Hasta La Gadget!

Let’s be real: almost every phone looks better in white. Okay, so that’s strictly a matter of personal opinion — but if you’re a white phone kind of person, turn your attention away from the forever-delayed iPhone 4 and toward a couple that are launching shortly thanks to some new details from Best Buy. Turns out Verizon’s white Fascinate and AT&T’s white X10 are both scheduled to hit on October 24, alongside the Dell Streak — not in white, by the bye — followed by the HTC Surround on November 8 (which we already knew). Any of ’em can be yours for a $50 deposit.

Update: We’ve been told that the white Fascinate and X10 will be exclusives for Best Buy, at least at first.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

White Samsung Fascinate and Sony Ericsson X10 joining Dell Streak in Best Buy this month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone is coming to Verizon! Possibly! Some day! I know we’re all caught up in Verizon iPhone fever over here. How can we not be? After all, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that “people familiar with the matter” had ensured the paper that Apple’s popular iPhone is, in fact, without a doubt, absolutely, definitely, positively, for sure coming to Verizon.

The story, posted yesterday as “Apple Making Verizon-Ready iPhone by Year End,” has since been renamed the far catchier “Apple Readies Verizon iPhone.” The paper filled out the story a bit, too, adding a quote from AT&T CTO John Donovon, “It’s not like we sit around and don’t prepare for the future.” Fair enough.

Still no word from Verizon, on the matter of course. Or Apple for that matter.

I did my own post yesterday about the story. In it I mentioned that this sort of thing is nothing new, of course. We’ve been hearing rumors of a Verizon iPhone since before there ever was any iPhone to speak of.

The whole thing has made me bit sentimental for all of the Verizon iPhone records of yesteryear. So I figured, what better time to take a trip down memory lane?

We’ve been to this rodeo before (a few times, actually), but the smoke that leads to fire is getting far harder to ignore. Following a Bloomberg report in June that a Verizon iPhone was on track for a January 2011 release as well as independent confirmation from John Gruber, Yukari Iwatani Kane from The Wall Street Journal is now sounding mighty confident that the aforementioned plans are true. According to various people “briefed by Apple,” Jobs and Company will begin “mass producing a new iPhone by the end of 2010 that would allow Verizon Wireless to sell the smartphone early next year.” It’ll rely on a key Qualcomm chip as well as a CDMA radio, but curiously enough, there’s nary of a mention of LTE in this report. In closely related news, it’s bruited that Apple is also developing a separate iPhone model, though it’s unclear how soon VZW will be able to grab the fifth generation edition. ‘Course, it’s not exactly the shocker of the year to hear that Apple’s toiling on a new iPhone without a dubious antenna design, but the real question is this: will the Verizon iPhone beat AT&T’s elusive white iPhone 4 to market? Inquiring minds would love to know.

Update: The WSJ udated the story to be more clear, “Apple Inc. is making a version of its iPhone that Verizon Wireless will sell early next year.” So it’s not just a generic CDMA iPhone that may or may not end up on Verizon Wireless. The WSJ also added that the CDMA iPhone 4 variant will be built by Pegatron and would only work on a CDMA network (i.e., it’s not a dual-mode GSM/CDMA device). Also, according to one source, VZW has been working with Apple to test its network and adding additional capacity to avoid being overwhelmed a la AT&T.

WSJ: Verizon to sell iPhone in 2011, fifth generation iPhone is in the works (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM’s not gonna like this one. It’s the Droid Pro, the latest Android smartphone from the Google-loving folks at Motorola, and I’m sure I’m about the thousandth person to state for the record that the thing looks a lot like a BlackBerry–albeit one with an elongated screen.

Yep, this is Motorola’s shot at enterprise users, with features like enhanced Microsoft Exchange support. The handset, which is due out on Verizon in November, runs Android 2.2, features some built-in social networking, a1 Ghz processor, and has all of the standard Google-centric features one expects from a “with Google”-branded phone.

Our mobile analyst Sascha Segan got some hands-on time with the phone, and he reports,

I was impressed. The phone feels a bit long, but it’s still comfortable in one hand. I’ve been hearing other pundits call it ugly, but I think that’s going way too far–sure, it has a bit of a John Kerry-esque long face, but it’s perfectly within the realm of decent. The sculpted keys are very easy to tell apart by touch. (RIM uses a similar technique on the BlackBerry Bold.)

The 3.1-inch screen was a bit of a disappointment apparently (much like Kerry’s presidential run), with a lo-res 320×480 pixel display.

The Droid Pro was one of seven (!) Android handsets that debuted at the mobile show.

Really, Verizon? Play up the global roaming features of your new-but-not-unexpected Wireless Fivespot, only to strangle it with GlobalAccess plans that top out with 200MB of international data? Thanks, but no thanks. For those still interested in the new WWAN modem for domestic use (psst… the MiFi 2200 is a better deal), this ZTE-built device is the first in VZW’s stable to offer global data access. That’s due to having both a SIM card slot (for GSM roaming) and a CDMA radio inside, and as with the aforesaid MiFi, it’ll handle up to five simultaneous WiFi connections. The unit itself will run $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement, and Verizon’s providing both postpaid and prepaid domestic data plan options: $39.99 per month gets you 250MB with a $0.10 overage, while $59.99 nets you 5GB and a $0.05/MB overage (the prepaid details reside after the break). Where it really gets ludicrous is GlobalAccess — customers traveling abroad have the choice of two plans, a $129.99/month option with 5GB in the US / Canada and 100MB elsewhere, or a $219.99/month alternative that simply adds an extra 100MB on the international end. That’s $90 for an extra 100MB. We’ll spare you the chore of stressing over all of this and point you to Xcom Global — trust us, if you’re touching down in a foreign land for over an hour, you’ll need close to 100MB just to digest the inbox explosion from being in the air 14 hours.

Continue reading Verizon gets official with Wireless Fivespot mobile hotspot, touts awful global roaming plans

Verizon gets official with Wireless Fivespot mobile hotspot, touts awful global roaming plans originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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