BlackBerry and T-Mobile announced a partnership to bring the BlackBerry Classic to the Un-carrier’s Data Strong network, said T-Mobile in a Thursday news release. The partnership brings together the productivity and security of the BlackBerry Classic and T-Mobile’s Un-carrier for Business initiative, the release said.

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on cellphones should be a “bell ringer” service that alerts users to seek more information about imminent threats, AT&T representatives said in a call with officials from the FCC Wireless Bureau. “WEA is not a purpose-built alert system … and as such policymakers should accept the limitations inherent in the cellular system,” AT&T said in a filing posted in docket 15-91. “The carrier obligations of WEA can only be met by the native broadcast capabilities defined in the standard.” Carriers can offer longer warning messages through LTE, but doing so will take time, AT&T said. “The updated message length for WEA messages will require new handsets and it will take time to standardize, deploy in the core network, modify the interface to [the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System], and get quantities of handsets out to wireless users.” AT&T said that a message length of 280 characters does “seem achievable.”

The Competitive Carriers Association and TracFone filed joint comments with the U.S. Copyright Office asking the agency to recommend that the Librarian of Congress ensure consumers can legally unlock their wireless devices. “The Parties’ proposed exemption is pro-consumer by properly enabling users to take control over the use of their wireless handsets, and permitting them the choice of which network they will be connected to, while assuaging TracFone’s concerns regarding loopholes that would potentially prevent carriers from offering subsidies or other discounts that make wireless handsets affordable and accessible to American consumers,” the filing said. “Consumers wanting to unlock their devices legally should be allowed to do so, and I strongly encourage the Librarian of Congress to adopt CCA’s proposed unlocking exemption and create presumptions that will give consumers certainty about their ongoing ability to legally unlock their devices,” said CCA President Steve Berry in a news release. “Unlocking is not only beneficial for consumers, but it is also important for smaller and regional carriers who may have trouble accessing the newest, most iconic devices.”

A new survey paid for by CTIA found that 61 percent of Americans who own smartphones and tablets use PINs and passwords to protect them, a 20 percent increase from 2012. CTIA said the increase is a reason for the reported decline in device thefts. The FCC has made curbing device theft a priority. Recent data suggests device thefts are down 40 percent in London, 22 percent in San Francisco and 16 percent in New York City, according to numbers released at the April meeting of the FCC Technological Advisory Council (see 1504010055). “One of the reasons for this increase by Americans to protect their personal data stored on smartphones and tablets is thanks to the collective wireless industry’s consumer education activities as well as the initiatives developed by individual companies,” CTIA said. Harris Poll conducted the online survey. CTIA released only preliminary results, the association said Thursday.

The Public Safety Bureau released an agenda Thursday for next Friday’s workshop at the FCC on the use of smartphone apps in the provision of 911 service. The workshop starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. It features three panels and opening remarks by Bureau Chief David Simpson.

LG took the wraps off two long-awaited high-end mobile devices Tuesday: the LG Watch Urbane, available on Google Play and through AT&T Wireless and Verizon, and the G4 smartphone that’s “coming soon,” the company said. Sprint announced it will have the G4 for sale in June. Some 4,000 LG customers will receive the G4 before it hits stores as part of what the company called its largest-ever consumer campaign. Price and exact dates weren’t given. The G4 will be sold through AT&T, Best Buy, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon, said LG. Advanced camera features play prominently in the G4, according to specs. The phone’s camera has an F1.8 aperture lens, which LG said allows 80 percent more light to hit the image sensor than in its predecessor, the LG G3. It has a rear 16-megapixel camera and front 8-megapixel camera, said LG. A manual mode allows users to control focus, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance for every shot, it said. Shots can also be taken in RAW format, in addition to JPEG, for later editing, LG said, with no loss of detail. The camera has a Color Spectrum Sensor that’s said to improve color accuracy by reading the RGB values of the ambient light in a scene along with the infrared light reflected from objects and then adjusting white balance and flash color to create images that resemble what a user would see with a naked eye, it said. The camera module is paired with a 5.5-inch IPS Quantum display with an arc design. Additional specs include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor running Android 5.1, 32 GB ROM, 3 GB RAM, microSD slot. The Urbane LG Watch ($349) uses the latest version of Android Wear, and has a plastic 1.3-inch OLED display. The watch is said to be thinner and smaller than the LG G Watch R without reducing the size of the display or the battery. The watch uses the 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor.

Accessories maker Rokform introduced a shock-proof case for the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone comprising a polycarbonate outer shell and shock-absorbing inner liner to offer six-sided protection up to 6 feet, said the company. Consumers have the choice of a clear or smoke finish, and both are said to reveal the aesthetics of the phone while protecting it from the elements. A magnet mount option allows users to attach the case to any ferrous surface. Suggested retail price is $39.

Synaptics filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission requesting a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation on touch screen controllers imported by Blu Products and Goodix. Synaptics said April 21 that Goodix is manufacturing and importing infringing touch-screen controllers, including Goodix’s GT915 controller. The allegedly infringing touch-screen controllers are also being incorporated into Blu Products smartphones, such as the BLU Studio 5.0C HD, alleged Synaptics. It asked the ITC to issue limited exclusion orders and cease and desist orders prohibiting import and sale of infringing merchandise by Blu Products and Goodix. Comments are due to the ITC May 5. Blu had no comment. Goodix said it believes Synaptic's allegations "are without merit, and it will vigorously defend itself against Synaptics’ allegations, while continuing to fully service and support its customers." Goodix "respects intellectual property rights and the rights of inventors to protect their innovations, in the same manner that Goodix expects others to respect its own intellectual property rights," said the company in a Thursday news release.

Google said it's launching a low-cost wireless phone service, in cooperation with Sprint and T-Mobile, in what it is calling Project Fi. The service is initially by invitation only and requires users to buy the Google Nexus 6 phone, which retails for $649 for a 32 GB handset, $699 for 64 GB. The handset is manufactured by Motorola Mobility. Google rolled out the announcement Wednesday on its blog. Under terms unveiled Wednesday, a subscriber gets basic talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering and international coverage for $20 a month. Subscribers also pay a flat $10 per 1 GB per month, but receive credit for unused data, Google said. Google doesn't require an annual commitment but also doesn't have the family plans offered by most carriers. “Similar to our Nexus hardware program, Project Fi enables us to work in close partnership with leading carriers, hardware makers, and all of you to push the boundaries of what's possible,” Google said. “By designing across hardware, software and connectivity, we can more fully explore new ways for people to connect and communicate.” BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk sounded a note of skepticism. “Google should either write Sprint or T-Mobile a large check for future capacity to help accelerate network buildouts, partner with them in the upcoming incentive auction or just buy one of them,” he wrote. Piecyk also said the Google service isn't necessarily cheap compared with the family data plans offered by the major carriers. The Google phone will also default to Wi-Fi, he said. “So if T-Mobile is offering blazing fast speeds in [New York City] that top the WiFi hotspot that is closest, the user will be stuck on the slower WiFi,” Piecyk said. “In our experience, which we regularly tweet about, that often results in inferior speeds that do not even enable mobile video of [Netflix] or YouTube.” The announcement wasn't a surprise, since details of Google's mobile virtual network operator launch “have been discussed for months,” wrote Wells Fargo Securities analyst Jennifer Fritzsche. “Since the service will not be available on the iPhone or smaller Android devices, we expect the initial impact to be fairly limited.”

Amazon’s smartphone shopping app is “winning the battle” for shoppers in the U.S., but it hasn't achieved “the same dominance” in at least 10 other countries internationally, said an Informate Mobile Intelligence report that tracked and measured consumer use of smartphones in 12 countries during February. The U.S. has the highest installed penetration of shopping apps at 60 percent, followed by India at 46 percent, the report said. The other 10 countries measured had a “median reach” of about 18 percent, it said. "Amazon is the number-one shopping app in the U.S. and by quite a margin." Amazon's reach among American consumers was 34 percent during the period, more than the combined reach of the Nos. 2- and 3-ranked shopping apps from Walmart and eBay, it said. Yet, globally, “Amazon has yet to show similar command as it competes with more local players,” the research firm said.