In today’s mobile news roundup: T-Mobile phones will now cost more; Summly team only staying for 18 months at Yahoo!; Facebook adds reply to comment feature; and Apple’s new iPhone promo.

T-Mobile phones will now cost more

T-Mobile announced it’s UnCarrier plans, which abolished the two-year contracts that allowed the company to sell phones at affordable prices.  But with the “no plan” plan, phones will now cost more.  Before, you can get an iPhone 5 for only $199 with a two year contract.  Now, without the contract, consumers will need to purchase a phone, like the iPhone 5 at full price, then choose which data plan they want or need.  This can lead to consumers opting for cheaper Android phones instead of getting a chance at owning a high-end smartphone.

T-Mobile’s UnCarrier event, where the company is expected to reveal more about its mobile plans is at 8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET in New York.

Summly team only staying for 18 month at Yahoo!

It was announced yesterday that Yahoo! acquired Summly, the mobile news reader.  Yahoo will be killing off the app soon and incorporate the algorithm used in Summly to its mobile experience.

According to a report from AllThingsD, Yahoo paid $30 million for the Summly team, but Nick D’Aloisio will only be staying at Yahoo for 18 months.  The reason for the short stint is that D’Aloisio is still young and he still has a lot more to offer.  After all, he built Summly when he was just 15 years old.  As for the rest of the Summly team, they’d be staying at Yahoo as they will be the ones in charge of incorporating the summarizing algorithm that has made Summly unique.

Google+ gets updates

Google has put its Snapseed acquisition to good use in its Google+ update for iOS devices.  The update brings Instagram-like features to G+, which lets users crop, rotate, and even put filters on photos.  Though the photo-editing feature is not available for Android users, the version was also updated with current locations.  When people visit your G+ page, they will be able to see your current location underneath the user’s name provided that the users has Location Sharing turned on.

In other Google news, the LTE version of the Chromebook Pixel will be available on April 8 and will cost $1,449, $150 more than the WiFi only version of the Chromebook Pixel which has been shipping for weeks now.  The LTE Pixel gives an additional 64GB of storage, and can be added to existing Verizon Share Everything plan for only $10 a month.

Facebook adds “reply to comment” feature

Facebook users have longed for the “reply to comment feature” for what seems an eternity.  Why?  Because comment threads can get confusing.  Now, with reply to comment, when someone comments on a post, you can directly reply to the comment, not the post, making a sub-conversation in the original conversation regarding the post.  It’s a common feature for most social networks.  We’re glad Facebook has finally incorporated this into its own network.

“You will be able to opt-into Replies through the Page admin panel in the Manage Permissions section where you will see a prompt to turn Replies on. Once you opt-in, you will be able to opt-out but all Pages will have the feature enabled on July 10, 2013. Also, the feature will be automatically turned on for profiles with more than 10,000 followers. At launch, this feature will only be available on desktop and we plan to make it available in the Graph API and mobile in the future,” said Vadim Lavrusik, Facebook Journalism Program Manager.

Apple’s new iPhone promo

Apple is beefing up its iPhone promotion.  For those who want to purchase any iPhone model, Apple offers free, next-day shipping.  The only catch is, customers can only purchase a maximum of two iPhones for its free next day shipping promo.

In other Apple news, Siri’s “Eyes Free” mode will be integrated into Chevrolet’s 2013 Sonic and Spark car models.  The Apple features will allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road while still being able to access information.