HP’s Envy brand used to be the Cadillac of the computing world, before it started stamping it on everything in sight.

I was browsing the aisle of my least hated computer hardware retailer when I saw it: Sleek. Black. Chrome. It was…an HP Envy printer.

Did my eyes deceive me? They did not. As I walked closer, I saw that the Envy signage on the boxes below the printer matched that on the printer itself. It was true. HP had developed an Envy printer and put it out to the public.

That’s the exact moment I knew the Envy sub-brand had jumped the shark.

The fairy tale

Once upon a time there lived a powerful king known as Hewlett-Packard. He was successful, but he had a problem. Everything he produced was generic and dull – his every action seemed plodding and mundane. People praised him for his practically, but he was boring. His brilliance faded as his opponents gained popularity.  

The king consulted his advisors and devised a plan. He would court a stylish, intelligent princess who could reinvigorate the king’s passion. One of his peers, Baron Dell, already had done the same. So the king went a-courting and soon married the popular and passionate Princess Voodoo.

For a time, life was good. Their partnership produced style and quality. Along came the Voodoo Envy, one of the first PC competitors to the MacBook Air, and a line of awesome gaming desktops sold under the Blackbird and Firebird names. For all appearances, King Hewlett-Packard had renewed his interest in excellence.

But before long, the king’s cynicism began to chip away at Princess Voodoo’s luster. She agreed to cast aside her name after several years of marriage, and the fruits of her labor became increasingly generic. Although she still enjoyed quality, the princess’s love for flair faded, and she acquiesced to the king’s concerns about cost and mass appeal.

And so, eventually, Voodoo’s light was snuffed out. Most people entirely forgot her. Rumor says she still wanders the halls of the king’s castle, trying to inspire the flame of passion here or there, but her visits are more infrequent with each passing year.

The true story

Absurd as it may sound, the basics of this fairy tale mesh with reality. HP bought Voodoo with the intention of using its design brilliance to re-invigorate the company’s premium products.

Then HP slowly dismantled everything that made Voodoo unique. HP completely stopped including Voodoo as part of its product names in 2009 and instead began to refer to its Envy line as having “Voodoo DNA,” a term the company previously had used to describe HP gaming desktops. HP even dropped that nod sometime in 2010 or 2011. I can no longer find any reference to Voodoo on HP’s website.

It’s not just about a printer

The skeptics among you might now be thinking, Boy, that seems like a lot of huff and puff over a printer. Who cares?

The issue is not a printer. The name has lost its luster all over the HP line. Recently we received two products with Envy branding that appear completely unrelated to the sub-brand’s premium focus: the Envy 6 laptop and the Envy 23 all-in-one.

The Envy 6 is a cheap, thin-and-light that, in both specifications and build quality, is nearly identical to every Ultrabook available for under a grand. HP tries to make the Envy 6 laptop stand out with brushed aluminum. Just one problem: Virtually everyone else uses that material today. It’s no longer unique.

The HP Envy 23 is even more damaging to HP’s reputation. The all-in-one is identical to HP’s Omni and Touchsmart products. The Envy 23 uses the exact same design language. Sure, you can equip the Envy 23 with good hardware, but it’s no longer a product worthy of its own brand. It’s just a trim level.

And then we have the Envy printer. It is indeed slim and compact. But it’s a printer. Printers are a necessary appliance that most of us own, but few of us care about.  Has anyone felt “Envy” over a consumer desktop printer lately? I doubt it.

Why it matters

My personal disappointment with the newest Envy products is substantial. The problem is not that they’re bad products. The problem is that they’re not Envy. They don’t live up to the high standards their more expensive brethren set. My review of the HP Envy 15 (2012) concluded that “the HP Envy 15 finally provides Windows users with a product that can go toe-to-toe with what Apple offers.” If I were given the choice between that Envy 15 and a MacBook Pro 15-inch, and I could have either for free, I would pick the Envy 15. In fact, I would pick the Envy 15 over any laptop I’ve tested up to this point.

Unfortunately, Envy’s focus on quality and design is uncommon in the PC space. Few companies are willing to push the limits of PC laptop design. Asus, Dell and Lenovo consistently attempt to craft premium products, but none of them have a sub-brand dedicated only to cutting-edge products.

HP hasn’t been consistently successful with Envy, but the company was moving in the right direction. Its products were consistently expensive, and that was a good thing. The world’s largest computer manufacturer appeared to be positioning itself to deliver hardware that was second to none. This would have given the PC industry a powerful and influential leader that could promote strong design, something the industry desperately needs.

Instead, HP is letting Envy succumb to cynicism and mediocrity. No one else seems willing and able to pick up the standard of quality that HP is casting aside.

It’s not over, but it’s over

HP could reverse course. An HP executive could read this article and say, “By golly, that guy is right! We shouldn’t be de-valuing the Envy brand by attaching it to inexpensive or mundane products!”

But that’s unlikely to happen. Corporations reach decisions because the people within them support those decisions. A change of heart at HP is unlikely unless the people working there change. The people did change when Voodoo’s founder left HP back in 2010 – and apparently not for the better.

Although someone rattling around in HP might have the smarts to save Envy, more likely that name will fade into HP’s common nomenclature, transformed from a strong sub-brand to a product line similar to Pavilion or TouchSmart. Envy’s relevance will diminish, and eventually, during some product shake-up years down the road, the axe will fall.

Goodbye, Envy. You put on a good show.

Apple's retail store employees, not necessarily known for their cartography skills, look to set to begin work on improving the company's troubled iOS Maps app.

Yes, Apple’s Maps app is something of a mess; yes, the company’s CEO considered the situation to be so serious that he issued a letter of apology to those who’d downloaded it as part of iOS 6; and yes, they’ve been told that the more they use Maps, the better it’ll get. So in short, you might have to put up with a load of wrong directions before you begin to get some right ones.

To speed things up a bit and get Maps heading in the right direction, rumor has it that retail workers at Apple stores around the world are about to be sent on the road to check its mapping data and make corrections where needed.

According to MacRumors, which gathered its information from multiple sources, the plan is currently being tested by ten employees at one store, with a ‘subject matter expert’ leading the team. The precise methods used to carry out the work aren’t currently known, MacRumors said, though it claimed that “changes to maps will reportedly be submitted through a dedicated internal portal on Apple’s systems.”

With 40,000 retail store workers at some 400 stores across 12 countries, the input from the Apple employees will be something of a small step towards helping improve what is considered by many to be a bit of a shoddy product just now.

Of course, if Apple’s Maps app is causing you more frustration than it’s worth, you can always check out these free and paid-for alternatives as suggested by DT’s Molly McHugh.

Google is said to be preparing a Maps app for iPhone, though it could be a few months before it sees the light of day. In the meantime, its own Maps Web app may suffice.

If you’re an iOS user, have you found a decent alternative to Apple’s Maps app, or are you getting along with it just fine?

What has 300,000 Android Operating Systems and helps tech professionals predict how mobile devices would react in a crisis? It's a massive project called MegaDroid, based in California.

What do you call an artificial system that simulates a network of hundreds of thousands of Android devices, allowing to predict the behavior of said devices in case of new app, malware or unforeseen technological breakdown? If your answer was “The Matrix,” then somewhere the Wachowski siblings would like to thank you, but the real answer is something far more entertaining than any amount of Keanu Reeveses staring blankly at the screen. World, meet the MegaDroid.

The MegaDroid is the creation of researchers at California-based Sandia National Laboratories, and virtually simulates 300,000 separate Android devices in an attempt to analyze the reactions of large-scale networks to any number of situations. According to computer scientist John Floren, the MegaDroid is completely insulated from all other networks in the world, but nonetheless offers a realistic network environment inside itself, complete with full domain name service, Internet relay chat server, web server and multiple subnets. It even includes a fake GPS system so that the fictional users of the multiple Android devices being simulated can be tracked in different environments to see whether environment would have any effect on the particular data being studied, and also whether areas without WiFi or Bluetooth impact service significantly.

The need for MegaDroid is explained by Floren very simply: “You can’t defend against something you don’t understand,” he says, pointing to the system’s use in running simulations that will allow Android users to be protected against cyber attack or disruption of service from more benign sources. It’s something echoed by Sandia’s David Fritz, who says that, although “smartphones are now ubiquitous and used as general-purpose computing devices as much as desktop or laptop computers,” they remain easy targets for those seeking to disrupt the system. “No-one appears to be studying them at the scale we’re attempting,” he added.

Continuing, Fritz said that “It’s possible for something to go wrong on the scale of a big wireless network because of a coding mistake in an operating system or an application, and it’s very hard to diagnose and fix. You can’t possibly read through 15 million lines of code and understand every possible interaction between all these devices and the network.”

MegaDroid uses data gleaned from 2009′s MegaTux project, in which Sandia ran a million virtual Linux machines (They have also created MegaWin, which runs multiple Windows OSs simultaneously; clearly, they find mass production very attractive). The experience helped when it came to duplicating the surprisingly complex Android code, with Google’s coding running on top of Linux. Sandia plans to make much of MegaDroid open source once the bugs have been worked out, with Fritz explaining that decision with remarkable ease. “Tools are only useful if they’re used,” he said. What would you do with 300,000 Android devices…?

Are you ready to take your book collection digital and buy your first e-book reader? We're here to help. We break down the best e-readers from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others.

If you’re looking for a new e-reader, whether you’re upgrading or buying your first device, you’ll find there are a lot of options. There are four big names in the e-book reader market and they each offer a range of e-readers to suit different budgets and requirements. There’s a reason these companies are dominating the e-reader scene, so if you want quality, great features, and reasonable prices, there’s no need to look beyond them.

We are going to focus on dedicated E Ink devices for reading e-books here, so we won’t delve into full-fledged tablets. We’ll also ignore discontinued lines, although there are bargains to be had out there in the secondhand market. Let’s take a look at the options and then we’ll compare at the end.

Barnes & Noble Nook

The popular Nook from Barnes & Noble comes in two flavors. There’s the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, and the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch Reader.

For the basic Reader you’ll need to shell out $100. It has an E Ink display, which is easy to read, even in direct sunlight. It also has a 6-inch touchscreen and can hold up to 1,000 books, magazines, or newspapers. A single charge will last you up to two months based on an average of 30 minutes reading per day.

The GlowLight version is $20 more at $120. It is essentially the same, but it has a backlit touchscreen so that you can read in the dark. The GlowLight reduces the battery life to a, still respectable, one month. That’s also based on an average of 30 minutes reading per day.

Both devices have a microSD card slot so you can expand memory by up to 32GB. That’s a lot of books.

For more details you can read our in-depth review.

Amazon Kindle

A perfect marriage of content and hardware has allowed the Kindle range to really drive the widespread adoption of e-readers. You have quite a few choices if you want to buy an e-reader from Amazon. There’s the basic Kindle, the Kindle Keyboard 3G, the Kindle DX, the Kindle Paperwhite, and the Kindle Paperwhite 3G.

At just $70, the basic Kindle is a steal. It has a 6-inch e-ink display that’s easy to read, even in direct sunlight; it can hold up to 1,000 books, magazines, or newspapers; and a single charge will last you up to one month based on an average of 30 minutes reading per day.

The Kindle Keyboard 3G costs $140 and it adds a physical keyboard into the mix and 3G connectivity. It also has double the storage of the basic Kindle and it boasts stereo speakers. A single charge will last you up to two months based on an average of 30 minutes reading per day. It is also larger and heavier.

For anyone seeking something even bigger, there’s the Kindle DX. It has a 9.7-inch screen, free 3G, stereo speakers, 4GB of storage, and a physical keyboard. However, it costs a whopping $380 and battery life is just three weeks.

The Paperwhite is Amazon’s answer to the GlowLight Nook. It also allows you to read in the dark, but the screen is not backlit, instead there’s a light at the top. The basic Kindle Paperwhite is $120. It boasts an extremely sharp 6-inch touchscreen, can store over 1,000 books, and can also last up to two months on a single charge, once again, based on a half hour of daily reading.

The top of the range choice is the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3G which costs $180. It simply adds free 3G to the basic Kindle Paperwhite.

You can pay an extra $20 for any of the entries in the Kindle range in order to avoid any advertising. The special offers take the form of adverts on your screensaver and at the bottom of your home screen. There is no intrusion on your actual reading.

Kobo

It doesn’t have as big a name, but Kobo does offer a good e-reader range. There’s the Kobo Mini, the Kobo Glo, and the Kobo Touch.

The Kobo Mini costs $80. It has a 5-inch e-ink touchscreen. It can store 1,000 books and the battery can also last up to one month, but no usage estimates in terms of daily reading are provided. The one month battery claim is also contradicted in the Kobo FAQ which says two weeks.

As you might expect, the Kobo Glo allows you to read in the dark and it costs $130. It has a 6-inch E Ink touchscreen, can also hold around 1,000 books, and the battery will give you 55 hours of continuous use with the light on.

The Kobo Touch also costs $130, although you’ll find it discounted in a lot of places. It has a 6-inch E Ink touchscreen. It has the standard 2GB storage which is room for up to 1,000 books. The battery life is up to one month.

The Kobo Glo and the Kobo Touch also have microSD card slots so you can expand the storage by up to 32GB.

Sony Reader

You current options are the Sony Reader PRST2HBC and the Sony Reader PRST2RC. As far as we can make out both devices are the same except for the color options. The Sony Reader PRST2HBC is standard grey/black while the PRST2RC comes in white or red.

The Sony Reader costs $130. It has a 6-inch E Ink touchscreen. There is just 1.3GB internal memory, but there is a microSD card slot so you can expand storage up to 32GB. It can also last up to two months on a single charge, once again, based on a half hour of daily reading.

What to buy?

If low price is your prime concern then you can’t beat the basic Kindle at $70. We’d give second place to the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch Reader at $100. You could also consider the Kobo Mini at $80 but it has a smaller screen and poorer battery life.

If you want to be able to read in the dark then it’s a straight head-to-head between the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight at $140 and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite at $120. The Nook has expandable memory, but the Kindle has a sharper screen, and coupled with the lower price, it edges this one. The Kobo Glo could be worth a look at $130, but it falls down on battery life again.

The presence of 3G, which will allow you to connect to a mobile network and download books even when you are out and about, is only available on selected Kindles now. Is it worth the premium? We think probably not. Most people will be happy to load up books using Wi-Fi and won’t feel the need to connect all the time.

As with any expensive purchase, we would strongly recommend that you try these out before you buy. The feel of an e-reader is very important. If you want something light then the Kobo Mini and the Sony Reader are actually the lightest, closely followed by the basic Kindle. The sharpest screen on the market is the Kindle Paperwhite at 212 ppi.

Ultimately, the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Amazon Kindle range get our strongest recommendation. You are unlikely to be disappointed with either.

Sony Online Entertainment has a new list of benefits for paid Planetside 2 subscribers, and they're a bit worrying.

When Planetside 2 is officially released at some nebulous point before the end of year, those of you willing to plunk down $15 per month on the game will be greeted with a host of bonuses for your hard-earned cash. “But wait, isn’t Planetside 2 supposed to be a free to play massively multiplayer online shooter?” we hear you wondering aloud. Well, yes and no. While it is possible to play the game without paying for anything, publisher Sony Online Entertainment has decided that the best way to pull in profit from this title would be to offer intensely dedicated players the chance to pay for a more fulfilling experience.

While SOE initially published a list of the benefits paid members would receive in Planetside 2 a few weeks ago, the company received a ton of feedback from prospective players, and has thus decided to amend the rewards on offer. Have a look at the new scheme the company plans to offer, courtesy the official Planetside 2 forums:

Here are our revised and final membership benefits:

• 25-50% increased resource gain.
• 25-50% increased XP gain.
• 25-50% increased passive cert point gain.
  • Note: Each of the above start at 25% and increase by 5% per month of sustained membership up to a total bonus of 50% each at 6+ months membership.
• Priority login queue
• Early Access to new cosmetic items on the store
• 500 StationCash each month

Price will be 14.99 / month

You’ll notice that many of those benefits include a range of potential utility. For instance, that “25-50% increased resource gain.” According to SOE, while paid members will initially see a 25 percent increase in resources they acquire, their account will slowly creep toward that 50 percent maximum as long as it remains active. Thus, to fully reap the rewards of this plan, a paid player must continue to pay Planetside 2′s subscription fees for at least six months. Or, as SOE puts it: “If you buy a multi-month sku you will be automatically elevated to the bonus value for the last month of that sku, so if you bought a 6-month membership sku you would immediately receive the 50% increased cert gain. If your membership lapses you will have 30 days to reestablish your membership to retain the increased bonus amounts.”

While most of these items are pretty self-explanatory, the one that leaves us scratching our heads most is that mention of a “priority login queue.” Hypothetically that means that players who shell out cash for a subscription will be granted access to an exclusive queue when attempting to log into the game that will be completely unavailable to those playing Planetside 2 for free. Though this might be an innocuous addition, it raises concerns that SOE will inadvertently release a game that is effectively unavailable to the free-to-play masses during its periods of highest popularity. Presumably you can see why this might miff prospective players whose key interest in the title was first spawned by the idea that the admittedly impressive MMO would offer a solid, comprehensive gaming experience absolutely free of charge.

If you find yourself suddenly full of vitriol toward Planetside 2, Sony Online Entertainment, or the concept of capitalism as a whole, we invite you to deposit that rage in the comments section below.

T-Mobile and MetroPCS are merging to expand spectrum holdings and network coverage. What do current (and future!) customers get out of it?

T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom has announced that it’s struck a deal to merge with regional pre-paid mobile operator MetroPCS. For MetroPCS, the merger represents a tremendous growth opportunity: instead of being a regional operator limited to a few markets, its customers will get nationwide service. For T-Mobile, the merger significantly deepens the company’s spectrum holdings in key cities and regions, enabling it to make a serious play as a value-conscious LTE operator. And for Deutsche Telekom, the merger finally represents a way to one day get out of the business of being a U.S. mobile operator, following its failed effort to sell T-Mobile to AT&T last year.

But what does the merger mean for consumers and customers of both T-Mobile and MetroPCS? Can customers expect better service and wider LTE coverage? Or, like so many mergers, will the new company just be bigger and more expensive?

The merger’s basic idea

The T-Mobile and MetroPCS merger is designed to give number-four T-Mobile more scale and deeper spectrum holdings in several major metropolitan areas, meaning it will more wiggle room to offer 4G LTE services and compete aggressively against the likes of Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon. The combined company will still be the number-four U.S. mobile carrier (behind number three Sprint), but will bump up to about 42 million subscribers. Although MetroPCS uses CDMA phone technology and T-Mobile is based on GSM, MetroPCS is already in the process of phasing out CDMA, and its spectrum holdings are broadly complementary: both companies live and breathe in the 1,700 MHz and 1,900 MHz spectrum bands.

The combined company will do business under the T-Mobile name, although MetroPCS and T-Mobile will continue to operate as distinct customer units. Contract-based mobile service (along with services for businesses) will be under the T-Mobile name, and pre-paid and no-contract service will be available under both T-Mobile and MetroPCS brands.

The pre-paid market — or, as Deutsche Telekom likes to refer to it, “value-focused” market — is one area where the combined company gets interesting. MetroPCS is exclusively a no-contract and pre-paid provider — also one of T-Mobile’s strong points. According to T-Mobile, the two companies will have about 14.6 million no-contract subscribers (9.3 million from MetroPCS), putting it nearly neck-and-neck with Sprint’s no-contract operation, which currently has about 15.4 million customers. The combined T-Mobile/MetroPCS no-contract business looks poised to earn more money than Sprint’s: in the second quarter of 2012, Sprint pulled in $1.2 billion from no-contract subscribers, where the combined T-Mobile/MetroPCS pulled in $1.6 billion. Basically, the combined T-Mobile and MetroPCS will likely become the biggest no-contract mobile operator after AT&T and Verizon — we only say “likely” because those companies don’t break out revenue from their prepaid/no-contract businesses.

The terms of the merger are unusual: technically, MetroPCS is acquiring T-Mobile in a reverse acquisition. MetroPCS will declare a 2-for-1 reverse stock split, pay $1.5 billion to its existing shareholders (a bit over $4 per share), and then buy all of T-Mobile’s capital stock by giving Deutsche Telekom 74 percent of MetroPCS. In the end, Deutsche Telekom winds up the majority owner of MetroPCS, and the new company will have nearly $25 billion in revenue and about $2.1 billion in free cash flow for the year. T-Mobile’s current CEO, John Legere, will be the CEO of the new company; MetroPCS CFO J. Braxton Carter will be the new company’s CFO. MetroPCS’s CEO, Roger Linquist, will apparently retire — he is 74 years old. Regulators have to approve the deal, and that will take a while: the companies expect the deal to be formally closed by June 2013. The new company will operate out of T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Washington HQ, but will maintain a “significant presence” in the Dallas area.

One of the consequences of the reverse merger is that the new T-Mobile will be a public company: before, it was a private company owned by Deutsche Telekom. Although Deutsche Telekom has agreed to provide a $5.5 billion commitment to support some existing MetroPCS transactions, write down the value of some of its investment in T-mobile, and offer the new company a $500 million unsecured credit facility, setting up T-Mobile as a public company gives Deutsche Telekom something it’s always wanted: a way out of the slow-growing U.S. mobile market. That’s why it tried to sell T-Mobile lock, stock, and barrel to AT&T in one giant transaction. Taking T-Mobile public doesn’t give Deutsche Telekom a swift and sudden exit from the American market, but it does put the company in a position to sell off its shares of the new company in the future.

If you’re a T-Mobile customer…

In the short term, the merger probably won’t affect T-Mobile customers: the company is continuing its $4 billion built-out of LTE services using AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum on its network. However, looking ahead, the merger means T-Mobile’s LTE offerings should be much stronger in the areas where MetroPCS currently offers service. Assuming all of MetroPCS’s AWS spectrum gets converted over to LTE — which should happen over time — T-Mobile will have an average of 50 MHz of LTE bandwidth in major areas like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, and Las Vegas — and 60 MHz in MetroPCS’s hometown of Dallas — and that includes a full 2×20 MHz in many areas, meaning T-Mobile’s LTE network should be able to keep up with competitors in terms of raw bandwidth. T-Mobile’s current GSM and HSPA+ handsets will continue working, too.

Going forward, T-Mobile’s move toward LTE also means T-Mobile customers can expect to have a greater selection of handsets. Instead of having to rely on phone makers to create special devices for T-Mobile’s own flavor of HSPA+ connectivity, T-Mobile should be able to offer customers mainstream LTE handsets. T-Mobile is hoping that, one day soon, that will include the iPhone, but the company will also be happy to offer customers the latest LTE devices running Android and Windows Phone, as well as accept iPhone migrants from other carriers.

MetroPCS has also been noted for its highly automated self-service capabilities, making it easier for customers to add minutes, pay bills, switch plans, and get a new phone without incurring a ton of customer support costs. On an investor call today about the merger, T-Mobile executives said they expect to be able to leverage that to improve its customer service levels — which would be welcome. T-Mobile’s customer service used to be lauded; recently J.D. Power and Associates has been rating it lowest in customer service among all carriers.

If you’re a MetroPCS customer…

If you’re a MetroPCS customer (and familiar with wireless technology), this merger is putting four letters in your mind: CDMA. MetroPCS’s voice network runs on CDMA, which is incompatible with T-Mobile’s GSM network. How can these incompatible technologies work together?

Short answer: they won’t. MetroPCS customers will be stuck on MetroPCS coverage and limitations until they migrate to new, future, handsets that will incorporate service for both networks. We also learned on the call today (and this long document) that the combined company anticipates keeping some of MetroPCS’s existing CDMA service operating through the first half of 2015, so customers have almost three years to transition to a new handset. MetroPCS’s all-contract business has an exceptionally high handset turnover: each year, between 60 and 65 percent of MetroPCS’s customers get new handsets, so transitioning away from CDMA in a span of nearly three years isn’t expected to be a major problem for most MetroPCS customers.

And MetroPCS customers should get some significant benefits from the deal once they transition, including substantially expanded mobile coverage, without being forced into roaming deals (including international roaming options). That expanded coverage area also makes it more likely MetroPCS customers can keep their service if they move to a more rural area. Although MetroPCS has already been rolling out LTE service, with T-Mobile it will have access to a much broader LTE network (once it’s built out), along with a wider choice of handsets — perhaps one day including the iPhone.

MetroPCS customers also get some stability: MetroPCS is the fifth largest mobile operator in the U.S., but it was still a regional provider going it along with limited growth opportunities. The combined company is larger, more stable, and backed by the considerable financial resources of Deutsche Telekom — which is still an investment-grade stock.

When life hands you lemons…

T-Mobile merging with MetroPCS is the latest move in the company’s gotta-stay-alive strategy in the wake of AT&T’s failed takeover attempt. When the AT&T merger failed, T-Mobile was left with comparatively few options, and none of them were great. The company has settled on a “challenger” strategy that isn’t aiming to unseat AT&T or Verizon, but instead to offer a fourth stable, national competitor in the U.S. market.

Since it became single again, T-Mobile has made four major moves to position itself as a viable alternative to AT&T and Verizon:

• It picked up AWS spectrum holdings (as well as a roaming deal) from AT&T as part of its break-up fee when acquisition fell through
• It announced a $4 billion upgrade plan to offer LTE services on its AWS network — that involves upgrading 37,000 sites over three years
• It picked up still more AWS spectrum from Verizon as a condition of Verizon’s deal with cable operators
• It sold rights on 7,200 towers to Crown Castle for $2.4 billion in cash to fuel its LTE transition

For T-Mobile, merging with MetroPCS is about making the best play it can to build competitive 4G LTE services. The company has no spectrum holdings in the attractive 700 MHz bands recently vacated by broadcast television: those bands are particularly appealing for LTE and mobile services because they’re good at penetrating structures. With the MetroPCS merger, T-Mobile is still left out of 700 MHz LTE service, but it will be able to significantly increase the density of LTE services it can offer in higher-frequency AWS bands: they don’t penetrate buildings as well, but T-Mobile is hoping to make up some of the difference by widening the amount of spectrum it uses in many metropolitan areas, as well as by being particular about how it upgrades its towers — it’s been hoping to improve in-building coverage by about 20 percent just through its network modernization, which includes new antennas with integrated radios.

Those efforts probably won’t be enough to compete head to head with the likes of AT&T and Verizon Wireless, but T-Mobile and MetroPCS are a good fit in another way: no-contract customers. The U.S. mobile market is mostly saturated. Very few new mobile customers are being created: some estimates have the U.S. mobile market growing by about 3 to 5 percent a year through 2017. However, tough economic times and the high cost of smartphone voice and data plans means the no-contract and pre-paid segment of the U.S. mobile phone market could grow by 9 to 10 percent in that same period. The combined T-Mobile and MetroPCS should be a major player in that faster-growing market segment — particularly if the combined company can keep to its strategy of unlimited mobile data plans.

The next move is probably Sprint

What will be the next move in the mobile industry? Look to number-three Sprint. MetroPCS’s deal with Deutsche Telekom to merge with T-Mobile was actually MetroPCS’s second choice: earlier this year, MetroPCS nearly closed a deal to be acquired by Sprint. That deal was rejected by Sprint’s board, and MetroPCS had to go looking elsewhere for a buyer.

Sprint has indicated it intends to be a leader in consolidation in the mobile industry — and its most likely targets are LEAP Wireless or working out a deal with Dish Network. Dish, in particular, might be tempting: the satellite TV operator holds a number of licenses in the 2000 to 2200 MHz band that it intended to use to build out its own satellite-assisted LTE network. However, the FCC is on the verge of action that could make some of Dish’s licenses relatively useless to Dish…but useful as an add-on to Sprint’s built-out of LTE service in the 1900 MHz range. Sprint is already building out its LTE service, where Dish hasn’t really started.

Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski, the guiding hand behind the Gears Of War series, has departed Epic Games to pursue new opportunities.

In a completely unexpected development — seriously, nobody saw this one coming — Cliff Bleszinski has left Epic Games. A blog post appeared moments ago on the official Epic Games website announcing the decision, and saying that this departure would allow Bleszinski to “chart the next stage of his career.” Notably absent from the blog post however, was any mention of what this “next stage” might be.

What it lacks in solid information about the future though, the announcement more than makes up for in praise for Bleszinski’s work at Epic over the years. Assuming you don’t religiously follow the gaming business, you likely know Cliff Bleszinski best as the lead designer of the hyper-successful Gears Of War franchise. Those with more impressive memories will likely recall that Bleszinski also played a key role in the creation of such classics as Unreal, Jazz Jackrabbit, and Unreal Tournament. As a result (and likely due to Bleszinski’s gregarious, outspoken nature), he has become something of a figurehead both for Epic and for its most famous games.

“In 20 wonderful years with Epic, Cliff Bleszinski has grown into a true design luminary, and his contributions to the ‘Unreal’ and ‘Gears’ series have helped shape the game industry into what it is today,” said Epic co-founder and CEO Tim Sweeney. “Cliff leaves Epic with our gratitude for his many contributions, and our wishes for continued success in the next chapter of his life!”

Likewise, Epic president Dr. Michael Capps has nothing but praise for Bleszinski, saying, “In my 10 years of working with Cliff, his passion for creating video games of the highest quality has been unflinching. We are grateful for all of his hard work, and remain committed to making our fans happy and to always raising the bar in everything we do at Epic.”

As for Bleszinski himself, though he offers no commentary on what his next career move might entail, he did pen the following heartfelt message to colleagues at Epic prior to the announcement:

I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, and outside of my sabbatical last year, I have been going non-stop. I literally grew up in this business, as Mike likes to say. And now that I’m grown up, it’s time for a much needed break.

I will miss the projects, the playtests, the debates, and most importantly, the people. Epic only hires the best of the best, and it has been a joy working with each and every one of you on a daily basis, whether you were hired weeks ago or decades ago. I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a variety of disciplines, from code to art to marketing and PR – it’s been one big, rewarding learning experience. I’m confident that each project that is being built, whether at Epic, Chair, PCF, or Impossible will be top notch and will please gamers and critics alike.

Nintendo's schizophrenic Virtual Console business is expanding on the Nintendo 3DS eShop with Game Boy Advance games.

Few digital distribution businesses are as mystifying and mercurial as Nintendo’s. While services like Steam run sales that let you buy major AAA HD video games like Batman: Arkham City for less than $10, Nintendo still sells 20-year-old games from the Super Nintendo for $8 or more then tells you you can’t download it on more than one system. Since opening for business alongside the Wii in 2006, Nintendo’s Virtual Console has frustrated audiences far more than it’s convinced them to part with their cash, and the company’s glacial trickle of releases doesn’t ease their high prices.

The latest peculiar move in Nintendo’s digital distribution strategy: Nintendo will finally release Game Boy Advance games via the Nintendo 3DS eShop. German website 3DS-Online found that Nintendo Europe recently uploaded are assets for Game Boy Advance games Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, Super Mario Ball, and Mario Golf Advance Tour. This will be the first time that Nintendo has made Game Boy Advance games commercially available since it stopped publishing them in 2007.

Of course, Nintendo has legally made some Game Boy Advance titles available to Nintendo 3DS owners. People who bought a Nintendo 3DS between March and July of 2011 were compensated with 20 downloadable games following the machine’s price drop, 10 of which were Game Boy Advance games including Metroid Fusion and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. The releases made it clear that the system’s games would eventually be released on the eShop, it was just unclear as to when or how much they will be.

Cost will certainly be high for these old games too. Since Nintendo priced NES games at $5 and SNES games at $8 on Wii, the Game Boy game pricing of around $4 to $6 means Game Boy Advance games could cost as much as $9, an absurd premium for games dependent on emulators to run, not hardware.

Nintendo is trying to evolve its business by creating parity between physical products and digital releases. All of Nintendo’s Wii U games will be available as digital downloads as well as packaged goods. The same for Nintendo 3DS games. For Nintendo’s retro releases, though, the company needs to make them available at low costs on every one of its machines, and customers need to be able to download them on more than one device. The schizophrenic releases and unreasonable pricing are blocking Nintendo from having a competitive, unique digital business.

Sony's PlayStation Mobile opened for business on Wednesday, but the platform is representative of the company's problems with clarity.

After a year of beta testing and a particularly wise name change, Sony’s PlayStation Mobile platform is now available for the PlayStation Vita, Sony’s Xperia smartphones, and a number of other portable devices that fall under Sony’s PlayStation Certified classification, including tablets from ASUS, HTC phones, and the WikiPad gaming tablet. Much is riding on PlayStation Mobile. Sony needs it to act as a thread binding together its struggling portable gaming business, its faded Xperia brand, and its nascent PlayStation presence in the broader Android market. Sony needs PlayStation Mobile to be Apple’s App Store, and it needs to achieve that goal without the benefit of being identified with specific devices. Will it work?

There are factors working in Sony’s favor. PlayStation Mobile and its games are tied with the Sony Entertainment Network, the home of its entertainment services like Qriocity, and its subgroup, the PlayStation Network. As of March, Sony claimed it had 90 million registered PlayStation Network accounts. While that figure by no means represents individual paying customers—many of those accounts are duplicates or inactive—that’s still a huge audience of users that can seamlessly use PlayStation Mobile without having to set up an entirely new account. A PlayStation 3 owner with an HTC One that wants to play the original Crash Bandicoot only needs to download the app to get going.

Or at least they would have been able to. A huge factor working against PlayStation Mobile is Sony’s decision to bar classic PlayStation games on the platform. The potential to bring games from old Sony consoles to mobile devices could have helped get people interested in the platform. It previously offered a selection of PSOne classics on Xperia phones, and it wasn’t unlikely that it would at some point offer PlayStation 2 games through PlayStation Mobile as well. (It already offers them as PlayStation 3 downloads through the PlayStation Network.) It announced at Gamescom that classic games would only be available on its devoted gaming machines.

Original games, however, are also a problem for the PlayStation Mobile network. A presence on moderately popular Android phones from HTC isn’t enough to make up for the low consumer penetration of PlayStation Vita and the Xperia line. What incentive to developers have to bring their games to PlayStation Mobile? Without decent original games, how will Sony get people interested in buying games from the service?

PlayStation Mobile is out in the wild now, but Sony doesn’t have the software to make it a success. It’s one more example of Sony’s fractious structure. If PlayStation Mobile is to be a success, it needs parity across all platforms.

Ubisoft has revealed an upcoming Assassin's Creed III DLC pack that explores an alternate history where George Washington is crowned king.

This morning, publisher Ubisoft issued an email press release about the upcoming Assassin’s Creed III. Ostensibly, the goal of the PR burst was to herald the upcoming arrival of the Assassin’s Creed III season pass, which, when purchased by players, will grant them discounted access to five future downloadable additions the company has planned for the title. Supposedly this was to be an exciting announcement, but it’s become a pretty common scheme among blockbuster game releases, so while we’re happy to see a relatively inexpensive alternative to purchasing the game’s DLC piecemeal, we’re not exactly calling our friends and loved ones to trumpet this revelation.

However, alongside the announcement of the season pass, Ubisoft also dropped a surprisingly substantial amount of information on an upcoming single-player DLC pack for Assassin’s Creed III that it alternately calls “The Tyranny of King George” and “The Tyranny of King Washington.” Regardless of what this thing is actually called, it’s “an all-new single-player campaign told through three episodic content packs” that explores what might have happened if George Washington, America’s first president, had opted to accept the position of king over the newly emancipated colonies, instead of deciding that no one man should wield that much power and opting toward the role of president.

Ubisoft’s official description is slightly darker:

As the revolution comes to a close, a new and most unexpected enemy emerges. Driven by the desire to secure the fate of the colonies, the greatest hero of the revolution, George Washington, succumbs to the temptation of infinite power. The new King is born and his reign leaves no one untouched. To return freedom to the land our new hero must dethrone a tyrant he once called friend.

Would anyone care to wager  on the likelihood that “dethrone” in this case is a synonym for “stab in the throat?”

Whatever direction Ubisoft takes this in should be interesting, even if you don’t end up murdering a man who has come to symbolize everything that’s good and right about the American ideal. Historians have been debating what might result from this very scenario for decades, and the massive changes it might entail compared to our own historical timeline can very quickly spiral out to a mind-boggling degree. 

Assuming you’re suddenly pumped for this thought-experiment-turned-gameplay-concept, the good news is that the entire thing can be yours with that aforementioned season pass for only $30. If you’re really, really pumped about it, you can even pre-order the pass at Gamestop and Best Buy. As for when that investment will see dividends, Ubisoft is a bit coy on the subject. While it does point out that season pass holders will be saving 25 percent compared to those who buy the DLC individually, and that season pass holders will have access to upcoming DLC packs a full week before everyone else, it also states that the pass “releases within six months after the game launch.” So expect to see something for your extra cash — that $30 is, of course, in addition to the $60 you’ve already spent on Assassin’s Creed III — sometime between the game’s launch on October 30 (November 18 on Wii U and November 20 on PC) and May of 2013.

Samsung has recently sent out a  (German) press invite for an event on October 11th. What is the event all about? Rumors suggest it might be the announcement of a smaller version of the Galaxy S3. The invite continues the Samsung tradition of hinting at what they might be announcing in order to drive more speculation and excitment. This time the tagline is, “So big can be small. And so small can be big”. The backgroudn also has a big S logo.

A smaller version of the S3 could certainly be good idea. While some users like bigger phones, others prefer devices in the 4 to 4.5-inch range- Galaxy S3 is 4.8-inches. This is pocketable, but it is still a little big and certainly won’t fit comfortably in all types of pant pockets, like tighter jeans for example.

A Galaxy S3 with a smaller size would also give a more ‘direct’ iPhone 5 competitor. While many iPhone users are very loyal and wouldn’t consider a Samsung alternative, a mini Galaxy S3 might appeal to those users that are on the fence. Especially since the Galaxy S3 it doesn’t have all of the all the map, Wi-Fi and scuffing problems that come with Apple’s newest smartphone offering.

What do you think? Would you consider a smaller Galaxy S3 over the iPhone 5?

We list the smartphones rumored to come out in the next few months, including some new Android smartphones and phablets, and some Windows Phone 8 devices.

We don’t report every leaked shot of every rumored handset — there are blogs for that — but we try to keep you informed about what’s out there and what’s coming up. Lately, we’ve been hearing a number of new rumors and leaks. Below is a list of the major smartphones we’re expecting to see companies like Apple, Samsung, Sony, Nokia, HTC, and Motorola unveil this fall. 

Google Nexus 4

We don’t know the specifics on this one yet, but there are strong rumors that we’ll see a new Nexus smartphone in the very near future. It might be a simple update to the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus; it might be the HTC phablet; it might be a variant of LG’s flagship Optimus G; or it could be something completely different. Whatever it is, it will run the latest version of Android and it’s bound to appear on several Christmas wish lists. The Galaxy Nexus hit shelves in December 2011. Expect the new Nexus around that timeframe.

LG Optimus G

An impressive and valiant attempt to claim the ascendancy in the Android smartphone race, the LG Optimus G doesn’t fail to impress. It has a 4.7-inch WXGA True HD IPS+ display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad-Core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel camera. There’s also LTE, NFC, and 32GB of storage. Whatever way you slice it, this smartphone looks fast. The only obvious drawback is the fact that it ships with Android 4.0 (ICS) and not 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

HTC Windows Phone 8X

Android has not proven to be such a happy hunting ground for HTC of late and so we see a renewed push to release a flagship device on Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 platform. WP8 finally appears like it will catch the platform up to Android and iOS when it comes to features and hardware — it only took 2 years. The HTC 8X has a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 screen, a dual-core 1.5GHx Snapdragon S4 processor, and 1GB of RAM. There’s 16GB of storage and an 8-megapixel camera. It also has NFC, Beats Audio, and LTE support. That display is probably the8X highlight – it boasts an iPhone 5-topping 341.5 ppi (pixels per inch).

Sony Xperia SL

This phone has been confirmed by Sony via a new page on Sonymobile.com. The Sony Xperia SL is essentially an Xperia S with a couple choice enhancements. The SL will have a 1.7GHz dual-core processor instead of the 1.5GHz dual-core chip in the S and will run the “latest version” of Android — though we’re not sure if that means Android 4.0 (ICS) or 4.1 (Jelly Bean). We’ve asked Sony, but have not yet heard back. No pricing or availability info is yet known. Keep an eye out for this one.

HTC One X+ (and possibly XXL)

HTC hasn’t made a splash this year with its One X, S, or U line of smartphones, though we think they’re pretty great, but as the old saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed… HTC hopes to change its fortunes  with a a revamped version of the handset with updated specs. We haven’t heard anything since June, but it’s still possible that HTC is also working on a big “phablet”-sized phone that may compete with the Galaxy Note and come with a 1080p screen resolution, 2GB of RAM, and powerful quad-core processor. While we’re sure HTC is working on something for release this fall, take this rumor with a grain of salt. We do think it’s likely that HTC will release a new phone on Verizon. Late last year, it released the Rezound and has a good relationship with the big red carrier.

Nokia Lumia 920 and 820

No company needs Windows Phone to succeed like Nokia does — Microsoft included. Nokia has bet the farm on WP and the beleaguered manufacturer is hoping to turn its fortunes around with the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820, announced on Sept. 5. The flagship Lumia 920 has a 4.5-inch WXGA HD display, a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 chip, 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of onboard memory. It also has an impressive 8.7-megapixel camera, and support for NFC and LTE. The standout is the wireless charging capability for the 2,000mAh battery – that’s something genuinely new.

Motorola Droid Razr HD

Motorola is now owned by Google, but the search engine giant has been careful to avoid any preferential treatment for fear of alienating other Android partners. On Sept. 5, Motorola announced the Droid Razr HD, Maxx HD and the Razr M. The Razr HD boasts a 4.7-inch HD display, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, and 1GB RAM. There’s also an 8-megapixel camera and 32GB of storage. The big attraction is the 2,530mAh battery which should see users through a full day and beyond, even with heavy use. If that doesn’t sound like enough then the Droid Razr Maxx HD ups the stakes with a 3,300 mAh battery. You can read our full review of the Droid Razr M, as well.

Samsung ATIV S

Rumors of a Windows Phone 8 device from Samsung were rife before it was unveiled as a bit of a surprise at Samsung’s August event in Berlin. The ATIV S has a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and a large 2,300mAh battery. It also has an 8-megapixel camera, 16GB or 32GB of storage, and support for NFC. It should be a top contender for those looking at Windows Phone this holiday season.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Samsung’s super-sized “phablet” phone on AT&T has been a hit, and its sequel is upon us. The Galaxy Note 2 has a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 1.6 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 processor, 2GB of RAM, and an 8-megapixel camera. It comes in 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB varieties, but also has a microSD card slot. It also supports LTE, NFC, and runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) out of the box. It’s expected to hit U.S. carriers this month or next and it will cost around $300 for the 16GB version on a two-year contract. Be sure to check out our hands-on impressions of the Galaxy Note 2.

BlackBerry 10 Lisbon and Laguna

A number of leaks have sprung up on Rapidberry showing a raft of BlackBerry 10 devices, although they aren’t expected to be released until 2013. The last throw of the dice for RIM looks interesting. In addition to the new platform, the hardware is sporting a 4.2-inch display with an astounding 355 ppi resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 dual-core processor (1.5-1.7GHz), 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage plus a hot-swappable microSD card slot. There’s also an 8-megpixel camera, support for NFC, and LTE. The big questions is – when will RIM be ready to release? From what we’ve seen of BlackBerry 10, it has a long way to go.

Did our best upcoming phones list miss something big? Shoot us a comment below.

Article originally published August 20, 2012. 

Update: 10/3/2012: Dropped released phones and added some new devices.