How do I unlock my T-Mobile phone?

Hate the game but not the player? Then leave your carrier behind and take your phone with you!

If you’re attached to your current phone but not T-Mobile, then you can unlock your phone and take it to another provider. You’ll just have to make sure it’s compatible with other networks. If you want to switch to Verizon, then you probably won’t have any luck with an unlocked phone; however, if you’re switching to AT&T you’ll have a better time.

• T-Mobile’s unlock requirements
• How can I request an unlock code from T-Mobile?
• Is there a cost involved

Advertisement

T-Mobile’s unlock requirements

You can’t just ask T-Mobile to unlock your phone; you must meet certain requirements to request an unlock code.

Here’s a rundown of T-Mobile’s unlock requirements:

• You have to have bought your phone from T-Mobile.
• Your phone can’t be reported as lost, stolen, or blocked to T-Mobile.
• Your account with T-Mobile cannot already be canceled and it must be in good standing (meaning that if you haven’t paid your bill in three years, you’re probably not getting unlocked).
• You cannot have requested more than two unlock codes, per line of service, in the last year. So, if you have two phones in your name, you can’t have asked for more than four unlock codes.
• Your phone has to satisfy all of T-Mobile’s unlocking terms and conditions.
• T-Mobile can request proof of purchase and “certain other exceptions may apply.” So, don’t say anything nasty about Catherine Zeta-Jones.

How can I request an unlock code from T-Mobile?

There are a couple different ways to get an unlock code from T-Mobile. The first and most obvious one is to contact T-Mobile customer service or hit up your nearest T-Mobile store and ask. They make it pretty clear on a few pages of their website that they reserve the right to deny any request.

Android users also have the option to download the Mobile Device Unlock app, which you can use to unlock your phone right on your phone. The best part is that you don’t even have to manually enter a code. Once downloaded, you can request and unlock your phone all within the app itself.

Is there a cost involved?

If you meet the eligibility requirements, then unlocking is free. If you’re trying to unlock a prepaid phone that’s been active for less than a year, you have to have had more than $100 in refills since the device’s first use date (not including the initial activation payment).

For non-T-Mobile customers, it’s hard to say that T-Mobile has an official stance. You can definitely request an unlock code, but if someone sold you the unit without paying it off, then there will be a balance owed and you will not be able to unlock it without paying for it (prices will vary depending on the balance). That likely also means that the account associated with the phone was no in good standing, and therefore make the phone ineligible, as per the requirements.

Advertisement

Deal: HTC promo takes $100 off U11, $300 off U Ultra

Between October 2 and 8, HTC is slashing prices across the board on all of its top smartphones, including the U11, U Ultra, and Bolt.

We’ve got a couple months to go before the holiday season truly goes into full force, but that doesn’t mean you can’t score some sweet deals leading up to the biggest shopping season of the year. HTC just announced its Green Is Good promotion that starts next week, and there are some fairly solid deals here.

The Green is Good promo officially starts on Monday, October 2, and ends the following Sunday on October 8. The current lineup of deals during that time is as follows:

• HTC U 11 – Final price of $549 after $100 off (plus free HTC gift pack)
• HTC U Ultra – Final price of $449 after $300 off
• HTC Bolt – Final price of $400 after $200 off
• Accessories are 50% off with purchase of a device
• Certain cases are 10%

To go along with these deals, HTC will also be giving away free prizes throughout the week. Gadgets that are up for grabs include the U11, U Ultra, Vive VR headset, Healthbox, and HTC gift packs. You can enter the giveaway here, and HTC will be announcing the winners on its official Twitter account.

See at HTC

HTC U11

• HTC U11 review
• HTC U11 specs
• Manufacturing the U11: Behind the scenes
• Join our U11 forums
• HTC U11 vs Galaxy S8
• HTC U11 vs LG G6

Amazon
Sprint
HTC

Google Photos now uses AI to automatically create photo books for you

In the latest update to Google Photos, the app will now automatically create photo books based on past trips, events, and more.

At Google I/O this past May, Google introduced a lot of new features for Photos. While Suggested Sharing and Shared Libraries made sharing photos with friends considerably easier from phone to phone, Photo Books added a greatly appreciated physical touch to all of our digital memories. Today, Google announced that it’s bringing some of its suggested sharing magic over to photo books to make creating them even quicker.

When in the photo books section of Google Photos, you’ll now see a new tab titled “Suggested books.” Here, Google will automatically create photo books for you based on pictures it thinks you’ll want to see added to a new book. Google says that suggested photo books will now be generated after taking a lot of photos during a trip, of your kids, and more, and it’s a small touch that we can see being quite useful for a lot of people.

Photo books cost $9.99 and $19.99 for a 20-page softcover and hardcover book respectively, and adding additional pages past the 20 mark will cost $0.35 for a softcover book and $0.65 for a hardcover one.

Unfortunately, photo books are still only available to use in the United States. There isn’t any word from Google in regards to if/when the feature will make its way to other regions, but if you happen to live in the U.S. and haven’t messed around with photo books yet, now might be the perfect time to change that.

Google Photos: Everything you need to know

The Best Sideload VR apps for Gear VR

Sideload VR offers apps and games not available through the Play Store.

If you’ve spent much time away from the Play Store looking for apps and games to play, then chances are you’ve already heard of Sideload VR. This app not only lets you load and play 3rd party applications, but it also has a small store of apps and games for you to check out. We spent some time finding the best of the best, and we’ve collected them for you here!

Read more at VRHeads

Google app now has 3 new home screen shortcuts

Some people are now able to add home screen shortcuts for the Dining, Entertainment, and Sports sections of it.

Earlier this year, Google added shortcuts above its Feed cards for quickly accessing certain areas of the app – including options for checking the weather, finding ATMs near you, opening Google Translate, tracking down a new restaurant, and plenty more. In an effort to make getting to these shortcuts even easier, some users are reporting that they can now add certain ones to their home screens.

At this time, it appears that you can now add home screen icons for the Eat & Drink, Entertainment, and Sports sections of the Google app. When viewing any of these sections within Google, you’ll see a message either the top or bottom of your screen asking if you’d like to add a shortcut for that particular section to your home screen.

Devices that are on Android 8.0 Oreo will have these icons added as Pinned Shortcuts, meaning that you’ll see a small logo for the Google app near the bottom right of any of them that you add. If you’re running a version of Android Nougat or earlier, they’ll be added as regular App Shortcuts without the Google logo. The shortcuts will work the same either way, but that’s why you might see a change in their appearance across different devices.

The feature doesn’t appear to be widely rolled out to everyone quite yet, as I’m only able to add a Dining icon that opens up the Eat & Drink part of the Google app when tapped.

The only other home screen shortcut that could previously be added from the Google app was one for Weather, so it’s encouraging to see that Google is trying to expand this functionality to other areas. It’s not a game-changer or anything, but it does make navigating through all of Google’s many functions a little bit easier.

If you want to see if you have access to these new home screen shortcuts, they appear to be working on both the latest stable version of the Google app as well as the current beta (7.11 and 7.12 respectively).

Google’s longstanding search widget could add customization options soon

Survey: What are your mobile typing and messaging patterns?

What’s your messaging mindset? Take this survey and help us find out!

Every single day, all over the world, people are sending messages back and forth through a multitude of different services, and according to some estimates, more than half the world now uses a smartphone. That means there are a lot of folks out there tapping away on their devices using both virtual and physical keyboards.

But do folks enjoy the experience? Can those virtual and physical keyboards be improved? Do people abandon writing longer messages on their smartphones until they get to a computer where the typing experience is arguably better? These are all questions we have and to help get them answered, we have put together a little typing and messaging patterns on mobile survey that we hope you will take part in.

The survey is five simple questions about how many messages you send, what you do most on your smartphone and how you feel about the typing experience your smartphone offers. It shouldn’t take any more than five minutes to complete, and we certainly appreciate you taking the time to fill it out! You can fill it out in the embed below, or if that’s not working properly you can click on the link below.

Take the survey

Hardware is Table Stakes [#acpodcast]

Daniel Bader, Jerry Hildenbrand, Russell Holly, and Phil Nickinson talk about the motives and strategies behind some significant moves in the industry this year, including Google’s HTC deal and Amazon’s new Echo products and Fire TV 4K.

It’s update-mageddon! With Google extending security updates for Nexus 5X and 6P, and the Moto X Pure Edition just now getting Android 7.0, what can users reasonably expect from manufacturers in the way of support for devices they already own?

Finally, the Pixel 2 only days away—Google is offering up to $410 back when trading in your original Pixel through the Google Store. Now might be a good time to get on it!

Show Notes and Links:

• The Sony Xperia XZ1’s camera has pleasantly surprised me
• Google extends Nexus 5X and 6P security updates until Nov. 2018
• It’s September 2017, and the Moto X Pure Edition just got Android 7.0
• For Google, HTC deal is about the Pixel’s next decade
• Essential has probably sold around 5,000 Essential Phones since its release
• Amazon announces cheaper second-gen Echo with better audio, new design
• Amazon’s new Echo Connect brings landline phone calls to your Echo
• Amazon’s new Fire TV 4K supports Alexa, starts at $70
• New Amazon Echo Plus has ZigBee smart home hub built in, priced at $150
• Amazon’s new Echo Spot is like a smaller, rounder Echo Show
• Get up to $410 back when trading in your Pixel through Google Store

Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral354.mp3

Elon Musk’s Mars dream hinges on a giant new rocket

Last night, Elon Musk dumped more futuristic space tech ideas at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) than we’ve had possibly over the past decade. That includes a new spaceship, Mars and Moon missions, and even using rockets for high-speed trips here on Earth. “The future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we’re a space-faring civilization and multiplanetary species than if we’re not,” the SpaceX boss led off by saying. “You want to wake up in the morning and think, ‘The future’s gonna be great.’”

The presentation included elaborate plans for a moon base, an entire Mars city and 30-minute intercontinental travel, all aboard a brand-new rocket ship called the “BFR” (for “Big Fucking Rocket,” we assume). All of it seems completely crazy, and incredibly expensive, but Musk told us that if the BFR were to replace all of SpaceX’s current rockets, it would all be financially feasible.

The BFR (“Big Fucking Rocket”)

SpaceX plans to pare down its rocket lineup from three (the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon) to one: a much larger rocket code-named BFR — formerly the Interplanetary Transport System. “That’s really fundamental,” Musk said.

The BFR can carry more payload than any rocket ever, including the Saturn V Apollo ship. Because most of the parts will be reusable, it’s also the cheapest ever, Musk claims. It would be more reliable than the Falcon 9 because it would land with two engines. “I think we can get to a landing [safety level] that’s on par with the safest commercial airliners,” he said. It will also be precise enough to land back on its launch mounts, eliminating the need for legs.

The BFR will have a booster and upper stage that act like the Falcon 9’s upper stage and Dragon capsule in one. It features a “Delta” or small wing at the back of the rocket, with a split flap for pitch and roll control to handle atmospheric Earth and Mars landings, as well as lunar touchdowns.

The rocket itself will be approximately 106 meters (348 feet) long and 9 meters (30 feet) in diameter. Meanwhile, the second passenger and cargo stage is 157 feet long and will be able to take a payload of around 150 tons into low-Earth orbit, returning with 50 tons. By comparison, the Falcon Heavy, which has yet to fly, will carry about 30 tons into orbit.

For longer missions, the BFR second stage could be refueled in orbit by a drone “tanker” ship. It could take up to 240 passengers, but more likely around 100 people, to Mars and elsewhere. This second stage would also be equipped with a central storage section, galley, entertainment area and solar storm shelter.

The BFR will be powered by 31 Raptor engines, which run on methane and oxygen, rather than on kerosene and oxygen, like the Falcon 9’s engines. That technology will make it the “highest thrust-to-weight engine ever,” said Musk. Those potent engines will also be tiltable, to allow for SpaceX’s trademark propulsive landings.

Musk made it all seem like no big deal, but a lot of that tech has never flown. To demonstrate progress made so far, he added that SpaceX has already tested the Raptor engines for around 1,200 seconds and showed attendees a 40-second firing test, “typical for a Mars landing.”

Another challenge is the enormous cryogenic fuel tanks. SpaceX has already tested a 264,000-gallon prototype by (of course) blowing it up and launching it 300 feet into the ocean. “We now have a pretty good sense of what it takes to build a huge carbon-fiber tank that can hold cryogenic liquid,” Musk cracked.

Near-term missions and the BFR

SpaceX is aiming for 20 Falcon 9 missions by the end of 2017, and 30 in 2018, “approximately half of all orbital launches that occur next year on Earth,” Musk said. He also reminded us that the Falcon 9 has now completed 16 successful landings in a row.

The Falcon Heavy is apparently still on track to launch this year, adding that the project has proven more difficult than expected. “It sounds like it should be easy because it’s two stages of Falcon 9 strapped on as boosters,” he said. “It’s actually not. But the boosters have all now been tested and they’re on their way to Cape Canaveral.”

Another key piece is the Dragon v2 capsule, the successor to the Dragon. The latter ship requires the astronaut-operated Canadarm for the final docking stage. Dragon v2, Musk added, “will directly dock with the space station and do so with zero human intervention.” SpaceX apparently used the Dragon spaceship to help perfect the heat shields for the BFR.

When the BFR launches, it will be able to handle all of SpaceX’s commercial launches, despite seeming like ridiculous overkill. It could be used to launch multiple satellites at once, or send up a space telescope much bigger than the Hubble. The BFR could even be used to collect space debris — you just open the large bay door and scoop it up.

Moon Base Alpha and Mars City

The BFR rocket would be able to land on the lunar surface and even return through high-orbit refueling. With its huge carrying capacity, that would offer the ability to build “Moon Base Alpha or a lunar base” on the moon at some point, said Musk. “It’s 2017 — we should have a lunar base by now. What the hell’s going on?” he added. The ship would be equipped with a crane, allowing astronauts to easily unload cargo.

As for Mars, it’s awfully similar to the plans laid out last year at IAC, but much more concrete. SpaceX plans to send two BFR cargo missions to Mars by 2022, as Musk had detailed before. Those missions, which would also require high-orbital refueling, would “confirm water resources and identify hazards.” They’d also “place power, mining and life support infrastructure for future flights,” SpaceX detailed in a slide.

By 2024, it would run a pair of cargo missions and a pair of crew missions, four in total. Those would bring personnel and equipment and, most important, get a propellant production plant set up. Getting back from Mars would require fuel production, and, Musk said, it could be done relatively easily on the Red Planet by harvesting ice water from the surface and CO2 from the atmosphere.

Early Mars astronauts would also start building a base and preparing for expansion. That would start out fairly simply, but “over time, [it would involve] terraforming Mars and making it a really nice place to be,” said Musk. It would also involve a large number of solar panels, which Tesla could handily supply, of course.

Intercontinental BFR transportation

The final peg in Musk’s plan involves using the BFR to transport humans here on Earth. The aim is to first bring brave voyagers to sea-based rocket pads. From there, a BFR would launch to space at a maximum speed of 18,000 miles per hour, finishing with a propulsive landing back on a pad, allowing trips from Hong Kong to Singapore in 22 minutes, or London to New York in 29 minutes. The longest journeys would take less than an hour.

“Most of what people would consider to be long-distance trips would be completed in less than half an hour,” Musk said. “Once you’re out of the atmosphere, it would be smooth as silk. No turbulence, nothing.”

This sounds crazy, right?

Somehow, all of these plans make sense coming out of Musk’s mouth. SpaceX hasn’t even flown the Falcon Heavy, let alone the BFR. As a reminder, it’s the largest rocket ever and depends on a host of unproven technology. What’s more, SpaceX hasn’t really said how it would pay for all this stuff.

The plan’s saving grace is that it’s not coming from a wild-eyed futurist, but from Musk, who has pulled off a lot of crazy stuff that once seemed impossible. At next year’s IAC, we’ll probably have a much better sense of how things are going. If SpaceX can complete the 30 missions planned for next year and stick to its schedule with the Falcon Heavy, all while quickly developing the BFR — then it might have a shot. If there are any hitches, however, expect things to get pushed back: 2022 is still five years away.

LG’s Sprint-exclusive V30+ arrives on October 13th

Assuming the iPhone 8 and 8+ haven’t done anything for you, and Google’s Pixel successor doesn’t blow your hair back, maybe the LG V30+ will do the trick. If you’re a Sprint customer who’s been patiently waiting, the phone, with its 128GB of internal storage, better pack-in earbuds and HiFi Quad DAC, will be available exclusively on your carrier come October 13th. That’s soon, and only eight days after its vloggable cousin (pictured above) is available from other carriers.

New and existing customers will save $30 if they buy online, and if you buy two, for a limited time your hardware lease payment will only be $38 for two versus $30 each. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure is trying his damnedest to win customers to his company, and exclusive hardware is certainly one way to do it.

Source: Businesswire

Hulu feeds ’90s nostalgia with ‘Boy Meets World’ and ‘Dinosaurs’

Back in the ’90s, a Friday like today would’ve brought me endless excitement. Obviously, it meant the weekend had arrived and thus no school and no waking up early. But it also meant TGIF — the best chunk of programming of the entire week in the opinion of tweens across the country. While TGIF is no more, you will be able to recreate your own lineup tonight if you wish because Hulu has added iconic TGIF series Boy Meets World and Dinosaurs to its streaming service along with Home Improvement. Thank goodness it’s Friday.

Hulu announced that it was adding some key TGIF gems to its library back in July — Perfect Strangers, Full House and Family Matters — as well as non-TGIF but still awesome Step by Step and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. Those and the three series just announced will all be available for streaming starting today.

I suggest you watch one episode of each tonight and maybe throw in a little Sabrina the Teenage Witch for good measure. TGIF is back even if it is a little DIY.

Source: Hulu