Sep 07

Motorola Droid Bionic finally available on Verizon, angels sing in chorus

Posted in: 4G, Android, droid, gingerbread, Google, lte, mobilepostcross, motorola, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw
Nine months and three days. That’s the length of time between Verizon’s official unveiling of the Motorola Droid Bionic and its actual release. The poor device suffered through countless delays and a complete design overhaul as it watched its LTE brethren get launched in the meantime. But today, September 8th, is the day the chains come off Verizon’s latest 4G wonder, and it’s all yours for three Benjamins. Were you one of the faithful who waited so patiently (or impatiently, even) for the inevitable day of reckoning? Carpe diem, friends, and head to the source link.

Motorola Droid Bionic finally available on Verizon, angels sing in chorus originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Sep 2011 01:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 06

Samsung Stratosphere makes its obligatory FCC visit, confirms membership in Verizon’s LTE club

Posted in: 4G, lte, mobilepostmini, qwerty, samsung, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw
We know, the image above is hardly as detailed as the ones we glanced at this morning, but it has its measure of significance nonetheless. It’s a rough diagram of the Samsung SCH-i405 — a phone known to us as the Stratosphere — as it appears in FCC filings approved today. The documents’ mention of LTE band 13 (as well as CDMA / EVDO) seems to confirm rumors that suggest the aforementioned device will be coming to Verizon’s 4G network, likely sooner rather than later. If you’ve been eager to see an Epic 4G-esque QWERTY slider on the largest carrier in the US, this will be your golden opportunity. Of course, this may prove to be a drop in the bucket when compared to an impending flood of even more tempting handsets.

Samsung Stratosphere makes its obligatory FCC visit, confirms membership in Verizon’s LTE club originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 06

BlackBerry Torch 9850 officially coming to Verizon September 8th for $200

Posted in: BlackBerry, mobilepostcross, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

After over a month of speculation and rumors, Verizon is ready to get the BlackBerry Torch 9850 into the hands of eager customers. At a cost $50 higher than its arch CDMA nemesis (not to mention a couple weeks behind), Big Red has jumped aboard to offer the touch-only smartphone for $200 with a two-year agreement. The devices will begin selling online September 8th, with units showing up in stores a week later. If you’re looking for the full scoop on Verizon’s new OS 7-powered digs, continue below to check out the full press release.

Continue reading BlackBerry Torch 9850 officially coming to Verizon September 8th for $200

BlackBerry Torch 9850 officially coming to Verizon September 8th for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 06

Samsung Stratosphere aims to be Verizon’s first QWERTY-packing LTE device

Posted in: 4G, Android, gingerbread, leaks, lte, mobilepostmini, qwerty, rumors, samsung, Today's Chili, vzw
Verizon’s LTE network may be praiseworthy for its blazing-fast mobile broadband and high-end devices, but there’s one area of the carrier’s 4G lineup that’s always needed improvement: variety. From renders revealed by PocketNow, it’s apparent that one of the next-gen handsets slated for release soon (perhaps even this week) is the QWERTY-laden Samsung Stratosphere, also known as the SCH-I405. If true, this would be the very first LTE device that comes with a hardware keyboard, finally giving us a new option aside from the 4.3-inch slates that have dominated Big Red’s offerings for so long. It’s rumored to have an “awesome” screen (Super AMOLED Plus?), Android 2.3.4 preinstalled, 2GB internal storage and 5MP rear / 1.3 front cams; not much of a spec sheet to go off of, of course, but at least we know it’s unique. With several other LTE handsets taking the stage between now and the holidays, there’s no reason to make them all look the same… right?

Samsung Stratosphere aims to be Verizon’s first QWERTY-packing LTE device originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 05

Verizon’s Pantech Breakout rendered, is four inches of LTE goodness

Posted in: 4G, lte, mobilepostmini, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

Verizon’s LTE lineup will soon be expanding like a balloon. With this week’s launch of the Motorola Droid Bionic and eventual release of the Samsung Stratosphere and LG Revolution 2, 4G shoppers will soon have options aplenty to choose from; why not throw another one into the mix? The LTE-enabled Pantech Breakout — which passed through the FCC as the Apache — now has some higher-quality renders, courtesy of PocketNow. While most of the phone’s specs are in line with the HTC Thunderbolt and Samsung Droid Charge, it differs by offering a smaller 4-inch WVGA display, Pantech’s custom Android UI and a 10-device mobile hotspot. There’s still no word on pricing or release date, though we were expecting to see the device come out last week; we can’t think of many people completely devastated by the delay, but it will at least provide much-needed variety to Verizon’s arguably stale 4G setup.

Verizon’s Pantech Breakout rendered, is four inches of LTE goodness originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 02

Verizon launching Droid Bionic September 8th, giving some away through an AR scavenger hunt (update: it’s already arriving in stores)

Posted in: dual-core, DualCore, mobilepostcross, phone, release, Release Date, smartphone, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, video, vzw

It’s been a long and tortuous road for the Droid Bionic. From our first taste of its dual-core potential at CES, to the stream of leaked specs, shots and release dates of the phone in the months since. Well, the wait officially ends on September 8th, as Verizon just confirmed the release date with a new version of the robotic battle teaser ad we saw a couple weeks ago. Big Red has also launched a Droid Does website with info on VZW’s Droids and its new Arena augmented reality scavenger hunt — where deft digital orienteers can win a Bionic, HDTV, laptop, tablet, or quadrocopter. For more info, hit the second source link below and head on past the break to see the vid for yourself. Feel free to enjoy the blade work of a raven-haired warrior slicing up cyborgs while you’re at it.

Update: Looks like Verizon’s ramping up for the Bionic era, as the handsets have already begun to arrive in stores. Pic’s after the break.

Continue reading Verizon launching Droid Bionic September 8th, giving some away through an AR scavenger hunt (update: it’s already arriving in stores)

Verizon launching Droid Bionic September 8th, giving some away through an AR scavenger hunt (update: it’s already arriving in stores) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 29

LG VS920 pushes through FCC with Verizon LTE, could be the LG Revolution 2?

Posted in: 4G, cdma, LG, lte, mobilepostcross, Today's Chili, verizon, vzw
The LTE-toting LG Revolution is still the most recent phone to debut on Verizon’s 4G lineup — at least for another week or so, that is — but we’re already seeing clues to the phone’s sequel popping up. We saw the Revolution 2 show up on a leaked roadmap so the mysterious follow-up has been on our radar, but we weren’t expecting to see it quite this early. Yet here it is: the LG VS920, complete with Verizon’s LTE Band 13, global GSM / EDGE and 900 /1900 / 2100 WCDMA and HSPA, has received the FCC’s blessing. Now, it doesn’t specifically come out saying it’s the successor, nor does it signify its relation to the previous device; since the original Revolution is designated the LG VS910, however, we’re taking the liberty to put two and two together here. Check out the gallery below for more measurements and diagrams.

Gallery: LG VS920 FCC docs

LG VS920 pushes through FCC with Verizon LTE, could be the LG Revolution 2? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 28

Refresh Roundup: week of August 22, 2011

Posted in: Android, att, BlackBerry, firmware, firmware update, FirmwareUpdate, HP, HTC, leak, leaks, mango, mobilepostmini, motorola, nokia, refresh, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, roundup, rumor, rumors, Software, software update, SoftwareUpdate, Today's Chili, update, verizon, vzw, webos, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7, Wp7

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android Updates

  • Motorola’s Photon 4G was the recipient of a minor over-the-air firmware revamp that offers improvements to responsiveness and voice calls, and offers more bug fixes and other enhancements. [via PhoneArena]
  • Want another bug fix update? The HTC EVO 3D is the next contestant, rolling out its second OTA refresh in as many weeks. This time it appears that a new “Corporate 4G” widget and a new radio have been added. [via AndroidCentral]
  • Gingerbread 2.3.4 is now rolling out to Bell’s Motorola Atrix 4G OTA. [via MobileSyrup]
  • Now that its official Gingerbread support page has gone live, Verizon’s Motorola Droid 2 will likely be receiving Android 2.3 in the very near future. [via AndroidCentral]
  • Sasktel’s HTC Incredible S is now the beneficiary of Android 2.3.3 in an OTA install. [via MobileSyrup]

Unofficial Android updates / custom ROMs / misc hackery

Other platforms

  • The Nokia N8 was recently blessed with Symbian Anna, but a few camera-related upgrades were left out. No need to fear, as an “experimental” update is now being offered, which adds continuous auto-focus and tweaks the UI to allow for faster access to the camera — among other improvements, such as a boost to 30fps. Check out the change log here. [via ZOMGitsCJ]
  • Given last week’s news about webOS, we were concerned the newly-launched Pre3 would be DOA, with no promise of future updates. HP’s proving this isn’t the case, however, as the device got a minor update that brought the phone’s help center live and fixed a few bugs along the way. [via PreCentral and PhoneArena]
  • Research in Motion released an upgrade to its Tablet OS for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Unfortunately, it’s not the 2.0 version we saw leaked screenshots of earlier this week, but it still brings a nice feature to the tablet: differential updates. This means that in future OS refreshes, only the affected sections will be changed. In addition, the new version, dubbed 1.0.7.2942, will improve WiFi connectivity via WEP and enhancements to BlackBerry Bridge. [via RIM]
  • WP7Mod showed a video of the HTC HD2 booting up with Windows Phone Mango’s RTM build installed. We’ve been told that it’s almost ready for any daring souls interested in a new challenge for their Windows Mobile device. [via WMPowerUser]

Refresh Roundup: week of August 22, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 27

Mobile Miscellany: week of August 22, 2011

Posted in: 4G, BlackBerry, korea, lte, Miscellaneous, mobilepostmini, motorola, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, samsung, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, South Korea, SouthKorea, t-mobile, Today's Chili, verizon, vzw

This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of August 15, 2011:

Phone Releases

  • Fido launched the Samsung Galaxy Q, also known as the Gravity Smart in the US, on Thursday. [via MobileSyrup]
  • The BlackBerry Curve 9360 can already be purchased on Telus for $50 with a three-year contract, and the Torch 9860 will be available on August 30th. [via IntoMobile and CrackBerry]
  • SouthernLINC Wireless announced the immediate availability of the Motorola Titanium, offered for $150 with a two-year commitment.
  • T-Mobile released the Samsung Gravity TXT, a basic messaging phone that’s on sale for $10. [via UnwiredView]
  • Cricket has begun offering a new messaging phone called the Samsung Comment, which offers a full QWERTY keyboard, stereo bluetooth, a microSD slot and 1.3MP camera. It can be had for $90 with no commitment required. [via PhoneScoop]

Other news

  • The government of South Korea, in reaction to Google’s planned acquisition of Motorola, now intends to form a consortium of local companies that will work together in building a brand new mobile operating system. [via IntoMobile]
  • Randall Milch, Chief Counsel for Verizon, is so frustrated with the patent wars going on that this week he filed an appeal to President Obama, asking for him to provide assistance in the matter. [via PhoneScoop]
  • The Motorola PRO is expected to debut in the UK in mid-September, though pre-orders are already taking place at select authorized resellers. [via UnwiredView]
  • Leaked posters indicate the BlackBerry Torch 9850 will be offered by Verizon and screenshots show the same phone going to US Cellular, though we’re still unsure of the release date or pricing. [via CrackBerry(1) and (2)]
  • Last week we reported on the rumored Sony Ericsson Nozumi, a smartphone that will likely feature a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm S2 CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, and 4.3-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution. At the time, it was assumed to be only selling in Japan; however, there’s a good possibility the Nozumi will end up available globally instead. [via XperiaBlog]
  • Pantech’s LTE phone on Verizon may actually end up being called the Breakout (rather than the “Apache”), according to a leaked screenshot. When released, it’ll feature a 1GHz CPU with 512MB of RAM, dual cameras, and will be preloaded with Gingerbread. Not much to write home about at this stage in the game, considering these are incredibly similar to the specs of the LG Revolution. However, it would be the first 4G phone on Big Red that has a 4-inch display. [via AndroidCentral]
  • T-Mobile may be planning to throw a data pay-per-use feature onto any smartphone that currently has its internet access blocked. If this happens, it will affect current customers as well as new ones. [via TmoNews]
  • Dish has petitioned the FCC for permission to use 40MHz of allocated spectrum to begin building out an LTE-Advanced network. [via PhoneScoop]

Mobile Miscellany: week of August 22, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 25

Samsung Galaxy S II not coming to Verizon after all? (update: confirmed)

Posted in: Android, galaxy s ii, GalaxyS, GalaxySIi, mobilepostcross, samsung, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

Many of us were holding out hopes that the Function, Verizon’s rumored variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II, would be the latest addition to its LTE lineup, but now we’re hearing that it may not be coming to the carrier at all. According to the Wall Street Journal, it appears quite likely that Big Red won’t be involved in Samsung’s anticipated launch event this coming Monday. The publication cites people familiar with the plans, who also mentioned that we should still expect to see the Galaxy S II make its way to Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T at the very least. Now here’s some possible relief to the sting you may have just felt: BGR is now reporting that while this is all true, Verizon has a Samsung phone in the works that will have “nearly identical specs” to that of the GSII. We’re still awaiting official confirmation from Verizon on the matter and will update when we receive word.

Update: We just heard from a Verizon spokesperson who confirmed the carrier will not be carrying the device, and offered the following quote: “We have a robust portfolio of devices that offer customers exciting options including the Droid Charge by Samsung which runs on Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network.”

Samsung Galaxy S II not coming to Verizon after all? (update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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