Hasta La Gadget!

The scan above purports to show a Verizon customer brochure that will appear in stores next Thursday, revealing nothing beyond the detailed leaks we’ve already reported but at least providing some reassuringly crinkled corroboration of the salient details. New customers will barred from the happy land of unlimited data, and will instead have to cough up tiered monthly fees ranging from $10 for 75MB up to $80 for 10GB, plus an extra $20 for tethering rights. In a separate turn to this tale, we hear that customers who want to tether to a 4G handset will have to pay $30 per month to keep Big Red happy. This might come as a shock if you’ve been living it up on the free tethering offer that ends next week, but we had a strong inkling it was coming. Besides, it’s not all bad: those 30 bucks will get you unlimited data on the fastest LTE network around, whereas $20 crew must make do with a mere 2GB monthly.

[Thanks, Verizon Guy]

Verizon data charges leak continues, $30 tethering for 4G customers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jul 2011 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lets be honest, we’ve all had those moments where we’ve wanted to hit our phone with a hammer or throw our laptop against the wall. Generally though, we resist those urges, knowing full well that it would spell the end for our precious gadget. There’s a special class of rugged devices though, that are designed to withstand anything you throw at it — or throw it at, as the case may be. We took a few of these beefy products, as well as one Extreme Sleeve for your non-military grade electronics, and put them through a battery of tests that would turn your average gadget into an unrecognizable pile of silicon and plastic. Head on after the break for a dose of dramatic destruction porn and to find out how this bevy of brawny portables held up against our gratuitous onslaught.

Continue reading Rugged gadgets put to the test in Engadget labs, wanton destruction ensues

Rugged gadgets put to the test in Engadget labs, wanton destruction ensues originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gadget news, like dating and crate digging, is all about the thrill of the hunt. Sure, big press events where you get to manhandle the objects of your desire are fun, but give us Mr. Blurry Cam and some EXIF data any day. With that in mind, we present to you an out of focus pic of what looks like that tweaked Bionic and a reference to the Droid HD on Flickr, coming straight out of the Motorola campus in Libertyville, Illinois (since removed). Now, the two things are not necessarily related, but it’s possible that the dual-core LTE handset is getting a new name to match its updated internals and redesigned exterior (though, if it’s different inside, outside, and has a new name, is it really the Droid Bionic any more?). We do know that, what began life as the Targa, can capture 1080p video, which matches up nicely with the HD moniker. It’s also possible that the pic taker is an as yet unseen device and our (moto)blurry friend above is simply a Bionic destined for another carrier. Either way, we’re hooked — at least until the PR hits our inbox, then it’s back in the Mystery Machine.

Continue reading Moto mysteries abound: Droid HD posts to Flickr, new blurry cam pics

Moto mysteries abound: Droid HD posts to Flickr, new blurry cam pics originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Smirking as you pull down borderline-criminal speeds on your Droid Charge? Ericsson’s doing you (at least) one better. The Swedish company is pushing out-of-this-stratosphere speeds to its testing van using upcoming LTE-Advanced technology; it managed to hit download speeds that exceed our paltry LTE limit by a factor of ten — that’s 1Gbps, folks. Not only is Ericsson cranking up the speed, it’s also endeavoring to make the new network more efficient by offering 8×8 MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) functionality, which enables data to be retrieved and sent faster regardless of network congestion.

Of course, these test results are taking advantage of 60MHz available bandwidth, as opposed to the global max of 20MHz and the US standard of 10 . If we’d like to see speeds of such magnitude, we’ll have to come across more spectrum somewhere, and soon; Ericsson hopes to have the first phases of LTE-Advanced ready to bump up our network speeds by 2013. At that point, “faux G” will take on a whole new meaning, won’t it? Full PR and video after the break.

Continue reading Ericsson takes LTE-Advanced next-level, notches 1Gbps downloads in testing

Ericsson takes LTE-Advanced next-level, notches 1Gbps downloads in testing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Solid as HTC’s Thunderbolt may be from a software perspective, its battery life has proven to be less than striking — unless you’ve been rocking it with that ultra-chunky extended battery. In comparison, its streamlined and Qi-certified battery cover was slated as another option, but there’s been nary a mention of it since that accidental tease on Verizon’s website in April. According to Droid Life, it’s actually now available from Verizon retail locations for about $30 to complement the $70 charging base — great for users who: a. hold disdain for cables, b. don’t mind a few extra charges, or c. wear skinny jeans. There’s no mention of when we’ll see the hopefully convenient accessory pop up on Verizon’s website, but at least it’s out there somewhere for those willing to look.

Verizon stores struck by HTC Thunderbolt Wireless Charging Battery Cover originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jun 2011 01:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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