Hasta La Gadget!

Verizon has just announced that it has completed the first voice over LTE (VoLTE) call on a commercial network anywhere in the world today, a 33-second dialogue between employees on LG Revolutions in the company’s headquarters in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, following it up with a number of other calls where staffers were able to talk and use data services simultaneously — thanks in no small part to the fact that LTE treats voice just as it treats any other type of data. We’d initially gotten the impression yesterday that Verizon would be starting to roll out voice over LTE (VoLTE) with the Revolution in mid-2011, but the company’s press release today is saying that they’ll be working to “enhance” the VoLTE experience in 2011 with commercially availability now expected next year. High-fidelity calls are expected to be part of that experience, so it’ll be harder than ever to hold a call when you’ve got a bad cold. Remember the throat lozenges, alright? Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Verizon successfully completes first VoLTE call on commercial network in the world, plans 2012 availability

Verizon successfully completes first VoLTE call on commercial network in the world, plans 2012 availability originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Future Verizon phones might rely on a web connection to place calls.

Verizon wireless is preparing a new calling service that uses the new 4G data network to initiate voice and video calls. Unlike traditional VoIP web phone services, Verizon’s internet calling feature would be tied to a person’s phone number rather than a username or e-mail address on a service such as Skype, CNN’s Mark Milian reports.

The webphone service will be called VoLTE — an acronym that plays on the name of the 4G network, LTE, which stands for Long Term Evolution. Verizon’s 4G LTE network began rolling out December 2010.

Verizon may opt to transition to web calls slowly by adding VoLTE-compatible phones to its offerings gradually, according to CNN. The hope is for VoLTE to replace the traditional infrastructure that cellphones use to place calls.

Web-based mobile phones have not seen wide adoption in the consumer market, largely because available VoIP services offer inferior, tinny call quality compared to phone calls placed with a traditional cell signal.

If brought into fruition, the VoLTE service would address a limitation of current Verizon smartphones, which cannot simultaneously place a phone call and transmit web data. VoLTE would theoretically enable web calling and internet use at the same time.

Verizon plans to demonstrate VoLTE on an LG smartphone at next week’s World Mobile Congress, according to CNN.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Third-party mobile retailer Wirefly has just released a seven-minute video detailing the HTC Thunderbolt’s unboxing procedure in glorious detail, something that’s just liable to make the wait for prospective buyers even more excruciating. Speaking of waiting, word on the street is that the phone might be delayed from its previously-rumored Valentine’s Day launch; an ominous screen shot over on Droid Life says there’s “no ETA at this time,” a fact corroborated by Amazon’s removal of the launch date on its Thunderbolt product page. What’s more, in announcing its unboxing, Wirefly only says that it’ll “begin selling the Thunderbolt soon” without offering a date — so yeah, all signs are pointing to an open-ended delay here. Let’s hope it stays within the short bounds of February, eh? Follow the break for the full video.

Continue reading HTC Thunderbolt gets unboxed by Wirefly, Verizon delays launch?

HTC Thunderbolt gets unboxed by Wirefly, Verizon delays launch? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re already fatigued of reporting launch dates for devices announced at this year’s CES — it seems like each one has had at least four different potential release points — but when you get one of Best Buy’s official Facebook pages blabbing about when the Moto Xoom and HTC Thunderbolt will be arriving… well, you sum up the strength to do it one more time. Contrary to earlier insider leaks pinning the Xoom to a February 17th launch, Best Buy is now promising to have the vanguard of the Honeycomb tablet revolution on February 24th. That’s exactly a week later than our earlier info, so perhaps somebody somewhere decided to push things back a bit. We have no doubt, however, that Motorola is nearly ready with its slate — there have been plenty of them spotted around the Super Bowl this week. In the meantime, HTC’s LTE-equipped 4.3-incher seems to have finally settled down on Valentine’s Day as its time of reckoning, a day after the similarly sized Inspire 4G hits AT&T.

Motorola Xoom coming to Best Buy on February 24th, HTC Thunderbolt on the 14th originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a phone. It’s a laptop. It’s a desktop.

Motorola wants you to think its upcoming “superphone” is all of these. Soon, we’ll be able to find out.

The Atrix 4G, Motorola’s highly anticipated hybrid smartphone offering, will be available for pre-order beginning February 13. The phone will cost $200 with a two-year AT&T contract, and is expected for wide availability on March 6 or earlier, says AT&T.

Aside from the very sweet dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor pumping out 1GHz of power on both cores, the list of attributes found on the Atrix is fairly similar to other recent smartphone offerings. It’s got a 5-megapixel back facing camera, front facing camera for video chat, and is running Android version 2.2 (Froyo). The full gig of RAM is a nice eyebrow-raising amount, however. And the can expand its storage up to 48GB via SD card.

What is most intriguing about this phone is the Atrix’s ability to go multi-platform. Still want to play Angry Birds on your smartphone during your daily commute? Use the Atrix as you would any other smartphone. Need a laptop for taking notes? Plug the Atrix into the separately-sold laptop dock and bang away on them keys.

Have a big-ass monitor at home and miss the desktop computing experience? Hook that bad boy up to the Atrix’s HD multimedia docking station and use the phone like you would a PC.

Here’s the kicker: nothing in life comes cheap. If you want to buy the laptop dock on its own, it’s a cool 500 bucks. Or alternatively, if you want to grab the Atrix and laptop dock together, AT&T is offering a bundled package price — $600 with two-year contract, or $500 with two-year contract after a mail-in rebate and subscription to the Data Pro plus tethering add-on plan.

The HD multimedia dock isn’t a whole lot cheaper at $190, but with the dock you get a nice little Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, along with a remote control.

Will the high prices turn away crowds, or will the Atrix’s supermutant-like morphing capabilities be able to open the hearts and wallets of customers everywhere?

We’ll see come the next few weeks.

Photos: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

See Also:

• Hands-On With Motorola’s @$#%ing Atrix Superphone
• Big, Beautiful and Badass: The 9 Coolest Android Smartphones at …
• Hands-On With LG’s Optimus 2X Superphone
• Motorola, LG Flex Dual-Core Smartphones