T-Mobile made a few pricing changes to its plans this week that further cement the carrier as one of the most affordable around. We've highlighted the changes below.
- The two most expensive Family myFaves plans now have an additional 500 anytime and a break of $10 per month on the monthly price. That means that the $109 plan (formerly $119) offers 2,500 anytime minutes, and the $139 plan (formerly $149) gets you 3,500 anytime minutes.
- T-Mobile added a new $89 per month Family myFaves option. It includes 1,800 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends.
- The $99 and $129 FamilyTime plans also get an extra 500 minutes. The former now offers 2,500 anytime minutes, and the $129 option comes with 3,500 anytime minutes.
- All individual plans at $49 or higher now include free calling to other T-Mobile subscribers.
(Credit:
Yanko Design)
I'm probably old enough (and dating myself) to remember a time when we used those black bakelite telephones with rotary dial to make calls at home. Today these antiques are considered vintage, and some collectors even pay good money to get one. Too bad mum tossed ours when we embraced the digital age and modernized to the sterile cordless phones. So there's something nostalgic about seeing the EMC (Easy Mobile Calling) phone by designer Matthias Pinkert.
It's a groovy clamshell take on ye old telephone, but Pinkert keeps it too simple with only the bare necessities. Besides a built-in speakerphone and lanyard, there are only four keys for one-touch calling--enough naturally for four preset numbers. Surprise, surprise, there's also GPS tracking, which kinda cues us to the market this concept is targeting. Is this really necessary? Today's Baby Boomer retirees are far more with with it and tech-savvy than this gives them credit for.
(Source: Crave Asia)
If IMing friends from mobile to mobile is faster and cheaper than sending SMS messages, then IMing photos, videos, and music clips is even better.
Fring announced this week an update to its Symbian 9.1 and Symbian 9.2 offerings (sorry, Windows Mobile) that lets registered members swap files. This is the first I've heard of file-sharing from any mobile IM service, though saving the best perks for members is common to others, like EQO, that have far grander ambitions than simple all-in-one chat.
Share photo and videos files with fring friends.
Much like file-sharing from desktop chat apps, fring (it really is lower-case) files ride the Wi-Fi, 3G, GSM, GPRS, or EDGE wave between phones, but for fringsters only. Fring will ferry files over to the computer, too, via an Internet connection and MSN. Fring's neat, attractive offering clearly shows the direction in which mobile phones are headed: away from syncing, MMS, e-mailing a file to a middleman uploading service, and pushing media to a Web site. Though fring doesn't yet offer any of those forms of mass socializing, it does share media on an exclusive, individual level that's a good choice for users who prefer their privacy, and who can also convince their friends to use one more social service.
If that's not enough fringing for you, fring friends can stalk you through a fringME! widget you embed on a Web site, blog, or profile, which will disclose your whereabouts and give buddies an easy way to chat from their desktops. The updated Symbian version also uses its artificial noodle to determine which one of seven languages the user may need, and install accordingly.
Windows Mobile users (review) can still make free international calls to other fring members, IM through major chat networks, use Skype, and read and update Twitter.
The fring application is free to download from the PC or over the air, though carrier charges apply. If you're planning to try fring and don't have an unlimited data plan yet, now's the time to upgrade.
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