May 11

Verizon confirms it’s working on a tablet with Google (Update: Android!)

Posted in: Android, android tablet, AndroidTablet, Chrome, chrome os, ChromeOs, Google, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili, verizon

Not much by way of detail here, but Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam just confirmed that his company is working on tablets with Google in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got to work with at the moment — McAdam said tablets are “part of the ‘next big wave of opportunities,’ but didn’t say what OS the Google devices would run, just that Verizon’s “looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience.” That sounds like something Google’s been working on for a while, so we’ll take a guess and say it’s Android-based, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a Chrome OS tablet or netbook make the scene at some point in the future. We’re also wondering who’ll build this thing: any number of companies from Dell to Toshiba to MSI have already started working on Android tablets, and we’re sure HTC and Motorola would totally jump at the opportunity. A nice crisp confirmed fact wrapped in layers of chewy speculation — just how we likes it.

Update: Bloomberg scored some more details in an interview with Marquett Smith, Verizon’s VP of corporate communications; the tablet is said be Android-based, and more details will be released later this week. Let the wait begin!

Verizon confirms it’s working on a tablet with Google (Update: Android!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 11

The Google Tablet Is Coming, Courtesy of Verizon [Android]

Posted in: Android, android tablet, Google, ipad, tablets, Today's Chili, top, verizon

The first serious challenge to the Apple iPad is coming from the most obvious of teams: According to Verizon Chief Exec Lowell McAdam, the carrier is working with Google on “a tablet computer.” This should be fun. More »

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May 11

Verizon’s HTC Droid Eris getting Android 2.1 any time now

Posted in: firmware, Google, hero, HTC, Software, Today's Chili, update, upgrade, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

We’d been hearing rumors lately that HTC’s Droid Eris — a phone that has never quite made it out from under the Droid’s shadow — is in the midst of being discontinued by Verizon, but the imminent launch of an Android 2.1 update might just buy it a new lease on life. In fact, the update makes this phone just about the first Hero variant anywhere in the world to be graced with an upgrade to Google’s latest and greatest stuff, beating Sprint’s version thanks to a string of delays that have pushed it out to some unidentified period in the second quarter. We’ve yet to see any reports of folks actually receiving the update notification on their devices, but Verizon’s official support Twitter account is tweeting about the upgrade — which should fix numerous bugs on top of the hotly-anticipated Eclair boost — so we’d expect it to start hitting the wild shortly. Keep us on top of your experiences in comments, won’t you?

[Thanks, Richard]

Update: Verizon has now posted the PDF changelog for your perusal while you wait. Thanks, Michael V.!

Verizon’s HTC Droid Eris getting Android 2.1 any time now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 15:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 11

Apple’s Contract With ATT Does Not Quash Verizon Rumor

Posted in: Apple, att, iPhone, Phones, rumors, Today's Chili, verizon

Apple’s supposedly confidential agreement with AT&T was not a secret after all: They struck a five-year exclusivity contract to carry the iPhone in 2007, an old court document reveals. Still, the validity of the contract remains a question.

An ongoing class action suit filed against Apple and AT&T in 2007 alleged that the two parties held a monopoly over the iPhone by locking consumers into a contract for an indefinite amount of time. However, Engadget’s Nilay Patel discovered that Apple filed a brief in October 2008 citing a USA Today article, which says Apple and AT&T struck a five-year agreement for the iPhone in 2007.

“AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years — an eternity in the go-go cellphone world,” the USA Today article dated May 23, 2007 wrote. “And Apple is barred for that time from developing a version of the iPhone for CDMA wireless networks.”

That would imply AT&T will be the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone until 2012, which comes at odds with persistent rumors that Apple’s contract with AT&T expires this year and that a Verizon iPhone is due this fall. However, Engadget’s Patel notes that the contract could very well have been amended since then. Also, it’s unclear whether the contract would only apply to a specific model of the iPhone (first- or second-generation, for example). If that were the case, it would still open doors for Verizon to carry a brand new model of the iPhone.

Rumors of a Verizon iPhone gained more credence in March when The Wall Street Journal, which has a solid track record for Apple rumors, was tipped about a CDMA-compatible iPhone scheduled for mass production in September. CDMA is the standard used by Verizon.

Also, just today, tech blog Crunchgear claims it received a tip that advertising company Landor Associates is already preparing an ad campaign for a Verizon iPhone. Crunchgear has been an unreliable source of Apple rumors, according to MacRumors’ Arnold Kim, but the idea of an ad agency leaking information is plausible.

See Also:

Photo: Fr3d/org/Flickr


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May 10

Sprint Reverses Course, Wont Sell Nexus One

Posted in: Google, HTC, nexus one, Sprint, Today's Chili, verizon

sprint-nexus-one-denied-2.jpg

The Android OS may be flourishing in the U.S., but the “Google Phone” is clearly not. Sprint has decided not to sell the Google Nexus One only months after saying they would, a move that isn’t terribly surprising following the death of the Verizon Nexus One. Sprint spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein confirmed to Gizmodo Monday that the company wouldn’t be selling the Nexus One because of the “upcoming availability of the award-winning Evo 4G.”

It appears both Sprint and Verizon shied away from the Google Nexus One because they could instead have their own branded Android phones with just as much power or more. The Evo 4G, an Android 2.1 device with a 4.3-inch LCD screen and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, is widely expected to be released in a matter of weeks. Verizon has the HTC Droid Incredible, a well-reviewed Android 2.1 phone that is PCMag’s new Editors’ Choice for Verizon smartphones.

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May 10

Giz Explains: Why Streaming Video Over 3G Sucks [Giz Explains]

Posted in: att, cellphones, feature, qualcomm, Today's Chili, top, verizon, Wireless

The thing about wirelessly streaming video to millions and millions of phones is that it’s, like, hard. More »

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May 10

NPD: Android ousts iPhone OS for second place in US smartphone market

Posted in: Android, Apple, att, BlackBerry, Google, market share, marketshare, RIM, smartphone, Sprint, statistics, t-mobile, Today's Chili, verizon

“We’re number two” might not be the chant everyone’s after, but we have a feeling that Google is more than satisfied with that in this case… for now. According to market research firm NPD, Google’s Android operating system edged up into second place in the US smartphone market during the first quarter of the year, leaving it still well behind RIM’s BlackBerry OS, but marking the first time that it has moved ahead of Apple’s iPhone OS. Specifically, NPD found that RIM maintained a strong 36 percent market share for the quarter, with Android coming in at 28 percent, and iPhone OS in third at 21 percent. The growth for Android was attributed largely to strong carrier support — like Verizon’s buy-one-get-one free offer which, incidentally, also helped Verizon maintain a 30 percent smartphone market share, which is just slightly behind AT&T at 32 percent, and ahead of T-Mobile and Sprint at 17 and 15 percent, respectively.

Disclaimer: NPD’s Ross Rubin is a contributor to Engadget.

Continue reading NPD: Android ousts iPhone OS for second place in US smartphone market

NPD: Android ousts iPhone OS for second place in US smartphone market originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 12:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 07

Verizon iPhone chatter is getting harder (than usual) to ignore

Posted in: 4G, Apple, iPhone, lte, rumor, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

Alright, stop us if you’ve heard this one before — but seriously, we’ve noticed an uptick on the tip lines here at Engadget in the last couple weeks that’s becoming difficult to ignore. It’s one thing to say “hey, the iPhone is launching on Verizon,” but we’re noticing a particular confluence of facts that has us intrigued: it’ll drop sometime in Summer, possibly in concert with the announcement that Verizon’s first commercial LTE networks have gone live, and — tread carefully here, because this is pretty difficult to believe and we don’t want to get your hopes up only to have them smashed into a million pieces — it’ll supposedly even be a 4G launch device. We’ve gotten surprisingly specific details both from Verizon employees and tipsters whose companies are supposedly under NDA with Verizon to test enterprise deployments of the handset later this year, and they’re all sending basically this same message. Read on!

Continue reading Verizon iPhone chatter is getting harder (than usual) to ignore

Verizon iPhone chatter is getting harder (than usual) to ignore originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 15:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 06

Survey: ATT Still Has the Most Dropped Calls

Posted in: att, Today's Chili, verizon

ATT.jpgThis news doesn’t bode well for AT&T’s recent commitment to improve its network. According to a new survey of smartphone users, the wireless giant has far and away the most dropped calls of any of the top four wireless networks.

A survey of 4,040 users taken in March find s that roughly 4.5 percent of calls made on the network are dropped. The other largest network in the U.S., Verizon, claimed the least dropped calls, at 1.5 percent.

T-Mobile and Sprint/Nextel were about even in the middle at 2.8 and 2.4 percent, respectively.

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May 05

Kin available online starting tomorrow, in Verizon stores on May 13

Posted in: Microsoft, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw


Dearest members of the Upload Generation: the wait to buy the Kin of your dreams is a short one — provided Mommy and Daddy are willing to pony up the $30 a month in data charges, of course. Verizon will be selling both the Kin One and Kin Two online starting tomorrow, May 6, for $49.99 and $99.99 respectively, after you agree to a two-year contract and come to terms with the fact that you’ll be paying $100 more upfront while you wait for your rebate to be mailed to you on a debit card (par for the course these days). If you’d rather play with the devices first, your wait isn’t much longer — you’ll be able to score both of them in Verizon retail locations starting a week later on the 13th.

Continue reading Kin available online starting tomorrow, in Verizon stores on May 13

Kin available online starting tomorrow, in Verizon stores on May 13 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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