Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint (well, Direct Connect anyway) have all gotten their fair shares of ruggedized Motorola love, but what about the regionals like MetroPCS? The answer to that might very well lie in the Quantico flip that was announced today, bearing support for 1700MHz CDMA in addition to 800 / 1900 with EV-DO. Besides mil-spec 810F compliance for resistance to environmental evils like water dunks, heat, and dust, the Quantico offers up a 1.3 megapixel camera (a little meager, if you ask us), stereo Bluetooth, and microSD expansion. Moto's putting nearly all of its weight behind Android right now, but alas, no Android here -- speaking of, whatever happened to the non-touch version of the platform? Anyhow, look for the phone to hit markets in this quarter; carrier partners have yet to be announced.

Update: Turns out US Cellular is already selling the Quantico despite Motorola's vague statement on availability. Thanks, everyone!

You can't make heads or tails of what carrier might be getting this version of the Bold 9700 just by looking at the wireframe diagram buried in the ID label documentation, but here's an important clue: it got tested for WCDMA Band IV, also known as AWS -- so yeah, that would be a pretty solid indicator that this puppy is T-Mobile USA's version. You could spend literally hours thumbing through the hundreds of pages of RF test results here, so curl up on a cushy futon and geek out -- just do us a favor and don't actually print it out, okay?

If this strange, rather unhelpful FCC label diagram looks vaguely familiar, that'd be because it's in the same product family as another LTE-compatible device submitted by LG to the FCC not long ago: the M13 with EV-DO compatibility. In fact, we'd venture to guess that this newly-passed M4 is basically the same thing as the M13, merely swapping 700MHz LTE and EV-DO for AWS LTE alone, which is the spectrum range that MetroPCS -- which has aggressively committed to rolling out LTE as soon as next year -- will need. LG's been meticulous about making sure it doesn't say anything specific enough in the FCC documentation to let us lay folk nail down exactly what it is, but there are brief mentions of connectivity via USB, so it's conceivable were looking at some sort of data modem here. Either that, or... you know, it's a piece of base station or test equipment that we'll never even come close to seeing in the flesh.

For T-Mobile USA customers, the FCC slid a couple particularly interesting batches of docs into its vast library in the past week: the Nokia 3710a and a mysterious Motorola. First, the 3710a (pictured) is simply an Americanized version of the 3710 flip introduced a couple months back, offering a 3.2 megapixel cam, Series 40, and a concealed external display in addition to that all-important dose of 3G on T-Mobile's AWS band. The more interesting item, though, might be this Motorola -- as usual Moto has done a terrific job of concealing virtually all useful bits of information about this phone, but we have reason to believe that it could be the Android-powered Morrison since it's got WiFi on board in addition to 3G, Bluetooth, and the usual RF suspects. With Moto's big announcement just around the corner, we wouldn't be surprised.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Motorola device
Read - Nokia 3710a

We normally associate AWS spectrum with T-Mobile's 3G efforts, but let's not forget that it also plays a big role in recent buildouts of the CDMA regionals; MetroPCS and Leap Wireless' Cricket brand both use 1700MHz bandwidth in a number of markets, and you'll find plenty of AWS support across their lineups to prove it. An interesting new QWERTY slider from ZTE bearing triband CDMA support (AWS included) just passed FCC testing, and if we had to guess, MetroPCS is the likely candidate to get it; the companies have been in bed for quite some time now, and it's no secret that they're collaborating on LTE gear going forward. It's not the best looking phone we've ever seen -- nor the best looking QWERTY slider -- but hey, we'll bet it's cheaper than the $249 Motorola Hint, especially since it steps down from a 2 megapixel cam to 1.3. No word on when we might see an announcement.

[Via Phone Scoop]

"T-Mobile USA" and "3G modem" aren't two things you frequently heard uttered in the same sentence -- but now that the number four carrier's got a budding HSPA network that's all dressed up with no place to go, it's time to start rolling out some serious hardware (G1 aside) to take advantage. On that note, T-Mobile's finally getting serious about laptop data, launching its rumored webConnect USB stick today with an integrated microSDHC slot, HSDPA 1900 / 2100 / AWS for compatibility in the US and abroad, and triband EDGE for those times -- and there will be many at first -- when you're out of 3G coverage. The webConnect launches today for $49.99 on a two-year contract after rebate or $249.99 contract-free.

The "ultra-simple CDMA set with AWS support" category is getting pretty well-stocked the past few months courtesy of carriers like MetroPCS, and Samsung's helping to fill the shelves with another one on Cricket today. The SCH-r211 offers little more than what you can gather from the product shot -- it'll do data sans 3G, and that 128 x 128 display isn't helping matters either -- but more importantly, it runs just $89.99 contract-free, and it's available this very second.

Shoehorned in with its Samsung Memoir announcement today, T-Mobile has announced that it plans on covering 200 million Americans with its AWS 3G network by the end of 2009. That's up from "more than 100 million people" at the end of 2008, so even if you consider "more than 100 million" to be as high as 150 million, that's still a nice boost in HSPA coverage year over year. And considering that we're expecting a barrage of new G series (or at least one or two of 'em) to launch on T-Mob in '09, we'll take just as much 3G as we can get.

Huawei's UMG181 holds a special place in the hearts of loyal T-Mobile users -- after all, it's not everyday that you see a USB modem with AWS 3G support. The cool cats over at CellPhone signal managed to get their hands around one, and while it looks about exactly like we thought it would, we're told that the general public should be able to find one as early as next month. Got enough patience to make it?

Ready for a little AWS 3G action via USB stick? Oh, yeah? Then have a look at what just landed in the FCC's database: Huawei's UMG181. The USB mobile broadband modem should operate just fine on T-Mobile's US network, pulling down gigabyte after gigabyte onto your laptop and / or desktop. Outside of that, details are remarkably scant, but we reckon it won't be long before it's up for sale on the carrier's own site.

Nokia 1606's isn't a new creature, but it is a new member of the quickly expanding Cricket family. The AWS-capable flip phone pretty much sticks to the basic, boasting just a 160 x 128 resolution display (internal) / 96 x 32 pixel monochrome LCD (external), a voice recorder, 3.5-hours of talk time (11 days in standby) and weighs just 2.68-ounces. If that's enough to suit you, head to nearest Cricket shop and hand over $129.99 plus any applicable taxes.

[Via phonescoop]

If you've invested in one of those Sony Ericsson TM506s being offered by T-Mobile, it certainly helps if you've got some place to take advantage of its carrier-first HSDPA support -- and while it's going to be a while (a good, long while) before you find it blanketing every square inch of T-Mobile's coverage, you'll at least have a few more cities in which to play by the time that all-important G1 launches next month. Thirteen cities have officially launched so far, with another 8 coming online in the coming weeks, another 7 beyond that by the end of the year, and "meaningful expansion to additional customers and markets through 2009." In case you'd like 'em to be showing a little more hustle here (and who wouldn't?), it looks like the government is still holding things up; T-Mobile specifically mentions in its press release that it's continuing to "work closely and effectively together" with the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and Defense to speed things along and free up AWS spectrum as quickly as possible. In the meantime, follow the break for the full list of cities that'll be 3G-ready by the end of 2008.

When Sony Ericsson's TM506 was leaked earlier this month, there was no mention made of the flip's support of AWS 3G. Thankfully (thankfully!), the official launch brings along confirmed support for the protocol. SE is linking up with T-Mobile USA once again, providing a stylishly small handset that sports a 2-megapixel camera, built-in A-GPS (TeleNav), stereo Bluetooth support, an M2 card slot, multimedia playback, outer / inner displays and 9.5-hours of GSM talk time (250-hours on standby). Curiously, no price is mentioned, but you can find out for yourself when this lands in stores early next month.

True, ZTE's C79 clamshell becomes one of the relatively few phones released to market to support CDMA on the AWS frequency band in addition to the old-skool cellular and PCS bands, but to buyers, that doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot at this point. Instead, they'll be more concerned (and rightfully so, may we add) about the stylish red shell, the 1.3-megapixel camera, 220 x 176 primary display, external music controls, and 69MB of memory on top of a microSD slot. Strangely, there's no EV-DO involved, but this is MetroPCS we're talking about -- which also means we're met head on with a contract-free price of $169. It's available now.