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Mobile Miscellany: week of April 30th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, we saw the first rollout of Verizon LTE from one of its rural partners, and both the Optimus L7 and Xperia U were spotted for Fido. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of April 30th, 2012.
Mobile Miscellany: week of April 23rd, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, we learned that ZTE intends to release a phablet of its own, and Samsung unseated Nokia as the world's largest supplier of mobile phones. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of April 23rd, 2012.
Virgin Mobile Canada announces HTC One S giveaway, suggests $600 retail price
Much like within the US, the HTC One S has yet to invade the Canadian shoreline. While the smartphone is expected to arrive at a number of carriers, Virgin Mobile has never been one to pass up a promotional opportunity. Accordingly, it's launched a teaser page for HTC's brawny middleweight, along with a giveaway that promises a free handset to two lucky individuals. Curiously, it seems the contest rules may have outed Virgin's off-contract price for the One S, and while the $600 figure is no shocker, it certainly gives purchasers an idea of what to expect. In related news, the Bell subsidiary is also currently offering the HTC One S to five beta testers -- so, if you're feeling like a good samaritan, feel free to make your case in the second source link below.
Virgin and Boost to go 4G, makes Sprint's WiMAX feel wanted
If you were thinking "how wonderful, but..." when you learned that Boost was getting a new 4G handset, hold that thought. If reports from Technobuffalo are to be believed, both Boost and Virgin Mobile will be renewing their vows with host provider Sprint and getting access to its 4G spread. Surprisingly, this apparently only extends to the existing WiMAX, not LTE infrastructure. While WiMAX isn't Sprint's favorite 4G flavor, it has at least committed to keeping it going for a while yet, enough time for you to upgrade once more at least.
Sprint and LG launch Optimus Elite: entry-level specifications, planet-saving hopes
The successor to 2010's Optimus S, LG's readied another low-middleweight smartphone. Main features on the Optimus Elite include Android 2,3, a 3.5-inch screen, an 800MHz processor, NFC and a five-megapixel camera. So there's nothing particularly thrilling, but 50GB of free storage from Box could sweeten the deal for some. Eco-friendly nods include sustainable build materials, with 50 percent made from recycled plastic, with the hazardous likes of mercury, PVC and halogens also nixed from the device. Like other Sprint-LG team-ups toting green credentials, the charger ekes out minimal power when not charging the phone. Planeteers can pick up the Optimus Elite online -- in "Titan" silver and white -- from April 22, priced at $30 on a two-year contract. Sprint will also hand over a $50 reward card for your troubles and LG says the Optimus Elite will eventually arrive, at least in silver, on Virgin Mobile too. For a few more details, you can catch LG and Sprint emoting over Mother Earth in the press release below.
April Fools' Day roundup: the big toys, the small toys and the cats
Depending on where you are right now, you're either pretty much done with April Fools' Day (hence our bloated inbox thanks to all you lovely tipsters!) or it's just about to start on your side of the world. In fact, some of this year's submissions already got a head start, including the excellent 8-bit quest mode in Google Maps. Oh, don't worry, there's plenty more from Mountain View and the usual participants this year -- we've rounded up the best of the lot right after the break for your amusement. Keep an eye on this as we will be adding new goodies to the list throughout the day. [Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
LG Optimus Elite gets photographed, decked out in Sprint and Virgin livery
Not a fan of that 5-inch, IPS display on the Optimus Vu? Perhaps, you'd be more interested in a smaller, lesser-specced member of the family. According to PocketNow, the Optimus Elite is sprinting its way toward The Now Network and Virgin Mobile, with an expected launch on the former "rather soon" and the latter as early as May. The Elite is allegedly packing some run-of-the-mill features, including a 3.5-inch, HVGA screen alongside a five-megapixel rear shooter and an 800Mhz CPU. Both flavors look identical, save for Virgin's prepaid flavor going with a darker look, which you can gander at by jumping past the break.
Refresh Roundup: week of March 19th, 2012
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Virgin Mobile USA's text and data services are out across the USA
As customers of Sprint's contract-averse MVNO have probably noticed, Virgin Mobile has been having a national outage of its text and data services for at least several hours now. While we're hearing from some customers it's been out all day, acknowledgement of the disruption only just became Facebook official. There's no word yet when it will be resolved however, as we're only getting the "engineers are working to resolve it" boilerplate for now. Until then we'd suggest enjoying the few activities that are still possible without wireless internet access, if those are even still a thing.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Virgin Media wins London Underground WiFi contract, provides conduit for tube station tweets
Remember the ten dozen WiFi hotspots London's underground said it was prepping ahead of the 2012 Olympic games? Virgin Media says they'll be free -- at least to start. By the time July rolls around, 80 stations will be rocking that sweet, sweet internet, and an additional 40 tube stops will go live by the end of the year. The service will be gratis during the summer, Virgin's press release explains, but will eventually join the outfit's broadband and mobile subscription network -- doling out only basic travel information and a pay-as-you-go option to the unsubscribed. Just make sure you finish Facebooking before your train arrives -- the tubes themselves are as dark as ever. Read on for Virgin Media's official press release.
Virgin Media TiVo rolling out Red Button interactive TV services for Premier League and more
While there's no doubt that Virgin Media customers have taken well to the company's TiVo HD DVR offering, so far switching has meant giving up certain interactive TV services supported elsewhere. they're getting one back now, as the company announced it's kicking off the rollout of Red Button interactivity to the TiVo on Sky Sports HD, letting footy fans catch more extended highlights of Premier League games. There's more on the way too, with support planned for the upcoming F1 channel and BBC services in April. Check out the press release after the break for more details on what will be supported and when, assuming one will be watching the games on TV instead of diving into hooliganism, or whatever it is fans of football do, we'll keep our handegg thank you very much.
Virgin Media's Q4 2011 report: Brits love TiVo, Fast Broadband, Vampire Diaries
Virgin Media's school report for both last year and last quarter has been pretty positive for the Branson-Branded service. It pulled down £4 billion ($6.3 billion) in revenue for the year and made its first ever profit with a tidy £76 million ($120 million). In the last quarter alone, it added 273,000 TiVo subscribers, a figure that doubled its overall figure to 435,000. Favorite shows included Coronation Street, which was most caught-up with and The Vampire Diaries, which was the most binge-watched series. It's also clear that us Britons do love some super-fast broadband, 133,000 users plumped for speeds over 30MB in Q4. Flush with cash, it's going to buy back some shares and double consumers broadband speeds as it promised in January -- which we suppose is a fair way to spend your first profit, even if we'd have preferred to go to Disneyland.
Virgin Mobile targets March 23rd to throttle data, take candy from children
It's been a long time coming, but after much backpedaling, Virgin Mobile is throwing down the gauntlet -- it'll begin throttling data speeds come March 23rd. Like expected, each month that a user exceeds 2.5GB of data usage, he or she will have their downloads capped at 256Kbps for the remainder of the billing cycle. Data hungry users will receive a text message once the governor kicks in, and for those who simply can't stand to be held back, Virgin Mobile will allow subscribers to begin a new month of billing at the drop of a hat -- talk about unbridled generosity. Looking to dig deeper? You'll find a complete rundown of the new contractual terms just after the break.[Candy photo via Shutterstock]
Virgin Gaming hosting million-dollar EA Sports online tournament
If you're convinced that you're the best at virtual kicking, throwing, catching and running, Virgin Gaming and EA have teamed up to make your skillset into a profitable exercise. Well, potentially profitable -- the two are hosting an EA Sports online tournament for the PS3 versions of three titles: Players can compete for a $400k cash prize in both Madden NFL 12 and FIFA 12, and a $200k prize in NHL 12. Why half as much for the latter of the three? Simple: Hockey is way easier. (Please don't beat us up, hockey-people.) Before you start chasing the dream of free money, you'll want to read the fine print -- to become one of 1,000 finalists (who must pay their own way to the finals in New York City), players must drop a $10 entry fee, then win six games in a row. If they break their six-game streak, they'll have to start all over, shelling out another $10 to enter again. Of course, folks who are uncertain in their abilities can drop a cool $400, and automatically become one of the finalists. We suppose that's the ultimate sport: Having lots of money to begin with. Interested parties can read the full rules and enlist on the Virgin Gaming site -- just keep an eye out for, you know, fees.
Galaxy Nexus headed to Bell and Virgin Mobile in Canada, Three in the UK (update: Rogers too)
We expect there will be more to come, but you can now officially add at least three more carriers to the list confirmed to be offering the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Those include Bell and Virgin Mobile in Canada, and Three in the UK, which joins O2 as a confirmed carrier for the flagship Ice Cream Sandwich phone across the pond. The two Canadian carriers aren't offering a firm release date or pricing details just yet -- though they're happy to take your email address and keep you posted -- but Three lists an off-contract price of £499.99 (or just under $800) and is promising "earliest delivery" by November 18th. Update: You can now add one more to that list -- Rogers has confirmed on Twitter that it will be offering the Galaxy Nexus in January. Reservations start tomorrow. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Virgin Media's TiVos get updated with Spotify, iOS app support and more
Over in the UK, Virgin Media has given a lucky few (3,500 or so) access to a pilot update for their TiVo DVRs that adds many of the features we'd heard were on the way, plus some extras. Word out of Crawley and Cambridge is that multiroom streaming is enabled, there's faster performance and an official community post mentions compatibility with TiVo's iOS apps, BBC iPlayer integration and music streaming from Spotify. A wider rollout is expected before Christmas, for a full list of changes check out the links below.
LG Optimus Slider on Virgin Mobile at CTIA E&A 2011, we go hands-on (video)
Curiously enough, the prepaid market had as much of a field day at this week's CTIA Enterprise & Applications as anyone else; we already got our fair share of hands-on time with the Samsung Transfix for Cricket, and shortly afterward beheld our eyes (and mandibles) on the LG Optimus Slider, the latest beauty making a beeline to Virgin Mobile as early as this coming Monday. Aside from the obvious slide-out QWERTY, the Android 2.3.4 device will feature a 3.2-inch HVGA display, a 3.2MP camera and microSD support up to 32GB, and will be available without a contract for $200. Head underneath to take a look at the full image gallery and hands-on video. %Gallery-136414% Zachary Lutz contributed to this report.
Virgin Atlantic launches low-carbon fuel, aims to halve carbon footprint (video)
Richard Branson was in London today to announce "one of the most exciting developments of our lifetime." Right, so that'd be SpaceShipFour, we presume, capable of landing on the moon? No, not quite, but a low-carbon fuel would definitely be our second guess. Virgin Atlantic is partnering with LanzaTech, a company that specializes in carbon re-use technology, to recycle waste gasses from 65 percent of the world's steel mills. In Branson's own words, they'll be "taking much of the s**t from up the chimney stacks and turning it into aviation fuel." By capturing those gases that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, Virgin would be able to reduce its overall carbon footprint without necessarily reducing the carbon output of its individual aircraft. The airline plans to have the fuel ready for commercial use by 2014, and will begin trials on its routes from London to Shanghai and Delhi around that time -- two cities that have become synonymous with pollution. Jump past the break for an audio-less demonstration video -- that's right, there's nothing wrong with your speakers.
Virgin Mobile announces LG Optimus Slider, sneakily postpones data throttling until 2012
Virgin Mobile was originally intending to celebrate the new month by flipping the switch on throttled data, but it decided to push those plans back and announce a couple new phones instead. The prepaid carrier announced the upcoming launch of the LG Optimus Slider (note: it's not the Optimus Note) and the HTC Wildfire S in October and, in the same press release, nonchalantly mentioned that it would delay reducing throughput speeds for heavy users until sometime next year. No word on why this came about, but we'll take good news whenever we can get it. The LG Optimus Slider is an Android 2.3 device with a 3.2-inch HVGA display, a 3.2MP camera and 1,500mAh battery, and will be available online beginning October 16th for $200 and in Sprint stores October 30th. The HTC Wildfire S will show up in silver at Best Buy and in white at Radio Shack starting October 23rd, and can be yours for $200 as well. We can imagine which announcement you're most excited for. Check out both press releases in their glory after the break.
Gogo to bring enhanced WiFi to Virgin America, expands video streaming on American Airlines
Virgin America's in-flight perks are getting even perkier. This week, the domestic carrier announced that it's bringing Gogo's ATG-4 service aboard its fleet of aircraft, in a move that promises to enhance in-flight WiFi capacity by a factor of four. The upgrade is slated to roll out during the first half of 2012, when the company will begin outfitting its planes with Gogo's directional antenna, dual-modem and EV-DO Rev. B technologies. But VA isn't the only airline getting in on the Gogo game, as the in-flight entertainment company announced this week that it's expanding its new video streaming service to American Airlines, as well. American, as you may recall, became the first airline to test the Gogo Vision service back in August, aboard its fleet of 15 Boeing 767-200 planes. Now, the streaming product is slated to expand to a full 400 of AA's aircraft, bringing about 200 movies and TV shows to entertainment-starved passengers. Movies will be available for 24 hour rentals, with TV purchases good for a full 72 hours. Unexpired rentals, meanwhile, will still be available once you land and can be accessed with the same browser and device you used aboard the flight. No word on final pricing, though Gogo is extending its introductory offer ($1 per TV show and $4 per movie) through October 15th. Taxi past the break for more details, in a pair of press releases.
