Hasta La Gadget!

Though the HTC Droid Eris soldiers on in user pockets in a variety of guises, Verizon has unsurprisingly decided to disavow future updates for the canceled device. Carrier spokespersons told Computerworld that the Eris won’t see Android 2.2. “We have other options in Android devices, so this is part of the normal evolution of our portfolio,” a spokeswoman reportedly said. While we didn’t really expect Verizon to pull a T-Mobile and support phones that died even before the original G1, we have to imagine there’ll be a few ruffled feathers at that particular choice of words. No one likes to be told to buy a new device in order to get a software update. On the plus side, we expect XDA-developers will get a few new members this week, the better to unleash the potential of future neglected devices for us all.

Shocker: Verizon says Droid Eris won’t get Froyo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Computerworld (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

We already knew Verizon was planning to hit one third of the country with LTE this year with plans to expand dramatically after that, but things are starting to come into sharper focus: the carrier today said that it’ll light up 30 “NFL cities” with 4G by the end of the year. Now, there’s only 32 teams, so it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where that’s going to be — and considering the plan is to hit “major metropolitan areas,” we’ll go ahead and guess Green Bay isn’t on the list, even though the Packers are by far the best team in the league. (Buffalo and Jacksonville also spring to mind — and let’s not forget that the NFL still isn’t in LA, despite Ari Gold’s best fictional efforts on Entourage.) The plan is to first upgrade each cell site’s backhaul connection to Gigabit Ethernet so they’ll have the necessary bandwidth to support the 5-12Mbps down and 2-5Mbps up speeds with 30-150ms latency promised for Big Red’s LTE network at launch. Ambitious, but hey — we’d love nothing more than to be streaming the Super Bowl over LTE when all’s said and done.

Update: As many of our beloved commenters have pointed out, there are technically only 30 NFL markets, as New York has the Giants and Jets and the Raiders and 49ers play across the bay from each other. LTE for everyone, then? We’ll have to wait and see — and we’ve got a feeling a few Oakland residents might take offense at being lumped in with their neighbors across the bridge.

Verizon to light up LTE network in 30 ‘NFL cities’ this year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  eWeek  | Email this | Comments

We would’ve never figured on Verizon carrying over the “Curve 3G” name from this phone’s GSM counterpart, considering all of its older Curve models have already had EV-DO — but branding consistency trumps logic in this case, we suppose. Given what we know about the GSM model, you can probably guess the specs: 2 megapixel cam and BlackBerry OS 5 with upgradeability to 6 are both in the cards, though interestingly, Verizon’s official specs just list 802.11b/g for WiFi — there’s no mention of 802.11n, which the current Curve 3G has under the hood. Regardless, perhaps the best feature is the price: $29.99 on contract after a $100 rebate, making it one of the most affordable brand new smartphones on the market — assuming BlackBerry OS is your cup of tea, of course. It’ll launch in business sales channels this Thursday, while in-store availability for us lay folk follows “in the coming weeks.” Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading BlackBerry Curve 3G launching on Verizon for $30

BlackBerry Curve 3G launching on Verizon for $30 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

There’s a rumor going around today that Verizon is stripping Google services out of its Android devices going forward in favor of their Bing equivalents (much the same way that AT&T has gone with Yahoo on some phones), but the company says this afternoon that it’s simply false:

“…that is not true. We have a relationship with Microsoft and Bing is the search engine on our multi-media phones but we have never said it would be exclusive on all of our devices.”

We think the wording here is pretty important: “on our multi-media phones.” We take this to mean that Verizon’s looking at using Bing on its high-end featurephones and its midrange smartphones, possibly keeping the end-to-end Google experience exclusive to its cream of the crop — which would also explain why the recently-launched Fascinate didn’t get the coveted Droid brand as a part of its name.

On a related note, we’re hearing from a tipster today that an upcoming low-end Android device for Verizon from LG is loaded with Bing services, which strengthens the case — it looks like Bing is the “cheap” experience for Big Red right now. We’ve gotta admit, we’re wondering how Microsoft feels about that positioning.

Update: Microsoft is basically corroborating Verizon’s statement, saying that “the deal for Verizon Android devices is not exclusive.”

Update 2: Verizon is additionally saying that Google’s revamped search box that includes its new voice action capabilities will be available for download once the Fascinate hits Android 2.2 — in other words, they’re not explicitly blocking Google services from being installed on the device. Of course, that doesn’t solve the root problem, which is that Bing is baked into the shipping ROM — but it’s something, we suppose.

Debunk: Bing not replacing Google on all Verizon Android devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  The Droid Guy  | Email this | Comments

Put away your leaked Verizon documents, good folks, the Fascinate finally has an official release date: September 9. Verizon’s Galaxy S variant snuck up on all of us with a commercial appearance last night, which was accompanied by that appropriately blown out text at the bottom, indicating it’ll be in stores within a couple of days. That doesn’t leave much time for you to build up fresh anticipation, so hopefully you were able to sustain yours while everyone else was unpacking their Captivate, Epic and Vibrant handsets. Hey, you might be late to the party, but at least you’ll be there. See the ad (minus the launch date note) after the break.

[Thanks, Kyle]

Update: And what do you know, the official press release has just dropped, confirming the above in-store date and giving us an even earlier one: September 8 for online orders. Pricing is set at your usual $199 on a two-year contract, provided you have the patience to deal with a $100 mail-in rebate.

Continue reading Official: Samsung Fascinate launching September 9 for $199 (update: September 8 online)

Official: Samsung Fascinate launching September 9 for $199 (update: September 8 online) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments