Tag: AT&T

Facing political pressure to scrap the deal, Verizon is dropping their plans to sell Huawei phones to their customers here in the United States.  The plan is a blow to the Chinese manufacture who suffered a similar blow from AT&T earlier this month.

The news comes from sources at Bloomberg who state the main thrust behind the decision was political pressure due to concerns about the company potentially spying for the Chinese government, something Huawei has long denied and there being no evidence from the other countries where their devices are sold as this being an issue.

OnePlus appears to be poised to start talks with US carriers about finding a home for its devices in the US market.  The company’s CEO, Pete Lau, said in a recent interview with CNET that exploring a US carrier deal is of interest if the timing and terms are right.

With purchasing plans and far reaching marketing arms, the US carrier market amongst the top four of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint is a lucrative and attractive opportunity for phone manufactures.  Getting even one phone into a carrier’s store will almost certainly bump sales up for that phone.  But, as other manufactures have found, it is a tough sell to get in with a US carrier.

AT&T has begun the process of rolling out an update for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge on the carrier’s network.  The updates for both devices are small at 46.5MB and bring the Android Security Update patch to the December 1, 2017 level.  The patch also brings a fix to the BlueBorne Bluetooth exploit on both devices.

For the Galaxy S7, the updated build is G930AUCS4BQL1 while for the S7 Edge, you are looking for build G935AUCS4BQL1.  Given the small size of the updates, you can download them via your mobile data account but it is always recommended that you download them via WiFi.  After it is downloaded, expect about a 10-15 minute install and a required reboot.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy Note8 on the AT&T network, there is an important update rolling out to you starting today.  The new update brings a wide range of fixes, most notably for the KRACK WiFi exploit as well as the BlueBorne Bluetooth exploit.  The new update is build N950USQU2BQJA for those keeping score at home.

The update will range 377MB to 386MB so it is recommend that Note8 owners download the update via WiFi.  Once downloaded, the install will take about 10 minutes and will require a reboot of your phone.  The update, in addition to the exploit fixes mentioned above, also brings the October Android Security Update to the device.

AT&T has announced that the Blackberry KEYone will be coming to the carrier starting September 1st in an exclusive color.  The phone will be available in Space Black and will be priced at $16.67 per month for 30 months.  That adds up to just over $500 which is less than the unlocked GSM version which is $619.99 on Amazon.

For those that don’t recall, the Blackberry KEYone is a 4.5″ device that is powered by the Snadragon 625 processor.  It has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.  It runs Android Nougat 7.1.1 out of the box and has the same cameras as you will find in the Google Pixel and Pixel XL.  It is powered by a 3505mAh battery and has a physical QUERTY keyboard.

The main camera on the KEYone is a 12MP shooter that has Sony technology & optics.

The storage on the KEYone is expandable thanks to the MicroSD slot and charging is done via the USB-C connector.

With the Samsung Galaxy Note8 announced earlier this morning, the focus now turns to the carriers here in the United States as to what the pricing is going to be for their customers.  As for Samsung, they will be selling the Note8 unlocked for $960 and that is pretty much on par with carriers but with added payment options.

AT&T hasn’t explicitly called out their pricing for the Note8 at the time of this post but we do know that it will be $31.67 per month for 30 months.  If you order before September 14th, you get your choice of either a Gear 360 Camera or the Galaxy Foundation Kit which contains a 128GB EVO+ microSD card and wireless charging station.