I heard murmurs of a purported AT&T network upgrade and today the rumor has been confirmed by an AT&T spokes person.  Soon customers will be able to enjoy peak download speeds of about 3.6Mbps versus the current 1.7Mbps.  Current 3G customers achieve about 500 - 700Kbps, so if all things are relative the updated network should provide download speeds in the upper 1Mbps.  The updated 3G network is currently undergoing trials in just two markets, but will roll out nationwide when tests are complete.

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Although Samsung ’s SGH-A657 candybar phone isn’t exactly a looker, it’s rugged build and semi-versatile feature set will most certainly compliment your hard hat lifestyle.  Rated to military specs - that means you can drop, submerge and dirty it - the SGH-A657 is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) handset with HSDPA connectivity.  It’s other features include Bluetooth with A2DP, push to talk, 3 hour talk time, music player, 128MB internal memory with microSD card slot for expansion, aGPS and a built-in flash light.  No word on an official launch date or price at this time, but I’d expect it to hit AT&T any day now.

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