Phone Scoop

AT&T and Verizon have finally launched 5G service in the C Band, after a chaotic last-minute battle with the FAA and airlines over potential interference with airplane radio altimeters. AT&T's launch footprint today appears more limited than Verizon's. AT&T is…

AT&T and Verizon are moving forward with this week's launch of 5G service in the new C Band, but have voluntarily agreed to new restrictions around airports at the request of major US airlines. The airlines have asked for 5G in the C Band to be banned within…

There's a whole new kind of 5G being launched and talked about in the US in 2022: C Band. It's much faster than existing "nationwide" 5G, yet has better coverage than hard-to-find mmWave 5G. For AT&T and Verizon, it represents a huge leap forward in the 5G…

The US FCC (Federal Communications Commission) just announced the winners of its auction 110, for prime new mid-band radio spectrum ideal for 5G. AT&T and Dish spent the most, each splurging for enough licenses to cover the entire continental US. AT&T spent $9…

The FCC's Auction 110 has concluded, with up to 33 bidders paying a total of $22.5 billion for 4,041 licenses out of 4,060 offered. All of the top three national wireless carriers participated in the auction. The FCC is expected to announce a full list of…

Google will soon launch a new feature of its platforms that will enable a Wear OS smartwatch to automatically unlock a paired Android phone, tablet, or Chromebook when close by. This mirrors a feature Apple has offered for some time. Google would only promise…

HMD Global is teasing its lineup of Nokia phones for the US for first half of 2022. The five new phones will bring the company's presence to two new US carriers, representing "its largest U.S. expansion since launching in the market more than four years ago".…

Verizon has made a handful of changes to its unlimited plans, giving some customers a better value. The basic structure and pricing remain unchanged, but some plans now come with more data. Specifically, the top-end "Get More" plan now comes with truly…

OnePlus has started releasing images and key specs of it next top-end flagship ahead of a formal launch event expected soon. A tweeted video and web site show the design of the OnePlus 10 Pro, while a tweet from OnePlus' founder lists the specs. The specs…

Verizon has formally announced plans to launch 5G in the new "C-band" mid-band radio frequencies later his month, and filled in details of what the launch will include. The company is promising to cover 100 million people — nearly 1/3 of the population…

AT&T has announced the Fusion 5G, an AT&T-branded affordable 5G phone that will go on sale this Friday, January 7th for $220. Unusually for such an affordable phone, it supports wireless charging, and has a 48 megapixel main camera. The quad rear cameras also…

TCL has announced the first two models in its new 30 series for 2022, both of which are coming to major US carriers. Both models are affordable 5G phones.…

After initially rejecting the FAA's last-minute request to delay the launch of 5G in the C Band, the two carriers have now agreed to another two-week delay, following an earlier one-month delay. The services will now launch in mid-January.

A model previously rumored to have fallen victim to supply-chain issues, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE (Fan Edition) is finally coming to market this month. Samsung will use the new model as the more-affordable alternative to the forthcoming S22 series, rather…

Verizon and AT&T this morning refused a request by federal transportation officials to delay this week's planned launch of 5G service in the critical new C Band. [Update: By evening, the two companies agreed to a two-week delay.] The FAA (Federal Aviation…

Samsung has revealed that it sold more Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 phones in the first month of sales than all the foldable phones it sold in 2020. Samsung's total foldable phone shipments for 2021 were four times that of 2020.

Old BlackBerry devices running BlackBerry OS (10, 7.1, and earlier) will "no longer reliably function" after January 4th. 2022. BlackBerry will shut down its back-end infrastructure for these devices, which may impact the ability of BlackBerry devices to…

The National Advertising Review Board has issued a final decision that Mint Mobile should not use the word "unlimited" to describe its top-end plan as currently implemented. The plan is actually capped at 35 GB of full-speed data. While such caps are not…

Sony has successfully developed a new world-first camera sensor technology that it claims will widen dynamic range and reduce noise. While the company's current sensor chips use a two-layer design, with a pixel layer and a signal processing circuitry layer,…

Apple has released a new app called Tracker Detect that lets Android users scan for Apple AirTags that are potentially being used for stalking. The app doesn't require an Apple account. It specifically senses nearby AirTags (or similar devices compatible with…