T-Mobile Giving Facebook “Likers” Free HSPA+ Gear Through December 10th. #tmobile

Fancy some free HSPA+ gear for the holidays and happen to be a T-Mobile customer? Thanks to the modern web and rise of social networking, you can get all kinds of free gadgetry by simply clicking a button and filling out a short form. Specifically, head on over to T-Mobile’s Facebook Fan Page, click the “Like” button, and fill out a few forms to win one of many pieces of HSPA+ gear.

The Goods:

• Grand Prize x1: A Dell Inspiron Mini 10 4G Netbook w/ 3 months of 5 GB Overage-Free Data plan service + T-Mobile myTouch 4G w/ 3 months of Unlimited Talk, Text and Web wireless service. (Retail Value: $1,289.92)

• First Prize x1: T-Mobile myTouch 4G w/ 3 months of Unlimited Talk, Text and Web wireless service. (Retail Value: $739.96)

• Second Prize x2: T-Mobile G2 with Google w/ 3 months of Unlimited Talk, Text and Web wireless service. (Retail Value: 739.96 each)

• Third Prize x4: T-Mobile Rocket 4G Laptop Stick w/ 3 months of 5 GB Overage-Free Data plan service. (Retail Value: $319.96 each)

The competition runs through December 10th. Remember, all you have to to is “Like” T-Mobile’s Facebook Fan Page and fill out a short form. Pretty trivial things considering the wide range of loot you can win.

42Mbps HSPA+ Data Card Coming to Bell Mobility November 23rd. #bellmobility

Bell Mobility customers will soon have a new reason to speed — down the interwebs that is. Starting November 23rd, interested users will be able to pick up the Novatel Wireless U547 which will not only support the carriers super speedy 21Mbps speeds, but the even faster 42Mbps network as well. The small caveat is that Bell Mobility will be charging 42Mbps users an extra $10/month to enjoy the extra speed. Though thankfully, it isn’t mandatory that you pay the extra $10 for the Novatel Wireless U547 either. It will still run at the slightly slower 21Mbps tier just fine.

November 23rd. Bell Mobility. $199.95. Any takers?

eBay iOS App Updated to 2.0

EBay junkies listen up: eBay 2.0 is now live. Besides the usual allotment of bug fixes, eBay took the time to have a little fun design-wise. Upon launching the eBay iOS app, a greatly re-designed page will welcome you. From there, you have quick access to messages, your account, starting new auctions, and a whole host of other feathers. The most prominent new change however, is the new Watching/Buying/Selling banner.

Overall it looks really slick. The only grip I have is that the developers didn’t completely spread the new design throughout. Navigate away from the main page and you’ll find a lot of the old UI and layout rearing its ugly head.

Of course, the main focus of this app is to buy/sell things. And on that front, it’s much more intuitive, faster, and enjoyable.

Head on over to the App Store to get the eBay 2.0 update now.

AT&T in Talks to Buy FLO TV Spectrum. #att #qualcomm

FLO TV was a mobile TV service developed by Qualcomm that failed to ever gain any type of following. This past October, Qualcomm announced that they were suspending all future sales of the service, signaling the end was pretty much near. Seeing as how it’s extremely difficult to get a mobile TV service up and running, no one else has moved in to fill the gap. That leaves Qualcomm with a healthy chunk of premium spectrum, spectrum that AT&T would love to have.

According to two sources of BusinessWeek whom claim to hold “knowledge on the matter”, AT&T is reportedly talking with Qualcomm in hopes of buying the old FLO TV spectrum so that they can bolster their own 3G network with more bandwidth. Valued as high as $1 billion, the 700MHz spectrum would meed updated hardware for future AT&T hardware to take advantage of it’s vastly different operating frequency. However, once accomplished, the added spectrum could off far greater coverage in rural areas as well as densely packed cities thanks to the 700MHz waves with travel farther and are more resistant to interference from buildings.

AT&T will have their work cut out for them, however. According to Qualcomm’s senior VP of investor relations, the company is also talking to several other carriers about possible purchases.

MeeGo 1.2 Minimum Specs: 600+MHz Processor, 512MB RAM. No LTE or CDMA Support. #meego

Fans of the Nokia-backed MeeGo operating system have some very exciting things to look forward to in version 1.2 and beyond. Specifically, the 1.2 update will finally introduce some minimum specs. This is good because it will ensure that everyone has at least a similar baseline performance target to reference. After glancing over the specs, we’re left wondering why such a low 600MHz was chosen for the minimum processor requirement. We fell 800-1,000MHz would be better. But hey, it’s a start. Baseline RAM comes in at 512MB of RAM. 3G technologies include GSM/HSPA. On the flip-side, some omissions in the latest spec have us scratching our heads — namely the lack of any CDMA support (likely version 1.3) as well as no mention of LTE.

The above specs become more disappointing when taking into account the scheduled release date: April 2011. Unfortunately, that is the time in which the OS will be made available for OEM’s, not when we’ll actually see hardware updated/launched with it. It could easily be several more months after the April OEM/developer release until we see actual hardware available to the masses. And at that point, 600MHz and the lack of CDMA/LTE is going to be mighty taxing on the fledging mobile OS, especially when we should start seeing 1.5+GHz and dual-core processors hitting the market as well as several carriers rolling out LTE en masse.

Here’s to hoping MeeGo 1.3 (scheduled for October 2011) is a little more up our alley.

US Cellular Holding Massive Android Sale Starting November 22nd. #android #uscellular

Starting Monday, November 22nd, U.S. Cellular will be holding a massive Android sale just in time for Black Friday shopping season. Several of U.S. Cellular’s Android lineup will be heavily discounted.

• Samsung Mesmerize (Galaxy S Phone): $99

• HTC Desire: $49 (after $80 mail-in rebate + 2-year contract)

• LG Apex: Free (after $80 main-in rebate + 2-year contract)

• Samsung Acclaim: Free (after $80 mail-in rebate + 2-year contract)

Furthermore, customers who sign up for the “no contract after the first” (The Belief Project) can say good-bye to contracts moving forward after the first one ends. Banked points allow you to upgrade phones, sometimes as early as 11 months into your typical 2-year cycle. With Single Plans under “The Belief Project” starting at $69.99 and featuring 450 minutes, unlimited texts, included GPS navigation, and 5GB data, (Family Plans: Unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 5GB data/line, and GPS navigation), it appears that a deal is to be had starting next week.

Images and press release after the break…

Steve Wozniack: “I Was Mis-Quoted — My iPhone Apps are Better than Android Version.” #ios

Today, one of the top stories by far has been comments Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack supposedly made to a Dutch newspaper, “De Telegraaf” in regards to Android. But as it turns out, Woz is a regular of Engadget, noticed the post of his claimed pro-Android comments in said paper, and decided to leave a comment and set the record straight.

In the paper, Woz was quoted as saying “Android phones have more features” and that eventually Android would dominate the market. But Woz didn’t say that. He was mis-quoted. What the Woz was really talking about was Android’s voice controls and how Apple would likely catch up thanks to their recent purchases of Siri and Poly9. So how’d they come out with the statements from earlier? Beats me.

Furthermore, Woz reaffirmed his love for iOS, saying that he’d “never” claim Android was better than iOS and highlighted how “almost every app he has is better on the iPhone”. Sounds pretty clear to me — the man loves iOS. As for the whole Android dominating the smartphone world quote, he simply responded by saying he insinuated Android would become larger, but that he see’s it becoming a lot like Windows.

Finally, the zinger: “I’m not suggesting it’s better than iOS by any stretch of the imagination. But it can get greater marketshare and still be crappy.” Ouch.