Mobile Miscellany: week of September 30th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a peek at Motorola's upcoming cheaper version of the Moto X, glimpses of the Lumia 929 for Verizon in white and two new smartphones to MetroPCS. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of September 30th, 2013.
LG Optimus F6 and Huawei Vitria land at MetroPCS
MetroPCS welcomed two smartphones to its prepaid lineup this week, the LG Optimus F6 ($199) and Huawei Vitria ($129), both of which include a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, microSD storage expansion, LTE connectivity and Android 4.1. The Optimus F6 was previously available at T-Mobile, which offers a 4.5-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, a 5-megapixel BSI rear / 1.3MP front-facing camera and a 2,460mAh battery. Meanwhile, the Vitria comes with a 4-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display, a 5-megapixel rear / VGA front-facing camera and a 1,750mAh battery. [MetroPCS 1, 2]
FCC listings out the Motorola DVX
It's certainly no secret that Motorola has a cheaper Moto X in the pipeline, but thanks to its recent filing at the FCC, you can now see the upcoming smartphone as clear as day. A prior leak from Republic Wireless suggests the handset will be known as the DVX, which looks remarkably similar -- although, perhaps a tad smaller -- than the original Moto X. Due to the US government shutdown, FCC listings are currently offline, but reports of its band support suggest that this variant of the DVX is a non-US model. [Android Police]
Lumia 929 for Verizon resurfaces in white
From the looks of it, Verizon Wireless won't be shooting for the moon with color options for the Lumia 929. This week, @evleaks shared front and rear press photos of the smartphone in white, which follows an earlier outing of the Lumia 929 wearing black. Curiously, this isn't the first time we've seen this white version, which originally surfaced in China. This large handset is rumored to be a variant of Nokia's upcoming Lumia 1520 series, although the break in the numbering scheme suggests that it might offer more than a few differences. [@evleaks (Twitter)]
Other random tidbits
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is now available in Canada at Rogers, Bell, Telus, Eastlink, Videotron and Wind, with prices that range between $200 and $300 on-contract. [MobileSyrup]
The Nokia Lumia 1020 is now available at Rogers for $200 on-contract or $600 outright. It's joined by the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, which is priced at $150 on-contract and $450 outright. [Rogers 1, 2]
In a move for greater transparency, Tracfone, the parent company of Straight Talk and Net10, now explicitly states that all unlimited data plans are throttled after 2.5GB of monthly use. [FierceWireless]
The Motorola Connect extension for Google Chrome, which allows users to view incoming text and call notifications on their computer, now sports a fresh new interface. [Android Central]
BlackBerry announced this week that BES 10 and its BlackBerry 10 smartphones have been approved for 'Restricted' communications by NATO. [BlackBerry]
Muve Music, an on-demand music service from Cricket, now holds more than 2 million subscribers. [PR Newswire]
The Sky Go app from Sky TV now supports 45 Android devices, with new additions that include the Galaxy Note 3, LG G2, One SV, Xperia M, Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z Ultra. [Pocket-lint]
