AT&T has talked to smaller rivals about divesting spectrum and customers in an effort to salvage its deal with T-Mobile USA, according to Bloomberg. AT&T has talked to MetroPCS Communications and Leap Wireless about selling some of its assets. The telecom giant is also talking to CenturyLink, Dish Network, and even Sprint Nextel–which has opposed …

Google Wallet, which will allow people to tap or swipe their phones to pay for things, officially launches today on its first smartphone, the Samsung Nexus S offered on Sprint Nextel. Google Wallet CNET/Marguerite Reardon While several other companies, including credit card giants Visa and American Express, as well as mobile wireless carriers, have also announced plans to launch their …

Verizon Wireless is making its 4G LTE service a bit more affordable for the masses. The Pantech Breakout. Verizon Wireless Starting Thursday, the carrier will sell the Pantech Breakout for $99.99 after a $50 rebate and a two-year contract. The Breakout marks the first reasonably priced 4G LTE phone in Verizon’s lineup. Previously, the carrier had marketed 4G LTE smartphones …

We hate format wars. Not because we’re afraid of good old-fashioned tech fisticuffs, but because they’re often completely unjust. So often, the format that wins isn’t technically better than the competition, just cheaper or better marketed. (And no, we’re not just sore because we were Betamax owners.) It’s happened so many times over the years that we had to make …

I’ve been reviewing cell phones and smartphones for more than seven years, and the mobile space has changed a lot in that time. We’ve gone from smartphones with monochrome screens, no cameras, and basic PDA functions to handsets with glassless 3D displays, dual-core processors, robust Web browsers, and much more. As they say, we’ve come a long way, baby. Yet, …

It’s Monte Carlo or bust for Orange’s latest affordable Android phone. The Orange Monte Carlo is announced today, powered by Gingerbread and packed with features. The Monte Carlo is a ZTE Skate painted Orange. Not actually painted orange, but you see what we mean. It sports a 4.3-inch capacitative touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, and 800MHz processor. It packs 3G and Wi-Fi …

Seven states have hopped on the growing bandwagon of opponents of AT&T’s planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA. The attorneys general of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington today joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block the deal between AT&T and T-Mobile. The participation of the states adds another dose of uncertainty to a deal that …

Editors’ note: This story was originally published on June 13. It has been updated with new information. Almost three months to the day since AT&T first announced its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile, federal scrutiny of the deal is well under way. AT&T has filed its paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission, the public is weighing in on the FCC’s …

Y oh Y are there so many new phones today? Here’s two more: The Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Y and Galaxy Y Pro are a brace of blowers aimed at da yoof. The Y stands for Young in both phones, as they’re set to be affordable models, and presumably perfect for annoying everyone with tinny ‘tunes’ from the back of the …

Talk about bad timing for Research In Motion. On the heels of another disappointing quarterly report, RIM is suffering from an outage that has hit its e-mail and BlackBerry Messenger services today. BlackBerry customers took to Twitter to voice their complaints. The company later acknowledged problems. “Some Canada & LatAm customers report BBM issues. Our support teams are investigating. We …

HTC has decided to get all hippity-hop happy with its latest smart phone, the HTC Sensation XE. It’s a refreshed version of the brilliant HTC Sensation that packs Beats audio tech, as well as a faster processor and improved battery life. Beaten Senseless The Sensation XE comes with a set of in-ear Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Plug these boisterous bad-boys …

The LG Optimus 2X was the first dual-core smartphone to hit the market late last year with its 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, and it soon came to the U.S. in the form of the T-Mobile G2X. Since its announcement, there have been a veritable array of dual-core smartphones, and interestingly, all of them have been Android so far. …

Come Sunday, AT&T will finally flip the switch on its 4G LTE network–in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio–almost a year after announcing its LTE launch plans. Although AT&T’s marketing machine has leaned on the carrier’s existing HSPA+ network to fill its 4G gap, AT&T’s progress lags three-quarters of a year behind Verizon’s LTE network, which now covers over …

If you’re a parent with some overly active children, you may want to consider the SecuraFone application. SecuraFone SecuraTrac, a company more used to creating small personal emergency alarms for senior citizens and patients, is trying its hand at a mobile application called SecuraFone. It plans to launch the app–which will be available for the iPhone, as well as on …

NEW YORK–It’s been a long time coming, but the mobile-payment revolution may finally be here. MasterCard, one of the major credit card issuers eyeing the market for years, is set to launch its service in the U.S. with partner Google. The company is the exclusive credit card issuer for the launch of Google Wallet, a digital-wallet application for Google Android …