Hasta La Gadget!

We’re still shaking our heads and sighing longingly at the performance of Samsung’s Galaxy S II, a phone that wowed us in Europe but likely won’t be coming to American shores for some time — and who knows what it’ll look like when it does. But don’t get too down, dear reader, because here comes another slice of Samsung and this slab has that same 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display tucked in there. It’s a little less slim, a little less classy, and a little less quick than Sammy’s latest world-conquering wunderphone, but the LTE-equipped Charge is a proper contender in its own right. Read on to see why.

Continue reading Droid Charge review

Droid Charge review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like AT&T isn’t the only carrier patching cellular connectivity issues this month — a Verizon document suggests that we’ll be getting some brand new radio firmware for the beleaguered HTC Thunderbolt. The handset not only fell victim to Verizon’s LTE outage but has had 3G data and CDMA / LTE cycling issues since day one, so we’re hoping this latest baseband will bring at least a modicum of relief for affected speed demons across the country. What we don’t know is when this patch might show up — we thought the Xoom’s security update would be imminent, but those documents were unceremoniously pulled.

HTC Thunderbolt getting new radio firmware, according to Verizon doc originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 17:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can’t say we’re surprised by this, but turns out Verizon’s decided to delay the launch of its Samsung Droid Charge — originally scheduled for today — at the very last minute. According to an internal email we obtained, the blame’s on “unexpected delays” and no new date has yet been set. This makes sense, considering it wouldn’t do Verizon much good to launch a new 4G Android when its LTE service is still down (for over 24 hours and still counting). Ah well, this 4.3-incher better be worth the wait.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Update: We’re hearing reports that LTE is gradually being restored across the states, and our own Myriam Joire also sees 4G connection in San Francisco. That said, at this stage it’s unlikely that the Droid Charge will resume launch today.

Update 2: Apparently the folks at Target aren’t picking up what Verizon’s putting down, as a tipster has told us it’s releasing the Charge today as planned. Picture’s after the break.

Continue reading Verizon freezes Droid Charge launch indefinitely, blaming ‘unexpected delays’ (update)

Verizon freezes Droid Charge launch indefinitely, blaming ‘unexpected delays’ (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the Droid Charge has you thinking that Verizon LTE phones have to cost an arm, a leg, and an extra $100, you’ll want to take a look at this. Amazon Wireless is chopping the Thunderbolt, Verizon’s original 4G bad boy, down to the extremely palatable price of $130 on contract, valid for new Verizon subscribers who buy the phone between now and midnight Pacific Time on Monday. The 4.3-inch, Android 2.2 smartphone from HTC impressed us greatly with the 4G speeds it was able to pull down in our review, and while those might not remain quite so spectacular once that network starts loading up more customers, a price like the present one makes it an excellent proposition in the short term. The source link is where you’ll find it.

HTC Thunderbolt drops to $130 for new Verizon customers at Amazon over the weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday was AT&T’s turn, and today it’s Verizon revealing its earnings for the first quarter of 2011. The company has reported $27 billion in consolidated revenue from its wireless and wireline businesses, which is up 5.3 percent year over year (on a non-GAAP basis), while profits rose to $1.4 billion. Fueling that growth was 1.8 million net additions to its wireless customer base, which now totals 88.4 million customers (and 104 million connections). It also saw 207,000 net additions to its FiOS internet business and 192,000 net additions to FiOS TV, which bring those total customer bases to 4.3 million and 3.7 million, respectively. As for that little iPhone 4 launch, Verizon says it’s resulted in 2.2 million activations — that’s quite a bit less that AT&T’s 3.6 million iPhone activations for the same quarter, as you’ve no doubt noticed, although it does also have the benefit of a much cheaper iPhone 3GS in addition to the iPhone 4. Verizon also said that demand was “strong” for its new LTE devices (including 260,000 HTC Thunderbolt activations), and that deployment of its LTE network remains on track, with it expected to be available in more than 175 markets by the end of the year — in fact, that’s actually up a bit from the 147 figure we last heard. Head on past the break for the company’s full earnings report.

Continue reading Verizon reports ‘strong’ Q1 earnings: $27 billion revenue, 2.2 million iPhone activations

Verizon reports ‘strong’ Q1 earnings: $27 billion revenue, 2.2 million iPhone activations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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