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BlackBerry Pearl 3G gets FCC clearance again, this time with T-Mobile 3G
Last time we went down this road, the Pearl 3G was earning its approvals on WCDMA 850 / 1900, meaning AT&T, Rogers, Bell, and Telus were all theoretically ready to roll. This time, it's the AWS version getting clearance -- in both 20- and 14-key flavors, no less -- giving T-Mobile USA along with Canada's WIND and Mobilicity everything they'd need to launch RIM's most consumer-friendly model. We still don't have confirmation either from T-Mobile or AT&T as to what their plans are for this thing, but at least we know we've got some legal hardware ready at this point.
Western Hemisphere getting behind AWS for 3G
There isn't necessarily any single morsel of news here, but 3G Americas -- the group responsible for keeping GSM on the up and up this side of the pond -- just wants everyone to know that it likes AWS' chances for gaining ground in this part of the world for new HSPA (and eventually, LTE) deployments. Yanks may know AWS better as the weird flavor of bandwidth T-Mobile has gotten stuck with for deploying its desperately overdue 3G services; it utilizes spectrum in both the 1700 and 2100MHz spaces to push bits around, and while it hasn't yet been commercially deployed on a wide scale, the consortium points out that AWS spectrum auctions are in the pipe for Canada, Chile, and Mexico, among others. Naturally, that's very good news for anyone who finds themselves shopping for an AWS handset down the road, seeing how broader support across borders leads to broader manufacturer support -- a fact that 3G Americas is also quick to note. European and Asian buy-in is another matter altogether, but we'll take what we can get.[Via Phone Scoop]
