Verizon Wireless - 10/71 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

Initial Impressions Of The DROID DNA: This Could Be The DROID You're Looking For

Posted by David Ruddock in DROID DNA, News, Phone Reviews, Verizon Wireless

The DROID DNA is, without a doubt, the most exciting HTC phone to come to Verizon since the original Incredible. And I can already tell you that it doesn't disappoint - this is a serious effort from HTC, whose US handset sales have dropped sharply in the last year. It could be the phone that catapults them back into relevance.

After spending a short amount of time with it, I'm going to try and give you my first-blush reaction to this spec sheet titan. (The full review should be coming some time next week.)

The Display: Not the jaw-dropper we were expecting.

Nov

[Deal Alert] Pre-Order The DROID DNA From Wirefly For $50 Less Than Verizon (New Contracts And Upgrades)

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, DROID DNA, Verizon Wireless

If you're looking for the latest and greatest on Verizon, chances are you're curious about the DROID DNA. While we'll have our review up some time in the next week, if you can't wait, pre-orders are live on Verizon right now. But paying full price on a new, on-contract phone? That's for chumps, am I right?

Luckily, Wirefly also has the DNA up for pre-order - $150 on a new subscriber agreement or upgrade. That's 50 bucks less than Verizon. And considering this phone is insanely powerful, that's a pretty great price. As a reminder, the DNA is packing a 5" 1080p display - the first ever on a widely-sold smartphone, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, and Verizon's 4G LTE.

Nov

HTC DROID DNA Official: 5" Of Eye-Melting 1080p, Headed To Verizon On November 21st

Posted by David Ruddock in DROID DNA, News, Verizon Wireless

Update: Here's a snapshot of that ridiculous 1080p display in action. Be sure to check out Ron's hands-on with the phone, in which he describes said eye-melting resolution.

Our own Ron Amadeo is live on the ground at the DROID DNA unveiling, but the not-quite-a-phablet phone has just been officially announced by Verizon. As expected, the DROID DNA's specifications (similar to the J Butterfly) basically position it as arguably the most lust-worthy Android phone on the market (in the US). Well, as long as you ignore the amount of internal storage, that is.

5" 1080p S-LCD3 display (1920x1080, 440DPI) with Gorilla Glass 2
1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor
2GB RAM / 16GB internal storage (11GB usable)
Android 4.1.1 with Sense 4+
8MP f2.0 rear camera / 2.1MP ultra-wide angle front facing camera
2020mAh battery (yikes)
Bluetooth 4.0 with apt-X
NFC
Wireless charging
New 2.55v built-in headphone amplifier (should provide significant audio quality gains)

The DNA is slated to launch on November 21st, for $200 on a 2-year agreement ($600 off contract).

Nov

Samsung Stratosphere II For Verizon Finally Official, Available 'In The Coming Weeks' For $129

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Stratosphere II, Verizon Wireless

We've seen a few leaks of Verizon's upcoming Stratosphere II over the past couple of months, and Big Red just made the handset official. As expected, it's a modest mid-ranger with a 4-inch display and powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. Like its predecessor, the Stratosphere II will also sport a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

This global-ready Android 4.0 handset will be available "in the coming weeks" for $129, but that's after a $50 mail-in-rebate and a two year agreement. Woo.

[Verizon Wireless Newsroom]

Nov

Android 4.1 For The Motorola Razr M Rolling Out Now

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, RAZR M, Verizon Wireless

Motorola promised that the Razr M would get its taste of Jelly Bean before year's end. Of course, when we hear "before year's end," it's just assumed that means December 29th or 30th. In this case, we have been pleasantly surprised, as the M's JB update is on its way out now.

Announced just moments ago by Verizon Wireless, the OTA brings all sorts of goodies to the smallest of the RAZR family, including Google Now, Project Butter (for smoothness), better voice recognition, enhanced notifications, a better keyboard, and more.

To see if the update is available on your device, head into Settings > About phone > System updates > Download.

Nov

Verizon's 4G LTE Rollout Will Be Complete By Mid-2013 - And This Actually Has Some Cool Implications

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Verizon Wireless

On an investor call earlier this morning, Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo said that the carrier's buildout of its 4G LTE network will be completed by mid-2013. This is after an earlier estimate of the end of 2013, putting the company a full six months ahead of schedule.

Now, network news isn't really very exciting. And what I just wrote up there is pretty boring. But, this is important stuff. Verizon is quite literally years ahead of its competitors if this turns out to be true. AT&T doesn't plan to overlap its current 3G footprint with LTE service until the end of 2014 - a full 1.5 years behind Verizon.

Nov

Verizon And HTC Announce November 13th Event, Of Course It's The DROID DNA

Posted by David Ruddock in DROID DNA, HTC, News, Verizon Wireless

The DROID DNA (or DLX ... or DIX) is a phone we've seen running around in leaked photos and Verizon MAP spreadsheets for some time now, but the date of an official launch has generally been elusive. Evleaks suggested early December, and given today's announcement of a Verizon/HTC event next week, that seems to be an increasingly likely timeframe.

The DROID DNA is largely believed to be a DROIDified version of HTC's J Butterfly, a 5" 1080p, quad-core Snapdragon-packing beast of a phone. Of course, the "J" in J Butterfly stands for Japan [only], so it looks like for the first time in a while Americans may be getting a top-tier HTC phone before Europe, or even Taiwan.

Nov

Verizon Finally Killing VCast App Store In January 2013

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in News, Verizon Wireless

It is profoundly unlikely that when you think about getting apps, you consider heading over to Verizon's VCast App Store. Apparently no one else was doing so either, because Big Red has announced via its developer site that it is shuttering the VCast store in January. I will give you a moment to silently weep before continuing.

The VCast Apps storefront was delivered to a handful of Verizon's Android devices starting back in late 2010. At the time the idea was that users would charge app purchases and subscriptions to their monthly bill, which was not supported by the Android Market client at the time.

Oct

Play Store Carrier Billing Lands On Verizon Today - Parents, Set Your PINs

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, News, Verizon Wireless

If you're a Verizon Wireless customer, you might be seeing a new payment option in your Play Store billing screen this morning. That option, as you've probably guessed, is carrier billing. We reported on the announcement just a couple of weeks ago.

For a lot of folks, this is easier than adding a credit card to the Play Store, but if you've got kids (or other spendthrift loved ones), this presents a new and exciting danger to your wallet. Be sure to set a Play Store PIN on your phone in the Settings menu - nobody wants to see a $40 payment to Zynga tacked onto their phone bill at the end of the month.

Oct

Deal Alert: Motorola RAZR HD Drops To $129 On Amazon For New Customers; RAZR MAXX HD to $179

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Deals, RAZR HD / RAZR MAXX HD, Verizon Wireless

Just a week ago, I discovered that despite some flaws, the Motorola DROID RAZR HD is a great phone. With a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU, a 4.7" 720p SAMOLED display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage (plus a microSD slot), and a 2530mAh battery, it packed solid performance and good battery life into a slim package.

Now, there's another reason to love it: Amazon has dropped the price down to just $130 for new customers ($150 for upgrades), compared to Verizon's $200. And the RAZR MAXX HD (with its 3300mAh battery and even longer name)? Just $180 ($200 for upgrades).