Deutsche Telekom (DT), parent of U.S. mobile operator T-Mobile, is holding talks about gaining access to spectrum controlled by Clearwire (CLWR) and MetroPCS (PCS) as a way to build out 4G wireless service, according to Bloomberg, which cites “two people familiar with the matter.” The story says the company is also in talks with Sprint (S), which owns 51 percent of Clearwire. Recall that last week there were rumors that DT might want to acquire Sprint and merge it with T-Mobile.

The story notes that both MetroPCS and Clearwire own spectrum suitable for 4G networks. T-Mobile has yet to announce a 4G expansion plan; both Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) have begun upgrading their networks and plan to use the LTE standard.

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Until this summer, U.S. consumers interested in owning an Android-powered cellphone were limited to T-Mobile’s G1. But the Google (GOOG) operating system is appearing in a slew of new handsets by HTC, Samsung, LG and Motorola (MOT).

The specs for Samsung’s newest Android phone, the I5700 Galaxy Lite, leaked in an online video that made its way around the Web Tuesday. The lower-cost, touch-screen device will have 1 GB of memory and a 3.2-megapixel camera. Its predecessor, the Galaxy I5700, also running Android, has 8 GB of memory and a five-megapixel camera. It launched in Europe over the summer.

Also Tuesday, HTC introduced its fourth Android mobile phone, the Tattoo, which will be available in Europe in October.

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After Google (GOOG) announced it was working on an operating system based on its Chrome Web browser this week, many wondered: Didn’t Google already build an operating system? And isn’t it called Android?

Not so fast. At a joint T-Mobile and Google media event Friday morning, Google’s director of mobile platforms, Andy Rubin, said Chrome OS isn’t a substitute for mobile operating systems like Android, which have to solve many problems unique to mobile phones, such as managing battery life and ensuring calls don’t drop as a user is moving between cell towers.

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Prepaid wireless carriers have gotten a lot of attention in recent months because of the ailing economy, which has helped them as consumers seek out cheaper cellphone plans.

Now that most of the biggest ones in the U.S. have reported their first quarter results, how did they perform? We looked at six–Boost Mobile, Sprint’s (S) prepaid unit; Leap Wireless (LEAP); MetroPCS (PCS); T-Mobile; Tracfone, the U.S. prepaid unit of America Movil; and Virgin Mobile USA (VM), which posted earnings earlier today.

Of those, Tracfone remains the biggest in terms of subscribers, ending the first quarter with 11.8 million. MetroPCS and Boost added the most net new subscribers, gaining about 684,000 and 674,000, respectively.

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Groans are issuing from the Googleplex over this year’s holiday bonus. In the past, the search engine paid cash–as much as $20,000 or $30,000 per Googler, we hear. This year? A cellphone.

Oh, but not just any cellphone: A version of the G1 currently sold for $179.99 by T-Mobile, which runs Google’s Android operating system. Android is the fruit of Google founders’ Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s strange obsession with the wireless market, launched in a fit of jealousy over the growing number of phones running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. (Imagine that: Google, jealous of Microsoft for a change.)

In an email, Google management blames the economic crisis and suggests that this is a great opportunity to “dogfood” the phones–an unappetizing tech-industry euphemism for testing products in-house. This is what has become of the company that was once deemed the best place in the world to work: Canceled bonuses and unpaid labor.

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In what he’s calling a “mid-quarter update,” Sanford Bernstein telecom analyst Craig Moffett says the rich–AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications’ (VZ) Verizon Wireless unit–are turning in impressive results while second-tier providers Sprint Nextel (S) (No. 3 in the U.S.) and Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) T-Mobile (No. 4), and third-tier providers MetroPCS (PCS) and Leap Wireless (LEAP), are putting up some pretty dispiriting numbers.

“Never before has the divergence between the high end and low end of the wireless market been so stark,” writes Moffett.

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I opened the Google (GOOG) window and found myself looking at an advert for a G1 phone. A couple of clicks later I was on the T-Mobile Web site, checking prices and thinking, “Well, I do need a new phone…”

But randomly buying a phone I haven’t even held seemed like, well, something that I couldn’t imagine myself doing. I wanted to hold it. I wanted to know the specs and such, so I put dog in the back of the car and drove to the local T-Mobile shop.

I knew I was in the right place because there were huge posters everywhere, some bigger than I was, all advertising the new T-Mobile G1.

“Hello,” I said, like a man entering a cheeseshop. “I’d like to play with a G1, please.”

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Is BlackBerry demand souring?

Research In Motion (RIMM) is seeing “disappointing” sell through trends, according to Pacific Crest’s James Faucette.

“Our checks with carrier retail outlets across North America and with third-party retailers in Western Europe indicate that BlackBerry handset sell-through through the middle of October has been slightly disappointing,” he wrote in a research note this morning.

He asserts that early sales of the Pearl Flip are “tepid at best,” with “particularly disappointing” demand at T-Mobile. “We believe that some of the stores had only sold one or two, despite the product having been on sale for a couple of days,” he writes.

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So T-Mobile’s G1 has been unveiled. It looks neat–and it looks like the most serious rival to the iPhone yet, though the BlackBerry Bold could be a contender once AT&T starts selling the darn thing. What the G1 doesn’t seem to be is transcendent–a phone that’s as impressive as the iPhone, but in different ways. And the world could use such a phone

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T-Mobile raised some eyebrows Tuesday when it disclosed that buyers of its highly touted new Internet phone, the HTC G1 that uses Google’s Android software, would face restrictions if they exceeded 1 gigabyte of cellular data a month. That’s no problem for people who simply check their email. But heavy users of photos and online video–just the sort of thing that the super fancy G1 is meant for–might find that limit a problem.

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I spent this morning at the unveiling of Google’s (GOOG) first phone using its “Android” software, hosted on a phone made by HTC (2498.TW) called the “G1,” with service from Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) T-Mobile in the U.S. The phone is to be made available in the States on Oct. 22 for a price of $179 with a two-year contract.

The phone is an ugly, faceless black–or white–brick whose display swings open to reveal the typical junky plastic keyboard. I’d never give up the software keyboard on Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone for this, but some may find it familiar, and therefore acceptable.

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Choosing a smartphone reminds me of the old adage from product-design people: “Good, fast, cheap: Pick two.” Much more so than a personal computer, a smartphone is an exercise in compromise.

This will continue to be obvious even after Apple (AAPL) announces “iPhone 2.0″ at this week’s conference for Macintosh and iPhone software developers. This new device, of course, is the updated version of the path-breaking model that was launched a year ago amid a blizzard of hype.

I continue to be an iSkeptic of sorts. I don’t own an iPhone, and even if all the rumored new features appear they probably won’t be enough to overcome Apple’s still-unfortunate choice of AT&T (T) as its telecom carrier partner.

True, no other device does exactly what the iPhone does. Conversely, the iPhone doesn’t come close to matching the most valuable features of the devices I do use, namely Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry Curve and Nokia (NOK) N95. Let’s look at each to see why.

My primary device is the BlackBerry, for two major reasons. First, using T-Mobile’s clever UMA technology, which does a voice hand-off from cell to WiFi–something that works on several T-Mobile handsets, but not the BlackBerry Curve on other networks–I can use the phone (and save cell minutes and money) using voice over IP. This is especially helpful at home where the cell signal is weak, but also helpful given that it works with just about any WiFi network. AT&T hasn’t built UMA into its own network, and Apple’s first iPhone did not permit VoIP in any case.

Just as important, the BlackBerry’s physical keyboard–small keys that are nonetheless accurate and have a nice tactile response–makes it a mostly excellent email tool.

Mostly, but not completely–because BlackBerry’s email capabilities are designed around Microsoft Exchange. I do use Exchange for one email account, but IMAP on several others. And the BlackBerry has no IMAP client software that even understands how to flag a message as having been replied to, much less an understanding of folders.

I would pay good money for a solid IMAP client for the BlackBerry, but no one seems to care enough to create one. I suspect there’s a serious market for the first company that does this.

If the iPhone had a tolerable keyboard–and I find the virtual, screen-bound keypad nearly useless–it would be a vastly better email device than the BlackBerry, especially because it absolutely gets IMAP and is about to work with Exchange servers.

The iPhone’s camera is roughly equivalent to the one on the Curve: inadequate at best, with relatively low resolution and no video mode. Nokia’s N95, by contrast , is a great camera, with a 5 megapixel still resolution and 30-frame-per-second VGA video recording and playback.

I can “tether” the N95 to my laptop and use it as a modem; no such common-sense usage with the iPhone. The N95 also has WiFi (and handles VoIP) and 3G, invaluable for international travel; strong rumors say the iPhone will remedy the 3G situation in the new version.In fact, the N95 has almost too many high-end features, a key reason it has especially poor battery life. GPS is another N95 advantage; again, there are strong indications that the iPhone will also have it–and the large screen on the Apple device makes maps a joy to use and view.

I do love the iPhone as a media playback device, however. That’s why I bought an iPod Touch, which is roughly the same size and has become my portable media system of choice, especially on airplanes. And when it comes to Web browsing, it’s absolutely no contest: The iPhone blows away the Blackberry and N95.

Apple raised the bar in a serious way when it comes to software. While Nokia’s operating system has been much more open than the iPhone’s (or BlackBerry’s)–something Apple has halfway remedied with its semi-open new development model–Nokia has a long way to go to get even close to Apple in basic usability. The BlackBerry is quite easy to use, but still far behind Apple in many respects.

Will I buy an iPhone when the new models hit the stores? I still don’t know. Apple’s insistence that legitimate software will only be available through its online store is part of the company’s typical arrogance. And its continued lock-in with AT&T is close to a deal-killer no matter how good the device may be.

Of course, you can “jailbreak” even the current iPhones. And it’s looking as though the new ones will be even more malleable, at least theoretically.

No matter what Apple introduces, the compromises will continue, however. But the time is almost in sight when we’ll have just about everything we want–not just what we absolutely need–in our handhelds. Not real soon now, but sooner than we might expect.

Apple’s new iPhone may well be a revolutionary product in some ways. But after testing one of the devices that went on sale late last month, I’m steering clear, at least for now, of the most shamelessly overhyped consumer product since Windows 95.

For all its admirable features–the large screen, gorgeous industrial design and advanced user interface in particular–the iPhone feels like a beta product. It’s still early in development and suffers from deal-breaker drawbacks.

The worst is the overall control-freakery from Apple, the manufacturer, and its telecom partner, AT&T. You want choice? Not a chance.

Consumer Reports notes that AT&T is one of the least-favored U.S. mobile carriers, for network quality and customer satisfaction. Worse, the company’s low-speed digital network is inadequate for a device that boasts of being Internet-native, and the Wi-Fi capabilities don’t make up for that lapse. (And never mind AT&T’s recent decision to become Hollywood’s accomplice in tracking customers’ Internet activities, not to mention its Big-Brotherish coziness with government snoops.)

I’m a frequent traveler outside the U.S., and this phone doesn’t cut it for serious international use. If I want to make GSM calls, I’m stuck with AT&T’s roaming rates; with my current phone I can swap SIM cards to use another carrier’s cheaper local service if I don’t like the international roaming rates from T-Mobile, my current carrier.

Apple can’t fix AT&T. But the device itself, however alluring, needs upgrades. For example, on the international roaming front, the iPhone provides no access to other carriers’ 3G networks, which means the phone won’t work at all in places like Korea, where my 3G-equipped GSM phone works fine.

The onscreen keyboard isn’t bad if you’re “typing” in landscape mode in the Web browser, because the keypad in that mode is sufficiently large to help you avoid errors. But if you’re trying to create an SMS or email message in the phone’s portrait mode–it doesn’t adjust to the sideways view with those applications–be prepared for some frustration. I wasted lots of time backspacing over mistakes and retyping things, and the “predictive-text” feature didn’t predict my words with much accuracy.

The camera is adequate for some purposes, and that’s the best you can say about it. There’s no zoom, and no video recording mode.

An especially cheesy “feature” is a headphone jack that requires an adapter for many popular headsets (or some surgery on your current headphone plug). There’s no excuse for this.

Then there’s the nonremovable battery, which Apple says is designed for at least 400 charge cycles and an unspecified number of charges at up to 80% of battery capacity afterward. That will steer people–perhaps this is the idea–toward new phones. Meanwhile, Apple has found another way to make money on this design choice: It’ll sell a new battery for about $80 and keep your phone for a few days in the process.

Despite running a version of the OS X operating system, the iPhone is locked down in its software capabilities, which means that third-party software developers–and therefore customers–are mostly out of luck if they want the kind of applications that have made other smart phones so versatile. Apple’s claim that there’s enough flexibility in the Web browser for third-party development is beyond ludicrous; it’s downright insulting.

More lockdown: The iPhone is unusable in any capacity until it’s activated with the phone company. Want to use it just for Wi-Fi-based Web browsing, plus video and audio and note-taking? Forget it.

Still more: I can use my current phone as a modem with a PC or Mac, something I do on occasion when out of range of a broadband or wireless network. The iPhone doesn’t allow this. Why not? (To be fair, some phones are locked this way.)

No doubt, some of the iPhone’s current drawbacks will be resolved with software upgrades. Some problems can’t and won’t be fixed, at least not in the U.S. version, where AT&T will be the exclusive carrier for the next few years.

All that said, I do love the way the thing looks and feels–and in many respects, the way it works. If other phone-makers don’t adopt the iPhone’s best features (I assume they will), I’ll definitely consider getting one at some point.

But I’ll consider it only when Apple starts selling it in Europe or Asia with 3G capabilities; when I can install a SIM chip from the GSM/3G carrier of my choice; when the software is significantly upgraded; and when third parties can give me the features I want, as opposed to solely the ones Apple thinks are good for me.

That sounds like iPhone 2.0, at the earliest. For now, the initial product doesn’t come close to living up to the hype.