07Feb

$199 Motorola Droid 4 To Grace Verizon Shelves On February 10

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Droid 4

It’s been nearly a month since Verizon officially spilled the beans on the QWERTY-packing, LTE-sporting Motorola Droid 4, and now we finally have a release date to go with it. According to the nation’s largest wireless provider, the oft-delayed Droid 4 is due to hit sales channels on February 10 complete with a $199 price tag.

Though its slimmer brethren have enjoyed most of the limelight lately, the Droid 4 is still a welcome addition to the Verizon lineup as their second LTE device with a full physical keyboard.

While it doesn’t yet run Ice Cream Sandwich, the rest of its feature list — 1.2 GHZ dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera, and 4-inch qHD display — make for an attractive little package. Additional features like government-grade encryption, a sprinkling of enterprise-friendly apps, and support for Motorola’s Lapdock 500 only sweeten the deal, especially if you’re looking to dump that work BlackBerry for something a bit more robust.

To celebrate the release of the Droid 4 (and a buy-one-get-one promotion on the Droid RAZR family), Verizon is also reviving their double-data promotion, so penny-pinching phone shoppers may want to jump on the deal before it disappears again. Of course, if Verizon keeps doing what they’re doing, there’s a real chance we’ll see that double data promo rear its head once another noteworthy LTE smartphone comes down the pipeline.



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24Jan

$299 Droid RAZR MAXX To Hit Verizon Shelves On January 26

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Looks like that flubbed product page turned out to be right after all — Verizon Wireless has just announced that the ever-so-slightly-tweaked Droid RAZR MAXX will indeed be hitting store shelves on January 26.

One of the big issues Jordan noted in our original Droid RAZR review was that the battery could leave some heavy users in the lurch, but that (hopefully) won’t be the case with the RAZR MAXX. Despite sporting near-identical specs to its slimmer brother, the MAXX also packs a fairly ridiculous 3300 mAh battery without sacrificing too much of its alluring profile.

The MAXX also features 32GB of onboard storage, a considerable bump up from the original’s 16GB allotment. If you can live with just a little extra heft (the MAXX comes in at 8.99mm thick, compared to the original’s 7.1mm waist line), this is looking like the Droid RAZR to beat.

With the RAZR MAXX preparing to take its place in Verizon’s top-tier smartphone pantheon, you can expect the price tag to match its status. It’ll cost $299 out of the gate with a two-year contract, though the penny-pinchers among you should know that the original model (sans SD card) has recently dropped down to a more reasonable $199.



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24Jan

Verizon Posts A Net Loss Of $2.02B In Q4 2011

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Ever since the AT&T/T-Mobile saga came to a grinding halt, you’d think that Verizon would be enjoying its reign in peace. But it would seem that the company has posted a net loss of $2.02 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. At the same time a year earlier, Verizon was seeing a profit of $2.64 billion.

According to Bloomberg, the loss can be attributed to a pension charge and higher subsidy costs for rising iPhone sales. But there have been gains, as well. Verizon lured in 1.2 million new subscribers — probably thanks in large part to the iPhone — and hopes that the high subsidy costs will eventually be paid off by consumers as they spend on calling and data.

Bloomberg enlisted the help of James Ratcliffe, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York, who said that “the average smartphone customer will spend about $2,000 over the two-year contract. If the subsidy is $400, you’re still getting $1,600, and that’s very cash-flow positive.” It would appear that smartphones are, indeed, where it’s at for Verizon, as the company reported that 44 percent of its customer base is now using a smartphone.

The carrier announced a total revenue of $18.3 billion for the quarter, representing a 13 percent year-over-year increase. Not surprisingly, data played a major role in bringing in the big bucks for ol’ Big Red.

In fact, 42 percent of all revenue for the quarter was made up of the $6.3 billion in data revenue, up 19.2 percent from the same time last year.



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18Jan

Verizon To Light Up Five New LTE Markets Tomorrow

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While AT&T may be hitting a few roadblocks on their path to 4G LTE expansion, Verizon LTE seems to be spreading like wildfire. It feels like just yesterday that Verizon rolled out 4G LTE service to its first batch of U.S. markets, and now over a year later 200 million Americans are enjoying higher speeds.

In fact, tomorrow Verizon will expand its high-speed network into five new markets, and expand coverage in three existing markets. New cities to receive coverage include Glens Falls, NY; Utica, NY; Lawton, OK; Brownsville, TX; and McAllen, TX. If you live in Atlanta, Houston or Spokane, chances are your 4G LTE service will reach right on into the suburbs come tomorrow, as Verizon is expanding its coverage in those markets.

Verizon’s LTE network is great, and the roll-out has been quick and mostly problem-free. However, the network itself seems to have had a few hiccups (that felt more like sweaty, drunk man belches) around the holiday season, but hopefully that’s all in the past.

[via MobileBurn]



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10Jan

Novatel Shows Off The Globetrotting Verizon Jetpack Hotspot

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novatel

We’re no strangers to Novatel Wireless — their aircards have been saving us on a regular basis this week — and now they’ve swung by our part of the ShowStoppers stage to show off their new Jetpack mobile hotspot for Verizon.

The Verizon Jetpack sports an OLED display and support for Verizon’s 4G LTE network but perhaps more importantly, it also has full support for global roaming. Trying to surf the web in Venice? Go for it! Need a solid data connection outside the Louvre? Not a problem.

Of course, you’ll have to shell out quite a bit for that privilege, but hopefully you’ve got a corporate checkbook picking up that tab. No word yet on availability, but hopefully it arrives before summer rolls around and all you tourists start travelling en masse.



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