Pre-Order the T-Mobile iPhone

Pre-orders for the iPhone 5 are now open at T-Mobile.com. You can purchase a shiny new iPhone 5 with no contract for $99 down and 24 payments of $20. That's $579 over two-years, and $70 less than buying an unlocked model directly from Apple.

T-Mobile iPhone

The 24 payments of $20 will be added on top of your monthly service charges. T-Mobile's Simple Choice plans start at $50 per month for unlimited talk, text and 500MB of data. Each additional 2GB of data is $10 up to 12.5GB for $110. The T-Mobile iPhone is locked, but you can trade it in for a new device at anytime for "fair market credit". This also means you will need T-Mobile's permission if you decide to switch carriers, and will be required to payoff any remaining balance that you owe for the device.

Facebook Home Not Coming to the iPhone or iPad Anytime Soon

Facebook today unveiled what CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the "next version" of the social networking site. Facebook Home is a new UI for Android devices that transforms a user's smartphone or tablet into a central hub for Facebook. When asked if Home will also be available for iOS devices Zuckerberg replied, “Apple is a very controlled environment". Meaning you will probably never see Home on your iPhone or iPad.

The Home interface is just too invasive for Apple's closed ecosystem. When installed, it takes over a device's lock screen, home screen and even notifications. This is something Apple would never allow. Zuckerberg said, Facebook has "great relationship with Apple", but that doesn't mean they will welcome a UI that overrides iOS. It's just not the way Apple does things.

Apple Makes App Store Age Ratings More Visible

Vine does a pretty good job of hiding its adult content, but that doesn't mean it's not there. And that's why Apple has decided make the App Store age ratings easier to see. The ratings are now displayed next to an app icon, instead of below the description where they were previously located. This will make it easier for parents to know which apps are not appropriate for children.

Vine App

The change comes after Apple pulled the popular photo-sharing app 500px, because it was too easy to find nude content. The app eventually returned to the App Store brandishing a 17+ rating. Now several other apps, such as Vine, have been tagged with the adult rating, and an age-restriction warning when you attempt to download them.

AT&T to Support iPhone 5 Wideband Audio (HD Voice)

T-Mobile not only announced that it was going to officially offer the iPhone 5, but the carrier explained it would fully support Wideband Audio. This marks the first time the feature touted by Apple at the iPhone 5 keynote event would be supported in the US. Now AT&T remarks that it too will roll out support for the feature, also known as HD Voice, later this year.

ATT wireless HD voice

As AT&T continues to expand its LTE data network, the company plans to start sending voice calls over this network which will provide Wideband Audio capabilities for iPhone 5 owners. When Apple first announced the feature in fall 2012, only 20 carriers worldwide supported the feature. For its part, iPhone carrier Sprint is also planning to offer HD Voice down the line.

T-Mobile to Rollout LTE For Unlocked iPhones On April 5th

T-Mobile did not forget about their customers already using unlocked iPhones on their network. The carrier plans to send out a minor iOS software update that will enable new features like LTE, Visual Voicemail and other "Network/Device optimizations" that are not available at this time. Anyone using an iPhone on the T-Mobile network with iOS 6.1.x or higher will receive the iOS update on April 5.

”T-Mobile

Previously T-Mobile customers could only use unlocked iPhones on the T-Mobile network, but that has all changed since T-Mobile has now become an official Apple carrier. T-Mobile customers will be able to buy the iPhone 5 (and iPhone 4 and 4S in select markets) starting on April 12. T-Mobile has also stopped subsidizing phones, meaning customers will still have to pay full price for any devices bought directly from the carrier.

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