Motorola ‘Calgary’ to bring BLUR to Verizon, Droid not looking worried
Posted in: Android, moto, motoblur, motorola, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzwThe Droid’s shaping up to be a beast of an Android phone — well played, Verizon — but Motorola’s banking much of its future on its MOTOBLUR platform, which the Droid curiously lacks (though Android 2.0 adds at least some of BLUR’s functionality back in). Don’t worry, though — Verizon hasn’t forgotten about BLUR altogether, and the rumored Calgary is looking to arrive as the carrier’s next Android phone from Moto featuring BLUR in all its social network-aggregating glory. It’s clearly positioned as a lower-end device than the Droid, stepping down to a 3 megapixel cam but still managing nifty features like an optical pad, 3.5mm jack, and naturally, a full QWERTY keyboard. Considering Rubin’s ties to Danger, you could think of this as the ill-fated Sidekick Slide all grow’d up. Word has it this might hit before the end of the year, so we’ll see just how much breathing room Verizon and Moto feel like giving the Droid before coming back for Round 2, eh?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Motorola ‘Calgary’ to bring BLUR to Verizon, Droid not looking worried originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BlackBerry Storm 2 appears on Verizon pages
Posted in: BlackBerry, leak, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless[Thanks, Marc-Anthony]
Continue reading BlackBerry Storm 2 appears on Verizon pages
Filed under: Cellphones
BlackBerry Storm 2 appears on Verizon pages originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original BlackBerry Storm to get flick scrolling, better browsing through firmware update?
Posted in: BlackBerry, cellphone, firmware, RIM, smartphone, Today's Chili, update, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWirelessDespite Verizon’s best efforts to ignore the obvious, RIM’s BlackBerry Storm2 is not only official, it’s (un)officially destined for Big Red’s airwaves. If you’re one of those slightly disgruntled Storm 9530 owners, however, you could be looking at a rather nice firmware update coming your way in the near future. According to phoneArena, the Storm and Storm2 will eventually be “practically identical” in terms of software, with a forthcoming update to add flick scrolling, tabbed browsing and threaded texting to the original. Of course, we should probably wait for VZW to confirm the existence of the Storm2 before expecting any formal word on this, but feel free to go about your day with cautious optimism.
Filed under: Cellphones
Original BlackBerry Storm to get flick scrolling, better browsing through firmware update? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Verizon prepping HP Mini 311, Mini 110 for launch
Posted in: HP, intel, Mini, NVIDIA, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw, windows 7, Windows7
Wait, hold up — before you sprint down to your Verizon store (sprint… Verizon… never mind) to pick up that catchily-named Gateway LT2016u that just launched, you might want to mull over the next batch of netbooks primed to hit the carrier’s outlets in the coming days. Subsidized netbooks still haven’t proven themselves as viable products — at least, so long as they’re not subsidized down to $0 — but Verizon’s ready to keep on trying with the launch of a global 3G-equipped HP Mini 311 on October 22. Sickeningly, they want a full $249.99 on contract after $100 mail-in rebate — but in exchange, you’ll be getting ION, Windows 7, 1366 x 768 resolution on a 11.6-inch display, and a 1.6GHz Atom N270. Moving on, the carrier’s current Mini 1151 will ride off into the sunset and be replaced by a Windows XP-equipped Mini 110 featuring a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM; it’ll launch once 1151 stock is depleted for $199.99 after rebate with a new two-year deal. Follow the break for details and specs on the 110 (spoiler: it’s like pretty much every other 110, but with more voodoo subsidy math).
Continue reading Verizon prepping HP Mini 311, Mini 110 for launch
Filed under: Laptops, Wireless
Verizon prepping HP Mini 311, Mini 110 for launch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Motorola Droid stands in for glamorous photo shoot
Posted in: Android, droid, motorola, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzwWhat a difference two months make. It’s was late July when we first saw a render and spy shot of Motorola’s “other” Android devices, the Verizon-bound Droid, a.k.a. the Artist Formerly Known as Sholes. Boy Genius Report has been teasing the handset for the better part of the week, and now it’s giving us the full monty of the hardware, including its 5 megapixel autofocus camera on the back, and various Eclair-powered screens. Boy Genius himself notes that it’s the fastest Android device he’s used — thank goodness for an authentic OMAP3 — is “slightly” thicker than an iPhone 3GS, runs that Android 2.0 we’ve been hearing so much about, and includes a desktop cradle that turns the Droid into a glanceable display with weather and the like (sounds like a miniature Hub in a way, doesn’t it?). Anyhow, you want all to see the whole show? You know just where to click.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Motorola Droid stands in for glamorous photo shoot originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Storm 2 hitting Verizon with ‘MiFi capability?’
Posted in: BlackBerry, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw
We can’t confirm this Verizon Infomanager screen at this point, but if true, when the BlackBerry Storm 2 launches on the network, one of the big touted features will be its MiFi capabilities for sharing 3G internet over WiFi. It’d be smart branding move, sure, but MiFi is also the name Novatel uses for its hardware, so either we’re talking here about an application of some sort or it’s just internal communications short-hand. Also mentioned here is an October 21st launch, although it’s been noted by Crackberry that the date’s apparently been replaced with TBA. Without a doubt, we can confidently say we’ll know for sure in the next, oh, 52 hours or so.
[Thanks, Marc-Anthony S.]
Read – Intranet snapshot
Read – Launch date pulled
Filed under: Cellphones
Storm 2 hitting Verizon with ‘MiFi capability?’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Verizon Attacks iPhone Directly With Droid Ad
Posted in: Android, iPhone, Today's Chili, Verizon WirelessVerizon’s new Motorola Droid site is notable for more than its coded clock counting down to October 30. It’s also full of direct attacks on Apple. The site says, in an Apple-like font with Apple-like graphic design:
idon’t run simultaneous apps
idon’t take night shots
idon’t allow open development
idon’t customize
idon’t run widgets
idon’t have interchangeable batteries
everything idon’t
droiddoes
For one last twist, the site makes its claims using Adobe Flash, which was recently announced for every major mobile OS except the iPhone. Flash on Android phones will require Android OS 2.0, which the Droid has.
The phrasing, ownership and branding of the site make a lot of interesting points. As John Gruber over at Daring Fireball points out, this is a Verizon site – Motorola doesn’t make a single appearance. The competition set up here isn’t Verizon vs. AT&T or Motorola vs. Apple, it’s Verizon vs. Apple. As Rene Ritchie of the iPhone Blog says, Verizon wants to make it clear they have no intention of being a “dumb pipe” anytime soon.
Various Web sites are nitpicking Verizon’s claims, but the most interesting phrase here is “open development.” While Verizon is referring directly to Android’s App Market, “open development” is a Verizon buzzword for a new project of theirs that approves mostly-non-phone devices through speedy means. Verizon gives up some control of open-development devices’ branding, too. The irony here, of course, is that the Droid wasn’t approved using the Verizon Open Development Initiative. If anything, it seems to be the opposite: the ultimate Verizon-specced, Verizon-branded device.
Verizon’s anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’ (update)
Posted in: ad, Android, breaking news, BreakingNews, commercial, droid, Google, moto, motorola, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, videoWe knew Verizon Wireless would soon be throwing caution to the wind in an effort to sway uncommitted smartphone buyers towards Big Red, and it looks like the November-bound Motorola Droid will be VZW’s anti-iPhone. The spot, which launched tonight and can be view in its entirety after the break, is a 30 second clip that begins by mocking Apple’s cutesy music and iconic font typically seen in iPhone plugs. It reels off a number of things that the iPhone can’t do, and then abruptly goes into full-on tease mode by flashing glimpses of a robot-controlled future and a tagline that simply states: “Droid Does.” No shots of the actual Motorola Droid (or Sholes, as it was known in the past) are shown, but a dedicated teaser portal has already been erected; through that, we’re told that the phone will boast Android 2.0 and a 5 megapixel camera. At this point, we’d say the gloves are definitely off — AT&T, have anything to say for yourself, or is the iPhone doing just fine on its own?
Update: See that alien counter that’s just sitting on the lower end of the teaser page? As reader Craig N. and a number of others have pointed out, a quick perusal through the page’s XML file reveals the end of that timer to be October 30th — not that we expect to be waiting that long for more Droid news, but it’s something to keep in mind.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading Verizon’s anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’ (update)
Filed under: Cellphones
Verizon’s anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’ (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Verizon confirms: Palm Pre hitting Big Red “early next year”
Posted in: cdma, palm, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, smartphone, Today's Chili, twitter, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, webosOftentimes a picture shouts a thousand words. Other times it belts out precisely a dozen. Straight from Verizon Wireless’ official Twitter account comes this, a confirmation that the Palm Pre we knew was coming to Big Red, well, is coming to Big Red. If you can hold off through the tempting holiday rush, you’ll find Palm’s first-ever webOS device on VZW “early next year.” Huzzah!
[Via Boy Genius Report]
Filed under: Cellphones
Verizon confirms: Palm Pre hitting Big Red “early next year” originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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