Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been tipped by multiple sources today on some interesting developments in Verizon’s roadmap over the next couple quarters, and if you’re a BlackBerry fan, an Android fan, or a fan of exceptionally fast data, you’re probably going to want to tune in. Let’s get right into the meat of it, shall we? Follow the break!

Continue reading Verizon scoop extravaganza: Motorola Venus with portrait QWERTY, Stingray LTE tablet, and more?

Verizon scoop extravaganza: Motorola Venus with portrait QWERTY, Stingray LTE tablet, and more? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you tend to travel with your phone or Bluetooth-enabled music player and spend much more time listening to music than you do placing or receiving calls, Motorola’s new S10-HD Bluetooth headset may be ideal for you.

The headset is lightweight, wraps around the back of your head, and has a pair of cushioned earbuds that fit into each ear. The S10-HD is designed to function more like a pair of headphones than a headset, but there is a microphone in the unit, and if you have it paired with your phone, incoming calls will automatically pause playback while you’re speaking and start playing the music again when the call is over.

The Bluetooth antenna, receiver, and controls are located in the back of the headset, which keeps the weight in the back and improves antenna performance outdoors. Even so, the S10-HD is still Bluetooth audio, which is notorious for suffering from compression issues. Headsets like the S10-HD are generally designed for people who have to have wireless audio or who want to take their music with them on the go without wires. It will be available late October at Best Buy retail stores and online retailers for $79.99 list. 

Ah, throttling. Can’t ever seem to fully shake it, can we? Just weeks after hearing about a similar issue with the Epic 4G, scores of Clear at-home WiMAX users are now up in arms over apparent throttling on certain accounts. As the story goes, it seems as if the company is pulling back on upload and download speeds (from 10Mbps to around 0.25Mbps) for users who have consumed between 7GB and 10GB in a month, which is comically low even compared to Comcast’s hated 250GB / month usage cap. Forum users are finding customer service lines to be no help whatsoever, and some digging has found that this may all be a part of a network traffic administration program that’s ongoing within Clearwire. Have any of you seen similar issues? How much data are you sucking down per month? Does your usage clock still show up in your account profile? Let us know in comments below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Clearwire throttling at-home WiMAX users? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 10:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wireless tethering is rapidly becoming a desirable option in top-tier smartphones, but which device delivers the best? Laptop Magazine swore to find out, pitting six Android favorites (two HTC, two Motorola and two Samsung) against one another in a brutal data-sucking showdown in New York City. Unsurprisingly, the HTC EVO 4G came out on top, averaging 5.09 Mbit / sec downloads and a 3.65 second page load time when 4G connectivity was present, but intriguingly enough it’s the freshly-upgraded Droid Incredible that pulled the best speeds on 3G. Lest you think Motorola was trounced in this little competition, the Droid 2 actually delivered websites the fastest at 4.425 seconds on average — besting the Samsung Epic 4G on 4G — and Droid X owners can find consolation in the fact their handset is really good at loading ESPN for some reason. Sadly, the study failed to include the most important item for comparison across the board: a dedicated MiFi or aircard.

EVO 4G and Droid Incredible vie for title of best Android hotspot in informal test originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just how badly do you want Star Wars branding on your Droid 2, eh? You’d better want it bad, because Verizon has just announced that it’ll be charging $249 for the privilege of owning an R2-D2 Limited Edition — with a $100 mail-in rebate on contract, which means that you’ll actually be paying $350 up front. Then again, for that dinero you get not just the funky-looking phone but a Star Wars-themed dock and a box custom-designed to look like carbonite (Harrison Ford not included, we presume). You’ll also get a variety of custom live wallpapers, sounds, photos, widgets, and a “binoculars app,” which we imagine is some sort of digital zoom tool. Conspicuously missing is any sort of indication that this features the rumored 1.2GHz processor from the also-rumored Droid 2 World Edition, so the wait for that news continues. CTIA next week, perhaps.

On a related note, other Verizon customers with Android 2.1 (and higher) devices will be able to access a special Empire Strikes Back app and related content for a one-time charge of $2.99, which will include a trivia app to test your muster as a George Lucas fangirl or fanboy. Meanwhile, look for the phone to go live on this Thursday, September 30. Follow the break for the full press release and a couple more pics!

Continue reading Verizon Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition lands September 30 for $249

Verizon Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition lands September 30 for $249 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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