Happy New Year!

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

May 2015 be a prosperous and beneficial one to you and the world. 

T-Mobile Offers $100 Unlimited Two Line Family Plan.

Lighting more fire under Verizon and AT&T, T-Mobile is offering two line unlimited family plan for $100 a month. One can Add additional lines at $40 a month. Best part is no overages or guarding the usage, because it is unlimited.
This will provide much ease to parents who has to monitor children's and their own usage of data bandwidth with other carriers. There are usually overage charges based of over usage of shared plans. AT&T and Verizon raked in 1.5 Billion, just only from those charges. Like baggage fee charges by air lines. So by comparison T-Mobile may be the SoutWest of Communications.
The offer is alive through the end of the year.




Press Release;

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS) is taking a stand for everyone who wants wireless without all the confusion and without limits for themselves and their families − unveiling America’s only family plan with unlimited 4G LTE data for the whole family and a multi-line family discount. Available tomorrow, the new Simple Choice family plan starts at just $100 per month for two people – and it goes all the way up to 10 people for just $40 more per line – when everyone on your plan wants unlimited blazing-fast data on America’s fastest nationwide 4G LTE network.
This holiday season, the traditional carriers are flooding the airwaves with a mishmash of confusing shared data promotions. Between them, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon have 24 different family and promotional rate plans, and, not surprisingly, 81 percent of people recently polled describe all the data promotions in the wireless industry as “somewhat confusing” or “very confusing.” And a full 75 percent say they “hate” policing their own family members’ data usage on the carrier’s shared data plans, while more than 40 percent say they often worry about overage penalties on those plans.
T-Mobile said it’s time to put a stop to the madness. It’s time to free wireless customers from having to decipher confusing gigabyte promotions, from policing their own family’s data usage and from punishing overage charges. The Un-carrier is cutting through the clutter and complexity with a radically simple idea: everyone on your family plan uses as much data as they want. And, you can do it at a better price without ever worrying about domestic overages.
“People are saying loud and clear that they hate the confusion and complexity of the carriers’ shared data plans, and they should,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “These plans are purpose-built to do one thing – take money from your pocket and put it into theirs. They threaten you with punishing overage penalties unless you police your own family’s data usage or up your data bucket and spend more every month.
“Unfortunately for American consumers, this scheme is working as intended,” added Legere. “In 2014, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint pulled in more than $1.5 billion – yes, with a ‘b’ – in overage penalties. And, it’s no surprise that AT&T is the worst offender by far – collecting more than half of overage penalties this year. T-Mobile’s unlimited 4G LTE family plan is a simpler, saner alternative to the carrier’s crazy gigabyte games.”
While the industry at large moves away from unlimited plans, T-Mobile is giving customers more of what they want. In addition to America’s only unlimited 4G LTE family plan and lightning-fast 4G LTE data for each family member, customers on T-Mobile’s unlimited LTE family plan also get all the Un-carrier “Simple Choice” goodness of no annual service contracts or domestic overages, unlimited talk and text, unmetered music streaming on T-Mobile’s nationwide network plus unlimited data and texting in 120+ countries and destinations, next-gen Wi-Fi calling and free in-flight messaging, among other benefits.
“Of course, every single T-Mobile Simple Choice postpaid customer immediately qualifies to take advantage of this offer. That’s how the Un-carrier does it, putting our customers first,” said Legere. “But not the carriers. Last week, one of them launched a new promotion that not one of their existing customers could get. That makes my head spin, and it’s exactly the kind of BS we’re on a mission to end.”
While the old carriers keep peddling their confusing shared data schemes, the Un-carrier continues to offer far more value, benefits and bang for the buck.
The Unlimited 4G LTE family plan offer is available starting December 10, 2014 for a limited time. Once you sign up, there is no planned expiration date – so you can keep the plan even after the offer is no longer available. All lines on your account must have unlimited 4G LTE data to continue to qualify.
For more about T-Mobile’s new unlimited 4G LTE family data plan, please visit: http://www.t-mobile.com/unlimitedfamilyplan or in Spanish http://www.t-mobile.com/planfamiliarilimitado starting December 10.
It’s Back. T-Mobile Re-introduces 4 Lines for $100 with 10GB of Data
Also, for families who use less high-speed data – but still want to live worry-free – T-Mobile is re-introducing its most popular promotion in the last decade. Starting tomorrow for a limited time, for just $100 per month, a family of four can get up to 10 GB of 4G LTE data − that’s 2.5 GB per line with no sharing required. Your family will get the extra data until 2016 starts, and after that, you’ll still get 1 GB of 4G LTE data per line. And, as always, you’ll never face domestic overages when you use more data.
All that data comes on America’s fastest nationwide 4G LTE network and with all the benefits of being an Un-carrier customer. That’s a stark contrast to the carrier promotions, which come with fine print and gotchas like domestic overages, international roaming fees, hidden device subsidy costs and more.
Fastest LTE network based on download speeds. Only major national carrier offering unlimited LTE plan with multi-line family discount. Taxes & fees addit’l. Qual’g service req’d. Up to 10 lines. Visit T-Mobile.com for specific offer and coverage details.
About T-Mobile US, Inc.

iOS 8.1.2 OTA Update Released

Apple released an update to it's iOS, iOS 8.1.2 yesterday, as an over-the-air software update for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users running iOS 8. In addition to the bug and security fixes, the latest release contains a fix for a problem regarding ringtones purchased from Apple being removed from devices.

To get the update, check your device's updates;
Settings > General > Software Update

Apple has not released much information about the update yet and when it is available, it will appear on this page on Apple site.
On the other hand, Apple developers received the iOS 8.2 last month.

Apple's Mantra Of The Day! " “We don’t need to give users too much information”"

In the courts;
"Apple deleted music that some iPod owners had downloaded from competing music services from 2007 to 2009 without telling users, attorneys for consumers told jurors in a class-action antitrust suit against Apple Wednesday." said the lawyers for the consumers.

Apple contends the moves were legitimate security measures. Apple security director Augustin Farrugia testified that Apple did not offer a more detailed explanation because,
 “We don’t need to give users too much information,” and “We don’t want to confuse users.”

I am lost for words.

WSJ

Google Neutral On Net Neutrality?

I am a fan of Google Fiber and I love Austin. So when Engadget wrote about Google Fiber in Austin, I was all over the article and there were enough info to keep you there for a few minutes.
But sadly I came away with only the following in my head.

"When I asked Smith about why Google had been silent on the issue of Net Neutrality for so long, considering its own budding ISP, I was cut off by his PR handler:"

May be after all Google wants to be an evil ISP. So much for fiber, at least I know where Comcast stands.

Update: I read on Washington Post that Google is for Free and Open internet! Phew!.

Apple's "App Store" Trademark Appeal Denied In Australia

Apple was denied it's trademark application for "App Store" in Australia, March last year. But in Apple fashion, with deep pockets for litigation, the applicant appealed, in Federal Court. But the court threw out the appeal, allowing anyone to use the "App Store" without legal treats from Apple.
Apple will continue to use the term to describe it's app store but any who fancy the name are also free to use the name as well.

Android Market Share Way Ahead Of iOS.

smartphone market share
The gap is enough to turn Steve Jobs in his grave, Android 82.3% (1.06 billion devices) vs iOS 13.8% (178 million devices) and the rest grabbing the 3.8%. I remember when both leaders were trying to beat BlackBerry share, and how iOS beat Android, at times.
Total of 1.29 billion smartphones will be shipped over the course of this year according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker up 26% compared to 2013.
IDC also expect the the growth to slow down to 12.6% with 1.4 billion devices. The slowdown will continue well into 2018, when it is expected to ship 1.9 billion units. Android will continue to dominate the market, during these years, staying around 80%.

"The impact of upstart Chinese players in the global market will be reflected in a race to the bottom when it comes to price. While premium phones aren't going anywhere, we are seeing increasingly better specs in more affordable smartphones. Consumers no longer have to go with a top-of-the-line handset to guarantee decent hardware quality or experience," said Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "The biggest question now is how much lower can prices go?"

As you can see from the table, iOS still grabbed 30.4 of the value (US$ 116,540 millions) while Android brought home 66.6% (US$ 255,102 Million). That is $655 per iOS device vs $240 per an Android device. This is as significant as the market share!

Worldwide Smartphone Forecast by Shipments and Value, 2014 and 2018 (Shipments in millions of units and Value in US$ Million)

	2014*	2014* Market Share	2018*	2018* Market Share	2014-2018 CAGR
Shipment (M units)
Android	1,060	82.3%	1,498	80.0%	9.0%
iOS	178	13.8%	240	12.8%	7.8%
Windows Phone	35	2.7%	105	5.6%	31.4%
Other OS	14	1.1%	30	1.6%	20.4%
Total	1,288	100.0%	1,873	100.0%	9.8%
Value (US$M)
Android	255,102	66.6%	275,248	60.9%	1.9%
iOS	116,540	30.4%	152,626	33.8%	7.0%
Windows Phone	7,782	2.0%	19,033	4.2%	25.1%
Other OS	3,480	0.9%	4,862	1.1%	8.7%
Total	382,904	100.0%	451,769	100.0%	4.2%

YotaPhone 2 To Arrive In UK soon.

If you saw the phone phone the Russian President Putin gave to Chinese Preasident, Xi Jinping during the APEC summit in Beijing, if you are in UK, now you can give the device your beloved any moment. YotaPhone 2 will be available soon and pre ordering could come up at product website.
The unique smartphone, Yotaphone 2 has a 5" 1080p AMOLED on the front and a 4.7" e-paper display on the back and both the screens are protected with Gorilla Glass 3. The back screen is always on and has qHD resolution (540 x 960px, 235ppi) and displays 16 levels of gray.
The Yotaphone 2 is powered by a Snapdragon 800 chipset with 2GB of RAM and operates on Android 4.4 KitKat. As for photography and videography, ther a 8MP/1080p main camera. For selfies, a 2.1MP front-facing camera. The storage is limited to 32GB without an expansion slot for memory cards.
The phone connects to the grid by means of LTE (Cat. 4, 150Mbps downlink), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, and also equipped with NFC, A-GPS + GLONASS and microUSB 2.0.Power is provided by a 2,500mAh battery, which is able to be charged wirelessly.

Speaking about the phone, Vlad Martynov, Yota Device's Chief Executive told Reuters. "It's a new type of gadget. With smartphones it's always one problem - its display is always black, it always sleeps, which we think is fundamentally wrong,If we really hit the mark, we'll be happy because in two to three years everyone will be copying us." 
If you fancy the phone, you can get in line at, Yota.