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Verizon
Verizon Looking to Drop Unlimited Data Plans with LTE
Jun 18th
I think we all knew this was coming but if you need more confirmation that there is a shift in the market on the horizon, then look no further than Verizon’s CFO John Killian. He expressed his opinion about the current cellular pricing packages and especially the availability of unlimited data in an interview with Bloomberg recently.
Here’s what he had to say:
“We [Verizon Wireless] will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate”
It seems safe to assume that Verizon will probably adopt something similar to AT&T’s model by bringing a tiered pricing scheme to their data plans. This could spell trouble for customers who are accustomed to using data liberally. Like AT&T, we may see the term “unlimited” disappear from Verizon’s vocabulary entirely, but it’s still up in the air as to whether or not they will allow current customers to keep their current plans. Either way you look at it appears the “datapocalypse” may finally be upon us.
Verizon Upgrading Plagued Tours To Bold 9650′s For Free! Act Now!
Jun 17th
LouiV over at BBLeaks wrote an article about Verizon having major issues with their latest Tour OS 5.0.0.732. Their newest OS release apparently brought on more bugs than fixes.
It is said that if you are experiencing major issues with 5.0.0.732, and go through the troubleshooting process with Verizon tech support, the rep will likely send you a refurbished Bold 9650. To solidify this claim, one of BBLeaks’ readers posted a comment saying he just got off the phone with Verizon and their replacement Tours are out of stock! Verizon said they would call him back tomorrow and if they are still out of stock, they will send him the most comparable device!
If you’ve recently upgraded your Tour to OS 5.0.0.732 and experiencing issues, you better get on the horn and tell Verizon what’s up. Chances are you’re stuck in your contract and you’ve been looking for a way to upgrade your Tour to a Bold 9650 anyway, which is arguably what the Tour should have been in the first place. Things have a funny way of working out, don’t they?
Source: BBLeaks
Verizon’s Droid X Teaser Page Goes Live
Jun 17th
How sweet it is to be loved by Droid! Verizon seems to be pimping out their latest Android iteration to go head to head with both the iPhone 4 and the Sprint Evo 4G. With a 4.3″ WVGA display, 720p video recording, HDMI out, a front-facing camera for video conferencing, and a VERY fast OMAP processor (that should kick Snapdragon’s butt in benchmarks) its biggest challenge will be keeping afloat during the mad rush of the iPhone 4 launch on the 24th of June.
The Droid X is going to be widely successful on Verizon. The Droid brand is already highly-valued and draws people to Android without them realizing it’s Android. It’s the face they’re putting on it. Even the Motoblur on the Droid X doesn’t look to be too invasive.
Check out the teaser page at Verizon’s site.
HTC EVO 4G and HTC Droid Incredible Hit With Screen Issues
Jun 15th
While the HTC Incredible may be immune to the screen issues that affect the Nexus One, it looks like there is a new and potentially more annoying issue which affects not only the Incredible, but it’s new big brother, the HTC EVO 4G. The new problem has to do with faulty grounding in the screens of both HTC devices causing the upper portion of the screen to become unresponsive when not being held. As you can see from the picture above, this causes some serious problems when you’re not actually holding the device and can make simple tasks like pulling down the notification shade impossible.
Seriously, can anyone actually push out one of these “superphones” without all the hiccups we’re currently seeing. Maybe Motorola? Samsung? Anyone?
Hit the break for the depressing footage.
[Via Engadget]
Droid 2 and Droid X for Verizon to Take Android Speed Crown
Jun 14th
Some lovely visions of the future from Motorola and Verizon are coming to the airwaves soon, if these commercial mockups are to be believed.
Droid-Life has their paws on some scripts that prove the Droid 2 and Droid X are two different phones, with each aimed at a certain segment of the population: the Droid X will attempt to be your multimedia powerhouse, with its 4.3″ screen and use as a multifunction remote. The Droid 2 will have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, much like its predecessor, but hopefully, unlike its predecessor, it won’t suck.
Apparently, however, both phones should share the same 1GHZ OMAP processor, which, pound for pound, is faster than the 1GHZ Snapdragon processor currently taking up so much space in various HTC phones. Qualcomm is expected to launch its next-generation Snapdragon processor in the coming months, but it won’t be in many phones until year’s end.
Check out Droid-Life for more details, and the other two screenies.
Droid 2 Now Droid Xtreme: Can’t Match HTC’s Hyperboly
Jun 2nd
There’s already the Droid Incredible on Verizon, so the carrier had no choice but to go the proto-English route for the name of its badass flagship, calling it Xtreme. This is not to be confused with the Shadow, which will likely be of similar build and specs, but will sport Motorola’s MOTOBLUR skin over top of Android 2.1.
The Xtreme seems to be the true successor to the original Droid, with its stock Froyo (2.2), 4.3″ screen, 512MB-1GB RAM, metallic housing, dedicated camera button, etc.
Looks to be the real deal, folks! One more after the break.
Android Rumour Roundup: May 31st, 2010
May 31st
There have been some interesting developments of late in regards to Android and the increasingly important role it is playing in the current lineup of high-end smart phones. The Sprint Evo 4G is so anticipated that employees are executing lineups outside Sprint stores on the morning of June 4th. I have seen the device and it is probably the most attractive piece of technology I’ve ever used.
But advancing to what isn’t for sure yet: what is the Motorola Shadow? Is it the equivalent of the Droid 2? Will it have a slide out keyboard? There are a lot of signs that point to, “Yes” for both questions. That it will be coming to Verizon is a given. This is disappointing but not unexpected. The carrier seems to be quite adept at getting OEM manufacturers to create for them some wonderful exclusive devices. When the Droid emerged in September 2009, it was unknown when the GSM equivalent would emerge for the rest of the world. Telus did end up bringing the phone to North America in February, but by then the King of Android had been dethroned by Google’s own Nexus One. The second iteration of the Droid should up the game by quite a lot: Snapdragon processor (1GHZ), 8GB internal storage, HDMI out, 4.3″ screen. Beauty.
As for the EVO 4G and Droid Incredible, Sprint and Verizons’ flagship Android devices, they have both been rooted recently, which is a lovely surprise, considering how close to Froyo we are getting. I have been using Froyo for a week or so now on my Nexus One, and it’s lovely. Very quick, stable and the wireless tethering option is oh-so-sweet.
Plus the EVO 4G has had paid video conferencing, and then it didn’t anymore. Apparently, that supposed $5 cost for the two-way video conferencing via Qik is only for premium features, and the core functionality will always be free.
The Samsung Galaxy S is also headed to AT&T in one form or another. This device, with its SuperAMOLED screen, promotes better brightness and daylight viewability over regular AMOLED screens, currently seen on the Nexus One and HTC Desire, among others.
Verizon to Introduce Tiered Data Packages with Introduction of LTE
May 28th
Cellular users in the US including myself have had it pretty easy as far as data pricing goes. Granted cell service is probably more expensive than it should be but compared to many other countries, those in the US don’t have much to complain about. The word “unlimited” is thrown around a lot when exploring the terms and conditions of data plans in America, and though they aren’t truly unlimited, they are usually capped at 5GB. Unfortunately Verizon today confirmed our suspicions that the current pricing model is going to change come LTE.
Don’t get discouraged just yet, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said that while tiered pricing will be introduced that actual price per megabyte will be one-half to one-third the current price. When tiered pricing hits I guess we can only hope that said tiers will be reasonably priced. Tiered pricing in theory, could be really great for those users who haven’t followed GuruClark’s tips and simply don’t use much of their allotted data. The only people this will potentially hurt are those users who suck down GBs of data a month.
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis talked a lot at WES about the “BlackBerry efficiency model” and how RIM’s devices use only a third of the data that other in-market devices do. Perhaps nationwide tiered pricing is what RIM needs to make their devices more compelling to users (and let’s face it, they need all the help they can get). Only time will tell how the whole LTE pricing scheme plays out but for now we have our fingers crossed that we don’t get burned by carriers.
(Via Phone Scoop)
Verizon Early Upgrade Promotion - Are You Eligible?
May 26th
The document posted above comes from Gizmo Fusion and has been floating around many Smartphone blogs and forums over the past few weeks. As you can see, the document states, “Select high value and high risk Postpay customers are eligible.”
In case you are wondering, Postpaid means you pay for your usage at the end of the month. Basically anyone who is not Prepaid. Now what does Verizon consider to be ‘high value’ and ‘high risk’? So far, I have 3 friends who are Verizon subscribers who got 3 different answers from customer service. One was told they are eligible for the promotion, another was told they are eligible for a $50 discount toward any Smartphone, and the last was told they are not eligible.
It seems like the only way you Verizon subscribers can find out if you are eligible for the promotion is to call and have them input your contract info. My question is, if you don’t come up as eligible and you threaten to cancel your contract to go buy an iPhone, will you be moved into the high risk category?
If you are planning on upgrading your device before June 30th, put a call in to Verizon and find out what your status is. Feel free to post your findings in the comments below.
Pic via: Gizmo Fusion
Motorola Shadow In the Nude
May 25th
Not that I’m in the least interested in this phone (read: I want it NOW!) but this is a strange animal: a Droid follow-up that looks like an EVO 4G, no hardware keyboard, and a modified MOTOBLUR running on Android 2.1.
I’m sure it will sell a million copies when it comes to Verizon, but don’t say I told you so when you discover that Motorola has locked down the device and won’t allow rooting or custom ROMs installed on it (see Milestone).
(via Engadget)
