Alltel Releases the Motorola Milestone X and the HTC Merge

Alltel has just released two new smartphones that are running the Android OS and they join the Samsung Gem as well as the LG Axis. They now have the Milestone X along with the HTC Merge if you want to check them out. The Milestone X is the exact same as the DROID X that has been available for months on Verizon while the Merge has been available on other carriers for a while too. They're all pretty good phones so give them a look if you're stuck on the carrier.

[Android Central]

Alltel Kicking Off Pre-Orders For the HTC Merge On March 28th

Alltel has just mentioned something pretty great if you've been waiting this long for the Android powered HTC Merge. The pre-orders for this smartphone will start on March 28th and it'll be available for $124.99 on a 2-year contract which isn't too bad. This handset sports a 3.8-inch touchscreen display, an 800MHz CPU, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and Android 2.2 with the Sense UI.

[Phandroid]

Alltel Releases the Samsung Gem For Free On a 2-Year Contract

Alltel in the US has just announced their latest Android handset and it's a mid-end one, the Samsung Gem. This one features a 3.2-inch WQVGA touchscreen display, an 800MHz CPU, WiFi / Bluetooth support, GPS, a 3.2MP camera, a microSD card slot, and Android 2.1 with the Touchwiz UI. This one was just released by the carrier for free on a 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. It's not up on their website yet but you should find it in stores.

[Samsung Hub]

HTC Merge Hits the FCC, Eventually On Its Way To Alltel -- And Verizon

The handset we've seen leaked over and over again has finally hit the FCC. Yes, it's the Android powered HTC Merge which is sporting the model number PG32100 if you're interested. This handset might have been axed by Verizon at this point but we do know that it's still headed to Alltel in the USA - at least that's what the leaks say. Check it out at the FCC.

Update: It looks like Verizon will be getting this one in the future as well. Phandroid has just pointed out that the FCC has just posted the Verizon User Manual for this handset.

[Android Central]

HTC Merge Surfaces Again, This Time Headed To Alltel

It was supposed to hit Verizon a while ago, but the HTC Merge has, well, emerged once again. This time it's headed to Alltel since Verizon has enough devices up their sleeve. It might not be hitting Verizon anymore, but at least it's headed to at least one carrier in the US: Alltel. Specs should be the exact same, but they're unconfirmed right now. Maybe an official unveiling will be at MWC.

[DroidLife]

BlackBerry Website Hints That Alltel May Be Getting the Style 9670 Too

It looks like another carrier in the US may be planning to launch the BlackBerry Style 9670 in the future. If you take a look at the image above taken from BlackBerry's site you'll see that you're actually able to download the software for said handset. Nothing else is signalling the launch of this device, but I have a feeling that it'll eventually hit the carrier soon.

[CrackBerry]

Alltel Releases the Android-Based LG Axis For $89.99

Alltel in the US has just launched another Android handset. This time it's the LG Axis (called the Apex on other carriers) which sports a 3.2-inch touchscreen display along with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. This is available on the carrier right now for $89.99 on a 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. Other specs include WiFi b/g/n / Bluetooth 2.1 support, a 3.2MP AF camera with an LED flash, a 600MHz CPU, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD card slot, 256MB of RAM, aGPS, and Android 2.1. Will you be picking one up?

[Phandroid]

Android 2.2 Based HTC Bee Headed To Verizon and Alltel

The picture above could be what the HTC Bee looks like when it hits Verizon and Alltel in the US. This smartphone will be running Android 2.2 "Froyo" along with the Sense UI but it won't be a high-end one. It sports a QVGA touchscreen display, a 5MP camera, a 528MHz CPU, and 386MB of RAM. The release date and pricing is still unknown but maybe we'll find out about those important details soon.

[Phandroid]

Bye Bye TDMA

at&t Wireless and Alltel finally are shutting down their old analog and first-generation cellular (TDMA) networks in February 2008. Verizon Wireless says on its Web site that it will retire its analog network on Feb. 18, 2008, and will not provide analog service after that date.

Almost nobody will notice. The carriers say a million phones out of 250 million in use might be affected. No phone capable of text messaging uses analog technology. No Sprint or T-Mobile phones use analog, either.

Carriers have been telling analog customers about the shutdown and offering them new digital service plans and phones, so it isn't clear that any active users will experience issues. There might be some "phones sitting in drawers" that users keep around for emergency 911 calling, without plans, that could be affected.

But at&t, which had the largest number of analog customers at one time, has been phasing analog out since 2001, and with the high rates of phone replacement, can't still be supporting many users on the older system.

Separately from the analog shutdown, Alltel and AT&T will finish phasing out networks that use a first-generation digital technology known as D-AMPS or TDMA (for Time Division Multiple Access).

700-MHz Bidders Surface

Some 266 bidders for 700 MHz spectrum auction have surfaced so far. Not all the bidders will content for the national C block, though. Many of the bidders are small, independent telephone companies angling for local blocks of spectrum. But a few cable companies also are on the list. Of course, over time those fragmented allocations probably will be rolled up into larger networks, as has always happened in the past.

The bidders include Google (GOOG) Airwaves Inc.; Towerstream; Vulcan Spectrum;
Alltel; AT&T Mobility Spectrum; CenturyTel Broadband Wireless; Chevron; Cincinnati Bell Wireless; Cox Wireless; Iowa Telecommunications Services; MetroPCS 700 MHz; Qualcomm
Cablevision (CSC Spectrum Holdings); Verizon Wireless (Cellco Partnership) and Advance/Newhouse.

iPhone Dings Treo and Sidekick

iPhone buyers were 10 times more likely than other new phone buyers to have previously owned a Treo and three times more likely to have owned a T-Mobile branded phone, such as the popular Sidekick model, say researchers at NPD Group.

In contrast, iPhone buyers were no more likely than the average buyer to have previously owned a Blackberry. NPD theorizes that lack of support for corporate BlackBerry servers is the reason.

Alltel and T-Mobile took the biggest churn hit. Consumers who switched carriers to buy an iPhone were three times more likely to switch from Alltel or T-Mobile than from other carriers.

Sprint and Verizon also lost customers to at&t, but not nearly to the same degree.

If early buyer trends hold up, the iPhone might be bridging the gap between content-focused feature phones and productivity-focused smart phones, NPD argues.

Personally, I still think it will be tough to develop a single device that is equally adept at melding feature and productivity device functions. Well-designed user interfaces will help, but the fact remains that such devices must embrace too much complexity and consume too much power. That means the devices will be harder to use.

Mobile phones still are consumer devices. And in the consumer device space it is a truism that a single-purpose device will outperform a multi-purpose device. Unfortunately, lots of us will continue to use two devices as a result.