Hasta La Gadget!

Alanis Morrisette couldn’t have possibly thought up something this ironic to put in her hit song. On the same day Sprint launches an ad campaign trashing T-Mobile’s “unlimited” plan for throttling its data speeds, the Now Network announced that it intends to begin throttling Virgin Mobile’s broadband sometime in October. Those who use larger amounts of data on the prepaid brand will experience the briskness of 256kbps as soon as they hit a monthly threshold of 2.5GB. This won’t affect postpaid customers on Sprint for the time being, but it’s hitting a little too close to home. After all, the company — always playing the role of consumer advocate — is now at least experimenting with the idea of employing the same practices it’s currently trashing its competitors for. Those who’re taking full advantage of Dan Hesse’s spoils are safe for now, but the question remains: who’ll throttle the throttlers? Check out the vid and press release in all their irony-dripping glory after the break.

[Thanks, John]

Continue reading Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand to test throttling while Sprint pokes fun at throttlers (video)

Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand to test throttling while Sprint pokes fun at throttlers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Messin’ with hacked ROMs? Fuhgetaboutit. HTC’s Droid Incredible 2 is finally getting the Android 2.3 it has long deserved, with the luckiest of Verizon Wireless subscribers seeing the update pushed to their phones this evening. The update (coined 2.18.605.4) brings along performance improvements with mobile IM, solved Hotmail sync issues, better device connectivity, a built-in browser bookmark for the New York Times, the addition of the Wireless Charging UI and a new desktop dock app. Don’t be shocked if it takes a week to get to your particular phone, but be sure to let us know how things go in comments once your turn arrives.

[Thanks, Jimmy]

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) starts rolling out to Verizon’s Droid Incredible 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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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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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Red-eye alert, all ye Droid faithful! A leaked screenshot over at Droid Attic shows Motorola’s worst kept secret — the Droid 3 — supposedly hitting Best Buy’s shelves on July 14th. With all the unofficial leaks we’ve seen in the past few months, we have a pretty good idea of what this successor’s got running under its QWERTY slider. Favoring a dual-core OMAP 4430 processor, a rear-facing 8 megapixel cam capturing video at 1080p, and baked with latest Gingerbread update, this black block of does shouldn’t disappoint. Make note, VZW’s new plans go into effect one week prior to this, so if you’re clinging to that grandfathered plan, you can still pick this one up on-contract, and cross your toes it gets an LTE surprise.

[Thanks, fuzzball]

Droid 3 headed to Best Buy on July 14th? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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