| Facebook's new app transforms your scrappy news feed into a glossy magazine Jan 30th 2014, 15:11, by Kate Solomon 
Facebook Paper is the social network's latest mobile app, taking your news feed and recrafting it into an elegant book-like experience. As anticipated, it takes strands of Flipboard's web-reading experience letting you flick through posted links quickly and comfortably, while also reworking your friends' photos into a more album-like style and using a very un-Facebook like horizontal scrolling style. Gone is the standard app's traditional slide-out menu pane, instead you customise a grid from your news feed elements, then smoothly swipe through it. Share at willThe publishing options are also pretty swish - photos and text appear together so you know what you're uploading rather than the current system which leaves you a little bit blind. 
There are elements of the original Facebook app that aren't present in Paper, but Facebook isn't wary about having too many apps on your phone - if anything, it wants to create more and more. The bad news is that this is a pretty limited release: Facebook Paper will only be available in the US and only on the iPhone from February 3. Is Facebook's decline coming?        |  | Swiftkey Note brings smarter typing to iPhones and iPads today Jan 30th 2014, 14:01, by Hugh Langley 
The immensely popular Android Swiftkey keyboard makes its way to iOS today, letting anyone with an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch get in on the smarter prediction technology. However, you won't be able to replace your standard iOS keyboard entirely. Instead Swiftkey is arriving as a free note-taking app, Swiftkey Note. Like the Android version of the keyboard, Swiftkey Note suggests words as you type, gradually learning your typing style over time and generally making note-taking a lot faster. Note also integrates tightly with Evernote so it can hone its personalisation even further by scouring your Evernote archive, as well as letting you sync notes between the two apps. You can also share your notes via Apple's AirDrop, or its Messages or Mail apps. The app also requires iOS 6 or later, in case there are any stragglers out there. The swift and the furiousApple doesn't allow for third parties to replace the standard iOS keyboard, which is why Swiftkey isn't arriving in its full-blow form. Still, there's a good chance you'll soon be choosing this over Apple's own Notes app if the standard keyboard gets your goat. News of the app was leaked several days ago and it turns out that @evleaks was on the money again. You can download the Swiftkey Note app from the App Store right now, completely free. - Another weapon for iOS 7 - but how good is Apple's latest OS?
       | | Sneaky seller lists Samsung's early Tizen phone on eBay Jan 30th 2014, 13:18, by James Rogerson 
Samsung hasn't even announced its first Tizen phone yet but already someone is trying to sell it. The handset, which recent rumours suggest might be called 'Zeke' / 'Zeq', was listed on eBay for the not unreasonable price of $300 (£181.64), with the heading "New Tizen Samsung SM-Z9005 smartphone for apps development." 
The listing, spotted over on GforGames came with a couple of images, giving as a closer look at the front and inside of the phone and the front image in particular is very reminiscent of a leaked photo that appeared only the other day, though this time it has a protective bumper around it, suggesting that it really is a developer unit. Inching closerOther than the images, the listing also revealed that the handset comes with 16GB of storage and has a 4.7 inch display, which slightly contradicts previous rumours that it would have a 4.8 inch screen. We doubt that this is the full version of the phone, as it's unlikely Samsung would have let one wriggle out of its grasp this close to launch, but it's interesting to see that the brand is going after the same market segment as its popular Galaxy S range. 
Either way, we're starting to get a clearer picture of Samsung's first Tizen handset and with MWC 2014 just around the corner the missing pieces of the puzzle are likely to slot into place soon.        | | Quad-core HTC Desire 310 leaked on HTC's own site Jan 30th 2014, 12:53, by James Rogerson 
While much of the world is feverish with expectation about the flagship HTC Two, the Taiwanese company clearly hasn't forgotten about the lower end of the market, as it's cooking up a budget blower with quad-core credentials. The phone, called the Desire 310, was spotted on HTC's official website, so it's unlikely to be the figment of someone's imagination. While the listing was quickly pulled, Japanese site Blog of Mobile was able to get some information on it before it disappeared. The headline feature is its quad-core processor, but don't expect HTC Two or even HTC One levels of performance from it as it's clocked at 1.3 GHz and uses a relatively cheap MediaTek chipset rather than the Snapdragon chipsets that HTC usually uses. The HTC Desire 310 also only has 512MB of RAM, so we're actually looking at a fairly low end handset. Not particularly desirableRounding out the main specs it has a 4.5 inch 480 x 854 resolution display and just 4GB of built in storage, though there is a microSD card slot. It also has a 5 megapixel camera with no flash, a VGA front-facing camera, dual-SIM support, a 2000 mAh battery, it comes in black and white and it runs Android 4.2.2. The inclusion of dual-SIM support makes it clear that the HTC Desire 310 is aimed squarely at emerging markets. That doesn't mean it won't hit these shores too, but right now we have no word on if or when that will happen. HTC looks to be making a real play for the mid and entry level market as this is the second budget HTC handset that we've heard about in the last few days, with a slightly higher-spec octa-core phone popping up at the beginning of the week, packing 1.5GB of RAM, a 5 inch 720p screen and an 8 megapixel camera. Chances are we'll see all of these at MWC 2014 - so stay tuned to check out whether they're worth considering or just a half-hearted attempt from HTC at capturing the budget market.        | | Gary Marshall: Google dumping Motorola isn't a disaster: it's a reboot Jan 30th 2014, 12:07, by Gary Marshall 
If you play chess, you'll know that it isn't always obvious what your opponent's up to from a single move. What looks like a minor play or even a rookie mistake often turns out to be a significant part of a strategy that ends with them shouting "checkmate!" and you throwing the board in their stupid gloating face. Or maybe that's just my house - but anyway, I think Google's offloading of Motorola Mobility is something similar. On its own, the sell-off looks bad: Google's ditched most of Moto - it's keeping the research and patents - for a fraction of what it paid. As Ian Fogg of IHS reports, "Lenovo's $2.91bn barely covers the cash acquired as part of Motorola Mobility." The purchase price of $12.4bn wasn't all Google spent either: it "supported the loss-making Motorola business for over two years." Not the best investment of all time, then. But you need to factor in two other news announcements. Earlier this week we saw Google and Samsung form a patent alliance to fight iOS, and just yesterday it emerged that Samsung is going to make its Android interfaces considerably less Samsung-y. In that light, Motorola is the pawn that Google's sacrificing to save a much more important piece: all of Android. Different goals, common purposeGoogle and Samsung may have different goals - Google wants to ensure that its services don't get kicked off mobile, and Samsung wants to sell hardware - but they have a common purpose in pushing Android. Despite this common purpose, from time to time they appear to be frenemies. When Google bought Motorola it instantly became a rival to Samsung as well as a partner, and when Samsung started messing with the Android UI, it could be said to have diluted the Android experience and brand. It isn't hard to imagine Google telling Samsung something like, "We'll get out of the phone business if you stop messing around with our OS and share some of your patents." There's another angle here too, and that's Lenovo. Assuming regulators don't block the sale, which is unlikely, Lenovo's just boosted its smartphone business by acquiring a brand that still has a lot of weight in the US market. As Larry Page said, "Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem". When you take all of these things together, it's hard to see selling Motorola as a disaster. Google retains the R&D and the patents, and gets shot of the loss-making hardware division; potential dilution of Android has been halted; Samsung's been brought closer to the mothership; and in Lenovo's hands Motorola could become a serious US rival to Samsung - which would further dilute Samsung's power and makes it much less likely that Samsung could hold Google to ransom in the future. As a result, Android is stronger and more focused than ever before. Some failure.        | | Nokia X / Normandy Android phone might not be as low-end as we thought Jan 30th 2014, 11:17, by James Rogerson 
The Nokia X has been popping up all over the place lately, but it's mostly been exciting because it's Nokia having a go at Android rather than because of anything about the phone itself. In fact, its 1GHz dual-core processor and 512MB of RAM sound positively underwhelming. But we've been pleasantly surprised by some new BrowserMark 2 benchmarks which actually, somehow, show the Nokia X as marginally outperforming the Nokia Lumia 1020, coming away with a score of 1885.88, while the Lumia 1020 scored 1776. It's worth noting that higher Android benchmarks can be easier to achieve, so Nokia's impressive performance needs to be put into context. Trailing behindThat still leaves it well below top end Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which scored 3041 and some way below even the mid-range Motorola Moto G, which scored 2562. In fact in terms of Android rivals it comes out closer to older handsets like the HTC One X, with its score of 1889.25, but that's still better than its specs suggested it would manage. Of course one benchmark isn't much to go on and this is just a browser benchmark anyway, so it's hardly comprehensive, but it gives us hope that the Nokia X won't be a total write-off. That said, Nokia needs its first Android handset to be a big hitter as it looks to make waves in an already saturated market - will the new fancy UI be enough to mark it out? Don't forget to check out our awesome Nokia X / Normandy render: FutTv : sRLqGWI58Aluz       | | Analysis: What Lenovo buying Motorola means for your next smartphone Jan 30th 2014, 10:22, by Gareth Beavis 
Go you might have heard - Google has sold Motorola to Lenovo. Once you've got your head around the fact Google is dropping something it paid £8 billion ($12.5bn) for in 2012, there's a bigger issue here: your next phone is probably going to be more expensive. But the better news? Android is going to evolve into something a lot more useful. Lenovo swooping in and gathering up Motorola isn't a big shock, despite the surprise at the deal happening so fast. This is a Chinese brand that's constantly in the top three vendors in its home country, a region that's one of the fastest growing in the smartphone world. It was faced with a choice: spend billions on marketing and product research and try to force its way into both new and saturated markets - or just trot in and shower some cash on one of the incumbents. Instant presence. It was supposed to buy BlackBerry back in 2013, but that was apparently blocked by a suspicious Canadian government worried about giving such a national treasure to an outside firm. Bigger is better... right?So now Lenovo, a successful brand in the PC space, is going to open both barrels on the smartphone world. But without Google's magic supply of money, we aren't going to be seeing devices like the ultra-cheap Moto G any time soon. While it was always maintained that Motorola was able to reach that cost level organically, it seems impossible that the magical price was possible without some help from the Big G, especially given the above average specs on offer. That means the next budget Motorola handset is unlikely to be as cheap, so competitors – currently panicking about how to rival something that's a fifth of the cost of top-end devices – can relax without being castigated for not being as cheap as 'that Motorola phone'. Lenovo has traditionally played in the larger-screen device arena, which means that a Motorola phablet is likely to be given some attention rather than continuing with the low-cost smaller handset range. In fact, Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing confirmed that consumers 'can expect it with the Motorola brand'. Go back to what you knowGoogle has been doing some sterling work in the tablet as well as high- and low-end smartphone markets, driving down the cost with the Nexus range and making Motorola more competitive. It was widely expected that, if the Nexus name was retired as reported, Google would pump more effort into its 'halo' smartphone brand. But now Motorola has gone, this could actually be great news for Android fans. Google's place in the smartphone arena riled a lot of its manufacturing customers – and it's no surprise that Samsung has agreed to relax its relentless assault on Google's apps by dropping the effort into some of its own. "Google creates a much simplified business environment by divesting itself of Motorola Mobility," said Ian Fogg, head of Mobile at analyst IHS Technology. "It removes the channel conflict with other Android smartphone makers because Google will no longer have its own competing smartphone hardware division. "Like Apple, Nokia, and Palm before it, Google has failed to balance the competing business demands of distributing operating systems while also making hardware. Where those companies chose to downplay their OS licensing business in favour of their own hardware play, Google did the opposite and sacrificed Motorola." With Google no longer a threat to manufacturers, the likes of HTC, Sony and Samsung will likely be more willing to promote Google's suite of movie, music and gaming options which will in turn make Android a more holistic place, rather than a dripping, disparate beast that is light years away from the sheen of Apple's iTunes store. And with Google admitting it couldn't go 'all-in' on Motorola, it will inevitably focus on making the Android platform a sleeker environment and working with manufacturers to bring the 'vanilla' experience to the fore with a greater number of 'Play Edition' devices offering the stripped back OS. In short: while Google's presence as a hardware manufacturer was a great thing if you were after a great handset at a low price, ditching Motorola now means it can get back to making Android a great OS - and increased innovation and competition can only equal even better phones.        | | More 'confirmation' on Galaxy S5 specs appears, along with new accessories Jan 30th 2014, 09:49, by James Rogerson 
Brace yourself for this. The handset we've all been calling the Samsung Galaxy S5 will launch under the name...Samsung Galaxy S5. That utterly unsurprising piece of news has been revealed by reliable Twitter tipster @evleaks, so it's probably true. But then again, 'obviously going to happen thing happens' isn't good enough to make a news story - so thankfully we've got a little more interesting information to share. The serial leaker went on to tweet an image of an .apk file from the Galaxy S5 called '3DTourViewer_WQHD_K.apk'. The interesting part of that is the 'WQHD' in the name, as it may suggest that the Samsung Galaxy S5 will have a QHD (2560 x 1440) display. 
This isn't the first time a QHD display has been rumoured either, so it may well be happening. Of course an apk. file is by no means a confirmation, it could merely be something Samsung is experimenting with for future hardware. QHD or not QHD?We've also seen conflicting rumours, as a phone with a very Galaxy S5-sounding model number was spotted by PhoneArena on the website for South Korean network LG U+, where it was listed as having a 1080 x 1920 resolution, which is some way short of QHD. Though again that's not a confirmation of anything, the listing could have been wrong or could be for a different Samsung handset altogether. The same tipster also showed a screengrab of an apk called 'Fingerprint service'; while this seems to point to fingerprint scanning as part of the S5, we still think that's unlikely to appear as part of the new handset and could be a piece of code that will apply to future models. In other Galaxy S5 news, place holder listings for a flip wallet for the handset have appeared on a shopping site called PureMobile. There's no image of exactly what the flip wallets will look like, but they're listed at $21.73 (£13.16) and appear to come in a choice of green, red, white or blue black. Whether those correspond to the colour of the handset remains to be seen. FutTv : sRLqGWI58Aluz       | | Optus to start trialing 2600MHz spectrum for a launch later this year Jan 30th 2014, 03:46, by Farrha Khan 
While Optus announced today that it had completed its five-year 3G national network upgrade, the telco is looking toward its 4G future with prep for its 700MHz spectrum network and trials in the 2600MHz spectrum. Optus worked with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and Aussie TV broadcasters Network Ten and Nine Network to gain outdoor metro trial licences for 4G on the 2600MHz spectrum for a commercial launch later this year. The telco also announced that it has worked closely with the ACMA to secure 700MHz spectrum 4G trial licences in Sydney to help prepare the network for a launch next year. "We'll be testing the compatibility of the new spectrum with the latest devices and also with the television broadcasters," said Andrew Smith, Optus' VP of Mobile Engineering. Across the spectrumCurrently, 700MHz, 1800MHz, 2300MHz and 2600MHz areas of spectrum are being developed for 4G in Australia. Optus has said that it will continue to upgrade and roll out its 4G network and 4G Plus TD-LTE network further, which work on the 1800MHz and 2300MHz spectrums respectively. How Optus ends up integrating the 700MHz and 2600MHz spectrums into its current 4G network infrastructure remains to be seen. But though the telco will be focusing on its 4G networks, Optus has vowed to continue to upgrade its 3G network with plans to roll it out to over 100 new sites.        | | Updated: Lenovo answers burning questions about Motorola, addresses future of phones Jan 30th 2014, 00:12, by Lily Prasuethsut 
Motorola is joining the Lenovo family and here are a few tantalizing details we know so far thanks to a conference call with Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing and CFO Wong Waiming. The flagships aren't going anywhere - in fact, Lenovo has nothing but praise for the Moto X, and the Moto G. The company plans on a three-year time table to challenge the smartphone industry with its new partnership but in that time, Lenovo plans on continuing to push current popular Moto brands: "[We will] make it [Motorola] even more successful. There is a very excellent engineering team, and combined with operations platform within Lenovo, [we'll] sell more volumes of the Moto G." 'Innovation is in our DNA'One word Yuanqing and Waiming both repeated during the conference call was "innovation" - and even going so far as to say it's in the company's DNA. Part of the Motorola purchase includes over 2,000 patents or "intellectual property" licensed to Lenovo that it hopes to innovate and capitalize on. However, Google will retain ownership of Motorola's patent portfolio "including current patent applications and invention disclosures" but Lenovo is allowed the Mobility brand and trademark. When asked if North American shores will see the arrival of more Lenovo phablets, it was noted that with market research and appropriate demand, the company heartily replied that Motorola phablets will definitely appear sooner or latter and we "can expect it with the Motorola brand." The key is growthLenovo firmly stated that layoffs and cutbacks are not in Motorola Mobility's future. Rather, the CEO and CFO see Moto employees as a "as our treasure with unique expertise in [the] smartphone area." As of right now, various Motorola offices will remain open without negative consequences. Though they did not comment on whether there will be job openings, it's to be expected if the company continues to tout growth and new opportunities. A BlackBerry purchase was also mentioned but Yuanging declined a response stating he couldn't "comment on rumors." Changes are coming, but some things will remainLenovo has a greater brand awareness in China, Russia and parts of Europe compared to North and South America where Motorola is the bigger name. Part of the Mobility acquisition is to combine efforts to spread each brand into a wider market. For now, each brand will coexist separately but Lenovo hasn't completely ruled out merging the brands - Yuanging noted that more details will be released once the deal officially closes and that there is "a great deal of work to do" before then.        | | Vodafone Australia celebrates comeback success, passes a million 4G users Jan 29th 2014, 23:29, by Farrha Khan 
After years of customers leaving in droves, Vodafone Australia is finally seeing a turn around, announcing that it has passed a landmark one million active 4G devices just eight months since launching its 4G network. Vodafone began building its LTE network mid-2012, which launched in June 2013, making it the last major Australian telco to launch a 4G network. It has also upgraded much of its 3G network. But the journey to this point hasn't been easy, with the telco shedding hundreds of thousands of customers from 2010 due to a number of network issues - a reputation Vodafone is hoping to finally shake off. "We know we're not perfect… The objective that we have, given our history, is to earn back the trust of our customers," out going CEO Bill Morrow said late last year. According to the telco, 30,000 new and existing customers have been switching to a Vodafone 4G devices every week on average since the launch of the network Voda fails no moreAccording to the telco, another driving factor of Vodafone's customer uptake has been it's competitive pricing. "We are able to offer our customers both a great network and great value for money, which is why we think we've added more than one million devices to our 4G network in such a short space of time," said Kim Clarke, Vodafone's Chief Marketing Officer. A few months after Vodafone launched its 4G network, it introduced its Roam Like Home Red plans, which offer 1.5GB of data, as well as unlimited calls and SMS to standard Australian numbers. The Roam Like Home plans also take on global roaming quite aggressively, with a $5 cap per day for roaming in the US, NZ, UK, certain Asian countries and most of Europe to use your phone plan as if you were in Australia.   | | Google admits it couldn't go 'all-in' on Moto, says firm is better off with Lenovo Jan 29th 2014, 23:09, by Chris Smith 
Google CEO Larry Page has explained the company's somewhat surprising decision to sell Motorola to Chinese manufacturer Lenovo in a deal worth $2.91 (around £1.8bn). In an official blog post, Page admitted Google was unable to devote all of its attention to reinvigorating Motorola, alongside its other commitments within the Android ecosystem. The CEO said Motorola will be better off with Lenovo in the competitive smartphone hardware world, while Google will focus on improving the Android experience for all manufacturers. Backing Lenovo to restore Moto's place among the Android elite, Page wrote: "But the smartphone market is super competitive, and to thrive it helps to be all-in when it comes to making mobile devices. It's why we believe that Motorola will be better served by Lenovo - which has a rapidly growing smartphone business and is the largest (and fastest-growing) PC manufacturer in the world. "This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere." Patently importantOn paper, the deal represents a huge loss for Google, which paid $12.5 billion for Motorola in 2012. However the retention of Motorola's vast mobile patent portfolio is worth its weight in gold, Page said. "And on the intellectual property side, Motorola's patents have helped create a level playing field, which is good news for all Android's users and partners." Page also pre-empted any suggestion that the sale could mean Google is rethinking its hardware strategy in other areas and reaffirmed the company's commitment to creating great products. He added: "As a side note, this does not signal a larger shift for our other hardware efforts. The dynamics and maturity of the wearable and home markets, for example, are very different from that of the mobile industry. We're excited by the opportunities to build amazing new products for users within these emerging ecosystems." TributeThe Google boss also paid tribute to Motorola's efforts in the 19 months since Motorola officially came under Google's stewardship. He wrote: "We acquired Motorola in 2012 to help supercharge the Android ecosystem by creating a stronger patent portfolio for Google and great smartphones for users. Over the past 19 months, Dennis Woodside and the Motorola team have done a tremendous job reinventing the company. "They've focused on building a smaller number of great (and great value) smartphones that consumers love. Both the Moto G and the Moto X are doing really well, and I'm very excited about the smartphone lineup for 2014. And on the intellectual property side, Motorola's patents have helped create a level playing field, which is good news for all Android's users and partners." Page added that Google's work with Motorola will continue until the deal is rubber stamped, adding that the approval process takes time.        | | UPDATED: It's official: Google done with Motorola, Lenovo taking over Jan 29th 2014, 22:25, by Chris Smith 
Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo has agreed to a deal with Google to acquire smartphone maker Motorola Mobility, it has now been confirmed. Less than three years after paying $12.5 billion (around £7.5bn, AU$14bn) to acquire it, Google is parting with Motorola for a mere $2.91 billion (around £1.8bn, AU$3.5bn) in cash and stock. The sale represents a stunning loss for Google, which has already recouped some of its outlay by selling Motorola Home to the Arris Group for $2.3 billion last year. However, Google will retain the "vast majority of the Motorola patent portfolio," believed to total around 10,000 patents, which was thought to be a key reason the company bought Moto in the first place. The sale does see Google acknowledge its expensive failure to turn around Moto's fortunes. The 'Made in the USA' Moto X made headlines, but struggled commercially, and the low-cost Moto G impressed but had limited scope for profit. Smartphone searchHowever, for Lenovo, the world's largest PC manufacturer, the deal represents the culmination of a long search to acquire a major smartphone company. The company had previously expressed interest in BlackBerry, while a bid for HTC was also rumoured last year. Following reports on Wednesday afternoon in the New York Times, Lenovo confirmed the acquisition to TechRadar in an official news release. "The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones. We will immediately have the opportunity to become a strong global player in the fast-growing mobile space," said Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo, said in a media release. Google CEO Larry Page said Lenovo has the expertise to turn Motorola into a major player within the Android ecosystem. "Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem. This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere," he said.        | | Google reportedly pressuring Samsung to ease up on its own apps Jan 29th 2014, 21:31, by JR Bookwalter 
Following the announcement earlier this week that Google and Samsung will be licensing each other's patents, new details have come to light suggesting the Android maker might be influencing the manufacturer to back off its own customizations. Re/code reported today that the Android-based Magazine UX user interface shown off on Samsung's latest 12.2-inch Galaxy Note Pro tablet could be marked for death - or at the very least, in dire need of future tweaking that makes the OS underneath shine through. According to multiple unnamed sources, the recent patent sharing deal between Google and Samsung also involves a directive from the former which reins in the number of custom apps and UI flourishes the latter has added with increasing frequency on recent mobile devices such as the Galaxy S4 smartphone. Representatives from the two companies refused to comment on such a possibility, although Samsung did promise it would "continue to identify and provide differentiated and innovative service and content offerings on our mobile devices." Ch-ch-ch-changesThe newfound cooperation between the companies was described by one source as "a huge change, a sea change" made over the last few weeks which could put Google's content and services more front and center at the expense of Samsung's own. Sources claim the Korean manufacturer may "consider dumping or altering the Magazine UX interface in future devices," with a reduced focus on the in-house software that has been an increasing focus for the company. In its place, Samsung might shine the spotlight on preloaded Google Play apps, replacing services like WatchON, ChatON and mSpot, which the report called "largely forgettable in the wider Android community." Samsung may not ultimately care, but third-party partners such as Dropbox, Flipboard, SwiftKey and TripAdvisor likely will, given that their services have been bundled with devices out the box and Google has its own software capable of replacing them.        | | AT&T offers $100 credit for every new line of service to new and existing customers Jan 29th 2014, 18:45, by klee 
AT&T really wants more customers to join its network and its latest incentive puts money into users' pockets. AT&T is throwing $100 to new and existing customers opening a new line of service. The bonus is eligible for every new smartphone, tablet, feature phone, mobile hotspot, or Wireless Home Phone line added to the carrier's 4G LTE network. Customers lining up for the cash with a string attached can take advantage of the limited offer available until March 31 can visit an AT&T retail stores or this site. Of course the offer comes with a few lines of fine print that require customers to maintain their service for 45 days. After which mobile users will receive their free credit within three billing cycles. Pick me!The carrier is calling it's new initiative a reward for existing customers. Meanwhile, AT&T wasn't too shy about hiding its intentions of picking up new users from other carriers. "[I]t's an incentive for customers of Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and other wireless carriers to come to AT&T and enjoy the nation's most reliable 4G LTE network," the mobile carrier wrote in an announcement. Previously, the blue carrier struck out cash bonuses up to $450 to lure in T-Mobile customers. Over the last year AT&T has been more or less T-Mobile's whipping boy. However, the blue carrier has tried to bolster its network as the first with international roaming.        | |
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