Verizon Wireless - 3/71 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Mar

DROID DNA Ends The Disappearing Act At VerizonWireless.com While LG Lucid Goes Missing [Updated]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in DROID DNA, News, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: April 1st, 2013

Earlier today, the DROID DNA disappeared from VZW's site. This, combined with all the Verizon-bound HTC One rumors, prompted some in the Android community to wonder whether such a One variant is almost upon us - after all, why would Big Red take down one of its most powerful smartphones so suddenly? The vanishing act didn't last long, however, as the DNA just returned, seemingly alive and well:

It's unclear at this point whether the phone was briefly missing by mistake or Verizon put it back because people noticed, but we've reached out to the media relations team to find out and will update this space if they respond (which is unlikely to happen before Monday).

Mar

Verizon And Delphi Officially Launch Vehicle Diagnostics Service - $250 For The Module, $5 A Month On Your Bill

Posted by David Ruddock in Accessories, News, Verizon Wireless

If you're a car nut, a paranoid parent, or a small business owner looking to do a little, uh, company vehicle economy analysis, Verizon's teamed up with Delphi to create the Vehicle Diagnostic system. It's actually pretty cool!

Verizon will sell you the Delphi hardware module, which should work with a majority of ODBII-compliant vehicles 1996 and later. You hook this little guy up to your vehicle's ODBII port, and it automatically starts sending data back to your web dashboard (and/or the Android app) via its built-in data connection. If you have a Verizon Share Everything plan, it will set you back $5 a month, though the data usage it brings will likely be pretty near negligible.

Mar

Google Posts Jelly Bean Factory Images For The Verizon (4.2.2) And Sprint (4.2.1) Galaxy Nexus

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Nexus, News, Sprint, Verizon Wireless

If you've been waiting for an official means of recovering your Verizon or Sprint Galaxy Nexus should an emergency arise, Google's just fulfilled that need. The factory images for both devices – 4.2.2 (JDQ39) for the Verizon variant and 4.2.1 (GA02) for Sprint's – just hit the "Factory Images for Nexus Devices" download page.

These images allow you to return your device back to its stock state, which includes the stock bootloader and recovery if you choose to flash it. If you root, ROM, and/or tinker, it's a good idea to have these handy – you never know when you might need them.

Mar

Jelly Bean Rolling Out Now To The Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere II On Verizon

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

Last Updated: April 26th, 2013

If QWERTYs are your thing, the Samsung's Galaxy Stratosphere II on Big Red is one of the only choices left on the market. And while it may be nothing to write home about in general, it is getting a nice bump up to Jelly Bean right now. Announced officially on the Verizon Blog just a bit ago, the update has started making its way out in phases and brings all sorts of fun goodies like voice search, enhanced notifications, Google Now, and lots more.

Aside from the stock Android enhancements, Big Red also decided to throw Verizon Remote Diagnostics and Polaris Office on the device.

Mar

Verizon Finally Starts Pushing Android 4.2.2 To The Galaxy Nexus

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Nexus, News, Verizon Wireless

Oh, Verizon. The company we all love to hate (aside from AT&T). You push updates ridiculously late all the time, have to Droidify every handset that comes your way, and charge ridiculously high prices. Still, we just can't stay away. It's the LTE – you know that, right? We love the LTE coverage, so we deal with all the crap.

When it comes to dealing with Verizon's crap, I can't say that any phone has gotten a worse hand than the Galaxy Nexus. Well, except maybe the Droid Bionic. Or Charge. But I digress – this isn't a contest to see which phone was treated the worst.

Mar

Verizon Approves An Update To... The Droid Charge? Face Unlock And A Photo Editor Come To Gingerbread

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Charge (i510), News, Verizon Wireless

Verizon is just not letting up on the updates. Which is kind of a crazy thing to say about the carrier. Today's is an oddity, though, as the Droid Charge will be getting a mild upgrade. Yes, really. It's not a huge change, though. Unfortunately, it's not Jelly Bean (or even Ice Cream Sandwich), but it does bring a couple of the features from those platforms, including face unlock and a photo editor.

Since it's not coming with Ice Cream Sandwich, we have to assume that either Verizon or Samsung (more likely the latter) added the features in themselves.

Mar

[Update: Really, It's Coming - Don't Listen To HTC] AllThingsD: Verizon Will Get The HTC One... But Not For A Month Or Two After Everyone Else

Posted by David Ruddock in HTC, News, One, Rumors, Verizon Wireless

Update 3/18/13: AllThingsD dismissed the now-deleted claim by HTC's Twitter account that the One would not be coming to Big Red as bogus and reiterated that it is, indeed, in the works. As originally reported (see below), it's scheduled to arrive months after other U.S. carriers.

According to AllThingsD, America's biggest and reddest carrier will be getting HTC's One phone - but not for a while. Yep, Verizon has signed on as a distributor of the handset, but it won't be available for "a month or two" after the three other major wireless providers in the US have it.

Mar

Verizon Approves Droid 4 Jelly Bean (4.1) Update, Will Roll Out 'Soon'

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Droid 4, News, Verizon Wireless

Verizon has very surprisingly been killing it lately with Jelly Bean updates for various devices. Today, the Droid 4 is joining the pack with an imminent upgrade to Android 4.1. The rollout hasn't begun just yet, but support docs have shown up on the carriers website indicating that the update will be 'Coming Soon.'

Of course, the major benefits of Android 4.1 are obvious: access to Google Now (which can be updated directly from the Play Store after that), improved voice controls, expandable notifications, and voice transcription even when you don't have a data connection. Verizon has also improved connectivity with the mobile hotspot app and no longer includes Sling and MOG as preloaded applications, so you can remove those if you'd like.

Mar

Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.2) OTA Approved For Verizon Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 And 10.1

Posted by Cody Toombs in Device Updates, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Verizon Wireless

Even though Verizon is not known for having a speedy update approval process, owners of the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 are finally about to win the Jelly Bean lottery. The OTAs will bring each device up to Android 4.1.2.

Mar

Verizon Approves Update 9.16.6 For The RAZR HD And MAXX HD, Lots Of Bug Fixes And Improvements Coming Your Way

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Verizon Wireless

While Big Red may have just started pushing Jelly Bean to the OG RAZR/MAXX twins, the more modern HD variants of the devices are set to get a decent bug-fix-update as well. The details of the OTA just hit Verizon's support site, which generally means the update is ready to go and should begin rolling out within a few days.

Looks like it's going to bring fixes-a-plenty, covering everything from security to data roaming and Wi-Fi connectivity. Here's a slightly easier-to-read list:

Google Security Patches have been added for additional security
Data roaming fix has been implemented
Connection/disconnection detection has been improved when using USB
Improved Wi-Fi connectivity
Wallpaper options are shown when home screen icons are selected
Camera improvements have been made to touch-to-focus, notifications and low light performance
In-call audio routes to earpiece when connected to headset has been improved
Improvements to video streaming pixilation have been made
Media sync stability has been improved

We'll let you know as soon as it starts hitting devices.