Verizon Wireless

Updated 6:45 p.m. ET

Uh oh! It seems that it's not a good day to be a Verizon Wireless user. Based on an overwhelming number of reports in support forums, the cellular provider's customers are experiencing 3G and 4G data outages across the U.S. right now.

We've reached out to Verizon for more information about the issue and will update this story once we hear back, but in the meantime we're checking on the complaints in Verizon's own support forums. 

Users are reporting trouble maintaining a steady data connection as well as misleading connectivity statuses (some devices are displaying icons which suggest connectivity, but no actual connection occurs). According to the folks at The Verge — who have been keeping track of the origins of the posts — the reports are coming in from "pretty much everywhere" including California, Rhode Island, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York.

Are you a Verizon customer and experiencing issues with your data connection? Please let us know in the comments below.

Update: Verizon Wireless responded to us with a brief note stating that things should be getting back to normal:

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is returning to normal this morning after company engineers worked to resolve an issue with the 4G network during the early morning hours today. Throughout this time, 4G LTE customers were able to make voice calls and send and receive text messages. The 3G data network operated normally. 

Wireless analyst Jeff Kagan chimed in to point out that it's not particularly surprising that an outage like this occurred in the first place. "As the wireless world becomes more about wireless data we can experience more of these outages," he says. He also offers some words of warning:

Expect wireless data traffic to explode during the holidays starting this week with Chanukah, then Christmas and the weeks following. We should brace for impact of all those users gobbling all that wireless data. Sounds like the right atmosphere for outages and slowdowns.  

Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET: Verizon Wireless said it has fixed the data service problem, the second high-profile service problem this month for the company. The carrier said the problem with its 4G network was resolved by 2 p.m. ET, with data service restored for all customers of the 4G network late in the day. Verizon did not explain the cause of the problem. While some customers had complained online of problems with the older 3G service on Wednesday, company spokesman Tom Pica said 3G devices had not been affected. Verizon Wireless said that voice and text services had not stopped working — Reuters

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• 1 in 10 cellphone users has an iPhone
• iPhone self-combusts on plane

Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Apple

Apple's iPhone 4S, available on Sprint, AT&T; and Verizon, but not T-Mobile USA.

GeekWire

T-Mobile USA boosted its profits and added to its customer base in the third quarter, but the company Thursday morning warned of future repercussions from its status as the only major U.S. wireless carrier not offering Apple’s iPhone.

“Earnings improved as we continued to focus on making smartphones affordable to all Americans through our unlimited Value plans, improvements to our 4G network, and an expanding portfolio of 4G devices,” said Philipp Humm, T-Mobile USA president and CEO, in the company’s earnings release. He added, “Discipline on the cost side contributed to year-on-year margin improvement, while postpay churn, in particular related to the iPhone 4S launches by competitors, will continue to be an area of concern.”

"Churn" is industry lingo for customers leaving for other carriers.

Sprint was added to Apple's lineup of U.S. carriers with the iPhone 4S launch in October, joining AT&T and Verizon. Apple said first weekend sales of the device set a new record for the company.

Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile USA's parent company, has agreed to sell the U.S. subsidiary to AT&T for $39 billion, but the U.S. Justice Department has filed suit to block the deal. T-Mobile USA said expenses related to the AT&T acquisition were $51 million in the third quarter, “primarily consisting of employee-related costs.”

T-Mobile USA’s quarterly revenues were $4.67 billion, down from $4.71 billion in the same quarter last year. Operating profits excluding certain costs were $1.45 billion, up from $1.32 billion a year ago.

More from GeekWire:

• How Carly screwed up AT&T's $39B T-Mobile acquisition
• Does Steve Jobs deserve to be Time's Person of the Year?
• Amazon Prime's new killer app: Kindle books by subscription

Follow Todd Bishop of GeekWire on Facebook and Twitter.

In what sounds like a pretty nice deal, Verizon Wireless is doubling the data allowance for 4G smartphone customers. The deal would turn a 2GB plan into a 4GB one, while keeping the price at $30. It starts Tuesday, and while it's a "limited time offer," the plan itself won't expire as long as you have a 4G phone.

The plan does not apply to mobile hotspot devices or USB modems — nor does it apply to iPhones. Sorry, folks. New and existing 4G customers can both get the plan, the latter through the Verizon customer website, and while Verizon will stop offering it eventually, it will likely run through the holiday season. We've confirmed the details with Verizon, but we first saw it mentioned over at PCMag.

UPDATE: Verizon has clarified one detail that you may not want to hear: This is not eligible to anyone with a 4G phone and an existing metered data plan. It's only available to people now buying 4G phones (or bought within the past 14 days), or existing customers with legacy unlimited plans, for whom this would be a downgrade.

More on Verizon Wireless from msnbc.com:

• Motorola Droid RAZR review: The new Android king?
• HTC Rezound brings Dre's Beats to the VZW
• Verizon is getting Samsung Galaxy Nexus
• iPhone 4S shootout: AT&T vs. Sprint vs. Verizon

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Laptop Magazine

By Mark Spoonauer
Laptop Magazine 

If you're going to revive the venerable RAZR brand for an Android phone, you had better bring it. And Motorola definitely does for the Droid RAZR, which sports the thinnest profile of any smartphone and a gorgeous Super AMOLED Advanced screen. Priced at $299, this slim stunner for Verizon Wireless also boasts serious speed in the form of a dual-core processor and 4G LTE connectivity.

Sorry, the Droid Bionic is officially obsolete (yes, already), but is this the new king of the Android hill?

Design
The Droid RAZR is equal parts super thin, tough, and elegant. Measuring 0.3 inches at its thinnest point, this 4.5-ounce device has the lowest profile of any handset on the market. The Samsung Galaxy S II and iPhone 4S measure 0.4 inches. The Droid Bionic tapered from 0.4 to 0.5 inches, making that phone look positively bloated in comparison. However, like the Bionic, the Droid RAZR has a bulge that protrudes at the top that houses the speaker and camera. Although the 4.3-inch screen gives the Droid RAZR a fairly large footprint, we barely noticed it in our pocket. 

Thanks to a Kevlar Fiber back, a scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass screen, and even a water-repellent coating, Motorola has crafted a very durable device. It felt very solid in our hand and not the least bit slippery. The Droid RAZR is also quite the looker, thanks to diamond-cut accents (such as the Motorola logo above the screen) and angled corners. We especially like the soft-touch finish on the back, which has a cool zig-zag pattern.

Laptop Magazine

Display
Motorola calls the 4.3-inch display on the Droid RAZR Super AMOLED Advanced, as opposed to the Super AMOLED Plus screens on the Samsung Galaxy S II line. "Advanced stands" for the extra resolution, as the panel on this phone packs in more pixels (960 x 540) than the Samsung (800 x 480).

When we put the two handsets side by side, the Droid RAZR fit more headlines from The New York Times website on the screen, but the S II delivered a slightly brighter picture when we played The Avengers trailer on YouTube. We also like that Samsung squeezed a larger 4.5-inch display into a design that's nearly as thin, at least for the Sprint and T-Mobile versions of the S II.

Regardless, whether we were enjoying photos, videos, or games, the Droid RAZR's panel delivered high-contrast and rich colors, such as the bold red in Thor's cape. Plus, you get fantastically wide viewing angles. Just keep in mind that this screen isn't as bright as traditional LCDs. We had more trouble making out the dialpad in direct sunlight on this phone than on the Droid Bionic when we held them up together, and the Droid RAZR had more problems with glare.

Some may want to wait for the sharper and bigger 4.7-inch 720p screen on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but the Droid RAZR's display is certainly one of the best that Motorola has ever put in a phone.

Still want more? Read Laptop's unabridged review, including extra details and test results

Audio
You might expect such a thin smartphone to produce weak sound. And you'd be wrong. The Droid RAZR's back-mounted speaker got surprisingly loud when we cranked Linkin Park's "New Divide" on Slacker. We also had no problem hearing the female voice in Google Maps Navigation when we got spoken directions from Brooklyn to New Jersey.

Performance
Like the Droid Bionic, the Droid RAZR is powered by a 1.2-GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor and 1GB of RAM, yet we found the RAZR to be the swifter performer both anecdotally and in benchmark tests. For instance, the Droid RAZR notched a CPU score of 3,802 in the Benchmark app, compared to 2955 for the Bionic. That's also better than the Galaxy S II (3,341).

Everyday usage backed up these results. The Bionic was a step behind the Droid RAZR on some tasks. It took a half second more for the Bionic to open the app menu and to show all apps when we pressed and held the home button. In addition, the Droid RAZR took 2 seconds less to load the same Google homepage over Wi-Fi.

However, while the RAZR let us flick through home screens quickly, it took longer for this phone to launch the app menu and show all open apps.

Laptop Magazine

4G speeds and Web browsing
The good news is that the Droid RAZR is capable of fantastic 4G speeds. In one Brooklyn location, the phone averaged 12.3 Mbps downloads and 5.8 Mbps uploads, slightly above Verizon's claims of 5 to 12 Mbps down and 2 to 5 up, respectively. Our problem with the device is that it took the phone longer than the Bionic to latch onto a 4G signal when traveling out of a 3G area. Still, that's better than the Bionic's tendency to drop both 3G and 4G data altogether at times.

The two phones were pretty much neck and neck when downloading websites, with a slight edge going to the Droid RAZR. The RAZR took between 3 and 7 seconds to load the mobile versions of NYTimes.com, ESPN.com, CNN, and Yahoo, compared to 6 and 7 seconds for the Bionic in the same location. Both handsets took 10 seconds to pull down the full desktop version of NYTimes.com, which is fast.

MotoCast
One of the most unique features of the Droid RAZR is MotoCast, a program that lets you stream or download files from a PC over the web to the smartphone. The underlying technology is similar to what Motorola provided on the Bionic, but this device takes things a step further by integrating the functionality into multiple apps. 

For example, we could stream iTunes tracks from our computer right to the handset just by firing up the Music app and tapping My Library. Provided your PC is powered on and connected to the web, you can listen to your tunes remotely. We also loved that we could pull up any one of thousands of photos from our computer from within the Gallery app — neatly organized by date in a carousel interface. Downloading each photo took a few seconds, however, even over a Wi-Fi connection.

MotoCast also let us open documents such as Word docs within the Files app. Unfortunately, we couldn't play our iTunes videos because they're protected with DRM. Early adopter types might prefer cloud services such as Dropbox and iCloud, but overall MotoCast is a useful and well-designed app.

Apps
If you're going to spend time tinkering with any of the RAZR's pre-loaded apps, make it Smart Action, which lets you create rules to automatically adjust the Droid RAZR's settings. For instance, you can have the phone turn off the ringer when you go to bed (based on your location and time of day) or you can turn on the Workout Smart Action to automatically play music when you plug in headphones.

Smart Actions comes with 10 sample rules you can tweak, or you can create rules form scratch, many of which can save battery life. We created a rule that turned off Bluetooth and cellular data when we got home, because we just wanted to use Wi-Fi.

The Droid RAZR has plenty of entertainment options on board, too, such as Amazon Kindle, Blockbuster, Netflix, and Slacker, plus trials of both Let's Golf 2 and Madden NFL 12.

Camera and camcorder
It looks like Motorola took the complaints about the Droid Bionic's lag to heart, because the 8-megapixel camera on the Droid Bionic is much faster from shot to shot. Although it takes a second or two for the camera's focus to lock on, we were able to capture additional images quickly.

Outdoors, the Droid RAZR's camera took some sharp photos with pleasing color balance, such as the brick facade of an apartment complex's entranceway. Indoors, however, the Samsung Galaxy S II took sharper pictures. We could really tell the difference when we zoomed in on some flowers; the Droid RAZR's image looked fuzzy and indistinct, while the S II's image was brighter and sharper.

The 1080p footage we captured with the Droid RAZR's 1080p camcorder delivered plenty of detail — we could easily make out cracks in pavement from several feet away. We also appreciated the clear and loud audio. Our only nitpick is that the camera had a bit of trouble adjusting from lighter to darker objects.

Video calling
The Droid RAZR's front 1.3-MP camera supports Google Talk video chat, so we accepted a call from a friend using a MacBook Pro (running Windows) using Wi-Fi. He noted that our face looked very clear, and we could easily make out stubble on his face. Audio was loud and clear in both directions, and it only fell out of sync for a few seconds during the end of our call. This was one of the better video calling experiences we've had on a smartphone.

Call quality and battery life
We've noticed that the Bionic will sometimes produce a rattling sound when making calls through the earpiece. Thankfully, that wasn't the case with the Droid RAZR, which delivered clean audio in both directions. We just wish there was a little more volume through the earpiece. Still, the speakerphone was plenty loud.

The Droid RAZR packs a relatively large 1780 mAh battery inside its slim frame, but we weren't blown away by its staying power. When using the phone regularly (to run benchmarks, surf the web, and download apps), we were down to just 30-percent juice after 3.5 hours. To be fair, though, we had the phone's screen set to 100-percent brightness. In another real-world test, the Droid RAZR's battery was down to 40 percent after an hour of mobile hotspot usage.

Verdict
The Motorola Droid RAZR is easily one of the best smartphones on any network, thanks to its ultra-thin but strong design and beautiful Super AMOLED Advanced display. The smartphone is also noticeably faster than the Droid Bionic, and it makes the most of its blazing 4G speeds with useful apps such as MotoCast. However, while the RAZR's camera is quicker on the draw than the Bionic's, it's not quite as sharp or as good in low light as the iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S II's. We also wish the Droid RAZR switched from 3G to 4G networks faster.

Many will want to wait to see just how tasty the Samsung Galaxy Nexus — which will run the newer Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS on a larger and sharper 720p screen — is when it arrives on Verizon later this month. And those who prefer HTC's Sense software might want to hold out for the Beats Audio-packin' Rezound. But the Droid RAZR is certainly Motorola's best smartphone yet — and one of the best Android devices on the market.

Still want more? Read Laptop's unabridged review, including extra details and test results

More from Laptopmag.com:

• Top 10 notebooks
• 8 iPad accessory gifts
• Accessory gifts to spoil your iPhone 4S

Apple

By Davey Alba
Laptop 

The AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless versions have all sold out (at least temporarily). And the overwhelming demand is understandable, given the brilliant Siri voice-controlled assistant, faster dual-core processor and super-sharp 8-megapixel camera. But which of the carrier models is best? We evaluated all three versions based on pricing plans, data speeds and call quality to help you decide which iPhone 4S is right for you.

Pricing plans
Let's say you opt for the minimum amount of minutes on each of the carriers (450 minutes), unlimited text messaging, and 2GB of data (it's unlimited for Sprint). If you factor in the cost of the $199 iPhone 4S, over two years you'd pay $1,896 on Sprint, versus $2,520 on AT&T and $2,640 on Verizon. If you went with Sprint, you'd save $144 versus AT&T and $264 versus Verizon. However, Sprint charges more than the other carriers to use your phone as a hotspot — $30 versus $20 — and at that point you would be paying about the same amount versus Verizon and about $100 less on AT&T.

Winner: Sprint
Provided you don't plan to use your phone as a hotspot — something we wouldn't recommend with a 3G phone anyway — Sprint's plans are much more affordable than AT&T's and Verizon's. And you don't have to watch the data meter.

Data speeds
The AT&T version of the iPhone is the only one that supports speeds up to 14.4 Mbps on the carrier's HSPA network, while the Verizon and Sprint versions are tied to older and slower EV-DO networks. So it wasn't a surprise that AT&T turned in the fastest download and upload speeds in our three testing locations using the Speedtest.net app.

The AT&T iPhone 4S pulled off an overall average rate of 970 Kbps for downloads, and 270 Kbps for uploads. By comparison, Verizon only mustered 380 Kbps on the download and Sprint was even slower at 280 Kbps. Verizon's iPhone 4S consistently offered the slowest upload speeds, with an average of 100 Kbps versus a not-much-better 170 Kbps for Sprint. 

Winner: AT&T
While all three iPhone 4S models trail true 4G phones by a mile, the AT&T iPhone 4S consistently delivered the fastest download and upload speeds.

Laptop

Comparative data speeds for the three phones, gauged using the Speedtest.net app.

Web browsing
Our Speedtest results were backed up by our real-world testing: the average times it took to load different websites. It took an overall average of 19 seconds for the AT&T iPhone 4S to load the full website of the New York Times on the AT&T iPhone 4S, 20 seconds faster than Verizon's overall average time (39 seconds), and 40 seconds faster than the average time it took for the Sprint iPhone 4S to load the page (59 seconds). It loaded the full website of Laptopmag.com and ESPN's mobile website fastest as well, at 20 seconds and 10 seconds, respectively. The only site it did not load faster than the other two carriers was CNN's mobile website, which it loaded in an average of 10 seconds, compared to Verizon's average of 9 seconds. 

Winner: AT&T
The AT&T iPhone 4S loaded sites considerably faster than the Verizon and Sprint versions of the device.

Call quality
We found the call quality on Verizon's iPhone 4S to be top notch. Sound was loud, clear, and exhibited no choppiness. In the first and third locations where we tested for call quality (a noisy coffee shop in New York, a private residential area in New Jersey), our callers had the same comment: We sounded the loudest, and background noise was present. On our end, we heard some scratchiness and static during calls, but there was less of it compared to the AT&T experience, and none during silences.

On Sprint, calls sounded quieter, which some callers said they appreciated, especially coming from two very loud calls (AT&T and Verizon). With Sprint background noise was less of an issue. One caller from our second location even said we sounded like we were in an office cubicle; initially he couldn't tell we were using a mobile phone at all. However, in every location where we tested for call quality, callers commented that the Sprint iPhone 4S sounded choppy. On our end, we sometimes heard a strange sort of echo to our voice. 

Winner: Verizon Wireless
Verizon beat out AT&T and Sprint with the clearest and loudest call quality on both ends of the line.

Final verdict
AT&T has shaken its reputation for poor service on the iPhone in this shootout, offering better data speeds than both Sprint and Verizon. And while Sprint offers unlimited data, AT&T's 2GB plan is cheaper than Verizon's. Verizon wins out for best overall call quality, but that's not why people buy smartphones. Whether you're asking Siri to find nearby steakhouses, downloading an app or sending a tweet, AT&T's iPhone 4S is just faster. And that's why it's your best bet.

More stories from Laptop:

• 10 Essential iOS 5 Tips 
• Top iPhone Alternatives
• iPhone 4S Full Review (AT&T)

Apple

Never trust a carrier when it comes to monthly plan pricing. That's pretty much the attitude you have to go in with when you buy your iPhone 4S — or any other smartphone. To demonstrate, I've drawn up a list of tricks and deals that I found while crunching numbers on the three iPhone carriers, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Texting on AT&T: All or nothing
If you want text messaging on AT&T, you have to get the $20-per-month text plan or go a la carte, at a punitive 10 cents per message. This is lame because iPhones will now have iMessage, a texting service for iPhones, iPods and iPads that doesn't count against your monthly plan.

Texting on Sprint: All or all
Texting options are even worse on Sprint, since the carrier forces you to get an unlimited texting plan no matter what when you buy an iPhone.

Only Verizon has mid-priced texting plans
Verizon may be more expensive, but at least the carrier lets you drop down on text messaging. Instead of paying $20 for all-you-can-eat text messaging, you should check out $5 for 250 text messages, or $10 for 500, plus unlimited texts to any other Verizon customer.

Sprint family plans start at 1500 minutes (others start at 700)
On paper, Sprint's family plans are super competitive. Not only is a two-person entry level plan the same price as AT&T's starter family plan, but it gives you more than twice as many minutes! But wait, why can't I just get it even cheaper, with fewer minutes? After all, AT&T and Verizon make up for fewer minutes with other calling deals.

Only AT&T has mid-priced data plans
AT&T shines through on data plan options. If you want just a little bit of data, you can buy a 200MB plan for your iPhone for just $15 a month, and AT&T's $25 2GB deal is better than Verizon's $30 one. Verizon and Sprint have no step-down data plan. On Verizon, you start at 2GB; on Sprint, you start at unlimited. 

"Unlimited" data is pointless for most people
Sprint proudly says it's the only carrier offering unlimited data with the iPhone 4S. While this is true, AT&T's customers who have maintained unlimited data plans are allowed to keep theirs. But listen up, people. For all but the super-power-users, there's really no point to unlimited data. If you don't know how much data you use, chances are you use far less than you think, especially if you set your phone to use Wi-Fi at home, school and/or your place of business. 

Now, about those AT&T unlimited customers
AT&T users who still have unlimited should save $5 and downgrade to the $25-per-month 2GB plan, unless they know full well that they need more than 2GB. Don't fool yourself into handing AT&T $60 extra per year to protect some non-existent customer right — you will only get burned later.

Add $10/month for every smartphone on Sprint
Even though it's been ages since Sprint instituted its $10 "premium data service" fee on every smartphone — 4G or not — they don't actually show this in their advertised pricing. So that $69.99 unlimited plan? Yeah, that's actually $79.99. Two phones on the family plan? That's $20 more, per month, than whatever pricing is advertised. 

Add $10/month for every Verizon family-plan phone
Most family plans are promoted as including the cost of the first two phones, with a surcharge noted for each additional phone. But Verizon adds $10 for every phone, though you don't see it when picking a plan. So if you pick a $79.99 700-minute plan with unlimited texting for two phones, it's really $99.99. And that's before you add $30 per phone for data.

T-Mobile would have been a nice iPhone carrier
Apple isn't going with T-Mobile, probably because of all that AT&T merger business, but it's a shame. Based on current smartphone prices, T-Mo would have had a sweet iPhone deal: $70 for unlimited talk and text with 2GB of high-speed data for an individual, and $120 for a similar plan that allows a family to share 2GB of data. (From time to time, plans go on sale — with the right timing, that family plan could get down to $100.)

Now that you're sufficiently jaded, here are my recommendations for good iPhone 4S service deals:

Best 3-phone family plan: $180 on Sprint
While Sprint's 1500-minute and AT&T's 700-minute family plans are pretty much even-steven when there are only two phones involved, Sprint pulls ahead when you add another handset, since the per-phone cost on Sprint is $30, and the equivalent on AT&T is $35 — $10 for the line, plus $25 for data. Verizon is a lot worse, at $50 per extra phone including data. And Sprint's over-the-top 1500 talk minutes and unlimited data actually would come in handy when three phones are in play. 

Best barebones plan: $55 on AT&T
I actually like this: If you sign up for the lowest data plan, $15 for 200MB, plus no text messages at all, you can get a 450-minute individual plan for $55. That's as far as I know the cheapest official advertised contract plan for an iPhone. But you really have to avoid text messaging, since you'll pay 20 cents for every message — 30 cents if it contains a picture or video. That can add up fast. 

Best not-too-texty plan: $75 on Verizon Wireless
Verizon's the only iPhone carrier that still has a $5-per-month 250-text-message plan, so it makes sense for people who don't text much, or plan to replace some of their texting with Apple's new iMessage service, which delivers to iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. In my mind, this could very well be the best reasonable monthly rate for an iPhone, but of course those with text-heavy lifestyles couldn't do it.

More on the iPhone 4S from msnbc.com:

• Buy iPhone 4S or wait for iPhone 5?
• Carriers knock up to $100 off iPhone 4 models
• AT&T says it sold 200,000 iPhones in 12 hours

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless are holding a joint conference on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Though they fall short of saying what, exactly, will be released, the invitation reads: "Faster. Thinner. Smarter. Stronger. Join us to celebrate the next big innovation from Motorola Mobility." It's not that this could only describe a follow-up to Verizon's original Android tablet, it's just that the timing is right. That and there are leaked pictures of it all over the place.

Two sites, Engadget and This Is My Next, have accumulated the most rumored news. 

Though not confirmed by the manufacturer and carrier, This Is My Next says the 10-inch device could be 9mm thick, just a bit thicker than an iPad 2, but with more processing power and RAM, 1080p video recording and 11 hours of battery life. It will of course have 4G LTE straight out of the box, unlike its predecessor. Engadget has images of two models, including a second slightly smaller one, that could be focused on video and books.

The question is, will it matter? Nobody really bought the first one, less because it was rather thick, and more because there's a lot less you can do on an Android tablet than on a $499 iPad ... or a $199 Kindle Fire. The challenge has been getting developers to go beyond supersizing their Android phone apps for the tablet space. Another challenge has been getting Google and its partners to figure out a way to bundle it all in a way that inspires buyer confidence.

So if next week's debut is all about hardware, it could be another shortfall. But if Motorola and Verizon focus on what we can do with the tablet — and keep the pricing competitive — it might well prove to be a winner. But that's a big "might."

More on Android tablets from msnbc.com's Gadgetbox:

• T-Mobile launches 2 new Android tabs
• Kindle Fire may force Android tablet makers to cut prices
• Yes, Amazon's Kindle Fire is a $199 Android tablet
• Two Android tabs for under $200

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Verizon Wireless

Screenshot of the Verizon retail page showing the reduced pricing on current iPhone 4 models.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless are selling 32GB iPhone 4 models for $199.99, and 16GB ones for $149.99, in anticipation of the iPhone 4S that will be taking its place.

Bear in mind, it's close-out merchandise, subject to more strict return policy. (AT&T is saying no "exchanges.") 

While we recommend anyone going for an iPhone right now to pre-order a 4S, those who care more about internal storage than the new features may want to jump on it. It's certainly an interesting way to save up to $100 and still get an iPhone that on the outside is virtually indistinguishable from the early adopters.

AT&T's iPhone 4 page

Verizon's iPhone 4 page

More iPhone 4S coverage from msnbc.com:

• Buy iPhone 4S or wait for iPhone 5?
• It's the year of iOS, not iPhone
• Apple unveils the iPhone 4S
• Apple's iOS 5 available Oct. 12, 200 new features
• Meet Siri, your personal iPhone assistant

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Come Oct. 2, people who use Sprint 3G or 4G smartphones as Wi-Fi hotspots for their computers will hit a monthly limit of 5 gigabytes. Even customers who currently have unlimited Mobile Hotspot plans will be migrated over, following a notice in their bill notice or a separately mailed postcard.

To be clear, this change doesn't affect the unlimited data used on the phone — it only affects people who use their phone to provide Internet access to other devices, like laptops and tablets. Still, Sprint has made a name for itself by having unlimited data plans — and for slamming competitors who did. 

The $30-per-month plan is still competitive. AT&T has a $20 add-on that tops users off at a total of 4GB of data. (You still have to have a $25 2GB data plan to start with.) However, when you use up your 4GB on AT&T, you have to pay overage charges on your phone too. Verizon Wireless has a similar plan, totaling 4GB, for $50 per month. Meanwhile, T-Mobile charges $14.99 per month to turn your phone into a modem, and doesn't charge overage fees if you exceed your plans limit. The speed just drops once you've used up your gigabytes.

Sprint confirmed the plan change news following a leaked memo that appeared on the SprintFeed blog. Here's Sprint's own statement, which we received from the company via email:

Sprint continues to offer unlimited data for phones in its Everything Data and Simply Everything plans. Mobile Hotspot data usage is calculated independent of a customer's phone data usage. The mobile hotspot functionality on a phone enables other Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect to the Sprint network. Effective Oct. 2, Sprint is changing the optional $29.99 Mobile Hotspot add-on for phones. The new add-on has a monthly 5GB on-network data allowance for 3G or combined 3G/4G usage.

What's the takeaway? Unlimited data is a pipe dream, a concept that can't possibly sustain as America's hunger for cellular data exponentially grows. Even the carrier that preaches the gospel of unlimited can't keep this up for much longer.

More on Sprint and smartphones from msnbc.com:

• Samsung Galaxy S II comes to US, Sprint first
• Sprint to start selling iPhone 5 mid-October: report
• Sprint's $10 smart phone fee: How it affects you
• Nielsen: Majority of US cellphone purchases are smartphones

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Cole Brodman, chief marketing officer of T-Mobile USA, is quoted as saying, "We are not going to get the iPhone 5 this year," according to a leaked corporate town hall report dated Sept. 15 that was shared with TmoNews.

We are in touch with T-Mobile's PR, and await verification of the quote, but at this point it sounds plausible. Sprint iPhone rumors have been reaching peaks of late, but there haven't been any commensurate T-Mobile rumors, so observers were beginning to wonder about the chances of an iPhone on T-Mobile. At this point, the safe call is that there will be a new iPhone within weeks on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint ... but not T-Mo.

Over on TmoNews, there's debate over what "this year" means — perhaps there will be an early spring launch like there was with the Verizon iPhone 4. Also, since the quote says "iPhone 5," perhaps there's hope for the cheaper iPhone on T-Mobile. That's probably wishful thinking, but worth pointing out.

Regardless, if the three larger carriers get an iPhone and T-Mobile remains out in the cold, it will be another blow to a carrier that is not having a great year: If they don't merge with AT&T — a move which is being challenged legally and would easily turn off many customers — they may continue to waste away. And it's sad for the many people who believe the only thing better than an iPhone would be an iPhone on a discounted T-Mobile plan.

We'll let you know if we hear anything from T-Mobile, but the wording is pretty clear. If they can't deny it flat out, it's probably true.

UPDATE: We just received T-Mobile's statement, which as you can see in no way denies Brodman's alleged quote.

We don’t comment on rumors. We remain focused on expanding our portfolio of 4G smartphones. We look forward to sharing on Monday news about our latest and greatest product lineup.

More on the iPhone 5 and T-Mobile:

• iPhone 5 arriving by mid-October, say sources
• Sprint to start selling iPhone 5 mid-October: report
• AT&T-T-Mobile deal? Either way, customers lose
• iPhone rumors: What to expect this October
• AT&T fights back at U.S. challenge of T-Mobile deal

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.