Tag: Verizon Wireless

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Verizon Touts XLTE Network Doubling 4G Phone Speeds

xlte-inlineVerizon is activating AWS spectrum on their network, and in areas where the switch has been flipped, you’ll soon see new branding. XLTE markets will benefit from faster transfer speeds and more bandwidth.

Thankfully, you might not need to buy a new phone to take benefit. The newer Droids, the iPhone 5s/5c, Samsung GS4/GS5/Note3, and more are already XLTE compatible.

This AWS broadcasts in the 700MHz spectrum, so expect to see better building penetration as well. Are you living in an XLTE area? Have your speeds improved? We’ve got VZW’s teaser below.

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Nokia Lumia Icon Long Term Review: A glimpse of things to come for Windows Phone…

Here we go folks!

We’ve played with the Lumia Icon for a couple weeks now, and it’s time to report! How did this Verizon exclusive hold up? How does it compare to other Windows Phones out on the market? What can it tell us about future international Nokias?

Continue reading “Nokia Lumia Icon Long Term Review: A glimpse of things to come for Windows Phone…”

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12.2″ Galaxy Note Pro Tablet now available on Verizon for $849

samsung galaxy note pro 12.2 verizon lte blackI’m honestly torn on this one folks. Tablets are maturing and becoming competent productivity tools, but the Galaxy Note Pro is cresting into proper computing territory. I know it lacks LTE, but for $50 more you can start shopping a Surface Pro. I’m honestly curious what my readers think? Is Android ready to be a “professional” computing solution? Drop me some comments below!

Anywho, this monster slate can now be had through Big Red for $849.99. If you’re signing up a new two year plan, you can save $100, which does take some of the sting off that sticker price, but it will add $10 a month to a MORE Everything data plan.

Full PR below.

Continue reading “12.2″ Galaxy Note Pro Tablet now available on Verizon for $849”

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1st Impressions: Nokia lumia Icon (Shot from my hotel room for Social Media Week 2014 NYC)

Nokia has updated Verizon’s Windows Phone, moving from the 928 to a name, the Lumia Icon. I had to shoot this from my hotel room at SMW 2014, so pardon the drab surface, but let’s take a quick look at Nokia’s latest offering for Big Red!

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Nokia Shows Off Lumia Icon Smartphone, coming to Verizon February 20th

nokia lumia icon verizonIt’s official! The next Lumia headed to VZW will be branded “Icon” instead of some string of numbers.

Icon looks to bridge some of the new high power internals found on Nokia’s 1520 phablet with a slightly more phone-like form factor. The 5″ OLED screen is 1080p, and it’s packing the Qualcomm 800 quad-core we’ve all come to know and love in our high end phones. 32GB of storage will be on board with 2GB of RAM to keep all your apps fed. Best of all, Icon retains internal wireless charging based on the Qi standard, so no futzing with sleds or cases.

nokia lumia icon verizon rearFor you A/V freaks, the 20MP shooter from the 1520 will make another appearance, as will the high fidelity quad microphone array which allows for incredible sound and solid noise reduction on your videos.

Bridging the boxy design of the Lumia 928 with a slimmer  Aluminum build and curved glass, it’s an attractive piece. Not as curvy as the phones we’ve used on AT&T, but distinctive and modern.

The phone will drop on February 20th for $199.99 with a two year agreement. Purchasing before March 16 will also get you a free wireless charging dock.

More info on Nokia’s site, or see their teaser vid below!

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I Ask You: Does Carrier Branding On Your Phone Bother You?

htc one max evleaks carrier branded ATTQuick show of hands, who here knows what carrier their smartphone is on? Pretty much as I figured. If you’re savvy enough to use a web browser to find my site, chances are pretty good you know what carrier you send money to each month for your phone. Good.

Welp, new press images have surfaced courtesy of @EVLeaks, showing the HTC One Max not only for Verizon, but also for AT&T. It looks like there might not be CDMA exclusivity for HTC’s up coming phablet. Neat. Of course, this wouldn’t be internet news without something to complain about, and many HTC faithful checking the renders out are somewhat upset by the fact that on both the Verizon and AT&T shots, HTC’s branding between the home and back buttons has been shoved out of the way for AT&T’s globe and Verizon’s awkward off center check mark thing. I’m serious, for a mutli-billion dollar company, that logo never looks like it’s on straight, but I digress…

This got me wondering, why does this bother people? Is it aesthetics? Brand loyalty? Are you ashamed to be doing business with your carrier? I’d be curious to hear people’s thoughts on the matter. Living in an age where everything is branded, clothes, cars, technology, what is it about the carrier logo which might upset folks?

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Verizon employee leaks image of HTC One Max

android central htc one maxA friend of a Verizon employee posted this pic of the up coming HTC One Max in the Android Central forums. According to Jeremy, his mysterious pal has confirmed the One Max will have a finger print scanner and a removable back plate. Looks to be some decent competition for the Galaxy Note 3, especially with BoomSound in tow.

What I’m really happy to see, is this doesn’t appear to be a Droid. The last larger screened phone HTC released was a carrier exclusive to VZW in the USA, dubbed the Droid DNA. This image shows us a phone which very much follows the design language of the One and One Mini, meaning HTC is moving towards the same kind of device branding that Samsung and Apple have already figured out. Consumers will no longer be confused by seeing One’s on one carrier and Evos/Droids on another.

Of course, Verizon did still have to slap their weird checkmark logo right on the face of this otherwise beautiful phone. Right where the HTC logo would’ve been too. Kind of a slap in the face. Here’s to change?

(via Android Central)

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UPDATED: Is Verizon refusing to activate Nexus 7 LTE on their network?

google play nexus 7 lte att t mobileIt’s stuff like this which keeps consumer confidence low.

Author Jeff Jarvis is raising a bit of a stink on Google Plus. Apparently, after getting a Nexus 7 LTE, he tried to activate it on Verizon. During the Nexus 7 announcement it was stated that the New Nexus would be compatible on AT&T, T-Mo, and Verizon Wireless. That last one is proving to be a touch frustrating for Mr. Jarvis.

After reaching out to Verizon on Twitter he received the following cheeky reply:

Yeah, ya see VZW, that’s absolutely the wrong way to handle a customer with a problem. Sardonically patting them on the head with a “your bad”. This is made even funnier / more frustrating as their current line up of tablets is pretty uninspired. Well done VZW. You’ve managed to exacerbate a frustrating situation and highlight your own device line-up inadequacies all with one poorly thought out PR tweet.

It’s moves like this which just reinforce consumer desires to have less and less to do with their carriers. When they seemingly provide little value, and only stand as barriers to using the technology their customers want. The number of my personal friends who have expressed they wished their carrier was just a big dumb data pipe and to get out of the way. It doesn’t have to be that way VZW, but you have to offer a compelling reason or service.

Jeff Jarvis has been organizing his ordeal on Google Plus. At the time of this writing he was reaching out to Sundar Pichai, the Senior Vice President at Google in charge of Android and Chrome… So that’s probably not good…

As it stands now, Google is now advertising only AT&T and T-Mobile versions on Google Play. A little frustrating, as eventually you’d hope that we could get one version of the Nexus 7 which we could take to any carrier we want. It looks like Verizon doesn’t want to play ball…

***UPDATE***

Continue reading “UPDATED: Is Verizon refusing to activate Nexus 7 LTE on their network?”

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