AT&T is one of the oldest phone companies in the country. In fact, at one point it was such a large company that the government decided to break it up into pieces. Now, decades later, AT&T is once again nearly as large as they once were, but they aren’t quite as dominant. However, one area where AT&T is still a major player is in the cell phone business.  ATT carries the best cell phones.

There is no debating that AT&T carries the best cell phones. Why can I say that? Two words: Apple iPhone. It’s a game changer and you can’t write about AT&T’s phone lineup without mentioning it. It’s just that good. Of course there are others too, and we’ll get to those, but you gotta start with the iPhone. (more…)

Blackberry OS 4.5 is expected to be released sometime in the middle of this month. Â This update will include things like:

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• Video recording
• Media player updates
• Ability to update Office docs
• HTML e-mails
• Automatic login via wi-fi (for some devices)

It’s just a rumor right now, but it appears that a tethering plan may be coming to the iPhone after all.

Despite being up in the app store briefly (a few times), NetShare app was eventually pulled because it didn’t comply with the TOS. Now it seems that AT&T may be in talks with Apple to provide this service to their users. Gizmodo has the brief e-mail exchange between a Gizmodo reader and (allegedly) Steve Jobs. In short, Jobs says they’re working on it. We’ll see…

The forthcoming HTC Touch Pro reportedly will be dubbed the “Fuze” with AT&T. There is still no release date yet, but PHONE Magazine says it’s coming “sooner rather than later”. I’m a sucker for any phone with a slide out QWERTY, so this one is on my radar.

Also, the HTC Dream, long rumored to be the first phone powered by Google’s Android OS, may be coming out on November 10. The phone has just received FCC approval, with confidentiality until November 10, 2008. This seems to imply that the phone will be released on that day.

It was earlier thought to be coming in September or October, but this isn’t too bad — as long as that’s the release date.

When they first announced their partnership, it was a two year deal. Now AT&T has extended their exclusive contract with Apple for an extra year, pushing it to 2010.

According to Electronista, AT&T insisted on the extension if Apple wanted them to offer the $199 price point. Apple agreed, and now it’s at least two more years before Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon customers can get the phone (jailbreaks aside, of course).

I’m with AT&T already, so it doesn’t affect me, but I still don’t like it. I’d rather see the phone be open to all.

The much-rumored BlackBerry Bold has been officially unveiled. Among other things, it features:

• 480×320 resolution
• 65,000 colors
• new design
• replaceable faceplates

I’ve never thought that BlackBerry devices looked very sharp, but this one looks nice. I’d still rather have a device with a slide-out keyboard (like the upcoming XPERIA X1), so you can have a big screen and a QWERTY keyboard. Still, this is a very nice-looking phone.

The device will be available on AT&T this summer for a price of roughly $300 to $400.

The LG Voyager (previously called the “Verizon Voyager” in many places) will be coming to Sprint and AT&T. The phone is expected “within this year”. It had better hurry, because there are a lot of other (better) phones coming out pretty soon too. No word on pricing, but I would expect somewhere around the $300 mark.

Also no word on the operating system. The Verizon version is running a Verizon-flavored OS. I don’t know if those phone will see Windows Mobile or something else. We’ll probably find out soon enough.

It looks possible. While showing off the X1 at CeBIT in Germany earlier this week, some sharp-eyed viewers noticed an AT&T logo on the screen.

IntoMobile muses a few questions:

• Are they trying to indirectly pitch AT&T through the media?
• Or is the deal already done and they’re just waiting for the release?

Only time will tell, but as an AT&T customer I sure hope it’s true!