling the future only makes it ever so much more exciting.

The iPhone is an ordered, iconic device made entirely by Apple, with all the integration and fit and finish — and frustratingly capricious omissions — that only a single guiding mind can achieve. Android, by contrast, is chaotic and communal, designed by Google to free developers and fit a multitude of tastes and form-factors — with all the possible confusion and derivation open source has to offer.

Which one is “better” is a ridiculously impossible question to answer — each platform has its strengths and weaknesses and each user their own unique needs and preferences. Frankly, we’re fortunate to live in a time where there are so many truly awesome devices from which to choose. (Even a few years ago — and yes, I’ll say it, pre-iPhone shockwave — things were far, far more bleak.)

For my part, all I can really do is tell you how I use a smartphone, and how well the Android G1 fits that usage bill.

I really need to point out, up front, that the G1 is a beta device. There, I said it. Unlike Windows Mobile or Blackberry OS, which have been on the market for years and years, and the iPhone OS which is already on 2.x, Android has just hit the market with all the promise and problems that inevitably go with that. The Android device I experienced this week will absolutely and without question be blown away by whatever Android device(s) hit the market next year. So, it’s not a fair comparison for Android from the get go, and I beg everyone to remember that when I lay… er… get into it below the fold.

Getting Started

After far too few hours of sleep, I count on the alarm to make sure I’m out of bed early enough to delay my getting fired for at least another day. Good news. Easy to set. Easy to turn off.

Roughly the same as the iPhone Clock alarm, it’s more utilitarian (a theme we’ll be seeing often) and while that will appeal to some, I miss the eye-candy and pure fun of the iPhone flick-wheels.

Form Factor

Picking up the hardware, it feels good in the hand. It’s heavy but in a solid sort of way, narrower but thicker than the iPhone. The soft-touch plastic is definitely easier to hold onto. The design, however, is… well… less than attractive, and certainly nowhere near as sexy as the iPhone.

Dieter has made a good point that the G1 hardware had to be like this. If it was wrapped inside an iPhone or Blackberry class package, people wouldn’t be as forgiving of the beta software. This way, the outside matches the in. Clunky is as clunky does. It’s the Google stripped down interface and perpetual “beta” tag made manifest.

And that manifestation? While each part of the two-part keyboard and screen slider is good in and of itself, the mere fact that it’s two parts makes it feel creakier and squeakier when you grip it. It’s not the solid slab of the iPhone, but then the iPhone only achieves its form by completely throwing away the keyboard function. The G1 is all about function over form.

Notifications

(Note: I couldn’t find an elegant way to take screenshots absent downloading a dev kit, so I opted for photography. Apologies for the lousy quality, the screens are really bright and beautiful.)

First thing I do is hit a button to wake the phone, and menu to unlock. Then there’s the awesome puzzle-game unlock. Not sure why I have to hit Menu first and then the puzzle though. One unlock would be enough.

As with the iPhone, I’d like for there to be a today screen. (Marketplace, which I’ll get to later, will likely fill that void at some point if it hasn’t already.)

I heard alerts go off during the night, and the notification bar shows calendar and email waiting. I love this feature. Sure, I’d rather just tap or swipe to reveal it, rather than have to pull it all the way down, but the feature itself it great.

(Actually, I’d really like a pop up to be right there when I turn the G1 on, even before I hit “menu”. When I get an alert on the iPhone, if I look right away it’s already popped up on the screen. If I miss it, it pops up as soon as I wake the phone. I need that! If a future version combined the best of both, it would be notification bliss!)

User Experience

Here comes my major rant, and I’ll get it out of the way early so I can hopefully redeem myself to the Androidikas later: Android as it stands right now has a terrible, borderline-incompetent lack of consistency and user-friendliness to its interface/experience. (Which is something the iPhone absolutely kills at, making this all the more frustrating to me).

Navigation is completely non-intuitive and you are continuously left to guess which of the myriad (too many!) input methods is needed at any given time. Keyboard, touchscreen, scroll wheel, and hard buttons are all good, all fine, really. But all at once?

First example, I turn on the phone and a beautiful home screen greets me. I swipe the touch screen and super-sweet parallax scrolling takes me to a Google search box. I tap the box and it lights up and I get a cursor, suggesting input can be made. But I can’t make it. It is utterly unmakable!

I can tap away and nothing will happen unless it occurs to me to open the slider keyboard, at which point the screen will rotate and I can enter text. (Would it have been so much work to either add a virtual keyboard — don’t tell me it’s coming later, or the text box should come later too! — or just make a popup tell me to open the keyboard to enter?)

Second, there are two (2!) mail apps (more on that later) and while the regular mail app has nice, persistent controls like “reply” at the bottom of the screen, the Gmail app tosses them in-line at the bottom of page — which is often quite a lot of scrolling away (yes, I know there are keyboard shortcuts and menu options — exactly the point of this rant!)

Third, when there are those menu options sometimes needful controls are hidden — tragically — behind the “more” touchscreen button. No effort has been made to elegantly or intuitively direct a user to the right control at the right time, nor to keep controls consistent within input methods or between apps. For shame. That needs to be overhauled completely in the next major rev.

Okay, rant over. I shan’t mention it again. (At least I’ll try very, very hard not to).

Email

Yup, I check it as soon as I get up. My job entails supporting offices in different time zones, and TiPb never sleeps, so there’s usually a ton of stuff piled up in my inbox. One of my biggest gripes about the iPhone is how many clicks it takes to move between email accounts. If you drill down, you must drill back up. Will Android help me out there?

A bit, as we’ll see. Of course, there shouldn’t be two email apps to begin with, just one GUI, and Android should handle everything else transparently. Since both apps have their good and bad points, combine all the good into one would be killer.

Gmail App

I’ll just say it — push Gmail is awesome. I want it on the iPhone right now. Forget Street-view or Location Sharing in iPhone OS 2.2, Google — give me push Gmail!

I use Gmail for both my personal and TiPb mail. Unfortunately, Gmail app only supports one (1) Gmail account (the iPhone only supports one ActiveSync account, but I seem to be able to set up more than one Mobile Me Account.) My personal account won the coin toss.

Setup was easy. Actually, you have to set up Gmail in order to activate the G1, the same way you need iTunes to activate the iPhone, so it needs to be easy.

Once I plugged in my credentials — skidoosh! — all my personal mail “just worked” with instant Google goodness.

Confession: I did find the controls a little confusing (and both trashed and spammed Crackberry Kevin — sorry Kevin!), but luckily Dieter posted the aforementioned excellent keyboard shortcuts. In any case, stars are right there. Labels are right there. Everything anyone who has ever used Gmail via the web interface has ever wanted in a client is right there. If the next rev cleans up the controls, this could be the killer app.

Mail App

Absent built in Exchange support, which the iPhone OS 2.x enjoys via ActiveSync, I set up my work email, and my TiPB Gmail both in IMAP. I’d used IMAP for iPhone OS 1.x, so while it’s nowhere near as robust as ActiveSync, it got the job done. Gmail, due to Google’s “unique” implementation of mapping Labels to IMAP folders, has never been enjoyable to me, not on the iPhone, and not here, but it also gets the job done well enough for now.

I should point out that Gmail IMAP generates regular invalid certificate, simultaneous connection, and other errors to the point of being utterly useless at times for me on both the desktop and iPhone (and Twitter shows I’m not alone), but I had no problem with either of those things on the G1. Either I got lucky, or Google’s got some extra special mojo at work here.

Like the Gmail App, navigation is more challenging than it ought to be. Also, I ended up keeping it on manual as far as when to check mail, since anything automatic thrashed the battery life something fierce. This meant I had to wait each time I opened the app for it to download new messages, and even on WiFi this seemed to take longer than the iPhone does.

The Four Pillars of PIM

Once mail is triaged, it’s time for me to figure out the day. Now, I don’t use tasks/to do or memo/notes (don’t tell Dieter!). This may be because the iPhone just totally FAILS by not providing sync features for them. So, to be honest, I don’t know if Android does this or does it well. It’s simply outside my current usage pattern.

Calendar

iCal synced via MobileMe is my main modus operundi. I don’t use gCal on Google’s server, but I did manage to export my main calendars as ICS files and import them into gCal for instant syncing to Android. Sweet!

I’m still looking for a direct (i.e. non-3rd party) way to simply subscribe to my iCal calendars in gCal using CalDAV, but while Android Central forum members pointed me to great directions for doing the opposite (subscribing to gCal in iCal), I’m still looking for my holy grail. (Anyone seen it?)

It’s a great calendar app. Not as good as Gmail, not as bad as Contacts (wait for it). As Casey will tell you, Week View merely being present is a big plus over the iPhone.

Contacts

I’m going to rant again. I don’t understand how the same company that makes Gmail can put out what they laughingly call Google Contacts. This, above all, made my life with Android miserable.

First, I turned on Google Sync in Address Book and immediately my contacts were beamed to the cloud. Then they were condensed and rained back down on me in tiny, droplet-y fragments. See, Google seems to just randomly add contacts almost always without any sort of container or relationship. Suddenly I had 3 to 10 contacts per person, some just email addresses, some just phone numbers, almost none linked in any useful way.

I did my best to clean it up, but searching for contacts by name seldom if ever turned up their numbers, and when people called me, I almost never got the name of the caller even if it should have been in there.

[Note: Dieter in contacts above, but no numbers, no email, no nothing. FAIL!]

Since I’ve long since lost the ability to actually remember numbers, this made the phone all but unusable for me at times. To be clear, however, this is not Android’s problem, it’s Google Contacts and Android inherited it. And this is not just my opinion, it’s an opinion I’ve seen echoed by many otherwise extremely happy Gmail users.

Please fix this, Google. Pretty please?

On the super epic plus side, however, this did mean I got all my data onto the G1 over the air. No tether. No cable. Totally leash free. MobileMe and ActiveSync users know this freedom. Android users know it as well.

Web

We browsing is huge on the iPhone. It’s inarguably the best mobile browser implementation yet. How does the Google Browser stack up? Pretty well. The lack of multi-touch is a huge hit, no way around that, but the rendering (based on the same open source WebKit foundation as the iPhone’s Safari) is snappy and it’s much, much, (much!) more stable than the iPhone was under 2.1 (let’s hope 2.2 has fixed that).

I had nary a crash all week.

I do wish, however, that it would auto-scale pages and fit text the way MobileSafari does. Having to manually adjust each page with the magnifying buttons got old fast. On the UI massive FAIL front, not being able to tap the touch screen to activate a URL chooser was stupefying. You can start typing on the keyboard to do that, of course, or hit the menu button and then touch “Go to URL” but — again — forcing a user to open a keyboard or switch between input methods is just way, way broken.

Android’s browser doesn’t currently support flash, though it looks like it may soon. When you get to a YouTube video, you’re prompted to launch it in the YouTube app (like on the iPhone) or to view it in the browser. The former works just like you’d expect (hey, Google owns YouTube!), the latter, however, then asks you to download Java and Flash. Er… Howsabout we remove that until after Flash is made into a plugin, b’okay guys?

Phone

I like the phone app quite a bit. I liked it when I used it on the Treo. I say that because it’s almost identical. Same tabbed approach to the same basic usage choices. They worked then, they work now, and as Steve Jobs so rightly said, phone is the killer app.

The only problem I had is that when I had to enter extra digits, opening up the keyboard while keeping the handset to my ear was tricky to say the least. Sure, they’ve invented speakers and headsets for that stuff, but I should have an onscreen keypad as well. Or is it there and I just missed it?

Pairing with my Blue Tooth was a synch. Once and a while it wouldn’t work, and I would find the BT radio turned off, but turning it back on would again enable flawless use. Android really nailed this.

In general, however, I could use a little more visual differentiation in the settings between buttons that simply toggle on/off radios like WiFi and BT, and buttons that take you to those radios settings. Identical slices of a single vertical list with only check marks vs. arrow circles isn’t really enough.

Media

The iPhone, with its iPod pedigree, is a media powerhouse. It’s the media powerhouse! How does Android stack up?

Video

The lack of a built-in video player ranks up there with the lack of MMS on the iPhone. Both are inexplicable. To Android’s credit, however, a video player is just one short trip to the Market away. (Want MMS on your iPhone and jailbreaking is your only current option).

Audio

Music is built in, both the player and the Amazon MP3 store. And they’re fine. Since Amazon hasn’t seen fit to offer the service in Canada yet, I was shut out of fully testing it. Come on, Amazon!

I’m not much of a music listener (the irony is not lost, believe me), so fine was good enough. What I am, though, is a voracious podcast listener. My feed is clogged with every Smartphone Experts cast, most of TWiT and Pixel Corp, GDGT, and many more. (I save video podcasts for the big screen).

Again, this meant a trip back to the Market to get a podcatcher… something (also ironically) Apple refuses to allow into the iPhone App Store.

I’ll be honest here — it worked but nowhere near as well as iTunes, which while still tether-bound until iPhone OS 2.2 (which may well hit today!), is just buttery smooth. Time-outs and failed downloads plagued me (which may also be the case in 2.2, who knows at this point?).

When I don’t have time to tether the iPhone, I’ve tried streaming via web links and the Quicktime plugin, which is hit and miss as sometimes the connection stalls and unlike a downloaded podcast, it never remembers your location if it you come back to it later.

Android was very similar, though perplexingly after I typed in a URL with the keyboard and clicked to begin the stream, closing the keyboard would stop the stream. This is most likely a bug and will hopefully be fixed.

Photos

Photos on the iPhone is one of those apps you do demos with. Multi-touch just kills it. So, while Android can handle photos just fine, it doesn’t have anywhere near the fun factor of the iPhone.

Strangely, cover art for the podcasts I downloaded somehow flooded my photos app, so the top level looked more like an iTunes tab than a set of albums!

Android Market

This is the area where Android has the potential to really decimate the iPhone. Given all of Apple’s restrictions on the App Store and the iPhone SDK, including no multi-tasking, no access to the iPod, no turn-by-turn, etc. etc. ad naseum infinitum, the freedom of the Android Market (even though it too has a kill switch) should release the true power of developer innovation.

One day.

Today, it’s still a little on the far side of slim pickings. This may simply be due to the lack of a commercial option on the built-in app — serious developers who make great software need to be paid enough to support their making great software. Hopefully this will shake out rapidly.

Since the default Android IM client wouldn’t work for me (it was upset I wasn’t using a T-Mobile SIM — apparently it ties into SMS), I went in search of a 3rd party client from the Market.

Android Market works pretty much the same as the App Store, with a few little differences in the UI. Some of them are useful, but the polish wasn’t there, so I’m calling it even at this point.

It was easy enough to find an IM app, and dead simple to install and use it. Strangely, it kept logging me out, defeating the purpose of multi-tasking, but I eventually found a preference setting to keep me logged in and receiving IMs in the background. That was awesome! … until my battery very rapidly ran dry.

Push has its price. Maybe this is what’s (still!) delaying Apple’s Push Notification Service?

I also downloaded a game. I game very little, and very casually — often just to wind down before going to sleep. As anyone who’s seen my video know, it was frustrating. Not the download, that was easy. The game, however, told me to “push up to start”. Touch screen up did nothing. Keyboard had no up key. Finally I hit the trackball and voila. This is the double edge to the Android Market Store: absent a unified hardware platform like the iPhone, you never know what input methods will be available on any given piece of equipment, and which ones will be in use on multiple input devices. This developer clearly should have allowed upward swipes on the touch screen, when a touch screen is present.

The game itself, aside from being the most popular at the time of my download, was fine for freeware, but nothing like what we’ve seen on the iPhone.

But it was enough to put me to sleep.

Another plus: on app update notification. I find having to go to the App Store on the iPhone inefficient at times, and really liked how Android alerted me to updates right from the app.

Conclusion

Again, this is a beta OS on mundane hardware and is ultimately and absolutely fine. It’s fine. Really.

I was expecting more. I was expecting what I have every ounce of confidence Android 2.0 will be.

Problems vs. promise was the theme of my entire week with the G1. It’s not an iPhone killer, not by any stretch of that overused drip of marketing hyperbole… but it could easily become one if Apple isn’t very careful.

Unlike Apple, Google isn’t secretly building devices to slip out of their jean pockets at trade shows and shock and delight the world first time at bat. They’re taking a decidedly Microsoft-ian approach of releasing concept pieces and using the early adopters to test and refine. Microsoft typically does horrible first revs, poor second revs, and then starts to nail things third time at bat. Hopefully Google will hit their home run faster.

I know I’m desperately rooting for them.

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! More below!]

Okay, fair enough, I’m having a little fun up there, but with the Smartphone Empire Experts Round Robin officially under way and my iPhone frozen in carbonite for the next month, the G1 could be my only hope!

I’m still trying to figure out if this is the ‘droid I’ve been looking for, however. Do I understand the awesome power of the open-platform of the Google? Or is it more concept now than device, twisted and confusing?

Check out the video, then head on over to Android Central to help me out. Every day you post, you get entered to WIN one of FIVE smartphone prize packs! And you can enter each site’s contest, so don’t forget to help turn Casey back to the iPhone side as well!

May the forums be with you!

Prize details after the jump…

Every day you comment here, you get one entry to win not only a supra-shiny iPhone 3G, but the Case-Mate Naked Case which allows full touch through access to the iPhone’s amazing screen. Smartphone Outlet is also kicking in the revolutionary Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset AND a runner-up prize, $50 coupon good at any SPE store, including the new Smartphone Outlet, where you can find refurb Smartphone Accessories at very (very!) low prices.

Check out our full contest rules!

Android Central got their mechanical pincers on a fresh new T-Mobile Android G1 un-boxing today, and what’s the first thing they go and do? Measure it up against an iPhone 3G, of course.

Not that we can blame them. While Android’s rugged R2D2-esque looks might not make for an obvious point of comparison, they are currently the only two devices on the North American market with capacitive touch screens, and both are game-changers when it comes to the mobile platform space.

For good measure, Dieter throws it up against a bunch of other smartphones as well, including the Windows Mobile Wing and Shadow, Blackberry Pearl Flip, Blackberry Bold, the Palm Treo Pro, and the Instinct.

Unfortunately, there’s no OS showdown yet, as the G1 won’t work without a data plan, period. [Digg that!]

Still, lots more goodness to come over at Android Central, so keep a feed scanning unit at the ready!

Disclaimer – Neither TiPb nor I take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing.

It was not long ago that we filled you in on the steps to take in order to jailbreak your iPhone 3G on Mac OS X as well as a Windows PC. Well today TiPb is proud to present a step by step guide to not only jailbreak your first generation iPhone 2G but to unlock it while jailbreaking. This is for Windows PC’s only.

So if you are against AT&T in the US, or simply need to run your original iPhone on an international carrier like Rogers in Canada or any GSM/EDGE network around the world, then please read on after the jump!

This guide will show you how to jailbreak/unlock the original iPhone 2G only, not the iPhone 3G. Some important notes before we begin: You must have iTunes 8 installed and you must be on firmware 2.2.1, if you are not, be sure to update via iTunes. Also make sure to go into the task manager and disable ANYTHING Apple or iTunes related.

1. Get the tools.

Once you are positive you are running the 2.2.1 on your iPhone and have iTunes 8 installed it’s time to get the tools you will need. Create a folder on your desktop named “Pwnage”, then download the following files into that folder:

• Windows QuickPwn 2.2.5
• iPhone 2.2.1 ISPW
• 3.9 Bootloader
• 4.6 Bootloader

Unzip the QuickPwn.zip file inside the Pwnage folder.

2. Launch QuickPwn

Simply click on the pineapple from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop.

3. Connect your iPhone

Connect your iPhone via USB to your computer and click the blue arrow to continue.

4. Locate Firmware

Now we have to click the browse button to locate your iPhone firmware.

5. Selecting the 2.2.1 firmware IPSW

Select the 2.1 firmware IPSW file from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop then select the IPSW file and click the open button.

6. Firmware Verification

QuickPwn will now verify you have selected the correct firmware. After it is verified click the blue arrow to continue.

7. Customize your firmware

This step allows you select what you’d like installed on your iPhone. You have the ability to select Cydia, Installer, replace boot logos, and unlock your device. Once you have made your selections click the blue arrow to continue on. If you want a full jailbreaking experience, installing Cydia and Installer is highly recommended.

8. Bootloader Files

You will now be prompted to select your bootloader files that I instructed you to download a few minutes ago. Click on the Browse button and select the 3.9 bootloader from the Pwnage folder you created on your desktop. Repeat this for the 4.6 bootloader file. Then click the blue arrow button to proceed.

9. Verify Connection

QuickPwn will noW verify that your iPhone is still connected to your PC. Again click the blue arrow to carry on forward.

10. Potential Tricky Part – Pay Attention

Ok, this part seems to give some people issues, but I assure you it does work. QuickPwn will now put your iPhone into recovery mode. When its in recovery mode you will be given directions to: Hold the Home button for 5 seconds, Hold the Home and Power buttons for 10 seconds, then release the Power button and continuing holding the Home button until your iPhone is in DFU mode.

11. Let the jailingbreaking begin – no going back now!

QuickPwn will detect your phone is in DFU mode and proceed with the jailbreaking process.

12. You are officially jailbroken – Congrats! Now Time to Unlock – Be Patient

Once jailbreaking is complete, QuickPwn will then reboot it and run BootNeuter. Let BootNeuter take over, do not interupt it. This process will take about 5 minutes. Your iPhone will reboot when it has completed and you will have a fully unlocked iPhone!

13. Setting up data connection – T-Mobile ONLY

Go into Settings, General, then Network and enter the following information.

APN: wap.voicestream.com

Username: (leave empty)

Password: (leave empty)

For other Mobile Carriers data settings check out this link.

Well that’s it folks, it’s time to start exploring this whole new world you have just opened. For answers to more of the questions you may have regarding jailbreaking please head on into our forums. There are always members of our community willing to help you out!

T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan, speaking to Focus, revealed that Big Magenta(TM) has sold 120,000 iPhone 3G units since it went on sale July 11. The breakdown included 75,000 for Germany with the remainder being gobbled up in the Netherlands and Austria.

This may sound small considering Apple previously reported 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold over launch weekend alone. However, AT&T has said the iPhone 3G was selling twice as fast as last year, which seems in line with these numbers, given T-Mo “only” managed to sell 100,000 of the first generation iPhone 2G during the two previous quarters combined. (Though bringing an EDGE handset to a trans-Euro 3G fight probably wasn’t a winning strategy back then, eh, Apple?)

Add these numbers together with the total 70+ launches scheduled for this year, and the probably huge holiday sales season still to come, and Apple might just make shatter that 10 million sales goal of theirs for this year– if not bite considerably into that rumored 45 million handset order for next…

If they can keep them in stock… and on network. Anyone using an iPhone 3G on T-Mobile? Easy to find on the shelves? Getting good data connections?

(via Ars Technica)

“We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone,” a spokesman said

What do you think? Would you buy a product because it looks like it’s going to be popular? What do you think the ‘actors’ are going to do when Orange Poland asks for personal information? Is this the most ridiculous act of advertising ever?

ReadVia

Sister site WMExperts brings word that T-Mobile is raising the a la carte price of SMS text messages to an exorbitant $.20 per 160 characters (sadly, an industry average…) While they have their theories as to why tiny text qualifies for thousands of dollars per meg of data charges, others only really care about one thing:

A change in the terms of service may — just may — be a way for those of you stuck on contract with T-Mobile to get out of jail and into a sexay new iPhone 3G.

Whether T-Mobile lets you out or not will likely depend on who you talk to and how much you scream, but a chance is a chance. And could T-Mobile have had worse timing in providing that chance?

Nope.

On the Canadian front, GSM monopoly Rogers is still amending their iPhone info, after correcting the embarrassing typo that made it seem like the early termination fee was $1100 ($100 turned out to be correct). Now it’s info on non-iPhone specific plans, and warnings galore on off-plan data usage ($0.05/KB!) and roaming ($3/MB on plan). Clarified, however, is that using Visual Voice Mail won’t count towards your minutes or your miserly data cap.

Also interesting is the inclusion of anti-Jailbreak/Unlock verbiage:

Your iPhone is restricted to use on the Rogers network, unless you are roaming. If you attempt to unlock your iPhone and use it on another network, it may become permanently unusable. Making unauthorized modifications to the software on your iPhone violates the iPhone software license agreement, and any resulting inability to use your iPhone is not covered under your iPhone’s warranty.

Current German and Austrian iPhone carrier, T-Mobile pushes its way into the lowlands with news on their upcoming Netherlands iPhone 3G rates:

Cheaper plans start at €29,95 for 150 min, 150 SMS, and unlimited data, with €79.95 for an 8GB handset, and €159.95 for 16GB.

Premium plans end at €64.95 for 500/500/unlimited, with €1 for an 8GB and €19.95 for the 16GB.

T-Mobile WiFi Hotspot access is also thrown in gratis.

Read

Sure, O2 in the UK may be giving them away for free, but why quibble over a Euro-buck? That’s what T-Mobile Germany is counting on as they announced that Apple’s next generation iPhone 3G could be had for as little as €1 with a €69 a month contract. Want a 16GB model? Starts at €19.95 on a €89 monthly contract.

If you prefer more up front, less down the road, you can also pay your €169.5/€249.95 at the door and walk away with a tiny €29 contract.

Now why can’t AT&T — and closer to (my) home Rogers — learn from the Europeans?!?

Read

Could these be T-Mobile’s iPhone 3G rate plans? I couldn’t find them posted yet on T-Mobile’s site (and my German is nicht gooden anyway), but reader Germany iPhone User sent us a tip on the image below, so if this is them, then this is them!

Update: Turns out not so much (see comments below).

According to the image, plans come in small, medium, large, and extra large (XL) sizes, from €29 through €89, with 50 to 1000 minutes, free weekends, 0 to 500 SMS, with 500mb of data on the lowest plans, and unlimited on all the rest.

Likewise das cheapen plan will get you an iPhone 3G 8GB for €169 (or 16GB for €249) while einen XL will get you the 8GB free! (16GB for €99)

Apple Insider reports that, according to T-Mobile, the 3G iPhone is slated for immanent testing in Austria:

Specifically, a German-laguage report in derStandard.at states that officials from the carrier said a “UMTS version” of the iPhone would be made available in Austria “shortly,” and that the country would be one of just a handful to serve as a “testing” ground for the next-generation device.”

Why Austria and, most importantly, why UTMS and not the specific UTMS-extending protocol everyone and their Laporte bandies about in the US, HSDPA?

More controllable territory combined with more widely spread technology standard and deeper market penetration, perhaps? Or is this just T-Com talking out of their collective assumptions again?

What do you think?

The iPhone has now successfully stormed the mobile markets of both the Emerald Isle and the birthplace of the Oak. For those keeping track at home, this brings the official score card to:

(Not counting the massive gray market, ‘natch).

What makes the two newest iPhone launches unique, however, is that while hardware pricing is consistent with other EU countries, it looks like Austrians won’t be loving them some unlimited data any time soon, with T-Mobile caps firmly in place at 3GB. Of course, they’re still better off than their O2 bedeviled Irish launch-mates, who not only get even less data at a miserly 1GB, but also don’t get Visual Voicemail! (We should point out that, according to Apple Insider, use of Visual Voicemail in Austria will also count towards your 3GB of data!)

So are these capped data plans the future of iPhone? Are the European EDGE networks so obsoleted by 3G that they can’t handle more or is Apple being forced to concede on their data demands to get their units into more and more territories?

And now that 5 and 6 are settled, who’s in the running for 7? Apple COO Tim Cook did promise us Asia this year, which makes Japan (who knows about China?) a possibility. What about Australia? Scandinavia? Are we betting on Antarctica before data-gouged Canada? (I am!)

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, ever since the 1.4 firmware dropped, complete with a carrier reference for T-Mobile in Austria, we’ve known who will carry Herr Jobs’ miracle phone into its fifth European country. And now we know when!

Tomorrow, March 14th!

This revelations comes courtesy of Electronista (via Ars Technica) and the ever-lax security of T-Mobile private web pages (hit the aforementioned links for the screen caps).

The 8GB and 16GB versions will be available for €399 and €399 respectively, with rate plans ranging from €39 to €55, depending on the talk-time and SMS package. And unlike the Irish, it reportedly WILL rock Unlimited Data and Visual Voice Mail.

Austrian iPhone fans, better get in line now before the Governator buys them all!