Hasta La Gadget!

According to Verizon’s FAQ, the new iPhone 4 will cost $50 more off-contract than it does from AT&T. While the prices of the handset is the same from both carriers if you sign up for a two-year contract, the unencumbered handset will cost $650 for the 16GB version and $750 for the 32GB model. This compares to $600 and $700 from AT&T.

The FAQ also makes the launch timings clearer. As previously announced, existing Verizon customers will be able to order the iPhone on February 3rd, and everyone else can buy it from February 10th. Verizon customers will only be able to pre-order at the earlier date, though: “beginning on February 10th, you can visit an Apple Retail store to purchase and activate.”

Everything else, from purchasing in an Apple Store to iTunes activation, is the same as with the AT&T model.

So why the extra $50? My guess is that Apple may be charging Verizon more, and it is simply passing on the cost to the customer. After all, the GSM version of the iPhone sold by AT&T is exactly the same as every other iPhone sold around the world. But right now, the only company selling the CDMA iPhone is Verizon. It could just be that the typical “economies of scale” haven’t yet kicked in.

Finally, there is a little more information on tariffs. While no pricing is revealed, the FAQ says that “iPhone customers will need to choose from any of the current Nationwide plans. Customers will also be required to activate a data package, pricing will be announced at a later date.”

iPhone 4. Verizon. It Begins [Verizon]

iPhone 4 photo: Jon Snyder / Wired.com

See Also:

• AT&T Sees No Threat in a Verizon iPhone
• Verizon Wireless Finally Gets Apple’s iPhone

OK, Mr. Redneck. Even if our computer rig contest is long over, you win. You got the biggest computer desktop of them all. And even if that weren’t the case, that giant anti-aircraft gun says you win anyway. [Thanks Karl!] More »

This week in consumer electronics was full of culture. Or maybe it was full of color — we’re not quite sure what the difference might be, but there was a lot of weird / cool news in the CEO, handheld gaming, and tablet worlds. The point is, we’ve got another weird / cool podcast on our hands that you haven’t listened to yet and you need to take care of that, like, five minutes ago.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, #1 Digitimes bestselling author Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Superstition

00:04:15 – Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple, Tim Cook taking over daily operations in his absence
00:10:22 – Apple turns in record Q1: $6b profit on $26.7b revenue, 16.2m iPhones sold
00:23:20 – Apple’s invested in a ‘very strategic’ $3.9b component supply agreement, but what is it?
00:25:10 – Asahi Glass introduces Dragontrail for consumer electronics, puts the Gorilla on notice (video)
00:25:48 – Larry Page taking over as Google CEO, Eric Schmidt will remain as Executive Chairman
00:35:30 – Google Voice now lets you port your own phone number, maybe (update)
00:44:53 – Exclusive: HP / Palm’s webOS tablets — pictures, plans, and more
00:45:42 – HP / Palm tablet to feature Touchstone dock, cloud storage, Beats audio and Tap-to-Share smartphone integration
00:49:30 – HP calls us out, implies it’s got even better scoops at February webOS event
00:53:20 – HP’s first webOS tablet may start shipping in March, fulfill longstanding promise
01:06:00 – Motorola Xoom launching February 17th at Best Buy (update: priced at $700)
01:06:22 – Motorola Xoom priced at $800 at a minimum, according to Verizon leak
01:14:52 – Nintendo 3DS coming to US March 27th for $249.99, Europe first on March 25th (video)
01:19:10 – Live from Nintendo’s 3DS preview with Reggie Fils-Aime
01:23:22 – Bloomberg: Sony PSP2 to debut next week, PlayStation Phone at MWC
01:23:47 – This fan-made PSP redesign is sexy
01:25:15 – PSP2 to be based on iPhone-esque PowerVR GPU, rival original Xbox in power?
01:27:52 – The Engadget Show returns next Sunday with Steve Wozniak!

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Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 230 – 01.24.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A smartphone is about to boldly go where plenty have droids have already ventured–space. A team of British scientists at Surrey Satellite Technology in Guildford, England are preparing to launch a handset into space. The scientists have yet to reveal the model of the phone, stating only that it will be running a version of Android.

The idea behind the launch is, simply, to find out whether modern smartphones will work in space. The phone will be used to control a satellite, which will, in turn, be taking pictures of our home planet.

Of course, we’ve seen a number of stories about smartphones in weather balloons over the past year or so, but According to the BBC, this is the first time such a phone has gone into orbit. The business has been deemed STRaND-1 (Surrey Training Research and Nanosatellite Demonstration).

“Modern smartphones are pretty amazing,” Shaun Kenyon, the head of the team told the BBC. “They come now with processors that can go up to 1GHz, and they have loads of flash memory. First of all, we want to see if the phone works up there, and if it does, we want to see if the phone can control a satellite.”

The phone, Kenyon said, will remain intact. “We’re not taking it apart; we’re not gutting it; we’re not taking out the printed circuit boards and re-soldering them into our satellite – we’re flying it as is. And, in fact, we’re going to have another camera on the satellite so we can take a picture of the phone because we want to operate the screen and have some good images of that as well.”

Of course, shortly after the that $800 Motorola Xoom price point hits comes another, slightly more manageable number from someone who apparently has access to Best Buy’s internal paperwork. 

Anroid Central, who also broke the news about the $800 Verizon price, got its hands on a memo from Best Buy putting the Xoom’s pricing at $699.99. Still pricey, sure, but down $100 from what we saw over the weekend.

Thing is, that $799.99 price from Verizon was the minimum advertised price, meaning the company can, theoretically, charge less than that, it’s just not allowed to go around bragging about it.