Smartphone, Tablet Choices Are Vast

by Todd R. Weiss

AT&T has announced that it will be the “exclusive” carrier for the upcoming HTC Desire EYE smartphone when is debuts for the holiday season later this year. No pricing has yet been announced for the Desire EYE, which has a 5.2-inch, 1080p HD display and a 2.3GHz quad-core processor.

New or existing AT&T customers who buy any new smartphone and activate a new mobile line can get special pricing on a new tablet. Under the deal, you can buy an LG G Pad 7.0 LTE for 99 cents or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 for $99.99.

The new Nokia Lumia 530 Windows smartphone is available now to T-Mobile customers through Best Buy and Microsoft stores. The Lumia 530, which runs on Windows Phone 8.1 and has a 4-inch LCD touch screen and a quad-core CPU, is available with prepaid, no-contract monthly service plans. The phone will be sold through T-Mobile for $79.20 starting Oct. 15.

Selling for $599, BlackBerry’s new square-faced, enterprise-targeted Passport smartphone hit 200,000 preorders within two days of its debut online in late September. The Passport includes a full HD display that is 4.5 inches square, rather than rectangular as on most smartphones.

Apple’s new iPhone 6 models sold more than 10 million units during the first few days after their Sept. 19 U.S. debut. The new iPhones include the iPhone 6 with its 4.7-inch Retina HD display and an even larger iPhone 6 Plus with its 5.5-inch Retina HD screen, priced from $199.99 to $499.99 depending on model and storage capacity.

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 4 phablet, with its large, 5.7-inch HD Super AMOLED display, 2.7GHz quad-core processor and 32GB of internal memory, will be released Oct. 17 and be available in Charcoal Black and Frost White.

Amazon launched four new Fire HD tablets in September, including the Fire HD in 6-inch or 7-inch screen sizes, the new higher-performance Fire HDX 8.9 and the innovative Fire HD Kids Edition, which is ruggedized for children. Prices start at $99 for the 6-inch Fire HD up to $479 for the Fire HDX 8.9 64GB model.

Samsung’s latest Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and Galaxy Tab S 8.4 tablets are available from AT&T at $529 with a two-year agreement for the 10.5-inch model or for $429 for the 8.4-inch model with a two-year agreement. Both tablets feature AMOLED HD screens with 4 million pixels, a slim 0.26-inch-thick profile, an Exynos Octa Core processor and 3GB of RAM.

The latest Motorola Moto X smartphones are priced at $99.99 with a two-year contract from AT&T, or $526.99 without a contract. The Android phones are available in Resin Black, Bamboo and Black Leather colors and include a 5.2-inch, 1080p HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.