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Continue reading Lowell McAdam tapped to succeed Verizon head Ivan Seidenberg

Lowell McAdam tapped to succeed Verizon head Ivan Seidenberg originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though the HTC Droid Eris soldiers on in user pockets in a variety of guises, Verizon has unsurprisingly decided to disavow future updates for the canceled device. Carrier spokespersons told Computerworld that the Eris won’t see Android 2.2. “We have other options in Android devices, so this is part of the normal evolution of our portfolio,” a spokeswoman reportedly said. While we didn’t really expect Verizon to pull a T-Mobile and support phones that died even before the original G1, we have to imagine there’ll be a few ruffled feathers at that particular choice of words. No one likes to be told to buy a new device in order to get a software update. On the plus side, we expect XDA-developers will get a few new members this week, the better to unleash the potential of future neglected devices for us all.

Shocker: Verizon says Droid Eris won’t get Froyo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We would’ve never figured on Verizon carrying over the “Curve 3G” name from this phone’s GSM counterpart, considering all of its older Curve models have already had EV-DO — but branding consistency trumps logic in this case, we suppose. Given what we know about the GSM model, you can probably guess the specs: 2 megapixel cam and BlackBerry OS 5 with upgradeability to 6 are both in the cards, though interestingly, Verizon’s official specs just list 802.11b/g for WiFi — there’s no mention of 802.11n, which the current Curve 3G has under the hood. Regardless, perhaps the best feature is the price: $29.99 on contract after a $100 rebate, making it one of the most affordable brand new smartphones on the market — assuming BlackBerry OS is your cup of tea, of course. It’ll launch in business sales channels this Thursday, while in-store availability for us lay folk follows “in the coming weeks.” Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading BlackBerry Curve 3G launching on Verizon for $30

BlackBerry Curve 3G launching on Verizon for $30 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a rumor going around today that Verizon is stripping Google services out of its Android devices going forward in favor of their Bing equivalents (much the same way that AT&T has gone with Yahoo on some phones), but the company says this afternoon that it’s simply false:

“…that is not true. We have a relationship with Microsoft and Bing is the search engine on our multi-media phones but we have never said it would be exclusive on all of our devices.”

We think the wording here is pretty important: “on our multi-media phones.” We take this to mean that Verizon’s looking at using Bing on its high-end featurephones and its midrange smartphones, possibly keeping the end-to-end Google experience exclusive to its cream of the crop — which would also explain why the recently-launched Fascinate didn’t get the coveted Droid brand as a part of its name.

On a related note, we’re hearing from a tipster today that an upcoming low-end Android device for Verizon from LG is loaded with Bing services, which strengthens the case — it looks like Bing is the “cheap” experience for Big Red right now. We’ve gotta admit, we’re wondering how Microsoft feels about that positioning.

Update: Microsoft is basically corroborating Verizon’s statement, saying that “the deal for Verizon Android devices is not exclusive.”

Update 2: Verizon is additionally saying that Google’s revamped search box that includes its new voice action capabilities will be available for download once the Fascinate hits Android 2.2 — in other words, they’re not explicitly blocking Google services from being installed on the device. Of course, that doesn’t solve the root problem, which is that Bing is baked into the shipping ROM — but it’s something, we suppose.

Debunk: Bing not replacing Google on all Verizon Android devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that big, honking red-and-black HTC slider that dwarfed an EVO 4G? It’s back sporting Verizon colors just as we were told, and with a few more confirmed specifications thanks to the ever-reliable FCC. The HTC “PD42100” is still missing a proper internal codename, but test reports confirm it’s ready for at least CDMA 2000 and GSM 850 plus EV-DO Rev. A, Bluetooth and 802.11b/g/n WiFi at 2.4GHz frequencies. There’s no word on that 1.2GHz processor or 4-inch display, but it’s clear we’re looking at some chunky chiclet keys and there’s definitely a removable battery. We can’t wait to get our hands on what surely looks like the new king of Droids.

Update: As it turns out, the size of the screen has been staring us in the face for hours — we just had to think back to high school geometry class, specifically the Pythagorean Theorem. Starting with the FCC’s handy-dandy picture of the phone’s rear next to a square ruler, we had only to superimpose an image of the front on top, then calculate the diagonal (after translating to inches, of course) to discover it was a 4-inch display all along. Oh, and the phone has EV-DO Rev. A for data. [Thanks, Mark]

HTC’s dual-mode CDMA / GSM Android slider hits the FCC, decked out in shades of Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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