Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Coronavirus: Here’s how all US carriers are responding to crisis (Update)

t-mobile pink t logo at mwc 2019

Update, April 2, 2020 (1:44AM ET): We’ve updated the article with Google Fi’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can scroll down to the bottom of the page to find out more.


Original article, March 16, 2020 (7:29 AM ET): Coronavirus has most of us working from home, and social distancing has become the new normal. In fact, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended not holding any events or group gatherings of 50 people or more across the country.

In response to the ongoing pandemic, US cellular carriers are also stepping up to help their customers.

All American carriers are waiving off late fees for bill payments and promising uninterrupted connectivity to their customers. The move comes as a response to the “Keep Americans Connected” pledge launched last week by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The pledge dated March 13 requests carriers to commit to the following three promises for the next 60 days:

  1. Don’t terminate service to any residential or small business customers because of their
    inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
  2. Waive any late fees that any residential or small business customers incur because of their
    economic circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic.
  3. Open Wi-Fi hotspots to any American who needs them.

Almost every major US-based broadband and telecom company has signed the pledge. Here’s where major carriers stand:

AT&T

In line with the FCC chairman’s pledge, AT&T has promised not to terminate the service of any wireless, home phone, broadband residential, and small business customers. It will also not charge a late fee for the next 60 days and keep its public Wi-Fi hotspots open.

Additionally, all AT&T home internet wireline and fixed wireless internet customers can now use unlimited internet data. The company will also continue offering internet access for qualifying limited income households at $10 a month through its Access From AT&T program.

On its COVID-19 response page, AT&T also highlights that all its stores are open for now.

T-Mobile

First of all, T-Mobile customers should note that the carrier has closed down all its stores inside shopping malls effective March 15. There’s no word on when these stores will reopen for business.

The company also temporarily closed approximately 80% of its retail stores across the US on March 17 until at least March 31. The 20% of remaining stores are distributed across the country, and they will operate on a reduced schedule from 10 AM to 6 PM local time. It has also reduced staffing and increased the distance between workstations at T-Mobile Care facilities, which are not open to the public.

Responding to the FCC pledge, T-Mobile has removed data caps for its customers. All current T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers can now enjoy unlimited smartphone data for 60 days (excluding roaming).

Also, the telco will soon offer 20GB of free mobile hotspot service for the next 60 days.

Besides this, subscribers who need to call their families internationally can place free calls to Level-3 impacted countries determined by the CDC.

For more details, you can head to T-Mobile’s coronavirus response page for customers here.

Verizon

Verizon has also committed to the aforementioned promises in the FCC pledge for 60 days starting March 13. The company said in a statement that most of its wireless customers are on unlimited plans, and those who aren’t are encouraged to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots.

Verizon also noted that it hadn’t seen any measurable increase in data usage on any of its networks.

Meanwhile, if you find some Verizon stores closed, that’s because the carrier has decided to shut them down for some time. However, all phone and online customer support channels will remain open for now.

Sprint

Like T-Mobile and Verizon, Sprint will temporarily close many of its retail stores across the nation. Approximately 71% of US stores will shut down March 17 for an undisclosed period of time. Every Sprint Express at Walgreens locations and stores within indoor malls are also closed until further notice.

The carrier strongly urges customers to visit its website or use the My Sprint mobile app for any service and sales needs. If customers need to visit a physical location, they can visit storelocator.sprint.com to find the nearest open retailer.

Sprint also announced that starting March 17, customers with international long-distance calling plans will receive complimentary international calling rates from the US to countries defined by the CDC as Level 3.

Starting March 19, Sprint customers with metered data plans will receive unlimited data per month for 60 days at no extra cost. The carrier will also provide customers with an additional 20GB of mobile hotspot data per month for 60 days.

US Cellular

US Cellular has also signed the Keep Americans Connected pledge. However, it has not revealed any details about waiving off data limits or providing free international calling to customers. You can access US Cellular’s COVID-19 response page here.

Mint Mobile

Mint Mobile is offering a truly great deal for people who can connect to the carrier. It is allowing both current and new customers access to free unlimited high-speed data on their phone from now until April 14. Just establish a Mint Mobile account, then download the carrier’s official app. Then, when you use 95% or more of your data allotment, just go into the Mint Mobile app and then “buy” 3GB of extra data. Mint Mobile will charge your account, but then refund your money within 24 hours. You can keep adding in additional 3GB data add-ons once your allotment runs out for free until April 14.

Google Fi

The Google-owned MVNO has confirmed that it’s taking a few measures to help people deal with the crisis as well (h/t: 9to5Google). For starters, the company has revealed that it’s temporarily extending the grace period for payments to 60 days. This policy went into effect from March 1, 2020.

Additionally, the Google Fi team announced that it’s temporarily increasing its limit on full data speeds to 30GB for users on both its Flexible and Unlimited plans. Google usually throttles users on the Flexible plan after 15GB, while Unlimited users normally see throttling after 22GB. This policy went into effect on April 1, 2020.


So those were all the new policies and offers announced by US carriers to make life easier during the coronavirus shut-in. What do you think of these initiatives? Do you feel carriers need to do more? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Nokia C1 Unboxing and First Impressions

Targeting consumers on an ultra-tight budget, HMD Global Oy recently launched the Nokia C1 in the Philippines.
Meet Nokia C1

Priced at PHP 2,990, it is armed with a Nokia-grade tough-looking body, compact size, and the lightweight Android 9.0 Pie (Go edition) OS.

Here are our first impressions. Check it out!

Unboxing/Accessories

Nokia C1 unboxed
Nokia C1 unboxed

Nokia C1 came in a square box with the same pull-out design as the Nokia 2.3. Once you pull out the main box, you get to see the phone first.

Deeper in the box, you will find the paperwork, 5V USB wall charger, and micro USB cable. There are no earphones, and cases included in the box.

There is no SIM ejector tool included because the back panel is removable allowing you to remove the battery to access the SIM card slots.

Build Quality/Design

Nokia C1 Xpress-On back cover
Nokia C1 Xpress-On back cover

Nokia C1 has a removable polycarbonate back panel called Xpress-On cover. It has a matte finish which makes it kind of susceptible to fingerprints. It comes in two colors in Red and Black. The whole phone including the frame looks quite tough for the price.

Nokia-tough body!

The front panel is not a curved glass design which makes the design feel dated. No screen protection included as well. The 5.45-inch screen is small with an 18:9 screen aspect ratio. Bezels are thick, but that's understandable for a budget device.

The device itself is easy to hold due to its small size. There is a minimal camera bump as well. There is no fingerprint sensor here too.

The device measures at 147.6 x 71.4 x 8.7 mm which is smaller than most modern devices nowadays.
Top
Top
Bottom
Bottom
Right
Right
You can find the power button and volume rocker at the right side of the device, a dedicated Google Assistant button at the left along with the SIM tray, a 3.5mm headphone jack up top, and the micro USB port, and mic at the bottom.

The speaker grill is found at the bottom part of the back panel.

The textured finish adds more grip to it as well. It fits comfortably into my hand and can be easily used with one.

The phone weighs at 155 grams, a standard given the size of the device and battery.

Initial findings

1. The 5.45-inch TFT screen at 960 x 480 FWVGA+ resolution is a refreshing size especially nowadays when 6-inch devices are considered small already.

Even at 480p, the screen looks sharp at this size. The screen can get bright but does seem to lean on the warmer side of things in terms of colors.

2. In terms of specs, the 1.3GHz MT6739M quad-core processor along with the PowerVR GE8100 is slow but can be expected at this price point. The use of 1GB RAM feels a bit of dated choice as well.

There is a 16GB of expandable storage and a removable 2,500mAh battery to round up the specs.

3. It is running the Go edition version of Android 9.0 Pie which is light enough to run smoothly even with the limited specs it has. It highlights Lite versions of apps, as well as Google Go apps, which can give its users a decent app experience.

4. The 5MP f/2.4 rear camera is pretty basic. It has autofocus as well as an LED flash. For selfies, it also has a 5MP sensor with an LED flash.

5. It has no fingerprint sensor, but face unlock is present. The Google Assistant button is a welcome addition as well. It has the basics with WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, FM Radio, and GPS. It only has up to 3G in terms of mobile date though.

Nokia C1 Specs

Display: 5.45-inch TFT screen w/ FWVGA+ 960 x 480 resolution at 197 ppi
CPU: 1.3GHz 64-bit MT6739M quad-core processor
GPU: PowerVR GE8100
RAM: 1GB
ROM: 16GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 64GB (dedicated)
Back Camera: 5MP f/2.4 w/ AF and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 5MP w/ LED flash
Battery: 2,500mAh (removable)
OS: Android 9.0 Pie (Go edition)
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, 3G, Bluetooth 4.2, FM Radio, GPS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, proximity
Others: Face unlock, Google Assistant button, Xpress-On Covers, Colors: red, black
Dimensions: 147.6 x 71.4 x 8.7 mm
Weight: 155 g
Price: PHP 2,990

As of the moment

The Nokia C1 is looking to be a decent pick for a backup phone. You can easily use it for communication and some basic tasks.

However, its use of 1GB/16GB storage and the lack of 4G LTE is a bit of a let down even at this price point.

No matter, I will be using this as my daily driver to fully assess its capabilities.

Watch out for the full review soon!


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Indian government officially launches its coronavirus tracking app


Last week, we reported about India building a coronavirus tracker based on your mobile location. Now, the government has officially launched the app with the name of Aarogya Setu (which translates from Sanskrit to ‘A bridge of health’). The core function of the app remains the same as the beta version: using your phone’s location data and Bluetooth to assess if you’ve been near a person who was infected by COVID-19, by looking through a database of known cases. The app specifies that all your data is on the device in an encrypted form. Looking at the code, it sends your data…

This story continues at The Next Web


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Huawei aims to add Google Services to AppGallery

Back in February, Google said that it wants to resume business with Huawei and the company has applied for an exemption to the US government to allow Huawei to use its services again.
Huawei aims to add Google Services to AppGallery
File photo: Huawei Nova 7i with AppGallery

Google Services on AppGallery?
A few days back, a report revealed that the feeling is probably mutual between Huawei and Google.

Huawei's rotating chairman Eric Xu told CNBC that the company hopes that Google Services can be available through the AppGallery.

The approach that Huawei suggested is similar to what Google did with Apple where they added Google Services in the Apple App Store.

In China, the lack of Google Services is not a big deal because Google is blocked there and the consumers don't really use them. However, in international markets, Google is widely used.

To recall, the US blacklisting back May 2019 prevented Google from working with Huawei

Since then, Huawei has launched several phones like the Nova 7i, Mate 30, and P40 phones without Google Services out of the box.

Those devices are equipped with the HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) with the company's own AppGallery. The AppGallery quickly evolved and it is now the world's 3rd largest app market.

The App Gallery now has most of the top apps like Microsoft, Viber, TikTok, several local apps, and more. Recently, Huawei also added links to easily download apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, and more.

I've always argued that even if Huawei could get most major developers onto its AppGallery in the upcoming years, there is still one critical developer whose apps would be missing: Google,” Bryan Ma, vice president of devices research at IDC, told CNBC. So if Huawei is really able to get Google on board, then it would be a significant milestone.”

Source: CNBC


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2020 iPad Pro May Not Have a U1 Ultra Wideband Chip After All

While it was previously reported that all 2020 iPad Pro models feature the same Apple-designed U1 chip as the iPhone 11 lineup, enabling Ultra Wideband support, we have compiled evidence to suggest that this may not be the case.


As a reminder, Apple's tech specs for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro list an Ultra Wideband chip for spatial awareness, but the chip is not mentioned in Apple's tech specs for the new iPad Pro. Apple also did not mention the new iPad Pro featuring the U1 chip in its press release or in any other marketing materials for the device.

Beyond that, the directional AirDrop feature that the U1 chip enables on iPhone 11 models is not present on the new iPad Pro running iPadOS 13.4. Likewise, the Ultra Wideband toggle switch that Apple added to iPhones in iOS 13.3.1 is not present on the new iPad Pro.

While all of this could suggest that Apple has simply disabled the U1 chip in the new iPad Pro until it becomes more useful, such as when Apple releases its rumored AirTags item tracking tags, more evidence suggests otherwise.

Earlier this week, the teardown experts at iFixit informed us that they had yet to find physical evidence of the U1 chip in the new iPad Pro. However, iFixit did note that it had yet to remove RF shielding from the logic board to confirm this.

The biggest clue of all is that FCC filings for all iPhone 11 models list operating frequencies in the 6GHz range and the 7-8GHz range, and the rules for these frequencies points to "Subpart F — Ultra-Wideband Operation." TechInsights last year reported that the U1 chip in iPhone 11 models transmits on two different frequencies, 6.24GHz and 8.23GHz.

By comparison, FCC filings indicate that all 2020 iPad Pro models operate within a max frequency range of 5GHz for Wi-Fi.

All of this presents a pretty solid case that the new iPad Pro might not have a U1 chip after all, but we have yet to confirm this without a doubt. When published, iFixit's full teardown of the new iPad Pro should provide a definitive answer.
Related Roundup: iPad Pro

This article, "2020 iPad Pro May Not Have a U1 Ultra Wideband Chip After All" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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