AT&T has been trying to pick up the pieces after Verizon launched an incredibly aggressive ad campaign against the former’s network. We’ve all seen the commercials, the lawsuits and just about everything else in between. Surprisingly, but appropriately, Apple is jumping into the mix to back up the network that is home to its iPhone in the United States. One of AT&T’s strengths is that its 3G network does voice and data simultaneously unlike CDMA/EV-DO, but Apple does a much better job in getting that point across in these new commercials. Any one of us that has been stuck in a situation where you needed to end a phone call because you had to access a website, email or app will know exactly what AT&T is talking about. Hit the jump for a peek at the new ads due to start running later today across many different TV networks.

Read

Oh yes, we’re back at it! To show our appreciation for making BGR a part of your daily lives, we’re giving away (5) AT&T BlackBerry Bold 9700s. They will be retail units in AT&T boxes but will also be unlocked. We’ll also keep this short and simple: drop in a comment, win a BlackBerry. Here are the official rules…

• To enter, please leave a comment below telling us why you think you should win a brand new BlackBerry Bold 9700.
• This giveaway will run for one week, until Sunday, November 29th, 2009. We will announce the winners sometime shortly after that.
• Please make sure to leave only one comment as leaving more than one will automatically disqualify your entry.
• This is open to anyone over the age of 18, worldwide. (If you are outside of the U.S. and packages shipped to you are subject to an import tax, you will be responsible for that, but we’ll cover shipping.)
• Also be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you win. Email no worky, no prize.

That’s it! Good luck.

What’s that sound we hear in the distance? It’s probably cash registers at AT&T going wild as today, the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 is publicly available for sale. The device was offered up to Premiere customers starting at the top of the week, but since general availability is this morning, we have to ask… are you going to hit an AT&T store and grab RIM’s finest? Or maybe you’re on T-Mobile and snagged one already? Let us know in the comments!

So far, all of the Black Friday leaks we’ve seen haven’t been all that friendly to smartphone lovers, but according to our sources, Wirefly will be picking up the slack come Friday with the following deals:

Verizon BlackBerry Storm2: $0.99 for new subs / $29.99 for existing VZW customers (Friday only) followed by $9.99 / $49.99 until Monday

AT&T BlackBerry Bold 9700: $0 / $29.99 (Friday to Monday)

Sprint Samsung Moment: $79.99 / $99.99 (Friday to Monday)

If none of those phones catch your fancy, there are still some savings to be had as Wirefly will be waiving activations for AT&T and Verizon phones until Midnight on December 1st.

Read

We’ve just received a full spec list for the very blurry Motorola Motus and it’s pretty interesting. Why, you ask? Besides AT&T 3G support, the specs are pretty similar if not identical to the Motorola CLIQ. Our connect didn’t flat out tell us that the handset would be hitting AT&T, but hey, we can dream right? Here are the full specifications for the Motorola Motus:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100MHz)
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• 256MB RAM
• aGPS
• Wi-Fi
• 3.1″ capacitive 480×320 display
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Weight: 133g
• 1400mAh battery
• microSD slot
• Qualcomm MSM 7201A CPU
• MOTOBLUR

Last but not least, we’ve been told the Motus is not a slider but a unique “flip” phone. That’s all we’ve got for now, but we’ll keep you updated as always.

Thanks, Daddy G.!

Earlier today in Atlanta, Judge Timothy Batten, Sr. ruled against AT&T in its hunt for an injunction against Verizon’s “There’s A Map for That” ad campaign. While AT&T argued that the maps in the commercial were grossly misleading, Judge Batten felt that although”sneaky”, the fact that the ads could be “misunderstand” by the layperson doesn’t mean that they were “misleading.” The case isn’t completely closed, however, as AT&T has been granted a hearing on December 16th in which it’s lawyers will argue for the judgement to be repealed. In the meantime, AT&T has launched a rather feisty ad campaign of its own called “The Truth About 3G”. The ad campaign kicked off tonight with a TV spot starring Luke Wilson who espouses the advantages offered by AT&T: speed, the best smartphone selection, simultaneous voice and data and the over 100,000 applications. We have the first ad waiting for you after the jump, but first we have to ask — does anyone have any non-flaming thoughts on this matter?

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

Read – Injunction Denied

Read – The Truth About 3G

While it is set to go on sale November 22nd, business customers on AT&T have been able to order the 9700 starting yesterday morning. If you got in early enough, there’s a good chance your unit shipped out the same day just as ours did. Here’s a quick unboxing for anyone desperately waiting for their BlackBerry 9700s to arrive, and you can always re-read our BlackBerry 9700 review in case you really want to tear your hair out. Also, if anyone else picked up an AT&T unit, or even a T-Mobile unit for that matter, we salute you, friends. BlackBerry fiends need to stick together…

P.S. We’ve been told most AT&T store locations actually have BlackBerry 9700s in stock as of now, but they’re not supposed to sell them until the 22nd.

Click on over to our AT&T BlackBerry 9700 unboxing gallery!

Looks like AT&T is adding a few new handsets to its lineup for the holiday buying season as today, Ma’ Bell announced it will be carrying the BlackBerry 8520 and the new LG Shine II, all now added to its “best in the world smartphone lineup.” The Shine II is a 3G slider phone with a 2.2″ screen, stereo Bluetooth, Java 2.0, and a November 22nd release date. The Shine Part Deux will also set you back $119 with a 2-year commitment. Switching gears, the more familiar BlackBerry 8520 will boast the now-standard specs of: WiFi, a 320×240 display, 512 MHz processor, 256 MB of memory, and a 2 megapixel camera capable of video recording. The exact release date of the updated Curve was not specified but rather listed as within “the next few weeks.” Any takers?

Read 8520

Read Shine II

We’ve all seen the Verizon ads that make fun of AT&T’s network and the iPhone, and while it makes for a good chuckle, the folks at AT&T aren’t laughing. As a matter of fact, as you know, a lawsuit has been brought against Verizon to cease the airing of the ads. While the two rage on and settle the legal matter, AT&T has decided to take things into its own hands by publicly responding to the Verizon ad on its own site. Hit the jump for some of the key facts in that memo.

• AT&T’s wireless data coverage reaches 303 million people – or 97% of the U.S. population, where they live and work. Our data coverage consists of 3 different types of technology:
• 3G. 233 million people or 75% of the population are covered by AT&T’s 3G network, the nation’s fastest.
• EDGE. 301 million people or more than 96% of the population are covered by EDGE. With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE
• GPRS. Covers 303 million people, allowing you to talk, text, e-mail and access basic websites optimized for wireless.

AT&T is also dipping its finger into Verizon’s drink by stating that the latter can’t do data and voice at the same time, and its smartphone collection is nowhere near as popular as AT&T’s smartphone lineup (read: iPhone). AT&T kind of has a point, though. What do you guys think?

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Read

We all knew that the iPhone was going to start hitting more third-party retailers at some point, but we just didn’t think it would be this soon. RadioShack, or The Shack, has announced that it will be carrying the iPhone 3G and 3GS in select stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City at the end of this month. The company expects to have the iPhone available nationwide in 2010. So, for now, you’ll have to settle with Apple Stores, AT&T retail locations, Wal-Mart or Best Buy if you want to nab one. Come to think of it, there really is no shortage of suppliers so if you’re finally going to be eligible to upgrade or you want to pick one up on a whim, you can add another to the list of iPhone retailers to choose from. But just remember where all this Shack nonsense started, ok?

Read

If you’re a big telecommunications company there is the hard way to add 893,000 customers to your portfolio — by working to provide hardware and services that people value and want — then there is the easy way. Cutting a check. Today, the FCC gave AT&T the final go ahead to purchase US wireless carrier Centennial Wireless for a cool $944 million. The acquisition will bolster AT&T’s presence in the midwest, southwest, and Puerto Rico, although we’re not sure how, if at all, it will impact their 3G footprint. Centennial’s stockholders will receive $8.50/share for their troubles and AT&T is saying it will have Centennial’s stores re-branded by January of 2010. Any Centennial customers out there excited about being folded into Ma Bell?Read

It looks as if Dell’s Android handset is getting ready for prime time with AT&T as a new filing found on the FCC’s website has revealed the Mini 3iX. With both 850/1900 MHz bands of UMTS as well as Wi-Fi on board, the 3iX is likely to be identical to the Mini 3i which was unveiled in mid-August by China Mobile, the only difference being the aforementioned. If this is indeed the case then we’re looking at a 3.5″ 360×640 touchscreen display, 3 megapixel camera, A-GPS and support for Microsoft Exchange. The question is, will anybody even care?

[Via Unwired View]

Read

One of our connects just hit us up with this shot, and it would appear that RIM has a theme going on. Step 1: make successful handset in black, step 2: relaunch said handset in white. Almost a month after the vastly popular vanilla BlackBerry Bold hit the streets, AT&T and RIM are teaming up to bring you the WhiteBerry Curve 8900 sans color, or is it the presence of all the colors? Whatever. Now, the 8900 won’t have the sensual white leather back, but the white bezel looks pretty sexy to us; as a group that enjoys simultaneously eating Cheetos and text messaging we can’t say that we’re too upset about the omission of the white keyboard either. So what do you think? Is this the BlackBerry you’ve been waiting for? Actually, scratch that, this thing is already outdated. This is the BlackBerry you’ve been waiting for.

Thanks, Gabe Jr.!

No doubt most everyone has already seen Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” ad campaign and had a good chuckle over it, but apparently the big wigs at AT&T are the only ones not laughing and have decided to sue Verizon. The logic behind the move? AT&T feels Verizon is attempting to deliberately mislead the public with its map comparing Verizon’s nationwide 3G coverage to AT&T’s limited 3G coverage. Granted all major cities and towns have AT&T 3G, but AT&T would really like Verizon to show its EDGE network, which according to AT&T spans 1.75 million square miles and reaches 256 million people, a little bit of love on the map. Cute move AT&T, but you might want to think about transferring some money from your legal budget to your network upgrade budget so you can bolster up your fledgling 3G network.Read

Yesterday AT&T announced its third-quarter earnings, and while year-over-year revenue was down (along with the rest of the market) Ma’ Bell managed to beat analysts $0.50 earnings per share prediction by $0.04.  Not bad, AT&T. The earnings were largely due to AT&T’s wireless division — 2 million new lines of service and 4.3 million post-paid wireless activations (3.2 million of which were iPhones) — produced a 33.6% percent increase in wireless data revenues bringing this quarter’s total to $3.6 billion. Our fleet of iPhones can probably account for a couple million of that 3.6 number. We’re joking, relax. Hit the press release for all the dirty details.

Read

It’s always a lot of fun for us — and hopefully for you, the readers — any time we can run wild with pictures, news, and even reviews of an unannounced handset. Today, however, RIM spoiled our fun and formally announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Things like carriers, release dates and pricing have been withheld for the time being, but RIM has made a statement saying that we should all expect to see the BlackBerry 9700 go on sale “around the world beginning in November.” Spec wise, nothing has changed since our pre-release review, but just in case some of you forgot or weren’t paying a whole lot of attention, here’s a quick refresher on the critical specs:

• BlackBerry OS 5.0
• 624MHz CPU
• 256MB flash memory and support for microSD cards up to 32GB
• Quad-band UMTS/HSDPA (800/850/1900/2100 MHz) or tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (900/1700/2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with UMA support (carrier dependent)
• A-GPS
• 2.44″ HVGA+ display
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
• Optical trackpad
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP/AVCRP
• 1500 mAh battery
• 6 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby (3G)
• 109mm x 60mm x 14.1mm, 122g

In short, this is the BlackBerry device of your dreams. We’re expecting pretty much every single major GSM carrier on the planet to pick up the 9700 sooner or later, so we’ll be sure to keep the updates coming. As always, high res pics and a few other odds and ends are available after the jump.

UPDATE: AT&T, Rogers and T-Mobile have announced they will be carrying the Bold 9700 in the weeks ahead. AT&T and T-Mobile’s 9700 will go for $199.99 after a $100 MIR on 2-year deals while Rogers will be asking for $299.99 on a 3-year contract with a monthly minimum voice and data plan of $45. Bell and TELUS have yet to come forward with pricing but have confirmed they will be carrying the device.

Read

Businessmen and women have been able to get their hands on it for the past 10 days, but starting today AT&T will sell the HTC Tilt2 to us regular folk. The second Windows Phone Windows Mobile 6.5 handset to be offered by AT&T after the Pure, the Tilt2 is available for $299.99 on a 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate or $499.99 contract free. But we have to ask for the sake of stirring up a little Sunday discussion: Considering the fact that all four carriers in the US offer up the Tilt2 in one form or another, why pick AT&T over Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon?

Thanks, Alexander!

Read

Want a BlackBerry Bold? Is black just too dark and gloomy for you? Looks like your in luck. AT&T announced today, via Facebook of all places, that it will be releasing the BlackBerry Bold, white leather and all, on October 18th. No surprise to us of course, but what do you think? Is RIM becoming a little too Appley with their color scheme? Little too late now that the BlackBerry 9700 is right around the corner?

[Via Engadget Mobile]

Read

If you’re on a budget and don’t use much data, or any data at all, AT&T has a pretty killer deal lined up for GoPhone customers. Only announced a couple days ago, the new plan features unlimited talk and messaging (SMS, picture and video) for just $60 a month. Not too shabby, right? Considering the fact that unlimited messaging is $20 for an individual plan, you’re essentially getting unlimited calls for just $40. The best part is that calls to Canada and Mexico are included in that plan, which is even more incentive to those who frequently call those countries. Starting tomorrow, you can sign up for all-you-can-eat calling and messaging. Enjoy!

Read

We know that some of you might get tired of hearing us say it, but damn our connects are good. Yesterday at CTIA, RIM reps showcased the BlackBerry Bold in Diddy White. According to Giz, the folks that snapped these pics, the white Bold will make its AT&T debut on October 18th with a 2-year price of $199.99 (some price as existing Bold). Though it will only be available at “select stores”, we don’t think that a lot of people will lose sight of the BlackBerry 9700 to get their hands on this special affair. Hit the jump for one more pic.

Apparently when Dell went from carrier to carrier offering offering to make them handsets they weren’t as unsuccessful as we thought, for the Wall Street Journal has it on good authority that AT&T has commissioned Dell (where have we heard this before?) to make them an Android handset. Specifics are lacking at this point in time, but the device is reputed to be somewhat similar to the Mini 3i that Dell recently launched with China Mobile, in that it will have a “touch screen instead of a keypad as well as a tiny camera.” Alrighty. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have some Dell and AT&T ninjas to lean on for some intel.

Read

Could today have been a more exciting day? AT&T certainly thinks so, which is why it just announced it’s informing both Apple and the FCC of its network’s readiness and willingness to allow VoIP apps to operate over its 3G network. IPhone included. Wow. That’s a pretty awesome move, and totally out of left field. Hit the jump to check out AT&T’s press release.

AT&T EXTENDS VOIP TO 3G NETWORK FOR IPHONE

DALLAS, October 6, 2009 – AT&T today announced it has taken the steps necessary so that Apple can enable VoIP applications on iPhone to run on AT&T’s wireless network. Previously, VoIP applications on iPhone were enabled for Wi-Fi connectivity. For some time, AT&T has offered a variety of other wireless devices that enable VoIP applications on 3G, 2G and Wi-Fi networks. AT&T this afternoon informed Apple Inc. and the FCC of its decision.

In late summer, AT&T said it was taking a fresh look at VoIP capabilities on iPhone for use on AT&T’s 3G network, consistent with its regular review of device features and capabilities to ensure attractive options for consumers.

“iPhone is an innovative device that dramatically changed the game in wireless when it was introduced just two years ago,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “Today’s decision was made after evaluating our customers’ expectations and use of the device compared to dozens of others we offer.”

AT&T allows customers to download or launch on their wireless devices a multitude of compatible applications directly from any lawful Internet website. Additionally, because AT&T uses GSM technology, the most pervasive and open wireless technology platform in the world, we support customers using any GSM phone that works on AT&T’s frequencies.

Read

AT&T officially said sometime in the “coming weeks” as far as the Tilt 2 release date was concerned, but we’ve got that translated out for you — October 8th. Since we also got our hands on the internal training document (it’s dated October 2nd, so it’s very recent), we screencapped a couple slides for informational purposes. There are nice comparisons against the AT&T Pure as well as one on troubleshooting when the device crashes. Yeah.

Before you get too excited, sometimes Best Buy simply inputs incorrect dates into their systems when loading SKUs. What is incredibly interesting, besides the fact they’ve gone through the trouble to conceal these product names, is that in our leaked Holiday Playbook, Best Buy mentioned that October 25th would be a “key date for handsets entering our assortment.” Sounds pretty nice, right? We’ve been told the price range for the five handsets in here (full retail Best Buy pricing) is $249-$599. Five models though? We’d say BlackBerry 8520 in white, BlackBerry Storm 2, BlackBerry 9700, BlackBerry Bold in white, and maybe BlackBerry Curve 2 for Verizon, but this shows that all of them are for AT&T? Larger shot after the break!

Thanks, Jon!

UPDATE: As one of our commenters points out, SKU 65057 shows in AT&T’s systems as the Nokia 6350 and the 65050 shows as the Garmin Nuvifone.

Listen, it’s not like this official confirmation means too much as you could already buy an HTC Pure starting yesterday, but it’s always nice to have a shiny press release and embargo lift. The HTC Pure and Tilt 2 are AT&T’s very first Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets and feature HTC’s incredible TouchFLO3D UI layered beautifully on top of Windows Mobile. We checked out the Pure in person a little while back and it’s a little different than the stock HTC unit — a tad on the thick side, but with a dark blue case and a pretty angular look, it’s definitely a great touch-based WinMo device. It will run you $149.99 with a two-year contract and the Tilt2 will be available in the “coming weeks” for $299.00 also with a two-year agreement.

Read

While it might not be intended to be so, it’s generally an exceptional event if a given phone isn’t sold before its launch date by various carrier outlets. Case in point: the HTC Pure. We know over the past few days some AT&T locations begun receiving stock of the customized Touch Diamond2, but now word is that some of those locations are selling the Pure ahead of what is assumed to be its official release date of Tuesday. Overall, the Pure doesn’t appear to be packed with any surprises other than the disappointingly non-existent 3.5mm headphone jack. As we exclusively told you, the Pure is indeed going for $149.99 on a 2-year after a $100 MIR meaning that a lot of WinMo junkies are going to have a touch decision between the more affordable Pure and the better spec’d Imagio.

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

Read

We were lucky enough to get our hands on Best Buy Mobile’s entire Holiday Playbook and after combing through it, there’s a couple little nice nuggets of information. Really more confirmations than anything else, but hey, we aren’t ones to turn down info. Before we get to handsets specifically, it seems Best Buy has some pretty hard statistics on sales opportunities — check this out:

• The average store sees over 64,000 customers during October and November
• Out of those customers, only 1% receive an upgrade eligibility check on their accounts
• Of the 1% who get upgrade checks, around 30% are actually eligible for upgrades
• If stores increase the amount of customers checked to 2% from 1%, Best Buy Mobile would see an increase in revenue of around $20,000 for those two months, just off upgrading individuals
• After customers upgrade their handsets at Best Buy Mobile, around 16% of them come back and make other purchases later

They’ve really got it locked down, huh? Smart, smart, smart. Hit the break for some other juicy information we gathered!

In terms of hot upcoming products from now until the end of the year, here’s what Best Buy Mobile is pitching their sales staff to be ready for:

• Nokia Booklet netbook — October 25th launch, and can be activated on AT&T
• Sprint HTC Hero — launching October 11th with a presale going on now
• Sprint Palm Pixi — launch date TBD
• Verizon Storm II — launch date TBD
• Verizon Android device — launch date TBD
• T-Mobile CLIQ — launch date TBD (but we obviously know it’s shipping after October 19th up until general release November 2nd)
• “New BlackBerry devices across multiple carriers” — launch date TBD
• There will be a “host of devices launch in late October and November for all carriers.” Multiple Android launches across multiple carriers and “new technology which doesn’t exist today.”

The rest of the playbook just outlines what stores should do for key dates and Holiday sales planning, other merchandising information and what not.

Today is shaping up to be the day of the feature phone at the hands of a nationwide carrier conspiracy — or perhaps carriers are just trying to get low end dumb phone announcements out of the way ahead of next week’s hoopla. Earlier this morning Verizon went crazy with a feature phone blitz and now AT&T is joining in on the action with the simple clam shell pictured above. The Nokia 6350 will be available starting October 4th and will be about as typical as they come where low end feature phones are concerned. 3G connectivity, a 2 megapixel camera, a Web browser, email capabilities and dedicated external multimedia buttons round out the spec highlights and beyond that, gray and red color options will hopefully appeal to youngsters seeking out their first mobile handsets. Pricing is set at $29.99 after a mail-in rebate on a 2-year contract, placing the 6350 well within reach for just about anyone.

Read

We just got a couple shots of some AT&T screens and one of them depicts what appears to be a *gasp* BlackBerry Bold in full Diddy white party garb lounging around AT&T’s systems. We were also sent a shot of the BlackBerry 9700 also prancing around just in case, you know, you thought it didn’t exist. Shot of the 9700 after the jump.

Thanks, sliderocket21!

Well boys and girls, it looks like the G60 might not be vaporware here in the US after all. An official announcement finally puts the G60 on AT&T store shelves this coming Sunday for $299.99 on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate. That might seem a bit high at first, but considering there’s no subscription fee required for navigation it’s really not a bad deal. After all, it’ll cost you the same amount or more to score an iPhone 3GS with a solid non-subscription nav app. Regardless — the question of the hour is… After all this time, is anyone still interested in this puppy or has that ship already sailed?

Read