Rip-Off Of This is a rare instance in which a company is, uh, basically ripping off itself. I can't recall another instance in which the basic premise of a previous campaign's TV spots was retained, but the pitch details were altered so significantly. Almost makes me wonder if AT&T's ad agency originally set this up as yet another dropped-calls commercial, then was handed different marching orders at the last moment.

The Spin With its high-end wireless business humming thanks to the iPhone, AT&T is now going after low-end customers by flaunting its value options. Playing up those Rollover minutes is just one piece of the puzzle—the company is also revamping its contracts to make them less draconian, as well as offering a new buy-one-get-on-free Nokia deal. AT&T obviously smells blood in the water, as Sprint continues to hemorrhage dissatisfied customers. True, AT&T is still near the bottom of the brand-loyalty tables, and its customer churn lags behind that of Verizon. But things can change awfully rapidly in the wireless biz.

Counterspin Perhaps the AT&T bigwigs merely decided that their "fewest dropped calls" slogan had run its course. But I've got to think that outside pressure played a major role—no question that the company was playing fast and loose with the truth, especially in light of the latest J.D. Power survey. AT&T could have stuck to its guns by trumpeting its $2.5 billion effort to buy licenses in the 700-MHz frequency. But that plan isn't going to bear fruit for some time—and even when it does, expect the iPhone-lovin' crowd to benefit first, rather than the budget-conscious masses.

Takeaway Ad gurus have blasted AT&T for dropping the Cingular brand, which took billions of dollars to build. The latest quarterly results are a point in the Ma Bell progeny's favor, though—aside from making bank off the iPhone, AT&T is effectively reducing its customer churn. This ad should help, as Rollover can be a good deal (despite some fine-print drawbacks, such as the fact that minutes don't start carrying 'til your second billing period). The spot may lack novelty, but it's mildly funny and to-the-point: It'll definitely catch the attention of a lot of aggrieved cellphone customers, especially those who've suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous overages. Like Alltel, AT&T seems to have realized that low-end customers are resigned to the ineradicability of spotty service, and merely want to pay as little as possible.

Hype-O-Meter 7.5 (out of 10). The trademarked Rollover promo may turn out to be Cingular's most valuable legacy. Also, gotta love the way the degenerate gambler nervously glances around after revealing his loss; almost looks like he expects to get smacked upside the head, despite his wife being hundreds or thousands of miles away. Guess we know who wears the pants in that relationship.

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired, a columnist for Slate, and author of the forthcoming Now the Hell Will Start. His Hype Sheet column appears every Thursday on Gizmodo.

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One, the official official (meaning residing on AT&T's servers) will be upon us soon. Two, you're probably safe installing this on your phone, since it's going to be (most likely) the same ROM as the one being released soon. Happy upgrading. [XDA-Developers]

They remind me of the Samsung Sync phone, both in sleek angular style and in their ability to sideload music from Napster and Yahoo (and, I am guessing, other PlaysForSure services you may subscribe to).

The badass app for these phones is Video Share, which we first saw demoed during the introduction of Motorola's RAZR 2. While you are talking, you can stream video in one direction as sort of a show-and-tell. (Your listener must have a compatible 3G phone as well, of course.) AT&T says its got over 160 markets with HSDPA, meaning throughput of 400 to 700 Kbps on average. Jump for close-up shots and facts straight from the horse's mouth. – Wilson Rothman

AT&T AND SAMSUNG UNVEIL NEW ULTRASLIM HANDSETS

New Clamshell and Bar-Style Phones Lead Growing Portfolio of AT&T's 3G Devices

SAN ANTONIO and DALLAS, June 1, 2007 - AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung) have announced the availability of the Samsung SGH-a717, a clamshell-style phone, on June 4, and the SGH-a727, a bar-style phone that will be available in the coming weeks. Both devices offer a rich multimedia experience in an ultra-slim form factor.

The a717 (12.9 mm) and a727 (8.9 mm) are currently the slimmest 3G phones available from AT&T. They also offer a multitude of services a customer would want in a device, including AT&T Mobile Music, Cellular Video, access to MobiTV™ and MobiRadio™, Bluetooth® technology, a microSD™ memory card slot and multiple messaging options.

"The a717 and a727 are packed with the advanced features our customers demand and are stunning additions to our growing portfolio of 3G devices," said Carlton Hill, vice president of product management for AT&T's wireless unit.

The phones will also support AT&T's forthcoming Video Share service, launching this summer. Video Share allows users to add a live, one-way video stream to a standard voice call, allowing the called party to view what the caller is seeing during a voice call. Both customers must be in an area served by the company's 3G network and have a Video Share-enabled phone.

AT&T Mobile Music features connectivity to allow customers that allows customers to use Napster or Yahoo! Music to load music onto the devices, and also includes Music ID, XM Radio, music videos, The Buzz music news portal, and more.

"The a717 and a727 are our slimmest handsets optimized for AT&T's 3G network," said Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president, Samsung. "Both devices embody Samsung's commitment to developing slim, stylish devices that boast a number of multimedia, messaging and music capabilities."

Additional features of the a717 and a727 include:
• 2.0 and 1.3 megapixel cameras, respectively
• Quad-band GSM technology (1900/850/900/1800 MHz), which allows AT&T customers to make calls in more than 190 countries and to download data in more than 125
• Dual-band 3G (850 MHz, 1900 MHz) which provides average download data speeds between 400 and 700 kilobits per second with bursts of more than 1 megabit through AT&T's HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) network
• Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD™ memory card slot
• SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging and Mobile E-mail
• MobiTV and MobiRadio

Pricing and Availability
The SGH-a717 is available June 4 through select AT&T retail locations, formerly Cingular Wireless, or via www.att.com/wireless. The SGH-a727 will be available soon. The a717's and a727's suggested retail price is $149.99 and $99.99 respectively, after a two-year contract activation and a $50 mail-in rebate.

His solution? Mandate that future owners of chunks of the 700Mhz spectrum being auctioned off when analog TV goes kaput in 2009 make their networks neutral, allowing any "safe" device to attach to them, kind of like landlines.

Doing so would spur innovation, as Wireless Widgets could then bypass Big Wireless and put out ground-breaking, disruptive devices directly to consumers, ones the Big Four would never allow (sort of like Skype aims to do). Ars sees two other possibilities for the 700Mhz band, given its long range: "establish a new competitor in the wireless phone space and create a third national broadband option to rival cable and DSL."

Naturally, the Big Four aren't exactly enthused by the prospect of emergent competition on possibly multiple fronts. But the competition and innovation that could be stimulated by properly managing the upcoming auction would ultimately be a boon to consumers, either by radically altering the marketplace or forcing the titans out of their inertia.

So you know what to do: Fire up that email client (or snail mail) and send your favorite Congressmen a letter, telling them you're for free markets, innovation, American values, and all that jazz. – Matt Buchanan

Forbes Column on Wireless Innovation [Tim Wu via Ars Technica]
Image via Flickr

After you install the suite onto your phone, you can either manually back up your contacts all at once, only back up some, or just set up a schedule to do it all for you. They're stored on AT&T's servers, which means they're slightly more resistant than backing up stuff on your own machine. And if you get a new phone (that's supported), it's easy to download the contacts again. It's so painless you'll want to drop your phone in the toilet just to use it.

Complete list of supported phones after the jump.

• LG CU400
• LG CU500
• Moto KRZR
• Moto SLVR L7
• Moto RAZR V3
• Moto RAZR V3i
• Moto RAZR V3r
• Moto RAZR V3xx
• Moto V365
• Cingular SYNC
• Sony Ericsson W300i
• Sony Ericsson W810i

– Jason Chen

AT&T Mobile Backup

Essentially, Motorola has gone far beyond simply anticipating the network needs of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and (maybe) Sprint. I've posted a chart from the press materials that you can click to enlarge. But there's more to it than that. Here's my (educated) guess as to which carriers will pick up which RAZR 2 versions:

•RAZR 2 V8 (July 2007) - Totally T-Mobile - It a slender model with 512MB or 2GB of internal memory, its instantly compatible with Windows Media Player 10 or 11 for access to all-you-can-eat "sideload" music. T-Mo isn't in the business of selling music over the air, so it's the most codec friendly (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+) and it's got highspeed USB 2.0. In addition it supports Motorola Linux-Java for super flexible software development. It may be the "slowest" in terms of network, but it very well may be the sweetest palmtop.

•RAZR 2 V9 (August 2007) - Up AT&T's Alley - With its WCDMA 850/1900 or 2100 and HSDPA 3.6, it's clearly developed to be a part of AT&T's aggressive 2007 lineup (not just higher bandwidth than the iPhone but also higher than Sony Ericsson's US HSDPA phone). Optional memory up to 2GB, but nothing to write home about in terms of built-in memory (you gotta watch out for the "upsell"). It will have video telephone and video streaming, including the "See What I See" technology for live in-call video streams. It will not support Motorola Linux-Java, however, favoring what Moto calls "Synergy" (meaning "carrier friendly") software. This will support Windows Media files, but will not come ready to sync with Windows Media Player 10 and 11. (There is a slim chance that AT&T will also sell a RAZR 2 V8, but I'm willing to bet that only happens if there's a serious V9 delay or a huge price step-up.)

• RAZR 2 V9m (July 2007) - Qualcomm Was Here - The good news is, there will be a CDMA version of the RAZR out early. Last time, it took a while for Verizon Wireless to get one, and even longer for Sprint to introduce it. That means highspeed EVDO plus sGPS location technology. The downside is that CDMA carriers will have their way with this handset, and fewer of the options Zander bragged about will be guaranteed. Video streaming is "network dependent" and the software is Motorola Synergy or "carrier proprietary." Music options? "Proprietary customer music players," says another Moto data sheet.

Dear Sprint and Verizon Wireless: when you do get this, please check out some of the software advantages Motorola is introducing. I swear your customers will thank you for it. – Wilson Rothman

Motorola RAZR 2 Launch Coverage [Gizmodo]

If they do support this, it's likely they'll go with not EV-DO, but AT&T's HSDPA. Why? Well, the iPhone of course. – Jason Chen

Source: Apple may build 3G wireless into future notebook model [AppleInsider]

Update: We've got three more galleries for you now, the most exciting of which is the Ocean vs. LG Prada and iPhone (papercraft). Even though it's not quite in the same category, you guys (in the poll held yesterday) decided that you were looking forward to the Ocean even more than the iPhone. Here they are, head to head.

Make the jump for the Ocean vs. QWERTY phones like the SideKick 3, the Moto Q, Palm 755p, and various other Helio phones.

– Jason Chen

BlackJack WM6 Update: Q3 at best [WMExperts via Boy Genius Report]

Thanks tipster!

Oh, and now you can even choose between minimizing or closing an app when you hit the X button on the top right. At least you get that feature now without having to wait till WM6. – Jason Chen

Download Page [HTC America via Mobile Burn - Thanks Keebles]

Fret not, because Cingular has your back, my friends. If you call to complain, Cingular will hook you up with a $2.50 refund. $2.50!!

My guess is that the time it will take on the phone to get such a discount will not reimburse the average Blackberry user for their hourly rate. Let's get this process automated, Cingular/AT&T. And let's just cease to be so damn tacky. – Mark Wilson

Cingular's Blackberry Users Can Request Credit For Service Outage [consumerist]

Treo 750 Review [Wireless Info]

Video Source]

So what's notable? Well, you can see that WM6 fully supports 3G, the Windows Live stuff works well, and everything seems faster. Check out the video to see for yourself. Then go and write a letter to AT&T/Cingular to ask them to hurry up with this WM6 update. – Jason Chen

Video Review: Palm Treo 750 & Windows Mobile 6 [Mobility Today]

What does this mean to you? AT&T's about to cut off your access to many 712 numbers from companies like FreeConferenceCall.com very soon. This, no doubt, is meant to pressure the local providers to lower their rates or face the fact that AT&T's tens of millions of users will no longer be calling their customers. – Jason Chen

AT&T/Cingular blocks cellular customers from free conference call services [Ars Technica]

Product Page [Via Bargainist]

It's true, that like an Apple Store, the AT&T Experience has different sections showcasing different products, like an entertainment station that shows off hi-def and VOD content, a music area with XM on phones, and a gaming area with um, game phones. There are several others, but you get the point.

Two reasons as to why this not like an Apple Store. One, I like going to the Apple Store, even when I have no intention of buying anything, which is to say almost always. The NYT is right; it's a destination. There's no reason for these AT&T stores to be a destination. Playing around with a MacBook Pro is very different from diddling on a phone or looking at a VOD service. There's nothing cool or inherently interesting enough about either of these things to draw people into the store, for starters.

Second, nothing in AT&T's store is synergistic. An XM-enabled phone has nothing to do with their IPTV service. Odds are, I already have a cable provider. On the other hand, an upgraded nano would go very nicely with a MacBook, or a Mac mini with an AppleTV, and so on. (Not that I would buy either a Mac mini or an AppleTV, actually.)
But there is a certain continuity to Apple's products that lends to them all being in the same space. AT&T's just trying to shove everything they can into a single space hoping that by the time you've walked out, some of it will stick. The only thing they're really taking from Apple is the $100-a-month service contract every iPhone sold is going to bring them, and they should be more than satisfied with that. – Matt Buchanan

AT&T Megastore Aims to Make It Fun to Buy a Phone [NYT]