Hasta La Gadget!

Though Verizon Wireless and corporate half-parent Vodafone are finally getting close to achieving technological synergy now that both are moving to LTE for their next-gen networks — and contrary to recent statements — rhetoric is heating up that suggests the marriage may not last forever. Speaking at an investor’s get-together this week, Voda CEO Vittorio Colao said that “the board continues to look at” the company’s investment in the joint venture with Verizon — which we take as executive-speak for “everything’s for sale for the right price.” The popular rumor is that Vodafone’s bummed about Verizon’s failure to pay dividends for the past four years, which effectively means that Big Red isn’t actively contributing to the wireless giant’s bottom line. Verizon’s made no secret of the fact that it’d love to own the joint venture outright, so come on, guys… Verizon’s got money, Voda’s got the goods, let’s sit down at that oaken conference table on the 45th floor and work this out.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Vodafone thinking long and hard about its Verizon stake originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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C’mon folks, say it with us now: “Finally!” After T-Mobile USA and Sprint decided to charge two arms and three-quarters of a leg for HTC’s fancy-but-not-world-changing Touch Pro2, Verizon Wireless has stepped in to show those other guys how to price a phone appropriately. Big Red’s version of the WinMo 6.1-packin’ handset will be available starting tomorrow (just as we’d heard) for $199.99 on contract, though that is after a $100 mail-in rebate. You already know what to expect in terms of specifications — 3.6-inch WVGA tilting touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, built-in GPS for VZ Navigator and a microSD expansion slot. Now, there’s just the decision to overlook Sprint’s Any Mobile, Anytime plan or not…

Filed under: Cellphones

Verizon grabs HTC Touch Pro2, prices it right at $200 on contract originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Keepin’ It Real Fake industry has become so good, so fast, so well-tuned to market trends that we knew it was just a matter of time before it’d be consistently beating the real phones to market. What we didn’t expect, necessarily, was for Nokia to start making its own fakes. We can’t tell what’s going on exactly, but it appears that the twisty E81 that we saw a while back could’ve very well been a genuine article — either that, or it was scooped up well ahead of release in China and cloned ages before Nokia had intended the phone to be announced. Anyhow, this thing is launching as the Twist for Nokia, the bizarre swivel phone that’s been rumored for a while now. Alongside the Surge, the Twist proves that Espoo’s committed to releasing totally customized gear for US carriers, and we’ll be especially curious to see how well the swivel works in practice here. It’ll run $149.99 on a two-year deal before rebate, featuring a 3 megapixel autofocus cam with flash, full HTML browser, so-called “Habitat Mode” (like the Intrigue before it), EV-DO Rev. 0, and a full QWERTY keyboard that swivels away to turn the phone into a near-perfect square. It also features replaceable faceplates and is said to have some sort of lighting arrangement around the swivel ring that’s user-customizable — perfect for your next fog-filled rave. The interwebs and “select NYC locations” all get it on September 13 with everyone else following on come the 21st, so go ahead and make some square-shaped room in your pocket right now, why don’t you?

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia Twist launching on Verizon starting September 13 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s really starting to buy into this global 3G data thing, offering modems that do EV-DO domestically and HSPA abroad; problem is, ZTE’s AD3700 that’s on the market currently is… shall we say, a little too “in-your-face” for some folks. For those individuals, we might recommend the more buttoned-up UMW190 from PCD, which offers triband HSPA to go along with the EV-DO Rev. A that you’ll enjoy domestically. Those with pockets deep enough to withstand the heavy-hitting roaming bills can grab the UMW190 now online (later this month in stores) for $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Filed under: Wireless

Verizon beefs up global modem line with UMW190 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A good, hard look at Verizon’s WinMo strategy tells you that the company isn’t loyal to a single brand when it comes to mobile platforms (and why should it be?), so we can’t say we’re terribly surprised to see a leaked inventory doc suggesting HTC wants in on Big Red’s Android action. All of the Verizon-focused Android talk as of late has focused on Motorola’s Sholes — but as Android goes, HTC’s still the Goliath to Moto’s David, so it would make a lot of sense that we’re seeing some action out of Taiwan here, especially in light of the fact that we’ve got the CDMA-flavored Hero coming up for Sprint. The screenshot leads us to believe that the model will be called “Desire” (now that we hear it, we’re surprised Samsung hasn’t snapped that up already) with a model number of 6200, sourced through the shadowy industry middlemen over at PCD. Beyond that, though, your guess is as good as ours.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Move over, Sholes: Verizon getting Android-powered ‘Desire’ from HTC? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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