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Onavo is opening up its data compression app, Onavo Extend, to even more iOS users today. The company announced this morning that the app is now available for the new LTE iPad and the iPhone 4S on CDMA networks like Sprint and Verizon.

The news doesn’t come as a huge surprise, since Onavo has been working to fill in the gaps in its data compression coverage over the past few months. In February at Mobile World Congress, the company released Onavo Extend for Android 4.0 devices, the first app to enable its data compression technology on Android.

The Onavo Extend app (formerly just called Onavo on iOS) compresses just about everything that goes through your device’s cellular network. It’s especially relevant now as unlimited data plans are dying off, and consumers need to keep a closer eye on data caps.

Best of all, the app doesn’t require you to do much beyond installing it. You can toggle the compression capability on and off, but otherwise Onavo does its job in the background, while periodically sending out useful savings alerts. The company credits its implementation of Urban Airship’s push messagingas a big reason for why it went viral.

Onavo is based in Tel Aviv, Israel, and has raised a total of $13 million from Horizon Ventures and Motorola Mobility Ventures. The company won top prize at our MobileBeat startup competition last year.

Filed under: VentureBeat

After Google’s failed attempt to sell the Nexus One smartphone a few years back, the search giant is attempting to sell hardware once more with an unlocked Galaxy Nexus compatible with HSPA+ networks, which is now available in the Google Play store.

Selling the Galaxy Nexus is a curious turn for Google following its trouble selling the Nexus One, but perhaps Google has learned lessons from that flop. Google likely wants to sell this device to give Android fans another option for buying one of the best Android phones on the market. Although most U.S. consumers opt for a 2-year contract and a subsidized smartphone, there’s still a segment that appreciates the ability to buy a phone for an upfront price and not be tied to a contract.

The unlocked Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ retails for $399 and is compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks here in the U.S. and 200 GSM providers worldwide. For specs, the device has a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED screen with 1280 x 720 resolution, 16GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, 5-megapixel camera, 1080p HD video recording, and a 1.2-GHz dual-core processor. The phone runs pure Android 4.04 Ice Cream Sandwich software.

The $399 price tag, frankly, is unbeatable considering all the features and the fact that you don’t have to sign a 2-year contract. The phone is also available from Verizon and Sprint (which have CDMA networks) with a contract.

Filed under: mobile

Apple’s iPhone 4S will still have network limitations even when you pay extra to buy it unlocked.

The company revealed today that it will offer an unlocked version of the iPhone 4S — meaning it’s not tied to a specific carrier — starting at $649 in November. But the unlocked iPhone 4S will only work on GSM networks, like AT&T’s in the U.S., even though the phone also has the ability to work on CDMA networks (like Verizon and Sprint).

Apple began accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4S early this morning. When it was announced on Tuesday, Apple described the 4S as a “world phone”, since it works across both major 3G cellular standards. Now that description seems a bit false, since even an unlocked iPhone 4S isn’t free to work across all networks.

Still, for plenty of users the unlocked iPhone 4S will still be immensely useful. It will allow them to travel across the world and swap out their SIM card so that they’re only paying local rates for voice and data service. It was likely too difficult for Apple to open up the iPhone 4S to all CDMA networks, since those networks typically don’t rely on easily removable SIM cards.

In addition to the $649 16 gigabyte unlocked iPhone 4S, Apple is also offering 32GB and 64GB versions for $749 and $849, respectively.

Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat

So I guess we can give up hope on seeing the iPhone 5 for another year. Apple just announced the iPhone 4S, which sports the same design as the iPhone 4 with new hardware for faster gaming and computing performance.

The iPhone 4S will sport Apple’s new dual-core A5 processor, which first appeared in the iPad 2. Apple promises that graphics will be seven times faster than the iPhone 4, and that overall computing power will be twice as fast.

“Despite competitors trying really hard to copy it [the iPhone 4], they haven’t come close,”Apple’s Phil Schiller said today during Apple’s press event. That explains why Apple didn’t find it too necessary to update the design.

Schiller said the company worked hard to make sure the faster processor didn’t kill the iPhone 4S’s battery life. The phone offers 8 hours of talk time, 14 hours of talk time on 2G networks, 6 hours of 3G browsing, and 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing.

Apple has also addressed the issues with the iPhone 4′s antenna design. The iPhone 4S is able intelligently switch between its antennas, in case you accidentally cover up the antenna while holding it. So long antennagate.

The iPhone 4S will also be able to download files faster thanks to its support for HSDPA networks. Its theoretical download speed has been doubled from 7.2 megabits per second on the iPhone 4, to 14.4 Mbps. Upload speeds are still the same at around 5.8 Mbps.

World travelers can rejoice, as the iPhone 4S will also support both GSM and CDMA networks. That means it can work across practically any 3G network globally.

Apple has also vastly improved the camera in the iPhone 4S: It sports an 8-megapixel sensor that can take pictures at resolution of 3264 by 2448. It has an f/2.4 aperture lens, which lets in more light, as well as a five element lens (compares to the four in the iPhone 4) for images that are 30 percent sharper. The new camera can take 1080p high-definition video with video image stabilization and noise reduction.

Overall, the iPhone 4S camera is 33 percent faster than the iPhone 4. Apple boasts that it can take a picture in 1.1 seconds, compare to the 2 seconds for the Galaxy S II and the 3.7 seconds for the Droid Bionic.

The iPhone 4S will also include a voice-powered virtual assistant called Siri. Of all the new features announced today, this is the one that gets me the most excited. It’ll allow you to add appointments and send text messages with just your voice. The potential for Siri’s uses are astounding and will resonate long after we’ve forgotten about the iPhone 4S.

Confirming rumors, the iPhone 4S will be available on Sprint’s network, in addition to AT&T and Verizon.

The iPhone 4S will be available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models, and will retail for $199, $299, and $399 respectively. Preorders for the phone will start on October 7, and it will ship on October 14th.

Image via Wired

Filed under: mobile

We’re a few hours away from Apple’s next iPhone unveiling, but one thing we can be pretty sure of at this point is that it won’t support new 4G LTE and WiMax networks.

People “familiar with the company’s plans” say that Apple won’t be adopting the new cellular technologies, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Plenty of rumors and analysis over the past year made it clear that LTE is too immature for Apple to implement in the iPhone 5 and that the company likely wouldn’t even attempt WiMax, since those networks are beginning to show their age. I’ve argued since May that you shouldn’t bet on an LTE iPhone coming this year.

The latest Wall Street Journal report doesn’t rule out the potential for the iPhone 5 to support HSPA+ networks, which are marketed as 4G by AT&T and T-Mobile since they perform much faster than standard 3G networks.

But if the iPhone 5 does support HSPA+, users on CDMA networks like Verizon and Sprint will miss out on the faster speeds, since HSPA+ is based on 3G GSM technology, which is only supported by AT&T and T-Mobile in the US.

Filed under: mobile

Anecdotal evidence in support of the long-held belief that Apple’s next iPhone will support both GSM and CDMA networks has emerged in the form of an anonymous developer who reports that a new dual-mode device has appeared in app usage logs.