Greenpeace teamed with iFixit, an advocate of “right to repair” legislation for consumer tech products (see 1704100047), to grade repairability of smartphones and other products, they reported Tuesday. They found that only three of 17 brands -- Fairphone, HP and Dell -- “make the provision of spare parts and repair manuals easy to access.” Apple, Microsoft and Samsung fall “at the other end of the scale,” meaning they make no spare parts or repair manuals “easily available to users,” the report said. It said Samsung's Galaxy S8 is prohibitively difficult to repair. Apple, Microsoft and Samsung representatives didn’t comment. For all devices, the display is “the most problematic component” from the standpoint of repairability because it’s a part that “commonly fails” and is “very costly” to replace even if the component can be procured, the report said: Batteries are another common problem. There's “enormous potential” for improving the repairability of mobile electronics, it said. They “take a massive amount of energy, human effort, and natural resources to make,” said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens Tuesday in a statement. “Manufacturers produce billions more of them every year -- while consumers keep them for just a few years. ... E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams.”

New LTE unlicensed and shared spectrum technologies will launch a $1.7 billion hardware market over the next five years, ABI Research reported. “Technologies taking advantage of this spectrum type are not only attracting mobile network operators interest for low cost network densification, but also brand-new entrants,” said a news release. “This is due to the opportunities that the network technologies promote for densification, neutral hosts, as well as enterprise and private network operators.” ABI cited interest in LTE-U, the 3.5 GHz shared band and MulteFire, a version of LTE-U.

With a focus on streaming video, AT&T said Tuesday it launched a second trial using high-frequency spectrum to deliver high-speed 5G connections to subscribers in parts of Austin. The trial “delivers an ultra-fast internet connection to residential, small business and enterprise locations using Ericsson’s 5G RAN and the Intel 5G Mobile Trial Platform,” said a news release. “Participants can stream premium live TV via DIRECTV NOW and experience faster broadband services -- all over a fixed wireless 5G signal. The trial benefits from the resources and capabilities of our 5G testbeds in Austin.” The carrier predicted speeds of up to 1 Gbps as part of the trial. AT&T said Monday, working with Ericsson, it reached speeds of more than 650 Mbps in field tests in downtown San Francisco. The test looked at the use of LTE/licensed assisted access technologies.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance said the FCC should reject a push by M2M Spectrum Networks and the Wireless Infrastructure Association to persuade the agency not to provide 800 MHz incumbents with an advanced opportunity to access expansion band and guard band spectrum. M2M and WIA earlier asked the FCC to “eliminate special privileges for incumbent users" in the 800 MHz band (see 1511250031). “Their success in finding trusts, doctors, dentists, other individuals, and [limited liability companies] -- communications novices -- to file in markets like Minot, North Dakota and Sioux City, Iowa suggests that the number of M2M-related applicants will be very substantial when the FCC makes this spectrum available in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other such markets,” EWA said in a filing in docket 16-261. “It is uncertain whether the prior frequency coordination process required to prevent the submission to the FCC of mutually exclusive applications can work, given the volume of applications the M2M Affiliates might be able to generate.” EWA sought meetings with staff for the three commissioners. The proposal was on a list of items discussed during a June 1 meeting between WIA President Jonathan Adelstein and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Voxx is selling Hirschmann Car Communication and its subsidiaries to TE Connectivity for about $166 million, Vox announced Monday. “While the business is growing, it would require significant working capital on our end,” said Voxx CEO Pat Lavelle. Continuing operations include rear-seat infotainment, satellite radio products, telematics, app-based vehicle security and the eFob phone-as-a-key technology, Voxx said. Businesses that will be sold are antenna, smart antenna, multi-digital tuner and commercial asset tracking business. "Increasing data needs and new applications require active communications and increased connectivity within and outside the vehicle,” said Eric Kueppers, president, TE's global automotive. The deal, subject to approvals, is to close Aug. 31. Voxx stock closed up 11 percent Monday at $8.75.

Low-cost carrier Virgin Mobile will sell only plans based on the iPhone starting Tuesday. Subscribers who buy a new iPhone through Virgin will get unlimited talk, text and data for $50 a month. In an offer that expires July 31, the first year will cost only $1. Virgin operates on Sprint spectrum. “On the surface, this might sound like great news for Apple,” BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk wrote Monday. “An operator giving away service for free in order to encourage the sale of iPhones only. Is there a better example of the transfer of value from the wireless operator to Apple? Unfortunately, Virgin Mobile's offer appears to simply be a desperate attempt by a failing brand to maintain relevance and unlikely to drive material volumes for either Apple or Sprint.”

Verizon should modify or end some claims it makes in advertising the Google Pixel smartphone, including the "exclusively at Verizon" claim, the National Advertising Division said Monday. T-Mobile challenged the ad claims, and NAD said Verizon indicated it modified or discontinued some claims before then. NAD said Verizon also said it disagreed with NAD findings, but it would comply with its recommendations in future ads and not appeal. The carrier didn't comment.

The Center for Democracy & Technology, Constitution Project and Electronic Frontier Foundation are asking the Supreme Court to review a drug trafficking case in which the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals decided police could track people's cellphones without a warrant. EFF said in a Monday news release the high court should review U.S. v. Rios "and make clear that the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant for real-time location tracking -- whether the tracking occurs via a GPS device on your car or the collection of location data generated by cell phones or other Internet-connected devices." Police did get a warrant to track the defendant's cellphone in the Rios case, but EFF said the 6th Circuit decided a warrant wasn't needed. EFF said the court based its ruling on a "flawed 2012 decision" that said, in an unrelated drug trafficking case, such data doesn't have any privacy protections "because people 'voluntarily' carry cell phones with them." However, EFF said a Florida Supreme Court ruling in a separate case said people do have privacy for cellphone location records.

Due to Apple’s late entry into the voice-controlled speaker category, “it’s vital that HomePod provide a differentiated experience” from the growing field of competitors, NPD's Ben Arnold blogged earlier this month in an item the research firm emailed Friday. Apple’s expansion of voice control to include note dictation in Evernote and VoIP calling via Siri are signs Apple is looking for ways to expand the ecosystem, the analyst said. Challenges include a $349 price, twice those of Google Home and Amazon’s Echo, he noted.

FirstNet sought comment on proposed revisions to its procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, “categorical exclusions, and related extraordinary circumstances.” Comments are due July 24 said a notice in Friday's Federal Register. “These NEPA implementing procedures provide the framework for FirstNet’s establishment of a NEPA compliance program and applying the appropriate level of NEPA review for major federal actions related to the deployment” of the network for first responders, FirstNet said. The docket number is 131219999-7305-03.