T-Mobile announces “Smartphone Equality” plans
American carrier T-Mobile has just announced a new Smartphone Equality approach towards its plans and offerings which promises to not leave out those with low credit scores.
In a blog post, the CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere mentions how the industry has been cruel to people with lower credit scores. To qualify for this Smartphone Equality plan, you need to have paid your smartphone bill in time for 12 straight months, so your credit score will not come into account.
All T-Mobile wants to know is that you’re capable of paying the smartphone bill at the end of every month. The carrier says that this way, every customer will be able to enjoy all of its plans and offers on new devices.
Speaking about the new announcement, Legere said – “This new approach puts the relationships we’ve built with loyal customers above their credit scores. It’s a simpler, saner way to evaluate credit − our history with you. And it’s more effective. Because the simple truth is that our relationship with that customer is actually a better predictor of future behavior than their credit history.”
Source: T-Mobile
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Tell us how you really feel about the Microsoft Band
When we published our list of Engadget’s lowest-scored gadgets last month, quite a few readers took issue with the inclusion of the Microsoft Band on that list. In our original review, we dinged it for its poor battery life and for being incredibly uncomfortable, knocking the Band down to a score of 65 and placing it near the bottom of products we evaluated in 2014. But in the end, our review is really just one experience with Microsoft’s new fitness tracker. Now we’d like to hear what you, our readers, thought of the Microsoft Band. Was it comfortable on your wrist? Do you love the plethora of sensors offered in the device? How do you feel about the Microsoft Health service? Leave your thoughts in a review on the product page for the Microsoft Band, and we’ll feature the most interesting and insightful comments in a future post.
Comments have been turned off for this post. Head to our database to write your review! If you don’t have a forum/database account, sign up here!
343 Industries to beta test next Halo: The Master Chief Collection update
Things have been rough for Halo: The Master Chief Collection to say the least. Now it appears that 343 Industries is looking to smooth things over a bit by beta testing its next content patch starting tomorrow, January 23.
Apple shows off upcoming retail store in China with a superb mural [update]
Update: Apple has uploaded an new version of the clip with English subtitles, embedded above.
Original Story: Apple plans to open five new stores in China before the New Year hits the region. One of the upcoming stores is located in Hangzhou and has been shown off in a new promotional video starring calligrapher Wang Dongling, who created a sizeable mural currently on display.
The mural is in fact the West Lake poem, written Chinese poet Su Shi, which translates to:
The light of water sparkles on a sunny day,
and misty mountains lend excitement to the rain.
I like to compare the west lake to “Miss West”.
Pretty in a gay dress, and pretty in simple again.
The artwork itself has been attached to the store since the beginning of this month, but now Apple has provided an insight into the work behind the end result. The new Apple Store is expected to open on January 24 at 9am local time.
Check out the video on Apple’s Chinese website and see how Dongling makes the art look incredibly easy to replicate.
Source: Apple (Chinese)
Boost Mobile rewards auto paying customers with extra data
Boost Mobile wants to reward its Auto Re-Boost customers for signing up for automatic monthly payments. Starting February 3, Sprint’s prepaid brand will offer a Data Boost plan that allows for 2.5GB of 4G LTE data for $35 per month. Indeed, this is more than twice the normal data allotment for more traditional paying customers.The plan will be offered to both new and existing customers.
As an added incentive, Boost is offering new patrons a free month of service just for signing up. Should you port your phone number over Boost will give you up to $100 off the price of any phone, regardless of where you come from. The only catch is that you’ve got to sign up for the Data Boost plan.
The $100 phone credit will be available from February 3 until March 31, 2015. It’s not clear whether the Data Boost plan will go away or if this is the new norm. We’re hoping for the latter.
A few highlights from Boost Mobile:
- Boost is the only domestic prepaid unlimited carrier to offer a single-line plan that includes unlimited talk, text and data with 2.5GB of high-speed 3G/4G LTE data a month for as low as $35/month
- T-Mobile customers spend $50/month for 3GB of high-speed data; Boost gives two more gigabytes of high-speed data for $5 less
- MetroPCS customers spend $40/month for 2GB of high-speed data; Boost gives 500 more megabytes of high-speed data for $5 less
The post Boost Mobile rewards auto paying customers with extra data appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Deal Alert: Grab the Jabra Solemate Bluetooth Speaker from Woot for $65
Jabra is known to put out some quality electronic equipment, though sometimes trying to find their products for a cheap price can be difficult. If you’re looking for a powerful Bluetooth speaker, this may be your lucky day. Woot is currently selling the Jabra Solemate Bluetooth Speaker for only $64.99 today, which is a massive 68% off the list price. The only speaker available on Woot is the black model, which usually runs for $149.99 on Amazon.
The build quality of the Solemate speaker is really what sets it apart from the rest. It features three front-facing speakers: two acoustic tweeters and one subwoofer. It even has a proprietary passive bass radiator, Bluetooth and NFC support, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack for connecting to non-Bluetooth-enabled devices. The speaker comes with a sound bag which provides additional protection from sun, sand and moisture. Out of almost 700 customer reviews on Amazon, the speaker has still achieved 4.5/5 star rating, which is pretty impressive.
Woot only has the speaker on sale for the next 9 hours, so you better hurry if you’d like to save some money on this device.
Buy the Jabra Solemate Bluetooth Speaker from Woot for $64.99
New pictures of the HTC One M9 leak out
After stumbling across some shady looking images of the HTC One M9 Plus, a new leak is now giving us a fresh glimpse of what could almost certainly be the One M9 which is expected to break cover on the 1st of March.
The smartphone is only shown from the front and not the back, so we don’t have a complete look of the device yet. But from these images, it’s clear that HTC is yet again going to score full marks in the design department.
The BoomSound speakers appear to be well in place, while the front camera looks slightly enlarged, giving credence to reports of the company using a 13-megapixel or 4-megapixel “Ultrapixel” sensor with the new flagship.
It is also noticeable that HTC has moved the power button to the right near the volume rocker, which makes it all the more easier to access. The display size isn’t expected to be increased with the One M9, but it’s good to know that HTC is willing to make changes to what is already a stellar design.
The smartphone is expected to be sporting a 5 inch 1080p display, 3GB of RAM, the octa core Snapdragon 810 SoC, a 20.7-megapixel rear camera, a 2,840 mAh battery and Android 5.0 Lollipop with Sense 7.0 on board.
Via: Phandroid
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Apple’s iPhone is Most Popular in Alaska and Montana [iOS Blog]
A new study that measures iPhone usage rates by state suggests that Apple’s iPhone is most popular in states like Alaska, Montana, Vermont, New York, Kansas, and Mississippi. The study, conducted by Chitika Insights on December 25 through December 31, sampled “hundreds of millions” of U.S.-based iPhone ad impressions to determine the percentage of iPhone users in each state.
Each of the above listed states, along with many states in New England, saw between 55 and 65 percent of smartphone traffic coming from iPhones. Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan saw the lowest amount of traffic coming from iPhones, at 40 to 44 percent. New Mexico was the state with the lowest iPhone usage.
According to Chitika, iPhone usage rates did not correlate to geography or raw population figures, but there was some relationship to both population density and education level. A higher median income was also associated with iPhone usage, but that could be a result of education level, as those two variables go hand in hand. In states with higher education levels and denser populations, iPhone usage tended to be higher.
In a similar study conducted in 2011, Montana was one of the few states where iPhone usage outpaced Android usage. In many states the iPhone is not dominant, but the two usage maps provide an interesting look at how iPhone adoption has grown by state over the past four years. Many states where BlackBerry dominated, for example, are now seeing high iPhone usage.
Chitika’s study is not the first to correlate iPhone usage with higher education and income levels. Several other studies have also suggested that iPhone owners are, on average, wealthier and higher educated than other smartphone owners.
AIVAnet 