verizon

Just like the iPhone 4S, Apple is giving the iPhone 5 a wider appeal by allowing regional United States carriers to offer the device. Cricket Communications and C Spire both announced they will be carrying the iPhone 5 in select markets in the U.S. beginning Friday, September 28. That's one week after the iPhone 5 is set to land at the big three, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. GCI of Alaska and Appalachian Wireless will also offer the iPhone 5 on September 28.

The iPhone 5 will launch in United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Singapore on September 21. Apple will then rollout the iPhone 5 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland on September 28.

Verizon has announced that their "Share Everything Plan" will go live on June 28th. The plan gives users unlimited talk and text with the ability to share data on up to 10 devices. The plans start at $50 per month for 1GB of data and work their way up to $100 for 10GB of data. Each additional device will cost you between $10 to $40: $10 for tablets, $20 for hotspots, $30 for basic phones and $40 for smartphones. Mobile hotspot is included at no additional cost.

The Share Everything Plan makes Verizon the first U.S. carrier to offer the ability to share a lot of data across multiple devices. However, as Ina Fried of AllThingsD pointed out, it may put single smartphone users at a disadvantage.

With the release of the 4G LTE iPad an LTE iPhone seems imminent, and new iPad owners are quickly learning about the pitfalls of fast wireless connections. The Wall Street Journal published a report about the responsibility that comes with 4G connectivity by profiling one man who blew through 2GB of his Verizon data plan while watching March Madness games.

"Two hours of college basketball—which he viewed mounted to his car dashboard and live at tournament games—had burned through his monthly wireless data allotment of two gigabytes. Now, to keep surfing the Web or watch more NCAA hoops over Verizon Wireless's 4G network, Mr. Wells will have to pay an extra $10 for every gigabyte above his current $30 subscription."

25-year-old Trevor Eckhart discovered a "rootkit" hidden in various Android handsets that logs information like text messages, location and encrypted web searches. The company behind the software, Carrier IQ, claims their technology is an innocent diagnostics tool that doesn't record keystrokes or illegally track users. However, Eckhart's YouTube video below seems to suggest otherwise. On Thursday, Apple joined several other carriers and manufacturers in coming clean about using the software. Here is their statement in full (via All Things D):

“We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.”

As savvy customers have learned that replacing a lost, stolen or broken iPhone at unsubsidized prices can run as high as $749, many customers choose to protect their investment with an iPhone insurance policy or extended warranty. In the past, we've warned our readers many times about buying overpriced iPhone insurance and extended warranty coverage from their wireless provider. The options offered by AT&T (AT&T Mobile Protect) and Verizon (Verizon Total Equipment Coverage), which are provided by a third party company named Asurion, were traditionally overpriced and offered poor value compared to independent iPhone insurance and warranty providers.

As the iPhone 4S arrives in customers hands today, we thought it was time for an update. For one thing, the information we provided previously is out of date. As independent providers such as Worth Avenue Group and SquareTrade have grown rapidly over the past few years, and as these companies have continued to receive excellent approval ratings from customers and consumer advocacy agencies such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the major providers have taken notice and made their coverage options more competitive. Apple has even gotten in on the game with their new AppleCare+, which adds accidental damage protection to existing AppleCare coverage.

Having sold over one million iPhone 4S pre-orders, Apple has decided to open their stores early to meet the demand of the best selling iPhone ever.

“We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The first day pre-orders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.”

All 245 Apple retail stores in the US will open at 8 am local time on Friday, October 14. Good news if you plan to get up really early or camp out the previous day. Bad news if you have to work, or are a late sleeper.

Apple asks that you upgrade your existing iPhone to iOS 5 and bring it along if you plan to replace it. You will also need the social security number of the account holder, photo ID, your carrier password and Apple ID and password.

New and existing Sprint customers can pre-order the iPhone 4 with iOS 5 for $99 starting on Thursday. The iPhone 4S can be pre-ordered at 12:01 AM PST (3:01 EST) on Friday via their online store. AT&T or Verizon customers can visit Apple’s website or call 1-800-MY-APPLE to order the iPhone 4S tomorrow.

The iPhone 4S features Apple's dual-core A5 processor, 8-megapixel camera, 1080p HD resolution video recording, iCloud and Apple's new voice command assistant Siri. The iPhone 4S is $199.99 for the 16GB model, $299.99 for the 32GB model and $399.99 for the 64GB model. All prices require a new or upgraded contract.

The new iPhone that Apple announced yesterday impressed some and disappointed others. Though not everyone was satisfied, the new iPhone 4S will hit the streets with a number of impressive, exclusive features. While the list of new features is long, those most touted by Apple are the new iPhone's speed improvements, hence the "S" moniker, for speed. What many customers don't realize is that a one of the main speed improvements in the iPhone 4S won't apply to Verizon and Sprint customers.

As Apple informed us at yesterday's keynote, 3G data download speeds on the iPhone 4S are up to twice as fast as the iPhone 4. This is a result of the fact that the iPhone 4S is capable of HSDPA download speeds up to 14.4Mbps, while the iPhone 4 has a max of 7.2Mbps. The important thing to note here is that Verizon and Sprint are not HSDPA networks. The iPhone 4S will run on CDMA on Sprint and Verizon, not HSDPA, and thus will have the same download speed capability as the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4S is not the "highly-anticipated" iPhone Apple fans were waiting for. It's safe to assume many fanboys were disappointed by Tim Cook's announcement, but Apple is sticking to its claim that this is the "most amazing iPhone yet." It didn't deliver a new "teardrop" design, or many of the other features we were promised, but it does have the rumored 8 megapixel camera and A5 chip. Hate it, love it or just don't care, here's a list of all the specifications and features for the new iPhone 4S.

Up until now the iPhone 5 rumors have been pleasant and hopeful, but as we draw closer to the rumored Apple announcement in October, various sources are reporting things may not be as cheery as they seem.

John Paczkowski's announcement about an Apple media event on October 4th, made fans hopeful that the wait for the iPhone 5 would finally be over. However, 9to5Mac reported earlier the iPhone 5 could suffer shortages in 2011 due to a manufacturing problem. More bad news came from DigiTimes who reinforced 9to5's claim, adding that a bubble defect in the touch panels could be the cause for the delay.