Mobile Miscellany: week of December 3rd, 2012
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, new phones from HTC landed in the US and Canada (along with Europe and China), and T-Mobile flipped the HSPA+ switch for its 1900MHz network in three more cities -- perfect for that newly available unlocked iPhone 5. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of December 3rd, 2012.
HTC One VX now available at AT&T for $50
$50 on contract sure snags a lot more than it used to. Case in point is the HTC One VX, which is now available at AT&T for this very tempting price. The LTE-ready phone features a 4.5-inch qHD Super LCD 2 display, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera and 8GB of on-board storage that can be expanded via a microSD slot. Sadly, the One VX ships out of the gate with Ice Cream Sandwich. You knew there had to be a downside, right? [Android Central]
HTC 8S arrives in Canada at Virgin, 8X at Cincinnati Bell
Yep. It's been a busy week for HTC. In addition to launching the One VX on AT&T, the One 8S in Europe and the Butterfly in China, it's managed to give Canada and a regional carrier in the US some love. Shoppers of Virgin Mobile in Canada will now find the HTC 8S as part of the roster, which is available for $80 on contract or a very reasonable $280 outright. This mid-tier Windows Phone 8 device includes a 4-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, a 5-megapixel camera and 4GB of built-in storage that's expandable with a microSD card.
Meanwhile, the higher-end HTC 8X is now available at Cincinnati Bell, which is one of the few AWS providers in the US other than T-Mobile. Here, you'll find the phone for $300 on contract (before a $100 mail-in rebate). The 8X includes a 4.3-inch 720p Super LCD 2 display, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, an 8-megapixel camera and 16GB of non-expandable storage. [MobileSyrup, Cincinnati Bell PR]
T-Mobile activates HSPA+ over 1900MHz in three more areas
Seattle, Minneapolis and Atlanta. These are the three most recent cities to receive HSPA+ service from T-Mobile across the 1,900MHz spectrum. As a happy benefit, owners of unlocked iPhones can now enjoy worthwhile speeds aboard Magenta's network in these areas, which are also now one step closer toward receiving LTE service from T-Mobile. [TmoNews]
Other random tidbits
Vimeo is now available for Windows Phone 8 and fully supports tap-to-share. [Windows Phone Blog]
Nokia Suite was updated with support for Windows 8 and the upcoming Office 2013. [All About Symbian]
[Mobile Miscellany photo credit: Thristian / Flickr]
[Seattle photo credit: Bernt Rostad / Flickr]
