Nokia’s making camera phones with lens experts Zeiss again, and we can’t wait

Why it matters to you

A great camera is one of the top reasons to buy a certain phone, and Nokia and Zeiss made amazing camera phones for years.

Nokia and optics expert Zeiss have announced an exclusive partnership deal that will see the once-legendary collaboration make a return to the world of smartphone photography. Specifically, it’s Nokia-owner HMD Global that has signed Zeiss up, and the pair will be working on new photographic systems for future Nokia smartphones. Additionally, the Zeiss brand name will feature on those devices worthy of its attention.

Don’t pass this off as a mere branding exercise, either. The long-term agreement will see HMD Global and Zeiss work together on all aspects of Nokia smartphone cameras. Zeiss will collaborate on camera optics, of course, but it will also assist with the software experience, services offered, and even the screen quality of the phone itself. It’s exclusive, too, so we won’t see Zeiss’s work on any other phones.

HMD Global’s CEO Arto Nummela is understandably excited about the potential. He says he’s aware we want more than just a great smartphone camera today, and expect “a complete imaging experience that doesn’t just set the standard but redefines it.” He promises the Zeiss partnership will help Nokia deliver this.

If you’re a relative newcomer to smartphones, and by this point are wondering what all the fuss is about, let us explain. There was a time when Nokia ruled smartphone cameras, and it did so with Zeiss (at the time under the Carl Zeiss brand name) optics. While the 2012 Nokia 808 PureView, or 2013 Lumia 1020 are probably the last Nokia camera phones with a Zeiss lens to wow smartphone photographers, the partnership extends back to 2005, and produced many other notable camera phones in Nokia’s highly regarded N Series, including the award-winning N95. At the time, there was nothing quite like the N95’s 5-megapixel, f/2.8 aperture camera; it was arguably the first “modern” camera phone, and extremely influential in the industry.

It’s not just this history that makes us excited to see the first devices from HMD Global and Zeiss. Huawei and Leica have shown how successful a camera-related partnership can be today, with the superb dual-lens camera on the Huawei P9, Huawei P10, and the Huawei Mate 9. We’re hopeful a Zeiss-equipped Nokia phone can meet the expectations many will have of it; there’s no news on when the first models will arrive, however.

Origin Neuron review

Research Center:
Origin Neuron

It’s always exciting when an Origin desktop lands in the Digital Trends test lab. With excellent enclosures, top-end hardware, and perfect assembly, the Origin Millennium held the top spot as our favorite gaming desktop until the Digital Storm Aventum dethroned it. Now, as our Origin Neuron review will show, the Origin team wants the crown back.

Fitted with an overclocked Core i7-7700K, 32GB of 3,000MHz memory, two GTX 1080 Tis, and a 512GB Samsung 960 Pro, it’s hard to imagine a better equipped gaming rig. It costs a healthy $4,200, which may sound like a lot, but as we’ll see, is quite reasonable.

There’s a lot more to building a hardcore gaming desktop than just slamming the most expensive parts in it, and few companies know that better than Origin. Is it time to name a new king?

A real looker

Origin uses a lot of custom enclosures for its systems, but the Neuron offers two off-the-shelf case options — the Phantek Evolv, and the Fractal Design Mini C. Both cases are quite popular, and our review unit arrived in the tempered glass version of the Phantek Evolv, a beautiful case with a unique look. It’s tough, elegant, and the build quality is top notch. There are no panel gaps to speak of, and there are little touches like cushioned magnets to hold the tempered glass in place without any screws.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

We prefer seeing custom enclosures when we review a desktop this expensive, but the case Origin picked here is gorgeous. It also benefits from Origin’s attention to detail, which is evident in how the case lighting works. Origin has used parts that are all compatible with the Asus Strix motherboard’s built-in color management. From the G.Skill memory, to the fans, to the extra lighting, everything looks bright and cohesive. Competitors that focus less on the details, such as the AVADirect Avant, skip this important step.

Still, there are two small problems with the Phantek Evolv used for the Origin Neuron. The first is that, like any tempered glass case, it’s not exactly easy to move. It isn’t heavy, but there isn’t a good place to grab, or any handles, so it’s best if this system stays in one place. At least it’s compact for a gaming desktop, so it’s easy to hug and carry. Airflow can also be an issue, as the front of the case has a large, solid panel that only intakes from the side. Origin sidesteps the issue with a massive 360mm CPU radiator in the front that pulls a lot of air.

We do wonder if Origin will ever go with a custom case for it smaller systems, as it has in its mid-tower and full tower gaming systems. Yet the quality demonstrated in the Neuron proves even an off-the-shelf case can offer opportunity for artistry. The company went the extra mile here, and the result is a spectacular rig.

Plugs for days

Like other custom-built systems, port configuration will vary based on which motherboard and GPU you select while configuring the computer. Our review unit was fitted with the top-end options for both, so there was no shortage of wired and wireless connections.

A lot of custom system builders struggle with lighting, but Origin nails it.

The motherboard was an Asus ROG Strix Z270G, a Micro ATX board that didn’t sacrifice where it counts, with a full set of four DIMM slots running at up to 4,000MHz, two M.2 slots, and two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. The back of the system featured four USB 3.1 gen 1, plus a USB 3.1 gen 2 with Type-A and Type-C, two USB 2.0, Ethernet, 6.1 and optical audio, HDMI, DisplayPort, plus 802.11ac 2X2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1. The Phanteks case has an extra pair of USB 3.1 ports in the front, with audio in and out.

The pair of GTX 1080 Ti cards offers a wealth of high-end graphical outputs, with an important caveat. With the cards running in true Nvidia SLI, only the outputs on one card will work properly. That includes three DisplayPort and one HDMI. If you need more, you can disable SLI to drop the combined performance, but open the second card’s video outputs.

Easy access

Everything in the system is easily accessible, thanks to the off-the-shelf Phanteks case, which is designed with enthusiast builds in mind. A metal basement protects the PSU and extra cables, but it was easy to remove to grab some extra power. The swinging tempered glass side panels helped make access easy even without any tools.

Origin Neuron Compared To

Alienware Area 51 (2017)

MSI Trident 9S6-B90611-02S

Digital Storm Velox (Kaby Lake)

Cybertron CLX Ra

Acer Predator G1

Falcon Northwest Mach V (2016)

Digital Storm Aventum 3

Digital Storm Velox

Falcon Northwest Talon (2015)

Origin Millennium (2014)

Acer Predator G3 (AG3-605-UR20)

Falcon Northwest Mach V

iBuyPower Erebus

Gateway FX6800-01e

HP Blackbird 002

Off-the-shelf cases may not be as unique as custom enclosures, but this one provides a lot for future upgrades. Custom built systems like the iBuyPower Revolt 2 look fancy, but can make accessing some parts a pain. The AVADirect Avant and Digital Storm Velox both have similar accessibility, but at the cost of a much larger chassis footprint.

Overclock it

We’ve seen Intel’s Core i7-7700K in a lot of high-end systems, often with a tall overclock over the chip’s 4.2GHz base clock and 4.5GHz Turbo Boost. Origin pushed our review unit’s chip to an astonishing 5.1GHz overclock, the overclock we’ve ever witnessed in a production desktop, thanks to a massive 360mm radiator at the front of the case. It was paired up with 32GB of G.Skill RAM. Let’s see how it fares in our benchmarks.

As expected, that extra 100MHz, and the gobs of fast RAM, helped propel the Neuron into the top spot in our system roundup. Only the Ryzen 7 1800X in the Velocity Micro M60 squeaks out a faster time in our Handbrake 4K conversion test, but it has twice the cores. Even the Digital Storm Velox, which sat at 5.0GHz, was a noticeable amount behind the Origin Neuron.

We should note that Origin charges $75 for overclocking. That’s on the high end for such service, and Falcon Northwest doesn’t charge for it at all.

Storage solutions

High-end systems deserve high-end storage, and the Neuron is no exception. The boot drive in our review unit was a screaming fast PCIe-powered Samsung 960 Pro 512GB, and there are two 2TB flash-accelerated FireCuda data drives standing right behind it, waiting for extra files.

Holy cow. We’re no stranger to the 960 Pro, but we’re impressed by these scores. Only the Velocity Micro, also equipped with Samsung’s best, manages to squeeze ahead of the Neuron. Why one performs better is up for debate, although faster PCIe and M.2 drives often benefit from plenty of airflow, which could be the culprit. Either way, both drives are insanely fast, and users can look forward to near-instant boot and load times.

More power than ever

With the serious work out of the way, it’s time to check out the gaming. Our review unit was equipped with a pair of GTX 1080 Ti GPUs which is the most allowed , the most graphical power you can pack into a consumer machine. That equals a whopping 22GB of video memory across both cards, and a whole lot of horsepower. Both cards were Founders Edition units with blower fans, which Origin also took the time to overclock.

Once again, the Neuron surprises us by passing 30,000 in 3DMark’s Fire Strike benchmark. It was the first system we’ve had through the lab to do so. Now that we’ve seen what it can do in synthetic tests, let’s check out some real gaming.

Setting aside Civilization VI, the Origin Neuron claimed the top spot, with a few exceptions, in every other game in our test suite. It never dropped below a 60 frame per second average at 1440p, even in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, with the settings on ultra. Only systems in the upper performance echelon have claimed that honor.

Let’s return to Civilization VI for a moment. We’ve found that not only is the game more CPU intensive than most titles, but it only takes advantage of one GPU. Even without the help of the second card, the Neuron held its own well, but traded blows with the other systems that had at least one GTX 1080 Ti.

Just the essentials

The seriously fast and sexy Origin Neuron managed to impress us at every turn

Origin systems have typically arrived sporting very little apart from the operating system and its included utilities. The Neuron had a bit more installed on it this time around, but it’s all good stuff. A small handful of unobtrusive Asus ROG applications handled the system lighting, thermal management, and smart caching, while EVGA Precision XOC managed overclocking on the GPUs. These are all necessary programs likely to show up on any high-end gaming rig.

Warranty

Origin offers a variety of warranty services with its custom-built systems, and all of them include lifetime technical support and free labor. The most basic offering also provides one year of replacement parts, and Origin will cover shipping for the first 45 days. Upgrades bring that shipping coverage up to one year, and extended the replacement and free shipping up to three years.

Digital Storm offers a similar warranty, with three years of free labor, but only one year of free parts. Shipping is covered for the first 60 days, which is two weeks more than Origin. AVADirect offers a stronger three-year warranty with the Avant, which is definitely above average for the category. Falcon Northwest also offers a three-year warranty for most of its systems at a similar price point.

Our Take

The seriously fast and sexy Origin Neuron managed to impress us at every turn, even without Origin’s attractive custom enclosures. Its Core i7-7700K, two GTX 1080 Tis, and 32GB of colorful RAM are exactly the sort of parts you’d find in a rig built by an experienced home user. Plus, the CPU and GPU are overclocked as only a team of engineers with access to a pile of chips and a solid test bench can.

Is there a better alternative?

There’s no shortage of competing products, but it’s hard to find one that’s strictly better. The Digital Storm Velox doesn’t quite squeeze the same performance out of identical parts, and it costs $800 more, while taking up almost twice the space. The AVADirect Avant is also quite large, and had performance at the same price point as the Neuron, but it has its own issues. At just under $4,200, the Origin Neuron is the supreme choice for performance seekers in tune with current trends.

How long will it last?

With a lofty overclock and a huge excess of graphical power, we have no doubt the Origin Neuron can weather increasing gaming and processing demands while keeping its cool. So will any system at the price point, however. That’s what you get for spending more on a gaming rig.

Should you buy it?

Absolutely. The Origin Neuron takes all the power of more expensive machines, and chops the price down, while cutting the footprint. It’s attractive, powerful, customizable, and a surprisingly good deal, even if it doesn’t sound like it. Origin has put a lot of time and care into crafting the perfect gaming desktop, and the Neuron is damn close.

The origami-inspired Fodi phone stand’s so strong, it even supports your laptop

Why it matters to you

We want to watch video comfortably on our phones when out and about, but don’t want to carry a bulky stand. The Fodi provides a cool solution.

Sometimes even the simplest ideas and products turn out to be surprisingly versatile. The Fodi is more than just a basic stand for your smartphone. It’s super thin and weighs almost nothing, but is strong enough to hold a laptop in place, and mixes origami-inspired techniques with a smart design to make it standout in a pretty crowded space.

The Fodi is just 1mm thick, and weighs 40 grams. When unfolded, it’s not much longer than a paperback book, so it’s easy to slip into a bag or between the screen and keyboard of a closed laptop. While we’ve seen folding stands before, this isn’t a flimsy piece of cardboard that will disintegrate at the first sign of water, or gradually lose its shape and become useless. The polypropylene fiber paper Fodi is made from resists water and stains, and can be wiped clean. The various colorful designs make it look great, and few other stands can claim to have been designed by a real-life, award-winning origami expert.

We’ve been trying out an early version of Fodi for a few days, and its incredibly easy to transform it from its convenient flat state to a handy stand. Pre-defined sections fold naturally into place, so you don’t have to be an origami master to get it right, and magnets hold it there. There are two main positions, giving two different degrees of screen elevation. It’s large enough to hold an iPhone 7 Plus, so will happily cope with most modern smartphones.

However, the structure itself is incredibly strong, and can hold up to 20kg, which means not only will it also keep your tablet held upright, it will support your laptop too. If you have a preference for typing on an angled keyboard, the Fodi is a great portable stand to help achieve this on the move. Be aware that the way it angles a laptop may mean the rubber feet aren’t in contact with the desk top, depending on the model of computer you’re using. It worked with our Apple MacBook Air and Huawei MateBook X though.

If you think a Fodi would fold itself easily into your life, you can get one through Kickstarter at the moment, where it costs just $14 and comes with a clever magnetic cable holder to keep charging cables neat and tidy. Delivery is expected to take place in October this year.

The origami-inspired Fodi phone stand’s so strong, it even supports your laptop

Why it matters to you

We want to watch video comfortably on our phones when out and about, but don’t want to carry a bulky stand. The Fodi provides a cool solution.

Sometimes even the simplest ideas and products turn out to be surprisingly versatile. The Fodi is more than just a basic stand for your smartphone. It’s super thin and weighs almost nothing, but is strong enough to hold a laptop in place, and mixes origami-inspired techniques with a smart design to make it standout in a pretty crowded space.

The Fodi is just 1mm thick, and weighs 40 grams. When unfolded, it’s not much longer than a paperback book, so it’s easy to slip into a bag or between the screen and keyboard of a closed laptop. While we’ve seen folding stands before, this isn’t a flimsy piece of cardboard that will disintegrate at the first sign of water, or gradually lose its shape and become useless. The polypropylene fiber paper Fodi is made from resists water and stains, and can be wiped clean. The various colorful designs make it look great, and few other stands can claim to have been designed by a real-life, award-winning origami expert.

We’ve been trying out an early version of Fodi for a few days, and its incredibly easy to transform it from its convenient flat state to a handy stand. Pre-defined sections fold naturally into place, so you don’t have to be an origami master to get it right, and magnets hold it there. There are two main positions, giving two different degrees of screen elevation. It’s large enough to hold an iPhone 7 Plus, so will happily cope with most modern smartphones.

However, the structure itself is incredibly strong, and can hold up to 20kg, which means not only will it also keep your tablet held upright, it will support your laptop too. If you have a preference for typing on an angled keyboard, the Fodi is a great portable stand to help achieve this on the move. Be aware that the way it angles a laptop may mean the rubber feet aren’t in contact with the desk top, depending on the model of computer you’re using. It worked with our Apple MacBook Air and Huawei MateBook X though.

If you think a Fodi would fold itself easily into your life, you can get one through Kickstarter at the moment, where it costs just $14 and comes with a clever magnetic cable holder to keep charging cables neat and tidy. Delivery is expected to take place in October this year.

Edit backgrounds, alter voices and send Snapchat Paperclip links in latest update

Why it matters to you

Snapchat users can now add links, edit photo backgrounds, or even add voice effects, thanks to a new update.

Snapchat is ending the link boycott: Snap Inc began rolling out an update that allows users to attach links, cut the background out of photos and add augmented voice effects. Snapchat Paperclip links let users swipe to see an attached link while the remaining updates expand on the platform’s photo editing and sharing tools. The link capability and added photo and voice features rolles out globally June 5, according to TechCrunch.

Snapchat Paperclip links allows users to attach a link to a photo before sending. Users can access the feature by tapping on the paperclip icon and pasting a link. On the other end, viewers can swipe to see the link without leaving the Snapchat app thanks to a built-in browser. While links weren’t entirely banned on Snapchat before, the platform previously only allowed links on sponsored and Discover posts.

Snap Inc. is working to make sure the new feature doesn’t present users with something they didn’t want to see. The new feature uses Google Safe Browsing tools as well as additional safety nets developed by Snap itself. Snaps with links will also show a small preview before users swipe to follow the link.

Along with Snapchat Paperclip links, the platform is launching more photo tools with what Snap is calling Backdrops. The new feature is a reversal of the traditional Snapchat tools that allow users to augment their face with a mask and instead adds graphics to the background. Backdrops at first look like a giant (or repeating) sticker that covers the entire image. But then users can cut out the subject of the photo by tracing on the touchscreen, which will leave the Backdrop only on the background of the image.

The feature isn’t as instant as masks since the program can’t automatically detect the background as it can a face, but it brings more features that fans of the augmented reality photo features are likely going to appreciate.

The final feature launched on Wednesday lets users add not just their face but their voice to Snaps. Images that are paired with a recording (accessible with a tap on the microphone icon) can now alter user’s voices to sound like a robot, a cat, or several other “voice filters.”

The update expands what Snapchat is most loved for — fun augmented reality camera effects and the much-copied Stories feature.

Moto E4 Plus with 5000mAh battery is landing in India on July 12

The Moto E4 Plus promises two-day battery life and an unencumbered software experience.

India is a key market for Motorola, and the brand isn’t wasting any time in launching its latest products in the country. After debuting the Moto C series last month, the manufacturer is set to introduce the Moto E4 Plus in the country on July 12.

A massive 5000mAh battery requires an electrifying partnership!#MotoE4Plus on @FlipkartUnveiling on 12/07 at 12 pmhttps://t.co/b7hNAgnk0P pic.twitter.com/YTnmGStgJl

— Moto India (@Moto_IND) July 5, 2017

The standard variant of the Moto E4 comes with a 2800mAh battery, but the E4 Plus offers a massive 5000mAh battery that should easily last two days on a full charge. Other specs include a 5.5-inch Full HD display, MediaTek MT6737 chipset with four Cortex A53 cores, 3GB of RAM, 16GB storage, 13MP rear camera, and a 5MP front shooter.

The phone will be available through Flipkart, and we’ll have to wait until July 12 to learn how much it costs. There are several great devices in this segment, but Motorola’s focus on an uncluttered software experience combined with two-day battery life make the Moto E4 Plus an enticing option. What do you think will be the pricing of Motorola’s upcoming phone in India?

See at Flipkart

Nokia is once again partnering with Zeiss to make its cameras stand out

Nokia is teaming up with Zeiss to deliver the “ultimate imaging experience possible on a smartphone.”

Nokia’s lengthy collaboration with Zeiss resulted in some of the best cameras in the smartphone segment (RIP Lumia 1020), and that partnership is kicking off once again. HMD Global — the company with the exclusive rights to Nokia’s brand name — has announced that it has signed an exclusive partnership with Zeiss to deliver the “ultimate imaging experience possible on a smartphone” and set “new imaging standards within the smartphone industry.”

Nokia teamed up with Zeiss over a decade ago, bringing several innovations to this industry, including the first multi-megapixel mobile phone, PureView, and more. By rekindling its partnership, Nokia is looking to once again raise the bar for smartphone cameras:

With a joint ambition to advance the quality of the total imaging experience on smartphones spanning the entire ecosystem from software, services, through to screen quality, and optic design, the partnership will see ZEISS and HMD Global co-develop standard-defining imaging capabilities and will bring the ZEISS brand back to Nokia smartphones.

From Arto Nummela, CEO of HMD Global:

Collaborating with ZEISS is an important part of our commitment to always deliver the very best experience for our customers. Our fans want more than a great smartphone camera, they want a complete imaging experience that doesn’t just set the standard but redefines it. Our fans expect it and, together with ZEISS, we’re delivering it – co-developed imaging excellence for all.

The Nokia phones that already made their debut this year — the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and the Nokia 6 — are aimed at the budget segment, and it looks like the Zeiss optics will be reserved for Nokia’s oft-rumored flagship, the Nokia 9. Earlier leaks showed off two dual 13MP cameras at the back, and Nokia alluded the same in a tweet announcing the partnership with Zeiss:

Nokia smartphones to feature ZEISS optics. Together, we look forward to an exciting journey into the future of smartphone imaging. pic.twitter.com/GNWwuMAveK

— ZEISS Camera Lenses (@ZEISSLenses) July 6, 2017

It’ll certainly be interesting to see what comes out of Nokia’s renewed partnership with Zeiss, considering camera quality is a key differentiator in the high-end segment.

OnePlus 5 OxygenOS 4.5.5 update brings Wi-Fi, calling + video improvements

OnePlus continues to push ahead with incremental updates for its new flagship phone.

OnePlus has today started rolling out yet another software update for the OnePlus 5. The upgrade to OxygenOS 4.5.5 takes care of a handful of remaining bugs, while making improvements to areas like Wi-Fi performance, video recording, battery life and call quality — as the official changelog shows:

Optimizations:

• Further improvements to Wi-Fi connectivity
• Clearer voice calling
• Video recording now consumes less battery
• Vibration intensity when receiving calls is now tuned to a gentler level

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed Wi-Fi signal consistently being displayed as weak
• Fixed certain apps not able to work under IPv6 network settings
• To restore connectivity to a Windows 10 PC, please turn off USB debugging prior to the upgrade

For what it’s worth, there’s no mention of the “jelly scrolling” effect that some OnePlus 5 owners are noticing, which is understood to be a hardware characteristic and won’t be addressed in software.

The update won’t be available on all OnePlus 5 phones right away — instead, OnePlus is doing its usual staged rollout thing, where a small percentage get the update on day one, before the floodgates are opened sometime later. For the impatient among us, the old VPN trick (using an app like Opera VPN or TunnelBear) to switch to a Canadian IP address will allow you to get in on the first wave of downloads for this version.

Updating your OnePlus 5 today? Let us know how you’re getting on down in the comments!

OnePlus 5

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Three UK zero-rates some streaming services with new ‘Go Binge’ feature

New Three subscribers can stream from Netflix, TVPlayer, Deezer and SoundCloud without eating into their data allowances.

Three UK has followed the lead of T-Mobile over in the U.S., with a new offering that zero-rates data from certain streaming services, so they don’t count against customers’ data allowances. “Go Binge” (even the branding is remarkably similar to T-Mo’s BingeOn) is included as standard for new and upgrading Three customers on SIM-only, “Advanced” handset and mobile broadband contract plans with allowances of 4GB or more per month.

Existing customers will need to change to a new, more expensive plan to take advantage of Go Binge. Three says Go Binge can be used with its “Feel at Home” roaming service, which allows customers to roam at no extra cost in 60 territories around the world — though other fair-use restrictions still apply.

Three has hinted that more services will be added in the future.

The number of services supported by Go Binge is pretty limited right now — only Netflix, TVPlayer, Deezer and SoundCloud at launch — so it’s disappointing to see staples like BBC iPlayer and Spotify missing the boat. However Three says it’s “always looking to add more services” — and for what it’s worth, BingeOn also started small, adding more supported services over time.

So despite the big marketing push behind Go Binge, it’s starting out relatively small, both in its base of supported streaming platforms, and the customers who’ll be able to take advantage of the feature — remember, none of Three’s current subscribers will benefit unless they upgrade or switch to a more expensive contract. It’s also unclear how Go Binge will coexist with Three’s unlimited “All You Can Eat” data plans in the long term — free streaming could eventually be used to coax subscribers off unlimited plans.

Three does at least appear to have dodged the bullet of downgraded video quality, an area of controversy for T-Mobile in the early days of its unlimited streaming offering. Jonathan Morris reports that streaming quality on Go Binge won’t be restricted in any way.

What big carriers won’t tell you about prepaid alternative carriers

Being informed is great for us, but big carriers would rather keep you in the dark when shopping for phone service.

There are plenty of reasons to use an MVNO instead of one of the four major network providers here in the U.S. We have talked about many of them and most center on the service to cost ratio and how an MVNO can usually be a better value for most people. We think that value is a big consideration — who doesn’t love paying less without getting less?

There are a few little things that carriers won’t mention about MVNOs that can make using one even more attractive. Here are a few things you won’t hear about when you see a commercial from the Big Four.

These are the cheapest data plans you can buy in the U.S.

They are MVNOs themselves

All four carriers have at least one MVNO that is part of their corporate entity. They can incorporate them individually and appoint someone else as a company CEO, but when you follow the money back to the bank it’s going to the same account in the end.

All four carriers run one or more MVNOs.

They have several reasons for doing this. One is that if they didn’t, they would risk losing more customers to smaller companies that operate independently as MVNOs. For example, Virgin Mobile USA and Boost Mobile are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Sprint Corporation. Together they have about 11 million subscribers. Sprint can’t afford to lose revenue from 11 million accounts, and the revenue from Boost and Virgin USA goes directly to Sprint.

What is an alternative carrier?

Sprint also has its own Sprint-branded prepaid service. It doesn’t try to hide the fact that it owns Boost or Virgin USA, but it lets them act as if they were their own MVNO because they can offer different plans at different prices marketed to all types of customers. You can feel good about saving money on Boost instead of paying more for a Sprint plan, even though you are on a Sprint-owned plan and network.

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Sprint counts everyone with a Sprint postpaid plan and one of its MVNO subscribers in its subscriber count every quarter because it’s all the same company. It sees the value in an MVNO for the same reasons we see the value: to get more for less. It’s not just Sprint: AT&T and T-Mobile both run their own MVNOs for the very same reasons. (Verizon offers prepaid service, but only as part of its main brand. It also sells its service to other alternative carriers.)

You are paying for things you don’t need or use

If you have a post-paid account with one of the four major operators in the U.S. you are paying for things you don’t use. You don’t use them because you don’t need them.

Customer service, international “extras” and other plan perks aren’t free. Neither is the cost to develop and maintain extra services the companies offer like live TV broadcasts or cloud storage accounts or NASCAR sponsorships. The cost of all these things, as well as corporate facilities and accountants and lawyers, come from you and me. It’s part of our monthly bill and a big reason why you pay more for a data plan than you would through an MVNO. Many of us make use of some of these services, but think about the ones you don’t use and are still paying for.

An MVNO buys bulk data from these same carriers at a highly discounted rate. It can pass those savings on to you because it isn’t building billion-dollar corporate headquarters or paying millions of dollars to be an internet television service provider. It deals in phone calls and data plans. That’s what it sells you and that’s what you are paying for.

Hardly anyone needs huge data plans

Someone is going to comment that he use hundreds of gigabytes per month on his unlimited data plan. I’m sure that’s true, and it’s great that there’s an option to do it. But the simple fact is that most of us don’t use very much data, and the smaller 1GB or 2GB plans are all we would ever need. We still want to help save you money if you need unlimited data, though.

Which unlimited plan should you buy: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon?

This doesn’t diminish anyone’s need for 100GB of data per month. If you need that much, stick with one of the Big Four and their unlimited plans. But if you don’t need a shared family plan with 10GB of data for your family, you don’t have to pay for it. An alternative carrier usually offers small data packages or services that can be maintained by paying for calls and texts that you can top up with data as you need it. This can mean substantial savings over the course of a year compared to even the smallest “smartphone” data package from a postpaid carrier.

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They use the same wires as an MVNO

T-Mobile (for example) has the same network footprint as MetroPCS (which is an MVNO that’s really part of T-Mobile like we talked about earlier) or any other MVNO that uses T-Mobile’s network. It doesn’t split the network into different areas when it sells wholesale data to another company.

A carrier only has one network and it’s the one it also sells to MVNOs.

If a carrier tells you it has a bigger network footprint that an MVNO that uses its network, it’s because it is paying another carrier to use its data network in some places. This is more common that you think, and even the U.S. telecom giants that are AT&T and Verizon have agreements with other carriers for places where their networks needs some help. If you are in one of these areas, some features of the plan you pay for aren’t going to work, and your data speeds may be diminished, but it’s still better than a dead spot. And cheaper than network expansion.

This isn’t a bad thing. Plenty of people travel all over the place and need service to follow them, and roaming agreements between companies help make that happen. But for the majority of its network coverage map, the service and data connection is the same as an MVNO that uses its network.

They love MVNOs as much as we do

Selling bulk data to an MVNO is very profitable for a big carrier. It doesn’t need to do anything extra when selling wholesale data to an MVNO so it means it is getting more (money) for less (work).

Big carriers have to maintain the network for their own customers. They have to expand the network for their own customers. They have to improve the network for their own customers. These are real costs, and selling data to an MVNO helps the bottom line because there isn’t anything they need to do after they sell it.

They can even make more money by offering things like billing services and in-store sales for an MVNO as an extra service. And after all that, your MVNO can still offer service cheaper than the company it is buying it from. Makes one wonder just how much profit is in every megabyte of data the Big Four sells, doesn’t it?

An MVNO isn’t making deals with hardware companies

At least not as many deals and not the same kinds of deals.

For a long time, AT&T was very interested in getting you to buy an iPhone every year. That’s because it had a special deal with Apple, and for that deal to be profitable it had to sell a whole lot of iPhones. That’s great for Apple and AT&T, but not so great for you and me.

A Galaxy S7 works great on an MVNO, but nobody is pressuring you to buy one.

That hasn’t changed now that everyone can use a Galaxy S7 on any network (it’s awesome on an MVNO, by the way!). Apple, Samsung, LG and everyone else works with the major carriers to find ways to make even more money, and employees are directed to do certain things to help make it happen.

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When you sign up for service from an alternative carrier, you might find a deal on an older model phone or a refurbished phone, but nobody is there to steer you towards a specific brand or model. MVNOs are interested in selling you good, cheap phone service. Not the next big thing from Samsung or Apple.

And that next big thing from Samsung or Apple will work just fine if it’s what you really want.

Alternative carriers are businesses and designed to make money. They aren’t out to be our friends or to operate at a loss. But there are plenty of reasons why they can make money by selling the same service for a lot less, and the Big Four carriers don’t really want to talk about them.

Updated June 2017: Made sure all the information was still great and current.

Alternative carriers (MVNOS)

• What is an alternative mobile carrier?
• What are the advantages of going with an alternative carrier?
• How to make sure your phone works on a prepaid alternative carrier
• 8 Important Considerations When Switching To An MVNO
• These are the cheapest data plans you can buy in the U.S.
• Mint SIM vs. Cricket Wireless: Which is better for you?