To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long. But now it seems our government here in the U.S. has finally decided to take action and attempt to stop a merger that should not take place anyway.

That’s right, the government has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block AT&T’s proposed $39 Billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. According to the complaint, such a deal would “substantially lessen competition” in the U.S. wireless market. Bloomberg reports that the complaint was filed with the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday, and the government is asking for a declaration that the proposed merger would violate U.S. antitrust laws.

“AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low- priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market,” the U.S. said in its filing. AT&T has argued that it needs T-Mobile’s spectrum in order to improve service quality and cover the majority of the U.S. population with 4G LTE service.

Well, I can understand them wanting to improve service quality. However, competition is good and as long as T-Mobile is around, AT&T will have to work that much harder. That won’t hurt them one bit. In fact, it might just help them.

I’m just going to chalk this news up to the fact that AT&T is tired of all the bad press and bad rap it gets for its subpar network and service. Even if it really is just a way to help its tarnished image, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.

To what am I referring? Well, according to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (via The New York Times), the city will soon be offering free Wi-Fi in 20 of its parks.

AT&T will power the service, which will be available later this Summer in various spots including Prospect Park, Battery Park, and Central Park. That’s a great development and a progressive idea which will no doubt be welcome by residents and visitors alike.

The public will have ad-free access to the free networks for at least the next five years. What happens in five years is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the Wi-Fi explodes at that time? No, probably not.

Also, no word on if this new initiative will improve phone reception in New York for anyone dumb enough to still be on AT&T. My guess is no, it won’t.

On Monday we brought you news of a report from Consumer Reports that according to the publications’ readers AT&T is the worst mobile carrier in the U.S. That wasn’t a surprise to us and neither is AT&T already fighting back and trying to downplay the report with a report of its own.

Late yesterday, AT&T released information that according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), its network is the best in the country — 0r, at least, its subscribers complain the least. Verizon Wireless had 34% more complaints, Sprint had 115% more complaints and T-Mobile had 207% more complaints.

AT&T also says it has an A+ average rating nationally from the BBB, having received 107 A+ ratings, seven A ratings and one A- rating from local BBBs across the country. Our opinion? Sounds like AT&T is grasping at straws here.

What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments and check out the full press release from AT&T after the jump.

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Look out, iPhone enthusiasts. Your phone of choice might not be top dog for much longer. According to a report released Monday by the Nielson Co., Google’s Android devices outsold Apple’s iPhone for the first half of 2010.

With 13% of the market share, Android is still behind both Apple (28% of the market share) and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry (35% of the market share). However, 27% of consumers who bought a smartphone in the beginning of 2010 chose an Android phone, compared to the 23% who bought an iPhone.

While Android and Apple’s sales soared this year, RIM, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile all experienced drops in sales. Apple did show more loyalty in its customers,89% of which want an iPhone for their next smartphone. 71% of Android users said they would stick with this operating system in their next device, which isn’t too far behind Apple.

RIM, however, had a disappointing 42% of customers who would return to the Blackberry in their next device, with 29% of their customers who want an iPhone next and 21% who’d like an Android device.

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With Sprint’s new, shiny and huge HTC EVO 4G and the upcoming iPhone 4 hogging the smartphone spotlight, the focus is off of Verizon and their lineup of Android phones. But not for long.

Next week on June 23rd, a day before the iPhone 4 is released, Verizon, Motorola, and Adobe will be holding a press conference. That press conference, we hear, will be to introduce the world to their two newest Android devices, the Droid X (formerly known as the Droid Shadow) and the Droid 2.

The Droid X seems to be the closest competitor to the HTC EVO 4G, with a 4.4 inch screen, an 8 MP camera capable of shooting 720p video, and a 1GHz ARMv7 processor. It also comes packed with a built-in HDMI port, 8GB of storage, a multi-touch keyboard, and Android 2.1 with some form of Motoblur, Motorola’s social networking software.

The familiar touch sensitive shortcut buttons from the original Droid have also been replaced with real buttons. The device looks monstrous next to the iPhone and HTC EVO, but is also said to be rather skinny  From everything we’ve heard, this phone is going to be snappy, snazzy, and sweet, and a top player in the smartphone battle for dominance.

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Well, it wass bound to happen sooner or later, especially with a company like AT&T. Change is, after all, inevitable. What am I talking about? Unlimited smartphone data from AT&T is a thing of the past. Or at least it will be soon.

Starting on June 7th, the company will introduce two new data plans to replace its current $30 unlimited smartphone plan. These new plans will, according to AT&T, make it “more affordable for more people to enjoy the benefits of the mobile Internet.” How nice of them.

Here’s the details on the new plans:

DataPlus
200MB of data for $15 per month. AT&T says this will be enough data to meet the needs of 65% of its smartphone users. Go over this limit and be charged $15 per 200MB.

DataPro
2GB of data for $25 per month. According to AT&T, only 2% of its smartphone customers use more than 2GB of data per month. Go over this limit and be charged $10 per GB.

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In the wake of the recent release of the Motorola Droid and HTC’s Droid Eris, smartphones featuring Google’s Android software are some of the biggest sellers in the market right now. So it comes as no surprise to geeks and Google fanatics alike that this week, Google officially unveiled its very own Android-powered smartphone:  the Google Nexus.

The device, the first smartphone completely designed by Google and manufactured by HTC, features Android 2.1 software and a host of other interesting features such as a 1Ghz processor, Google’s latest map software, an 800 x 480 display, a 5 MP camera with LED flash, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and pretty much any other thing you might want in a smartphone. For the full specs, check out this page. Of course, it is powered by Google’s Android software which also gives you access to thousands of useful applications to enhance your Nexus.

Initially, the Nexus will be released for T-Mobile or unlocked in the US but will also come to Verizon and Vodaphone later this year in the Spring. To order, head on over to Google’s very own order page and get one for yourself.

According to the highly informed Boy Genius, Verizon is at it again with the latest version of its Droid and Droid Eris promotions. This time, as with previous promotions, if you are looking to grab a DROID and/or a DROID Eris for you and someone you love (or two for yourself, why not?), you still have until Christmas Eve to make this holiday purchase.

Starting today and extended until December 24th, Verizon Wireless is offering the DROID Eris as part of its popular “Buy One, Get One Free” promotion. Just like with previous promotions, if you buy a DROID or a DROID Eris, you are eligible to receive a DROID Eris for free. Of course, a new two year customer agreement for each new piece of smartphone goodness is required. You didn’t think you were going to get off that easy, did you?

We’re still evaluating our Motorola DROID here at The Flickcast test kitchens and its pretty darn cool. Still, as much as we hate to admit it, we kinda love our iPhones a little more so far. Although, with the state of AT&T’s network and Fake Steve Jobs’ “Operation Chokehold” going down this Friday, Verizon is looking better and better all the time.