Hasta La Gadget!

Congratulations Verizon, you’re the latest wireless provider to lose a class-action early termination fee-related lawsuit! It’s a dispute that’s been circulating in courts since 2008, and while the settlement was agreed upon quickly, there were a few lingering appeals that have taken this long to get cleared up — and not in VZW’s favor. The issue at hand was the company’s $175 flat early termination fees, behavior that has proven legally naughty again and again when the same fee is levied regardless of whether you were one month or 20 months into your contract. Each customer named in the suit will receive approximately $87.50 for their troubles, a total of $21 million Verizon will have to pay out. That’s a bit more than AT&T got hit with back in January, but a whole heck of a lot less than Sprint’s massive $73 million fine.

Verizon loses ETF class action lawsuit, ordered to pay $21 million originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The original Droid made a powerful statement. Actually, make that statements, plural: for Motorola, it was the largest single affirmation that it was going all-in with Android (after having already released the far less memorable midrange CLIQ on T-Mobile) and that it could play in the very highest rungs of the smartphone elite. For Verizon, the Droid was the carrier’s very first Android device, period — announced to great fanfare in collaboration with Eric Schmidt and crew — serving as a pretty spectacular exit from the Windows Mobile / BlackBerry doldrums that the carrier’s smartphone lineup had historically suffered. By almost any measure, the phone went on to serve its purpose; it let customers (and potential customers) know that Verizon could release a “cool” phone, and they responded. The Droid’s an unqualified success. Today, Verizon’s involvement in Android has never been greater, and Motorola — by all appearances, anyway — seems to be on its way back from the brink.

Time stops for no phone, though, and we’re now halfway through 2010. Motorola’s success as a competitive phone manufacturer is ultimately going to depend not on its ability to produce a single hit, but to produce a never-ending string of hits, each better than the one before it. It’s a tall order — and that’s exactly where the Droid X comes into play. Featuring a 4.3-inch WVGA display, 8 megapixel camera with 720p video capture, a reworked user interface, and a significantly improved processor, this phone apes the first Droid in at least one critical aspect: its ability to immediately steal the spotlight from anything else in Verizon’s lineup. Specs don’t tell the whole story, though, so let’s dig in and see what this beast is all about.

Continue reading Motorola Droid X review

Motorola Droid X review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s US team held a swanky event in NYC this evening to launch all four of its new US-spec Galaxy S phones in style. If you haven’t been brought up to speed on Samsung’s stateside Android invasion, the Captivate is headed to AT&T, the Fascinate to Verizon, the Epic 4G to Sprint and the Vibrant to T-Mobile. Each of the phones have 4-inch Super AMOLED screens, 1GHz Hummingbird Cortex A8 CPUs, and cams that can capture 720p video. We’ve already got detailed hands on impressions of the Captivate and Epic 4G, but stay tuned for Fascinate and Vibrant previews tonight. In the meantime, check out the family all together in the pictures in the gallery below.

Samsung’s American Galaxy S phones pose for family portrait originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey! Microsoft debuted two new phones earlier this year! Remember that? Okay, so there’s a fair chance that Microsoft actually moved fewer Kin One / Two handsets than Fusion Garage did JooJoo tablets, but we’re pretty confident that a few of you fell for the whole “my life is so social, so I’m buying in” thing. We’re still personally trying to figure out why the full Windows Phone 7 wasn’t used here instead of an OS that’ll likely be forgotten by the time you finish reading this, but enough of our rambling — this space is all about you. Did you pick up one of the Kin brothers? How’s the experience? Are you still kosher with paying the same data plan price as future Droid X users? Have you gained more friends than you know what to do with? Starred in your own commercial? Tell us below, tweeps.

How would you change Microsoft’s Kin One and Two? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So Droid Life — which has earned itself a solid record in the rumor game as of late — is reporting that Verizon Wireless will be dropping the “Wireless” portion of its name this weekend and announcing that it won’t be carrying the iPhone 4, instead concentrating on its high-end line of Android devices that it’s done an admirable job of building up lately. We can’t speak to the validity of the iPhone stuff, but we’re starting to believe the rest now that we’ve been independently tipped on a new branding campaign that’ll focus on the tagline “Rule the Air.” Interestingly, it would seem that changing the name to Verizon risks confusing the company with one of its two corporate parents — Verizon Communications — which leads us to wonder whether this is a sign that Vodafone could be getting close to relinquishing control of its sizable minority share after years of speculation. Regardless, it looks like the bright red theme ain’t going anywhere. More on this as it develops.

[Thanks, The Geek]

Update: We have it on good authority now that there will be no official name change from Verizon Wireless to Verizon — the only thing that’s changing is the use of new logos that lack the “Wireless” portion of the name.

Verizon Wireless changing to Verizon this Sunday, massive new branding campaign planned? (update: no name change) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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