Tag: AT&T

As expected, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has become available as a pre-order from the four major carriers here in the United States this morning.  AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon all have the phone available to order today through various payment options with delivery of the device expected to start happening on August 19th, the day the device becomes generally available.  Generally speaking, if you want to buy it outright, it is going to be at least $850 regardless of the carrier you go with but many are offering accessories when you pre-order your Note 7 (subject to availability).

AT&T

Outright, the Note 7 is $879 from the carrier or you can do one of the AT&T Next programs.  The 30 payment option is $29.34 while the 24 payment option is $36.67.  Along with this, the carrier is offering a $695 in credits when you buy one Note 7 and want to get a second one.  It’s pretty close to BOGO.  Or, if you sign up for a 2-year contract with the carrier, they will give you a free Samsung Gear S2.  Lastly, you can pick up a Galaxy Tab 3 for .99 Cents with the purchase of a Galaxy Note 7.

For readers who have the Samsung Galaxy S7 through AT&T, there is a new and important software update rolling your way today.  The new update brings several enhancements and new features including support for Wi-Fi calling.  The updated build number is MMB29M and is available for the S7 and S7 Edge.

Wi-Fi calling is probably the most noticeable addition in this update which AT&T has brought to several of the phones on their network already.  This feature is pretty self explanatory but it allows you to make calls over Wi-Fi (assuming the quality and strength of that Wi-Fi signal is acceptable).  Think of it as mobile Voice over IP (VoIP).

Good news this morning for those of you who have the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active from AT&T.  The U.S. carrier has released the Android Marshmallow update for the device and it is rolling out now.  The update is build MMB29K.G890AUCU3CPE4 for those keeping score at home and it weighs in at a hefty 1.44GB.  That means you will most certainly want to download this via Wi-Fi which, depending on your network, could take 20-30 minutes to download.  Once you have it downloaded, the installation of the update will take another 20-30 minutes and will require a phone restart.  Make sure you have any local files (docs, photos, etc) backed up to your favorite cloud service just in case things so pear shaped.

Let’s all give AT&T a slow clap.  It only took them three months after every other carrier released it but they finally have dropped Android Marshmallow on the Galaxy Note 5 for their customers.  Well done.

The OTA update for Marshmallow 6.0 is huge at 1.4GB so be prepared to wait a while for the download.  Once you get the update, it will take 20-30 minutes to install and your phone will reboot.  As always, I highly recommend that you have all your files and photos backed up before you begin the update process.

It wasn’t long ago that Blackberry as a company was on their deathbed.  Blackberry 10 was dying a death and the company switched gears to Android, making the secure and eagerly anticipated Blackberry Priv.  The device got reasonable but not glowing reviews and the price tag of $700 was laughable at best.  Still, the Priv did okay at first and both AT&T and T-Mobile picked up the device.  Now, nearly a year later, T-Mobile has dropped the Priv from their site and AT&T admits that the device is struggling with them.

What went wrong?

There are a lot of things that led to the situation Blackberry find themselves in at this point.  The question is, will we be on death watch once again for a company that just a handful of years ago ruled the enterprise mobile device market?

AT&T has announced that the ruggedized version of the Samsung Galaxy S7, the S7 Active, will be available start this Friday, June 10th.  The phone is fundamentally a Galaxy S7 that has been hardened to withstand drops and spills and packs a whopping 4000 mAh battery to keep you going all day long.  Keep in mind though that we aren’t talking about a S7 in a case.  The screen on the Active has been hardened as well to prevent it from breaking.  If you need a truly rugged phone, this is a great option for you.