If you’re an AT&T customer coming off of a contract and looking to snap up a new phone, you should probably get on that right now. According to an AT&T memo obtained by BGR, AT&T will be raising their device upgrade fee from $18 to $36 as of February 12, which means you’ve got until Sunday to swap phones before your first post-upgrade bill gets even bigger.

The memo states that the fee hike is needed because “the overall costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased.”

In AT&T’s defense, it’s a fee that’s most people will only have to deal with once every two years or so, but the additional cost is unlikely to please customers. They’re also not the only big carrier that has had to hike up their fees — Sprint made the transition to a $36 upgrade fee this past September. But still, AT&T doubling their upgrade fee is a puzzling move when their biggest rival (Verizon) still doesn’t charge one at all.

Strangely, the part of the memo that BGR has released doesn’t mention anything about a cap like the one Sprint offers, so it’s possible that families and groups looking to upgrade en masse could really get stung here.

And here’s a question worth thinking about: what will the consumers have to say? Verizon Wireless got a very public earful when it was discovered that they planned to charge customers a $2 “convenience fee” whenever they used a credit card to make an online or over-the-phone bill payment. After one day, public pressure and scrutiny from the FCC forced Verizon to kill the plan in its tracks. Given enough exposure, AT&T customer may be inclined to lash out in a similar way.

Hopefully this move doesn’t inspire Verizon to try something similar. We’ve seen it happen before: Verizon killed their unlimited data plans one year after AT&T did, and AT&T began requiring data packages for messaging phones not long after Verizon implemented the idea.

Samsung isn’t the first company to break into the phablet space, but those of you waiting for a (more than) worthy successor to devices like the Dell Streak 5 won’t have much longer to wait. AT&T has just announced that their pocket-busting Galaxy Note will be hitting their sales channels on February 19, complete with a $300 price tag.

Most of the device’s details — 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display, LTE radio, and handwriting support thanks to the included S-Pen — were revealed or reiterated at this year’s CES, but now the question is whether or not people will take the plunge on a device that’s not quite a phone and not quite a tablet.

AT&T hasn’t exactly priced the Galaxy Note to move, but they’re not alone on that front. We’ve seen Verizon adopt the $300 price tag for most of their recent high-end smartphone releases, though AT&T has typically shied away from pricing their smartphones so steeply. They’re probably hoping that the novelty of a device that hovers somewhere between being phone and a tablet will be enticing enough to justify the price, but we’ll soon see how the public at large takes to Samsung’s fabulous phablet.

If you’re the type who likes getting things before everyone else (and really, who isn’t?), you may want to wake up bright and early on the February 5th. AT&T is pushing their pre-order process with the promise of a Galaxy Note in your hands a full two days before it makes its way to store shelves, and I can imagine more than few phablet fans using that 48-hour window to rub their new purchase in other people’s faces.

On the heels of the news that AT&T delivered its best quarter ever in terms of smartphone sales, the communications company and carrier is releasing its quarterly data on the number of AT&T Wi-Fi connections made in Q4 and in 2011 as a whole.

AT&T says that it tripled Wi-Fi network traffic in 2011 versus network traffic for 2010. And the network saw a 550 percent increase in monthly Wi-Fi data uploads from mobile devices on the AT&T Wi-Fi network in 2011, driven by increasing use of cloud services.

In total, 1.2 billion AT&T Wi-Fi connections were made during 2011, with 486.9 million connections made in the fourth quarter (that’s compared to 301.9 million Wi-Fi connections in Q3 of 2011). And connections more than tripled in the fourth quarter versus 154 million connections made in the fourth quarter 2010.

More than three million connections per day to the AT&T Wi-Fi Network by users, exceeding total connections made in the month of December in 2008. Plus, AT&T says that it saw more than 60 percent growth in AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots from 2008 through 2011.

The massive growth in Wi-Fi connections is due to the growing number of smartphone and tablet users tapping into AT&T networks at hospitality locations, parks, retail stores, stadiums and enterprise businesses. Hotel locations account for approximately 45 percent of the total AT&T Wi-Fi network traffic. And To date, AT&T has launched free Wi-Fi at 19 park locations in New York City. In 2011, New York City parks visitors made more than 1 million connections to the AT&T Wi-Fi network.

AT&T, which offers nearly 30,000 Wi-Fi hot spots and claims to the U.S.’s largest wi-fi network, says most of its smartphone customers get access to the carrier’s Wi-Fi network at no additional cost as part of their plan, and Wi-Fi doesn’t count toward customers’ monthly wireless data usage.

AT&T this morning released its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011. Consolidated revenues clocked in at $32.5 billion, up 3.6 percent compared to the year-earlier quarter. They recorded a huge net loss for Q4 2011: $6.7 billion, or $1.12 per diluted share.

Zooming in on smartphone sales, it’s worth noting that AT&T delivered its best-ever quarter to date, hands down.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the company says it sold 9.4 million smartphones, nearly double the number sold in the third quarter and 50 percent more than the previous quarterly record.

This also led to 19.4 percent growth in wireless data revenues, the company said.

During the quarter, more than 7.6 million iPhones were activated, the “majority of which” were iPhone 4S, and AT&T says more than twice as many Android smartphones were sold last quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. AT&T also said it sold 311,000 tablets in Q4 2011.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop was all to eager to show off the Lumia 900 at this year’s CES, but he unforunately kept to himself when it came to its price or release date. Now, thanks to a timely leak, it looks as though Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone could hit AT&T’s shelves on March 18.

That’s apparently the plan, anyway. The date, given to BGR by their anonymous sources, seemingly confirms earlier rumors about the device’s launch window, though they’re quick to note that the date isn’t set in stone since the 900 hasn’t yet completed the technical acceptance process.

While the release date may not come a big surprise to some of you, the Lumia 900′s price tag probably will. The device will reportedly cost a mere $99 with a two-year contract, putting Nokia’s LTE-capable flagship handset right alongside bestselling AT&T handsets like the 8GB iPhone 4. Still, its solid spec sheet — LTE radio, 4.3-inch display 1.4GHz processor, 8-megapixel camera — could provide enough impetus for buyers on the fence to take a leap on Windows Phone.

Between the dirt-cheap Lumia 710 (which can be found for free, if you’re diligent enough) and now the more-than-reasonably priced Lumia 900, Nokia is clearly aiming to sweep new and potential smartphone users off of their feet. If the leak is indeed true, it almost looks like Nokia is mirroring their aggressive European plan to push those units into people’s hands first and worry about profits later.

Could this be the right phone at the right time with the right price tag for Windows Phone to make its long-awaited splash in a crowded market? It may well be — Windows Phone is generally a joy to use, and it’s about time that people started taking a chance on it. Nokia and AT&T’s forthcoming promotional plans will do their part in making sure people hear about the Lumia 900, so here’s hoping that its time will come soon.

Shortly before the AT&T/T-Mobile merger came to its ignominious end, Dish Network CEO Joseph Clayton casually expressed his interest in a partnership with T-Mobile as a means of bringing wireless voice service to Dish customers.

Those plans may not pan out if AT&T has anything to do with it. A new report from Bloomberg indicates that AT&T is apparently so hard up for additional spectrum that they’re considering shelling out “the highest premium in more than a decade” to acquire the satellite TV provider and their spectrum holdings.

Clayton, ever the opportunist, seemed receptive to the possibility of at acquisition — he noted last week in an interview with Bloomberg West that the company is “open to all possible options.”

“We could be acquired, or we could be the acquirer,” he added.

Clayton’s original vision was to create a “national wireless network” comprised of video, voice, and data services. To that end, Clayton made it known that he would consider a partnership with companies like T-Mobile or Sprint to make it happen. They would get Dish’s spectrum holdings, and Dish would get their expertise in managing voice networks.

It’s questionable whether Dish would ever be able to offer those services if AT&T indeed acquires the company, as it would pose a credible threat to AT&T’s own portfolio of network services. Still, it seems clear that AT&T needs Dish more than Dish needs AT&T at this point.

Clayton seemed more than happy to forge partnerships with the smaller carriers in order make his network vision a reality, but without T-Mobile’s network support, AT&T may be facing a bumpy road when it comes to the rollout of their LTE network. It certainly doesn’t help that AT&T has to yield a portion of their spectrum holdings to Deutsche Telekom as a result of their very-public break up.

Meanwhile, rival Verizon’s LTE network continues to expand (albeit with a few hiccups), and Sprint is also preparing to light up their own around June of this year. Competition will only get stiffer for AT&T in the coming months, and it will take some bold moves for them to stay ahead of the curve. While not the most likely bedfellows, a Dish acquisition could nevertheless be just what the doctor ordered.

AT&T definitely has a few LTE-friendly goodies planned for an official reveal at CES, but those shiny new toys won’t be doing you much good unless you’ve got that 4G network to go with it.

To that end, AT&T has just announced they have fired up LTE service in 11 new areas today, bringing their running total to 26 markets and 74 million covered customers.

If you happen to live in Austin, Chapel Hill, Los Angeles, Oakland, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, congratulations! Fire up your Vivid or your Skyrocket (hopefully you didn’t shell out all that dough for a Jetstream) and revel in that high speed data connection. Metro NYC is also on the list, though customers in the area have been able to play with the LTE network for a little while now.

AT&T is still lagging behind rival Verizon when it comes to sheer number of markets and people covered, but they could stand to learn from Verizon’s missteps. I probably don’t need to remind you that Verizon’s own LTE network notoriously left some customers without access to a data connection three times in a single month, an issue that was ultimately characterized as “growing pains.”

AT&T’s slower pace so far means that yes, fewer people have access to their LTE network, but it would be well worth it if they can control their growth to as make sure the same sorts of infrastructure snafus don’t happen. In the end, they may be able to come out of the 4G coverage race looking like a winner even if it takes them longer to do what Verizon already has.

AT&T is slowly and steadily building up their portfolio of LTE-capable devices, and it looks like yet another has just broken cover. Due to be officially unveiled on January 8, the Pantech Element is AT&T’s newest LTE tablet, and is the first in AT&T’s lineup not to cost an absurd amount of money with a contract.

According to BGR, Pantech’s Honeycomb-powered tablet features an 8-inch display, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor of unknown origin, and 16GB of internal storage. The Element also sports two cameras — a rear-facing 5-megapixel shooter with 1080p video capture, and a smaller 2-megapixel frontfacer for video calling and goofy self-portraits.

The Element is also meant to be one of AT&T’s more rugged offerings, touted as being “waterproof for real life.” You shouldn’t take that as carte blanche to take it for a swim though, as BGR reports that the Element can’t actually survive more than a splash on the face.

Strangely, also they mention that the Element has an IP57 waterproof rating, which actually means that the device would be capable of surviving submersion in up to 1m of water. I’m chalking that up to some crossed wires though, as AT&T is reportedly telling reps that it isn’t in fact a waterproof tablet.

At $299, the Element is an easier pill to swallow than either of AT&T’s previous LTE-friendly tablets. While the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the HTC Jetstream both come from bigger companies, they cost $479 and $599 respectively — more than a little ridiculous considering you’re signing a two-year contract on top of it.

With the AT&T-T-Mobile merger officially dead, Sprint is taking a moment to reflect on their own wisdom in opposing it from the beginning.

A press release lauds the retraction of the bid as “the right decision,” says that success would have meant “an undeniable duopoly,” and commends the DoJ and FCC for a job well done. Very effusive, as they have every reason to be.

After all, what they have have indeed been saying since the beginning — the duopoly, job losses, and so on — was in all likelihood true. And while it would have been bad for consumers, it might have been fatal to Sprint. Competing against one hundred-million-subscriber carrier is hard enough; competing against two would have made things intolerable. A couple years in such harsh environment might have relegated them to the dungeon occupied by local and specialty carriers.

Now, not only do they not have to deal with that duopoly, but AT&T will be shelling out billions and their long-term plans will be interrupted. Sprint, on the other hand, has been positioning itself based on the assumption that the merger would not go through, and they will emerge from this with their reputation as a customer-driven company intact and shinier than ever.

We heard earlier today that AT&T and T-Mobile couldn’t find buyers for assets that could help make their merger a reality, but now there’s no need to worry about it: AT&T has just announced that the deal is officially dead.

In a recent release (reproduced in full below), AT&T lays the blame on the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice and states that the actions of two governmental bodies “do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry.”

They go on to say the the merger would have been an interim solution to the spectrum allocation issue that plagues the industry, and that without the merger, “customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.” Harsh words from AT&T, and ones that may not be true if the contents of an FCC staff report are to be believed.

Released shortly after AT&T and T-Mobile withdrew their merger application, the staff report called into question the claims that the merger “would serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” In their investigation, the FCC determined among other things that approving the merger would drastically reduce competition and investment in the wireless space, contrary to AT&T’s claims of jobs and mobile broadband for all.

As far as the FCC is concerned, today’s is a big win for consumers and a big blow to AT&T. And I mean a big blow — with the merger in ruins, AT&T must shell out $4 billion to T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom in the form of money and spectrum access. What’s more, the death of the merger will also see AT&T and T-Mobile entering into a roaming agreement, the fruits of which we may have already started to see.

So, after all those months of legal maneuvering, the case has finally come to a close. While AT&T couldn’t close the deal, other companies are already looking to get cozy with T-Mobile: satellite television provider Dish was eyeing up smaller carrier recently, and company CEO Joseph Clayton mentioned he was open to a network partnership with the magenta-hued carrier.

Developing…

Senator Al Franken pressed AT&T, Sprint, Samsung, and HTC over two weeks ago for answers about their use of Carrier IQ, the controversial monitoring software that sparked fears that our personal data was being tracked without consent. Now that the deadline has come and gone, Senator Franken had a chance to review their statements and publish them in full on his website.

After reviewing each company’s official responses to his questions, Senator Franken noted that he’s still “very troubled” by the situation at hand:

“People have a fundamental right to control their private information,” he said. “After reading the companies’ responses, I’m still concerned that this right is not being respected. The average user of any device equipped with Carrier IQ software has no way of knowing that this software is running, what information it is getting, and who it is giving it to-and that’s a problem.”

Everything began with Carrier IQ, who was the first party Senator Franken asked for more information. Their response [PDF] was one of those published on the Senator’s website, but given how transparent they have been after their initial attempt to contest Trevor Eckhart’s findings backfired, there isn’t much new material to cover.

In short, they state that Carrier IQ’s data collection consists of carrier-specified metrics, doesn’t track the content of emails or text messages, doesn’t happen in real-time, and is encrypted. They also fess up to a recently-discovered bug in which SMS messages may inadvertently be sent to Carrier IQ along with other diagnostic data, but they’re apparently hard at work on a fix.

Not bad, but some of the really juicy stuff comes from everyone else Franken wanted answers from. Let’s take a look:

AT&T:

AT&T notes that out of all of their wireless customers, only around 1% of them use devices that have Carrier IQ installed on them. This figure translates into roughly 900,000 customers — not a number to sneeze at, but one that pales in comparison to Sprint.

The company goes on to outline different types of Carrier IQ-enabled devices. The following devices are said to have the CIQ software “integrated and active”: the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Pantech Pursuit II, Pantech Breeze 3, Pantech Link 2, Sierra Wireless Shockwave, LG Thrill, ZTE Avail, ZTE Z331, Motorola Atrix 2, and the Motorola Bravo. Furthermore, the software is present (but not active) on the HTC Vivid, LG Nitro, and Samsung’s Galaxy S II Skyrocket.

Carrier IQ is also present in the BlackBerry and Android versions of AT&T’s Mark the Spot app, which allows users to mark their particular location if they experience call drops or network issues. The app originally debuted on the iPhone in late 2009, albeit without the CIQ software as part of it. AT&T also notes that the diagnostic data is erased from their CIQ servers after 60 days have gone by.

Sprint:

It should come as no surprise at this point that Sprint is one of Carrier IQ’s most prominent carrier partners: the two companies have been working together since 2006, and with nearly 26 million (!) Sprint devices currently have the diagnostic monitoring software.

That doesn’t mean, however, that 26 million devices get pinged at the same time; rather, only 1.3 million of those devices can send information at once. Much like AT&T though, Sprint repeatedly mentions that none of the data that Carrier IQ collects is human-readable, or is shared with other parties. Sprint also mentions that Carrier IQ stores user data on Sprint’s behalf for between 30 and 45 days, and Sprint stores Carrier IQ’s raw data for up to six months.

Sprint doesn’t list every device of theirs that has Carrier IQ installed, probably for the sake of brevity. They do however give up a list of device vendors on whose wares Carrier IQ runs, and it’s quite a doozy: Audiovox, Franklin, Huawei, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Novatel, Palmone, Sanyo, and Sierra Wireless

HTC:

According the company’s best estimates, around 6.3 million HTC devices in the United States have Carrier IQ installed on them. They mention that in none of those cases did HTC install Carrier IQ of their volition; rather, they did so at the request of individual carrier partners. The company repeatedly states that they aren’t an “intended recipient” of Carrier IQ’s diagnostic data, and therefore have no access to it, but that doesn’t mean some of the data isn’t being stored anyway.

As noted by Trevor Eckhart in his tests with an Evo 3D, some data (think key inputs, locations, etc.) are in fact being stored in a log file on the device, which Carrier IQ has stated should not be happening. HTC doesn’t mention as much in their response, probably because it’s outside the scope of the senator’s line of questioning, but hopefully they address the situation soon. While we wait for further clarification from HTC on why that data is being stored in a log file on their devices, here are the all the devices that currently run Carrier IQ:

• Sprint: Hero, Snap, Touch Pro 2, Evo 4G, Evo Shift 4G, Evo 3D, Evo Design
• T-Mobile: HTC Amaze 4G
• AT&T: HTC Vivid

That’s not all though — HTC also mentions that “components of Carrier IQ” exist on the Merge, Acquire, Desire, Wildfire, Flyer and an unnamed variant of Hero.

Samsung:

Like HTC, Samsung has installed Carrier IQ on their devices at the request of the carriers, and they number of affected devices is pretty impressive. Samsung pegs the number of devices they have sold in the U.S. with Carrier IQ installed at nearly 23 million, all of which run the gamut as far as price, operating system and carrier.

If you’ve been paying attention to the Carrier IQ situation, then you may remember that Carrier IQ was discovered to be running on Samsung smartphones very early on. Now, thanks to their response to Sen. Franken’s inquiry, here’s the full list of Samsung devices that have Carrier IQ installed (in one form or another).

• Sprint: SPH-Z400, SPH-M220, SPH-M320, SPH-M240, SPH-M330, SPH-M360, Instinct, Instinct S30, Instinct HD, Rant, Highnote, Exclaim, Reclaim, Intrepid, Moment, Seek, Restore, Epic 4G, Epic 4G Touch, Intercept, Transform, Galaxy Tab 7.0, Factor, Trender, Galaxy Prevail, Replenish, Conquer 4G, and Transform Ultra.
• Cricket: Hue, Messager Touch, Chrono, Freeform III
• T-Mobile: Galaxy S II, Exhibit 4G
• AT&T: Galaxy S II Skyrocket

Like HTC, it also appears that some Samsung devices contain “dormant” CIQ, which could trigger false positives when run through one of the many Carrier IQ detection apps. Samsung hasn’t disclosed with devices have this dormant code, but I imagine devs and enthusiasts will have a pretty comprehensive list worked up before long.

And the curve balls keep coming.

On Friday the Department of Justice announced its intentions to postpone its antitrust suit with AT&T and T-Mobile, as the deal they were investigating had been summarily yanked off of the table just a couple weeks earlier. Now AT&T has responded, asking for its own winter recess to “evaluate all options.”

Here’s the statement in full:

AT&T and Deutsche Telekom advised Judge Huvelle this morning that they wish to stay any further Court proceedings until January 18, 2012, to allow the two companies time to evaluate all options. The U.S. Department of Justice joined in the filing.

AT&T is committed to working with Deutsche Telekom to find a solution that is in the best interests of our respective customers, shareholders and employees. We are actively considering whether and how to revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals so that we can deliver the capacity enhancements and improved customer service that can only be derived from combining our two companies’ wireless assets.

Notice the end there? “AT&T is committed to working with Deutsche Telekom.” And it looks like they’ve let slip the goals of try number two, as well: spectrum and wireless assets.

Who’s ready for round two?

Update: Judge Ellen Huvelle has granted the stay, according to CNN.

So you missed out on getting the new iPhone 4S when it came out. Worse, all your friends got the new Apple flagship and make fun of your 3GS at every possible opportunity. Plus, all the holiday shopping you’ve been doing has made it nearly impossible to afford the 4S without giving up every shred of financial responsibility.

If that description fits you, even a little bit, then rise up, dear reader, from your sad, Siri-free existence. Because Radio Shack just offered up an excellent way for you to be #winning with regards to your 4S-toting friends.

By combining a few different programs, namely RadioShack’s $30 instant savings promo and its Trade & Save program, you might find yourself walking out of a RadioShack with a free AT&T iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. Here’s how it works:

Starting yesterday through Sunday, December 17, customers can automatically lop $30 off the price of a new iPhone 4 or 4S. Those are some rather measly savings to start, but when you pair them with savings from RadioShack’s Trade & Save program things get really interesting. RadioShack is offering a guarantee of at least $100 (max $200) for eligible 3GS and iPhone 4 trade-ins.

That means you could actually end up with up to $130 store credit after picking up what would be a $99 iPhone 4 (for you, it’s free of course). Then there’s the 4S. If everything goes as planned concerning your iPhone 4/3GS trade-in, you could nab a 16GB model for free too, with a little store credit left over. Even the mamma-jamma 64GB beast can be had for $169.99 if you play your phones right, which usually goes for $399.99.

Below you can find the pricing chart for savings, along with eligibility rules for trade-ins:

Rules:

‡$200 value only applies to iPhone 4 16GB or 32GB in fully functional, cosmetically excellent condition, and charger must be included in trade. Appraised trade-in value credit may be applied instantly to your purchase. Other Terms: Phone must power on, cannot be PIN locked and must be in fully functional, working condition without any broken components, including, but not limited to, cracked display. In addition, the cell phone housing or casing cannot be cracked or broken, and neither the display nor the housing can exhibit any signs of liquid damage. Limit 1 per customer. All trade-ins are final. Not available where prohibited by local law.

When AT&T and T-Mobile decided to regroup and withdraw their merger application a few weeks back, I’m not sure they expected it to backfire the way it just has. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice is looking to postpone (or possibly withdraw) its antitrust case because the original merger application was summarily yanked off the FCC’s table.

So what does that mean for the deal? Nothing good.

Ever since the U.S. Department of Justice filed their lawsuit, AT&T and T-Mobile have vocally maintained that a speedy trial would have to be the way to go — any legal foot-dragging would supposedly lessen the value of the merger. Judge Ellen Huvelle decided months ago that the antitrust trial would begin in February 2012, which neither party had qualms with, but the new request could mean that AT&T and T-Mobile will be locked up in these legal proceedings for even longer than they had hoped.

It’s also worth mentioning that Judge Huvelle isn’t terribly thrilled with AT&T and T-Mobile’s application withdrawal. She’s now reconsidering the speed of the trial, and is also frustrated by the possibility that the two companies could work up a new deal for the FCC’s approval. Let’s hope that isn’t what’s going on, since it would have made the last few months a huge waste of time.

The longer this whole process takes, the greater the chance that something else goes wrong. And let’s not forget the small (but non-zero) chance that T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom could pull the kill-switch and bail out entirely if the merger’s prospects look grim enough. AT&T is also preparing for the worst: they’ve set aside $4 billion just in case they need to fulfill their compensatory obligations if the deal falls apart.

If the request is approved, the two companies have a choice to make — press on in hopes that the FCC is a little more benevolent this time around, or call it quits and go home. It’s a tough call, but we’ll just have to see what AT&T and T-Mobile come up with.

Early in November, AT&T exec Larry Solomon mentioned that their 4G/LTE network would be extending its reach to New York City sometime “soon.”

Turns out, “soon” means “sometime around December 1st” — as of this evening, reports started coming in that some devices within the Big Apple’s limits were lighting up with 4G/LTE signal.

Now, it should be noted that this is still totally unofficial; AT&T has yet to issue a press release announcing that New York’s LTE has gone live, and it’s quite possible that things are just live temporarily for the sake of testing.

With that said, our own Jordan Crook was able to get a rock solid LTE signal (on the recently announced LG Nitro HD) in Southern Manhattan this evening, and was pulling average download speeds between 10 and 12.5 megabits per second. If you’ve got an HTC Vivid, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, or Galaxy Tab 8.9 and are on the Island, whip it out and give it a shot.

If you’re able to catch any of those LTE waves, be sure to drop a comment and let us know which part of the city you’re in.

So remember that staff report the FCC released a few days ago? It was basically a novella-length rant on how horrible the AT&T/T-Mobile merger would be, and how many of AT&T’s arguments were flawed. Releasing the document in the first place was a bit unorthodox, as AT&T had withdrawn its application before the FCC had opened the report up to the public.

The FCC offered up reasons for releasing it though, transparency being the most important one. Still, AT&T is seriously displeased with the alleged one-sidedness of the report, and has released its own lengthy response to the report’s findings:

We expected that the AT&T-T-Mobile transaction would receive careful, considered, and fair analysis. Unfortunately, the preliminary FCC Staff Analysis offers none of that. The document is so obviously one-sided that any fair-minded person reading it is left with the clear impression that it is an advocacy piece, and not a considered analysis.

In our view, the report raises questions as to whether its authors were predisposed. The report cherry-picks facts to support its views, and ignores facts that don’t. Where facts were lacking, the report speculates, with no basis, and then treats its own speculations as if they were fact. This is clearly not the fair and objective analysis to which any party is entitled, and which we have every right to expect.

All any company can properly ask when they present a matter to the government is a fair hearing and objective treatment based on factual findings. The FCC’s report makes clear that neither occurred on our merger, at least within the pages of this report. This has not been our past experience with the agency, which lets us hope for and expect better in the future.

AT&T then goes on to re-argue each of its original points that the FCC had so summarily shot down, including LTE expansion to 97 percent of Americans, job creation vs. job losses, and competition. According to AT&T, the report’s conclusion that AT&T will build out its LTE network to cover 97 percent of the U.S. population with or without the merger is false.

The report says this will occur because AT&T will be forced to do so by competition, despite documents and sworn declarations by AT&T to the contrary. To argue this, the report apparently assumes a high enough level of competition exists in rural areas to compel billions of dollars in investment. Yet the report elsewhere argues that the level of wireless competition in more populated areas of America is so fragile that the merger must be disallowed. At the very least, these conclusions show a logical inconsistency.

The blue carrier even brings up President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union Address, where he called deployment of mobile broadband to 98 percent of Americans an imperative. “It appears the FCC did not inform the President that in their view this was not a needed or worthy objective because it was apparently going to happen anyway,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive VP of external & legislative affairs. Not the most pointed argument I’ve seen, but hey! Why not stir the pot?

AT&T also takes issue with the fact that the FCC has totally shot down its job creation claims. The report states that since AT&T will deploy its LTE network to 97 percent of the population anyway (with or without T-Mobile), it will yield no new jobs.

Yet, just two weeks ago the FCC announced that its new $4.5 billion broadband fund, which will help to deploy wireline broadband to a much smaller number of Americans–7 million– over the same time period, will create “approximately 500,000 jobs and $50 billion in economic growth over this period.” This notion — that government spending on broadband deployment creates jobs and economic growth, but private investment does not—makes no sense. Conversely, if the FCC had applied to its own broadband fund the same analysis it used for our merger-related investments, the result would be similar—zero new broadband, zero jobs, zero growth.

What’s interesting is that AT&T has plans to try, try again to acquire T-Mobile. Still, it sees no harm in basically waging war against the FCC over this report. The FCC itself has said that report is meant to be an informal analysis of the deal, yet releasing it certainly hurts AT&T’s future hopes of buying T-Mobile. Either way, calling out FCC officials as being questionably “predisposed” against the merger is a serious accusation, and one that’s not likely going to go over well in the FCC offices.

In the wake of withdrawing its application to acquire T-Mobile, AT&T has hit yet another obstacle otherwise known as the FCC. See, before AT&T pulled its application, the FCC had big plans to put the deal before an administrative law judge, effectively prolonging the process and magnifying the details of the merger. As part of those big plans, the FCC had compiled an 109-page report with their findings during the review process. AT&T had expected this massive report to stay under the rug since it had withdrawn its application, but the FCC feels it “furthers transparency.”

And what, might you ask, is in this staff report?

Really, really bad news for AT&T. From the FCC’s official release:

The draft hearing designation order concluded, based on the staff’s analysis, that the record overall does not support a finding that the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger would serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity and that the record presents a number of substantial and material questions of fact.

But wait, there’s more:

In the report, the staff finds that the transaction, which would result in the top two wireless providers having a market share of approximately 75 percent, would substantially lessen competition and its accompanying innovation, investment, and consumer price and service benefits, thus undermining key goals of the Communications Act. Indeed, the staff notes that the unprecedented increase in market concentration that would result from this merger triggers the Commission’s screening tests for possible anti-competitive effects in a large number of local wireless markets.

In other words, the report stands behind the claim that this deal will cause a very real duopoly, or at the very least, force the FCC to investigate. But the blue carrier still has a few tricks up its sleeve, right? Two of AT&T’s biggest talking points during this persuasion have been job creation and the acquisition of much-needed spectrum. The FCC staff report had this to say on the matter:

The staff also explains that the economic and engineering models on which the Applicants (AT&T/DT AG/T-Mobile) rely to show consumer benefits are, in the staff’s assessment, unreliable and, at a minimum, raise substantial and material questions of fact. The staff additionally identifies internal AT&T documents and consistent historical practices that contradict AT&T’s claim that merging with T-Mobile is essential for AT&T to build out its LTE network to 97 percent of Americans. The staff finds the Applicants’ assertions that the transaction would create jobs in the United States to be inconsistent with AT&T’s internal analyses and record statements concerning cost reductions from the merger. The staff also finds that there are serious questions whether the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile would cause other public harms that are not offset by the claimed benefits.

Sentence by sentence, the FCC has whittled AT&T’s argument down to a tooth pick. And it seems like releasing this report falls into a bit of a grey area (now that AT&T’s withdrawn its application), which is even more unfortunate for AT&T. The FCC gives some justification for releasing the report, stating that it would be “unfair to the parties and participants” who’ve been working on this deal, and noting that AT&T is still planning on moving forward with this merger, according to its own statement.

AT&T had no idea that the FCC would release this report, and has said the following:

The FCC has recognized that it is required by its own rules to dismiss our merger application. This makes all the more troubling their decision to nonetheless release a preliminary staff report on the merger. This report is not an order of the FCC and has never been voted on. It is simply a staff draft that raises questions of fact that were to be addressed in an administrative hearing, a hearing which will not now take place. It has no force or effect under law, which raises questions as to why the FCC would choose to release it. The draft report has also not been made available to AT&T prior to today, so we have had no opportunity to address or rebut its claims, which makes its release all the more improper.

AT&T sure isn’t wasting any time on shoring up their LTE lineup: just a few weeks after the HTC Vivid and Samsung GSII Skyrocket hit the scene, AT&T has announced that the LG Nitro HD will hit the streets on December 4 for $249.99.

Better known as the Optimus LTE outside of the United States, the Nitro HD sports a pretty impressive spec sheet. As the name would imply, the Nitro sports a high-definition 4.5-inch AH-IPS running at 720p, and an 8-megapixel camera sits on the Nitro’s rear-end. Under the hood is a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, along with 4GB of internal storage and a pre-installed 16GB microSD card.

Like most of its kin, the Nitro HD runs Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, and will probably come preloaded with a host of apps that we’ll uninstall immediately.

Though some of the geeky particulars don’t get a mention, the Nitro HD looks like a solid handset on paper. Hopefully using it is just as good, because LG is in dire need of a hit — their handset division spent the past six consecutive quarters wallowing in red ink. LG has committed nearly half of their 2012 capital expenditures budget into revitalizing their mobile phone business, but until their new crop of smartphones hit, I’ll be watching the Nitro very closely.

Well, this isn’t the strategy I was expecting, but it seems the FCC’s request to investigate the AT&T/T-Mobile deal under the lens of an administrative law judge last week just doesnt sit well with AT&T. Rather than be scrutinized, the company has instead withdrawn its application for the merger. But don’t let that confuse you. Buying Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile is still the big blue carrier’s end goal — the FCC just happens to be blocking the road at the moment.

What may be more interesting is that AT&T’s confidence seems to be dwindling. According to an official release, the company agreed to pay a $4 billion pre-tax charge on its fourth quarter balance sheet, which is the exact amount it would owe to affected parties should the deal fall through. $3 billion in cash would go to Deutsche Telekom as a default payment, while another $1 billion would go to the book value of spectrum that big blue would be forced to relinquish.

In other words, AT&T is preparing for the worst in a very real way. Well, the worst for them, not necessarily the worst case scenario for everyone.

What I find most interesting is that AT&T decided to release this information on Thanksgiving. Maybe they assumed we media types would be stuffing our faces with stuffing (ha!). Either way, AT&T is still putting on a brave face, officially stating the following:

AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG are continuing to pursue the sale of Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. wireless assets to AT&T and are taking this step to facilitate the consideration of all options at the FCC and to focus their continuing efforts on obtaining antitrust clearance for the transaction from the Department of Justice either through the litigation pending before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Case No. 1:11-cv-01560 (ESH) or alternate means. As soon as practical, AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG intend to seek the necessary FCC approval.

The question now is, will a deal between AT&T and T-Mobile ever really be “practical”?

Short Version

Keyboard-loving Android fans historically haven’t had much luck with AT&T’s lineup — a quick look at their wares reveals only a handful of options, none of which are terribly impressive. The Captivate Glide is AT&T’s most recent attempt at marrying a full QWERTY keyboard and a competitive spec sheet, but will it find an audience outside of hardcore messagers? Read on to find out.

Features:

• 4″ Super AMOLED display running at 800×480
• 1GHz Dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor
• 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
• Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread with TouchWiz UI
• MSRP: $149.99 with 2-year contract, available November 20

Pros:

• The Glide feels incredibly responsive
• Great battery life
• Samsung’s Super AMOLED display still looks good

Cons:

• The keyboard is irritatingly flat
• Build quality seems rather chintzy
• The rear-mounted speaker is iffy at best

Full Review

Hardware

One of the first things you notice when you pick up the Captivate Glide is how light it is. It’s not the thinnest phone you’ll ever see, but even with a four-row QWERTY keyboard in tow, the Glide feels comparable in weight to an iPhone 4S. It’s lack of heft is due in large part to its plastic body, and while it definitely helps keep the ounces off, it doesn’t do much to give the device a sturdy feel.

Take the Glide’s rear, for example. Much like on the Focus S, Samsung has fitted the battery cover with a nice grippy textured finish. Pop that bad boy off though (be careful!), and you’ll be looking at an incredibly flimsy piece of plastic. My jaw would clench whenever I had to remove or install the thing, as I was afraid I would accidentally damage it.

When the Glide is closed it feels solid enough, but that soon changes when you slide the keyboard open. The slide mechanism leaps into action with little provocation, and there’s a little bit of play between the screen and keyboard halves. It’s a fairly minor gripe, but a more solid slide could have gone a long way in making the hardware feel more robust.

Sadly, while that same keyboard is one of the Glide’s big selling points, it’s far from perfect. The four-row layout is reasonably spacious, but it isn’t helped by the fact that the keys are almost completely flat. It’s especially rough for people who are accustomed to using the tips of their fingers or their nails on a keyboard, because there’s a tendency to graze the metal grid that separates the keys instead. There were also more than a few occasions where my nail would dig into the plastic of the key but miss the actual button underneath.

What’s more, the four standard Android buttons make appear on either side of the keyboard. It seems like a thoughtful addition for a while, until your thumb inevitably glances off of the Home button instead of the Alt or Shift keys. After using it for a few days though, I slowly found myself using the flats of my thumbs with more success. Keyboard fans considering the Glide really need to go to a store and play with one, because it’s going to be a “love-it-or-hate-it” experience.

Like with the original Captivate, Samsung and AT&T have bucked the trend of including a microSD card in the box, but this time users only have 8GB of internal storage to play with. Some customers won’t mind, but those of you looking to load up your media library may want to get those memory cards ready.

In spite of all the Glide’s physical quirks, Samsung’s now-classic Super AMOLED display still looks great. I won’t go into too much detail here since nearly everyone has seen one of them in action by now, but new smartphone owners can expect crisp, vibrant colors on the Glide’s 4-inch display.

Software

Users of Samsung’s Galaxy S II line will find themselves with at home with the Glide, as they both run the same version of Samsung’s custom TouchWiz UI. I’m generally not a fan of the custom UIs some companies feel obligated to throw on their Android devices, but I think TouchWiz is far and away the least offensive of the bunch. It’s brightly colored, it’s user-friendly, and adds quite a bit of novel functionality to the mix without completely obscuring its Android underpinnings.

As is usually the case, AT&T has seen fit to load up the Glide with a bit of their standard bloatware. This time around, the culprits include AT&T Family Map, AT&T Code Scanner, Live TV, myAT&T, Qik Lite, YP, and Asphalt 6. Fortunately a few of them can be uninstalled outright, while the rest of them can be thrown into a folder in the app drawer and forgotten.

Samsung’s own apps and services make an appearance on the Glide, with most of them performing as well as could be expected. AllShare did an admirable job of accessing every episode of This American Life on my desktop, though unfortunately the app isn’t able to stream content in the background. Samsung’s Social Hub seeks to aggregate your social media and email accounts into one location for easy access. While I’m sure it would be a great solution for some, Social Hub doesn’t play nice with Google Voice accounts so much of its appeal is lost on me.

Strangely, Samsung’s preloaded Media Hub app refuses to start up without a microSD card installed. Since the Glide doesn’t come with one, people who are truly itching to use it will have to drop a few bucks for one.

Performance

The Glide’s physical feel may be lackluster, but that’s certainly not the case when it comes to performance. There was virtually zero lag while scrolling through apps and navigating menus, and the Glide was always very responsive. Sure, it’s not the same kind of powerhouse as the Droid RAZR or the HTC Rezound, but there’s more than enough oomph under the Glide’s hood to deliver a smooth ride. Even my usual test videos (a few episodes of Doctor Who and The League) ran like butter on the device.

After being disappointed by some other Tegra 2-powered devices, the Glide’s battery life was a pleasant surprise. After a normal day of texting, answering emails, web browsing, and streaming music from Rdio, the Glide managed to hang in there for around 11 hours. Your mileage may vary from mine, but I don’t foresee too many problems for people who spend the better part of their day away from power outlets. Control freaks can also keep an eye on Samsung’s preloaded task manager widget to kill apps as soon as possible, if they happen to be really hard up for juice.

As far as taking photos are concerned, the Glide is no slouch. Given the small sensor fitted inside, the Glide faces the same problem that plagues nearly all phone cameras: solid results can be had when there’s light out, but iffy shots are abound when it gets dim. Still, the Glide is capable of capturing some solid shots while keeping shutter lag to a minimum, even if the colors seemed a bit muted at times. Video recording on the other hand left a little to be desired: there’s no way to force the Glide to focus on a subject, so you’re left waiting for the autofocus to catch up to you.

Sadly, audio was a bit of a toss-up. Phone call quality was usually very good, although there was a tendency to for the audio to become slightly muffled at times. The rear-facing speaker leaves much to be desired though — the volume could be cranked up to a respectable level, but music and calls routed through it sounded hollow and distant. In fact, the speaker actually seemed incapable of playing parts of certain songs, which was puzzling to say the least.

Conclusion

The Captivate Glide is a textbook example of a mixed bag: the body skews a bit toward the chintzy side of things, but the power of its internals make for an almost consistently smooth Android experience. Avid keyboard fans who don’t mind the Glide’s flat layout would be hard-pressed to find anything better in AT&T’s portfolio, but again that isn’t saying much considering the competition. If you’re not a physical QWERTY devotee though, you’re probably better off spending the extra $50 for the flagship Galaxy S II with its better screen, faster processor, and slimmer frame.