T-Mobile USA wants to get everyone in the Valentine’s Day spirit, so the boys and girls in magenta will make all smartphones and a select few tablets free on a 2-year agreement.

The way it works is that customers can go into T-Mobile USA stores this Saturday and purchase a new phone on a 2-year agreement. Customers will then receive a rebate form that they fill-in and mail to T-Mobile to receive a rebate card for the full value of the phone. You’ll still have to pay $250 to get a Galaxy S II, but you’ll get $250 back a few weeks afterward.

The deal is open only to new customers and existing subscribers who are eligible for an upgrade. Residents of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Miami-Dade County, Florida are not eligible for the deal, but a separate offer will be made available to those customers (no details mentioned in the announcement).

T-Mobile is also offering a deal for customers interested in an Unlimited Value plan. Those users will get a mail-in rebate for the upfront costs and have an EIP monthly payment in addition to their monthly bill. For instance, you’ll pay $199.99 for a Galaxy S II in-store and then received a rebate card in the mail worth $200. Your monthly bill will then be charged an extra $20 per month to pay for the phone.

More details on requirements and the phones offered are available at T-Mobile.

Even though there were rumors a couple of days ago about T-Mobile’s new unlimited plans, they have been officially unveiled only today. The ‘’Full Monty’’ plans will be made available in the UK starting February 1 (in two days, that is) and offer unlimited texts, calls, Internet and WiFi.

And trust me, even though you might have heard this ‘’unlimited plan’’ marketing scheme before, the Full Monty from T-Mobile is nothing like I myself have ever seen. That is because it offers exactly what is advertised, which is unlimited everything with no fair use restrictions.

Furthermore, the plans will be made available on all phones in the T-Mobile range, including Android handsets, iPhones and so on. Of course, you have to pay for receiving such ‘’premium’’ services, but, as far as I’m concerned, 41 pounds per month (which is around 65 bucks), is not very much, especially for business users or for those of you who travel a lot and need a way of staying in touch with people close to you.

To get access to this great T-Mobile offer, you lucky Brits will have to sign new 24 month contracts and what’s even sweeter than sweet is that the carrier allows unlimited tethering (using a smartphone as an internet connection for a notebook or tablet) as well as the regular texts, calls and accessing the internet on your handset.

As I already mentioned, the offer will go live in less than 48 hours and for additional details, as well as for signing up to the Full Monty plans, you should check out this link right here.

If you don’t live in the UK, tough luck, but don’t sweat it, because I have a good feeling that the major American carriers are preparing such nice offers as well for the near future.

There are four major phone carriers in the United States right now and the competition grows stronger and stronger each year. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is of course one of the most important ‘’weapons’’ of this competition right now, being considered by many as one of the best smartphones today and by some even the best.

The first two carriers to have gained an advantage in the eyes of the public with the Galaxy Nexus are Verizon Wireless and Sprint, but according to a rumor, T-Mobile is finally getting ready to enter the game. This would be a strategic and intelligent move from TMO, especially considering that Sprint has only announced the smartphone, but is yet to release it for real.

Cellphonesignal.com has picked up a leaked T-Mobile document (at least, they claim it’s a T-Mobile paper) preparing the release of a mysterious ‘’Samsung SGH-T999’’ smartphone. Even though we have no way to be sure that this is in fact the Galaxy Nexus, the said phone is set to feature a 1280 x 720 pixels resolution screen (like the Nexus).

Also, there were rumors a while back that T-Mobile and AT & T are expected to make a move soon towards the Galaxy Nexus, so there’s a good chance that the phone will be made available for T-Mobile clients in the near future.

While some of you might have already purchased the Nexus from Verizon, I’m sure that there are many technology enthusiasts out there that are waiting for T-Mobile’s offering, a carrier known for its very affordable plans.

Well, for those of you who are waiting, I can’t promise a thing right now, but if you stay tuned on Androinica, you will be the first to find out if this rumor will turn into reality soon enough. Keep in touch and hit us with a comment below if you have any theories of your own regarding the Galaxy Nexus’ imminent release.

With the financial crisis being far from over for most technology enthusiasts today, any sale or discount, no matter how big or small, becomes pure gold! But what about a sale where you can get any Android smartphone, from the Samsung Galaxy S 4G II to the LG Optimus T, for just 49.99 dollars or less? How does that sound…?

T-Mobile will be organising this huge sale, which will take place this weekend, starting Friday January 6 and ending Sunday January 8. Of course, there are a bunch of conditions to be met in order to qualify for the sale, but if you ask me you can still get some pretty nice deals…

First of all, you have to be a customer with new activations and add-a-lines or with existing Classic, Legacy or Value Plan contracts. Secondly, you have to sign a 2-year contract, no matter what smartphone will you choose from T-Mobile’s offer. Thirdly, you will have to activate or upgrade to Unlimited Value Plan with qualifying data feature.

Finally, you will have to opt for plans with at least 2 GB of data a month (for most handsets) or with 5 GB or more of data, for high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G II or the HTC Amaze.

You also have to know that most of the offers include mail-in rebates, so you will actually have to initially pay 150 or 200 dollars before getting back some of the money… For example, if you want to purchase the Samsung Galaxy S II (I for one really want it!), you will have to make a down payment of 199.99 bucks, after which you will receive a mail-in rebate of $150. The monthly EIP payment will be of only 20 dollars and you will be the lucky owner of one of the best Android-powered smartphone right now!

If I didn’t manage to make the offer clear enough for everybody, please check out the table below detailing all of the requirements or click the source link at the end of our article! Happy shopping everybody and try to only buy what you need!

Tmonews.com

The acquisition that wasn’t is now official – AT&T will not complete its planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Following continued opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice and FCC, AT&T has abandoned its purrsuit of T-Mobile and will not pursue the matter any further.

AT&T has just issued a statement to the press confirming that deal is officially over after “a thorough review of options it has agreed with Deutsche Telekom AG to end its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA, which began in March of this year.”

The statement went on to blame the FCC and DOJ for blocking this transaction and, in AT&T’s view, failing to provide options to improve service in the wireless industry.

[The wireless industry] is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage.  In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.

Of course, competition is precisely why the U.S. government intervened to prevent AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. Had the deal gone through, the wireless carrier with the largest subscriber base would have acquired the fourth-largest nationwide carrier, which also happens to be among the most affordable. Sprint, the third-place U.S. carrier and frequent target of T-Mobile merger rumors, made similar arguments in its opposition to the AT&T deal.

AT&T will pay Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s German parent company, $4 billion and enter into a “mutually beneficial roaming agreement” as a result of the failed acquisition. CEO Randall Stephenson states AT&T will pursue other means to improve its wireless network, and offered this advice to regulators.

“To meet the needs of our customers, we will continue to invest. However, adding capacity to meet these needs will require policymakers to do two things. First, in the near term, they should allow the free markets to work so that additional spectrum is available to meet the immediate needs of the U.S. wireless industry, including expeditiously approving our acquisition of unused Qualcomm spectrum currently pending before the FCC.  Second, policymakers should enact legislation to meet our nation’s longer-term spectrum needs.

“The mobile Internet is a dynamic industry that can be a critical driver in restoring American economic growth and job creation, but only if companies are allowed to react quickly to customer needs and market forces”

- Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO.

via WSJ

Responding to allegations that it logs all user activity, Carrier IQ has once again defended its product and said emphatically that it does not spy on users or record their private data for questionable purchases. Carrier IQ released the following statement to the press yesterday:

We measure and summarize performance of the device to assist Operators in delivering better service. While a few individuals have identified that there is a great deal of information available to the Carrier IQ software inside the handset, our software does not record, store or transmit the contents of SMS messages, email, photographs, audio or video. For example, we understand whether an SMS was sent accurately, but do not record or transmit the content of the SMS. We know which applications are draining your battery, but do not capture the screen.

Carrier IQ says that Trevor Eckhart’s video showing its software logging key presses and SMS messages is “misinformation” because it doesn’t send the actual message or key logs to the servers. Instead, it relies on triggers that help run diagnostics and improve network performance. Carrier IQ did admit that it can see the phone number associated with SMS messages, but denied that it reads, stores, or analyzes the body of the text message.

“What the Eckhart video demonstrates is that there’s a great deal of information available on a handset,” Andrew Coward, CIQ VP of marketing, told AllThingsD. “What it doesn’t show is that all information is processed, stored, or forwarded out of the device.”

Coward’s statements are one of many made recently to fight back against implications that Carrier IQ, and the network operators who use its software, listens to user activity for purposes beyond diagnostics. The problem grew after Carrier IQ first claimed that it did not record keystrokes, which then prompted Eckhart to make a video showing that it in fact does record when buttons are pressed and the text of SMS messages. The issue has since shifted to whether it’s accurate to say that CIQ does not transmit logs of personal data beyond what it says is only to run diagnostics when problems arise with the network. A computer consultant interviewed by NBC Nightly News and Lookout Mobile Security have said it doesn’t look like there’s anything nefarious being sent.

Manufacturers have distanced themselves from Carrier IQ and put the control squarely on the diagnostics companies and network operators. For its part, carriers are also trying to downplay involvement or ease carrier concerns. Verizon explicitly said that it has no involvement with Carrier IQ, and several carriers in Europe and Canada have done the same. AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile admit to using the software, but deny that there’s anything wrong with it.

Sprint released this statement to The Verge

Carrier IQ provides information that allows Sprint, and other carriers that use it, to analyze our network performance and identify where we should be improving service. We also use the data to understand device performance so we can figure out when issues are occurring. We collect enough information to understand the customer experience with devices on our network and how to address any connection problems, but we do not and cannot look at the contents of messages, photos, videos, etc., using this tool. The information collected is not sold and we don’t provide a direct feed of this data to anyone outside of Sprint.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

video via MSNBC

T-Mobile fans upset about AT&T’s proposed acquisition of the magenta network have another reason to be thankful now that the deal has hit a major roadblock. Following the FCC indicating that it would seek a review of the application in courts, AT&T has withdrawn its application without prejudice.

That does not mean AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA is over.

AT&T and T-Mobile’s German parent company Deutsche Telekom are still pursuing the deal through the pending case with the DOJ or “alternate means.” The withdrawal of the application is not the companies surrendering; it’s more like the two carriers retreating so they can regroup and attack this issue through other channels. AT&T and Deutsche Telekom will seek FCC approval of the deal “as soon as practical” according to a statement released today.

While this is not the end of AT&T-Mobile, this is the latest, and perhaps biggest, sign that the deal is more likely to fall through. AT&T is already preparing for the possibility of paying Deutsche Telekom $4 billion, a penalty the two sides agreed to should the government not approve the deal.

Resistance to the deal was expected, but AT&T must have believed that its chances were strong to acquire T-Mobile. However, with the DOJ seeking to block the acquisition and the FCC saying the deal would lead to thousands of lost jobs and fewer choices for consumers, there’s cause for concern.

For Deutsche Telekom, getting approval is crucial because the company continues to lose money and customers because of T-Mobile’s poor financial performance. Reuters reports that “there is no ‘Plan B’” for DT, so it will fight to get this deal approved. There’s no telling what will happen to T-Mobile USA if AT&T fails to get government approval for its acquisition plans. The fourth-ranked carrier continues to lose customers each quarter and has struggled to show any signs of growth in recent years.

T-Mobile USA announced today that it is expanding service into more markets, as well as increasing the top speeds in certain areas. The self-professed “largest 4G network” in America is now available in 208 markets, covering more than 200 people in the United States.

The latest markets treated to T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ network are mostly college towns home to large universities. T-Mobile launched its network that should received theoretical top speeds of 21 Mbps in the following markets:

• Bend, Medford, and Corvallis, Oregon (Oregon State University)
• Holland and Kalamazoo, Michigan(Western Michigan)
• Decatur and Peoria, Illiniois (Bradley, Robert Morris, and others)
• Evansville, Indiana (Southern Indiana)
• Santa Barbara, California (UC-Santa Barbara)
• State College, Pennsylvania (Penn State)
• Yuba City, California

T-Mobile also expanded the areas in which users can reach theoretical top speeds of 42 Mbps. Granted, theoretical is a far cry from actual, but the data speeds in these new areas will still be faster than other markets with HSPA+ service. (Also be aware that the device used on T-Mobile’s network and local conditions will influence data speed.) Strong speeds and a solid portfolio haven’t so far been enough to stem the tide of a customer exodus, but T-Mobile keeps trucking as the world waits on that AT&T acquisition to go through.

The markets launching today with HSPA+ 42 service in some areas include:

• Bend, Medford and Corvallis, Oregon
• Benton Harbor, Michigan
• Bloomington, Champaign–Urbana and Springfield, Illinois
• Columbus, Georgia
• Hagerstown, Maryland
• Montgomery, Alabama
• Yuba City, California

It looks like the dual-screen wonder called the LG DoublePlay may be heading to a T-Mobile store near you on November 2. The phone is suppose to target those who need a decent multitasking handset that can perform all the basic functionality, with added social media capabilities offered from its secondary screen.

The LG DoublePlay is a mid-range Android handset that was announced on October 18, the phone carries a unique slide-out QWERTY keyboard that has a secondary 2-inch touchscreen display lying on top. The DoublePlay packs some pretty standard features, including:

• 3.5-inch primary screen
• 1GHz processor
• 5-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p HD video
• T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network
• Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Group Text to communicate with multiple people at once
• Cloud Text to send and receive texts across platforms, including a PC or tablet

T-Mobile said the phone will be available in time for the holidays, but as of right now there isn’t any pricing details to go off  — but one can only imagine that the DoublePlay will probably end up in the sub-$100 category.

Honestly, I don’t really know what to make of these dual-screen phones. Manufacturers and carriers seem fascinated with the prospect of making and selling phones with more than one screen, which is a fad that hasn’t taken off with consumers as of yet. We talked about this before, when we asked readers to raise their hands if they wanted a dual-screen device. There have been a few dual-screen devices which have failed to grab people’s attention — Sprint’s Kyocera Echo is one that comes to mind.

Source: TmoNews

Today, T-Mobile announced the Samsung Exhibit 4G, the company’s first 4G smartphone offered to customers seeking no annual contract. Wal-Mart will be the first to offer the handset with no annual contract at most of its retail stores.

The Samsung Exhibit 4G will pack some respectable features, which include:

• 3.7-inch WVGA TFT touchscreen
• 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
• T-Mobile TV in mobile HD and Samsung Media Hub
• 3-megapixel rear-facing camera with flash and video capture
• front-facing camera
• WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities
• T-Mobile’s 4G network
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread

Discussing price and convenience of its latest smartphone, Andrew Morrison, vice president, product management, T-Mobile USA said:

“The Samsung Exhibit II 4G is the perfect device for consumers desiring a smartphone with robust 4G entertainment and Web browsing experiences – at a price they can afford.”

This is a pretty good offer to those out there seeking a “4G device” on the cheap, with no two-year commitment. It might carry some standard or outdated features, but for a shade under 200 bucks — you can’t complain. Also, Wal-Mart’s pre-paid plans are really price friendly.

The Samsung Exhibit II 4G, will be available at most Wal-Mart stores starting Oct. 27, but available nationwide at T-Mobile retail stores, online and at select dealers beginning Nov. 2. The Exhibit II 4G will be offered through no annual contract and two-year contract plan options, and is expected to cost $29.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate card with a two-year service agreement and qualifying Classic voice and data plan, and $199.99 via no annual contract.