Verizon Wireless Cell Phone News, Views and Reviews

Are you are coming to the end of your cellular contract?  If you are anything like me, and I am referring to the techie part, you are in the middle of one of the biggest decisions ever; which wireless device do I pick? I ripped off the following analogy from our very intuitive HTC rep, Manny. "Out of anyone and anything in your life, your cell phone is the one thing you spend the most time with. You carry it everywhere with you. It's on your night table when you sleep. You'll spend more time over the next two years with your cellphone than you will spend with your spouse."

You're probably thinking, where is she going with this? Well, I'll tell you. Make sure you take the time to pick out the one that's right for you. This is where going to a department store or even an electronics superstore is probably not the right choice. We are training, training, training constantly so we know as much as possible about our devices so we find the perfect fit for you when you come in looking for a phone. The one thing I want to impress upon you right now is that this is an EXCITING time for the wireless industry and there are so many great devices here and coming. Do your own research is you have to, and I'm here to help, hopefully to help you make the right choice. I am not biased about the products. I'll tell you if I think something sucks, or at least sugar coat it and not say sucks, maybe just stinks! I won't hold back but I will tell you, I am biased about service. Yes, our carrier is Verizon Wireless, but I also believe that its the best. If you know me, you know once in a while I'm busy iPhone bashing! Usually not about the phone, but about AT&T. I think the iPhone is awesome. I'm a Mac, I'd love to have an iPhone. If you have one and I bash it, it's probably because I'm jealous. NOT ANYMORE!

I've got my hands on a Droid and its amazing. But that's me. I love technology. There's something out there for everyone. There are some new devices coming out that are not Droid that are fantastic and probably going to get lost in the Droid shuffle but I want to tell you about all of them!

Push-To-Talk

So lets start with the easy stuff! Yesterday, I saw the Samsung Convoy u640. It is a Push to Talk device that should launch around Black Friday. It meets military specs for h20 and dust resistancy. Its has threaded messaging and its amoung the first PTT devices that offers Field Force Manager, which is a business tool to help you keep track of your employees, while they are on the clock. It is a nice durable device with a rubberized coating around the outside so it looks like it can stand up to the riggers of a hand-on job.

Casio G z'One Rock is still looking like a mid-November release. Another PTT, military spec'd device which replaces the G z'One Boulder.

V860 Motorola Barrage has just been re-released and is available in camera and non-camera versions. Has field Force Manager and meets military specs for every condition you can think of, including submersing it in water for 30 minutes. 2.0 Megapixel Camera & Camcorder, VCast Music and Videos, Media Center, Dashboard with Mobile Web, Mobile Broadband Connect Capable.

The next category of phones is the Feature Phones. In all honestly, this is a quiet category this month, which is probably a good thing because these devices are already getting overshadowed by the Droids. But the Chocolate Touch VX8575 due out Friday is a really great device. For someone who is interested in music, texting and making calls and doesn't need all the features a smartphone or Droid has to offer, this is the device to look at. Read more here.

That brings us to Smartphones. 

Samsung Omnia II Due around Black Friday. Another great device that I hope doesn't get ignored. This is a WinMo device. It will be launched with 6.5 so it will include the Windows Marketplace. 3.7-inch AMOLED WVGA resolution touchscreen, TouchWiz 2.0 make it very user friendly compared to using WinMo on the device, 3D cube interface, does it have SWYPE technology? I don't know if I'm allowed to say. Lets just say if it did, it would be very awesome to use, not to mention a very fast and intuitive way to input type.

Blackberry Storm 2 is alive and kicking. Storm 2 Video

Global PreInstalled SIM card 256MB Flash, 256 MB RAM 2GB on board Runs Blackberry 5.0 Software Functions with BIS and BES High Res Display 480x360 pixel, 3.23" WiFi ready VZ Navigator and VZ Navigator Global Visual Voice Mail Compatible VCAST Music w/ Rhapsody VCAST Video on Demand

I haven't had much time to get any feedback on it so if you have any, please let me know how you are likin' it. 

Blackberry Curve 2 due out in November. Not sure the exact date but it will be Black Friday, the latest. It's sportin' WiFi but not sportin' a trackball. Too many problems with the trackball so RIM has opted for the optical mouse type naviagation. The original Samsung Omnia has it. It might take some getting used to but at least it won't be sticking or hanging up from dirt, etc. getting trapped inside.

So I guess that leaves the Droid Family!

Let me start at the beginning. The Droid versions are labeled by bakery items. So the 1.5 or cupcake is the earliest, then donut and lastly eclair. The HTC is running on cupcake and the Motorola Droid will be running on eclair. Here is a timeline of updates and their features.

April 30 2009 1.5 (Cupcake) was released.

• Ability to record and watch videos with the camcorder mode
• Uploading videos to YouTube and pictures to Picasa directly from the phone
• A new soft keyboard with an "Autocomplete" feature
• Ability to automatically connect to a Bluetooth headset within a certain distance
• New widgets and folders that can populate the desktop
• Animations between screens
• Expanded ability of Copy and paste to include web pages

September 15 2009, 1.6 (Donut) was released.

• An improved Android Market experience.
• An integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery interface.
• Gallery now enables users to select multiple photos for deletion.
• Updated Voice Search, with faster response and deeper integration with native applications, including the ability to dial contacts.
• Updated search experience to allow searching bookmarks, history, contacts, and the web from the home screen.
• Updated Technology support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1x VPN, Gestures, and a Text-to-speech engine
• Speed improvements for searching, the camera.

October 26 2009 2.0 (Eclair)

• Support for more screen sizes and resolutions
• Revamped UI
• New browser UI
• New contact lists
• Better white/black ratio for backgrounds
• Improved Google Maps 3.1.2
• Microsoft Exchange support
• Built in flash support for Camera
• Digital Zoom
• Improved virtual keyboard
• Bluetooth 2.0

The above timeline was taken from Wikipedia

And here are the devices in the Droid family. By the way, Droid refers to the Verizon family of Android devices, not just the Motorola device. 

Droid Eris by HTC releases Friday (Nov 6)

Running on Android 1.5 Cupcake HTC Sense UI 3.2" Touchscreen 3.5 mm jack Virtual Keyboard and virtual keys (Home, Menu, Back, Search) HTC Sync with office email WiFi 5MP AF camera/videocapture 4.23 oz Usage 3.57 hrs, standby 373 hrs (15.5 days) 1300mAh battery

Motorola Droid releases Friday (Nov 6)

Google Android 2.0 550Mhz Cortez-A8 mobile processor 256MB RAM 16GB miscroSD pre-installed 3.7' 854x480 WVGA Capactive Touchscreen Usage: 385 minutes (6.4 hrs), Standby: 270 hours (11.2 days) 5.0MP AF camera w/ flash

The Rumors.

Many a forum or article have I read and somewhere along the line I read that there are to be four Droids out by the end of the year. In total there will be 2 Motorolas, both with slide-out keyboards and 2 HTC, both with virtual keyboards. The second Motorola will be called the Calgary and the second HTC will be called either the Passion or the Dragon or maybe something else entirely.

Good luck deciding and REMEMBER, do some research so you find the one thats right for you. 

Lets review. A few phones came out while I was sleeping. I hope you got the Wake Up Wednedsay pun there. Okay, maybe a lame startoff.

The  Nokia Shade, Nokia Twist, the Verizon Wireless Razzle and the HTC Imagio have been released. I have not had the pleasure to meet the Razzle yet.

See videos Nokia Shade, Nokia Twist, HTC Imagio (2 Parts)

I am still waiting on our release of the Imagio, Shade and Razzle. Which is why some videos haven't been posted yet.

The heavy hitters I am waiting on are:

Samsung Omnia II, WinMo 6.5 due mid October
LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 due October 18th
Blackberry Storm 2 due October 21
Motorola Tao (Android) due October

A few Push-To-Talk

Casio Brigade C741 October
Casio Gz'One Rock mid November
Samsung Convoy u640

More Smartphones

Blackberry Curve 2 November Curve w/ WiFi)
Palm Pre Early 2010
Blackberry Atlas (Tour w/ WiFi) No date yet
Moto A4500

And a Feature Phone in a pear tree.

Verizon Wireless CDM7076

Thats it my friends. Tomorrow I will link up specs and videos on all the devices mentioned here that I have info for. Almost all the new devices that I didn't have dates for will be released before Black Friday.

Well, well, well. Here we are again. Sharing our common love for all that is news concerning Verizon Wireless mobile devices. 

I am getting excited for the Samsung Omnia II, mostly because I don't yet have an exact release date, so anyday now it could wind up on my desk. The last date I heard was before Christmas, then all of a sudden I see the 23rd posted on a website (which is a Sunday, so already doubtful). None-the-less, fingers are tightly crossed. The picture below is from that rather reputable site that I get info from. YIKES! Are these phones really all slated for Sunday? I am seriously questioning this. But see for yourself the dates they have marked.

Blackberry
Nothing new on the Storm 2. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH.
Aries which will release in Feb 2010 will have a 2.0MP camera with digital zoom, a 3.5 jack, WiFi, 20×240 resolution screen, 1xRTT, EV-DO, OS 5.0.
Atlas rumored to be the same as BlackBerry Tour 9630 but with Wi-Fi.

Casio
Brigade is expected to be a CDMA phone featuring MediaFLO, Bluetooth and MP3 player. MediaFLO is technology to transmit data to portable devices such as cell phones and PDAs, used for mobile TV. Also offering audio and video streams, non-realtime video and audio "clips." FLO means Forward Transmit Only (eg: from the tower to the device).
Rock Rugged clamshell, Push-To-Talk, but I think we already had a beat on that.

HTC
Some new HTC info I have is that Microsoft will release a touch-screen version of Windows Mobile 6.5 in early 2010. Possibly the Touch Pro 2 since the Touch Diamond 2 codenamed Whitestone is slated for a September/October release with some nice looking features. Windows Mobile 6.1, Qualcomm 7600 processor @ 528MHz, 512MB ROM/256MB RAM, 3.6-inch WVGA touchscreen, 5 megapixel autofocus camera/Anti-handshaking, gpsOne (aGPS and full GPS), GSM/CDMA World phone

Looking waaaay down the road in Q4 of 2010 we'll see Windows Mobile 7-powered handsets. These are not meant to take the place of 6.5 devices. The WinMo 7's will be considered a deluxe device over the 6.5 devices and they are supposed to all coexist harmoniously. 

I can't find anything on the Imagio except that HTC trademarked the name but I'm told by our buyer it should be out early in Q4.

LG
Nothing earthshatteringly new on the Chocolate Touch VX8575 except for the claims on one website that it'll be released on August 23. (See photo above) That seems pretty unlikely since no one has all the specs out on a phone thats due in 4 days. Well really 5 before we see it, if that date were true. When I plug Chocolate 4 into one site it brings me to the BL-40. One can only hope....and wait.

Motorola
News and photos on the Calgary. It will, in fact be their Android phone and it will have a social media focus. 480x854 pixel display, 256 MB RAM/512 MG ROM, 5MP AF camera with flash. Still looking at a Q4 release.

Motorola A4500 pix and news on this front as well. It was codenamed the Napolean Q9, and looks alot like the Q9, it is a world phone, CDMA, EV-DO, quad-band GSM, 2MP camera, Wi-Fi module, QWERTY keyboard and fingerprint scanner.No release date on this device yet.

 
I'm skipping over Nokia and Palm because I got you an awful lot to digest last week. Actually, I have no news on any devices here.

Pantech 
The Escapade WP8990 is due out on Friday the 21st. Keep your eye on www.YouTube/WirelessZone for that.

Samsung

I already mentioned the Omnia II in the first paragraph. As far as the Rogue u960 and the Omnia II, they both have AMOLED (Active Matrix Organtic Light Emitting Diode) displays, which use significantly less power are able to produce lighter, thinner devices because no backlight is needed.There is also less breakage. Now don't go throwing them around! I now know that the Intensity and u450 are one-in-the-same, this is the device with MediaFLO (for desciption on MediaFLO this see Brigade under Casio), Strut u440 has a 1.3MP camera, 5 hours talk time, stereo Bluetooth, microSDHC and Organizer but still no release date. Nothing new on the Convoy u640.

Verizon Wireless.
The Razzle is still expected on the 31 of August. It is the replacement for the Blitz. It will have a swivel bottom unlike the Blitz was a slider, 1.3MP camera and stereo Bluetooth. The PCD TXT8020, manufactured by Pantech, is a non smart phone designed with the texters in mind. It is a slider with a swiveling display and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Thats it. Straight from "Chloe's Cell". Once again, I had to be locked up to stay focused on compiling this info for you. So many thanks for checking in. Throw me a comment, tell me which phone you are waiting for.

WOW! I don't even know where to start! There is so much happening and so many cool new phones coming, there's never been a more exciting time to be a Verizon Wireless customer!

Okay, I'm going to list them alphabetically today. Ususally I go in order of when I think the release date will be but there are still alot up in the air.

So here goes:

Blackberry Storm 2. Release is expected on or around Black Thursday (Nov 27, 09) Lots of pics finally available. The biggest difference in the setup is shown in the first picture below. The picture is showing the Storm 2 on the left and the original Stoprm on the right. The send, menu, back and end keys are built into the touchscreen.

Next is the Blackberry Aries. Expected release on this is February 2010. if all goes well with Blackberry and WiFi, where a statement was made that all Blackberry's coming out going forward will have WiFi than we can expect that in this model and the Blackberry Atlas. No release date on this available.

Okay, on to Casio. These are sometimes released as Verizon Wireless but I will adress them here, since Casio is the manufacturer of the following models. Casio Brigade (C741) This will be a Push-to-Talk device. Casio G'Zone Rock, another Push-To-Talk that will most likely take the place of the Boulder. No release date on either.

HTC has been busy. These have also been released as Verizon Wireless phones in the past but HTC has been making quite a name for itself. The release of the Ozone has been pretty big, at least in my Twitter world. Everyone is talking about it over there on my TweetDeck! The people that have bought it really love it. Anyway, here's what's new for HTC: HTC Touch Pro 2, due out in end of August/mid-Sept, HTC Touch Diamond 2 with a Sept/Oct 09 release, and there's been talk of the HTC Whitestone and the HTC Imagio slated for an early Q4 arrival. These could be one in the same. Its hard to tell with no specs/pics yet.

As usual, with LG, the hype surrounding their newest is starting already. We don't know what it looks like yet but we are hoping its going to look like the already announced BL-40 (pictured below-see why I hope it looks like that!). It'll be called the Chocolate Touch VX8575. It had been referred to as the Chocolate 4 so I'm going to go way out on a limb and predict that its going to be a touchscreen!

I'm not even halfway through the list! Go grab a D&D Sweet Tea with lemon, we have a lot more to cover!

Motorola comes next with its Android, looking at a Q4 launch. Then they have a device called either the Entice or Harmony (W766), which will replace the W755. Also, lets not forget Motorola for another Push-To-Talk device, which is called the V860. There is another Motorola called the Calgary expected Q4 09, and the Moto A4500 not to be confused with the A450 or Rival which was already released back in June.

And then there's Nokia coming out with some good names. There's the Twist 7705, The Hero: message-centric, QWERTY, non-pda due late Oct/early Nov and the Shade 2705 which will be replacing the Mirage. The Shade will be a fun device with its interchangeable covers that come in Black, Red, Blue and Purple. It has a 1.3MP camera, VZ Nav, BackUp Asst, 62MB built-in memory (no microSD slot) and Bluetooth. Pics below of the Shade.

I don't want to leave out Palm. The Pre won't be released until January 2010 and then the 800W comes out in February. Don't forget the Blackberry Aries will be also released so it looks like Q1 of 2010 is already shaping up to be the battle of the Smartphones!

Pantech, another manufacturer sometimes releasing under the Verizon Wireless name, will release the Escapade WP8990VW on August 21st. It looks just like the Samsung Gleam. Strangely it will be a global phone but it will only be 1X. No EV, no 3G? Also, it will be lacking a MicroSD card. What it will have is a 2,5 jack and a 2MP camera. Looks like its going to serve as an entry level global phone.

Saving the most active for last, Samsung has quite a few devices coming out in the very near future. There is a Push-To-Talk called the Convoy u640 Great name, can't you just hear the song playing in the back of your mind? The Rogue u960 is due out anywhere between now and Sept. We are dying to know but haven't been able to pinpoint it. Our rep says early to mid Sept. Initial dates called for August 15th. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed! It will be a high-end slider QWERTY to replace the nightmarish Glyde u940. Samsung will its WinMo Smartphone, the Omnia II out in Q4, expected before Christmas. This is what I'm waiting for in case you are stuck on what to buy me for Christmas! The original Omnia was a great device so I'm expecting even greater things from this model. Wait, there's more, stay awake, I'm almost done! There's the u450 which may be called the Intensity. The u450 will revisit Mobile TV. 1X CDMA device (lacking EVDO) with Bluetooth, MP3 Player, MediaFLO, SMS, and a 1.3MP camera. No release date on that yet. Lastly for Samsung, u440 The Strut. This long-overdue model will have a compact QWERTY keyboard.

Omnia II	Strut u440	Rogue

Lets not forget about Verizon Wireless. I don't know all the manufacturers on these but there is a Razzle (expected August 31st), a CDM7076 and a TXT8020.

That's it! I'm done. That was alot of information. Some info that was already posted last week was not repeated so if you need to know more, see if its posted in last weeks' Wake Up Wednesday or check back, or leave a comment. I will update pix and info as it becomes available. And believe me, I am like a private I, searching for that stuff everyday!

Okay, try to keep up because God knows I'm having trouble!

Since my last Wake Up Wednesday blog, we've seen and used the HTC Ozone. Nice litle Global Smartphone for 50 bucks. The Blackberry Tour finally made its debut. Its already getting alot of buzz.

Here's what else you can expect from Verizon before years' end.

Not much heard from Motorola lately, but they plan to launch the Motorola Entice or Harmony (W766) in August. This will replace the W755.

Also due out in August is the Samsung Rogue (u960). Damn, these names are getting good! This will replace the Glyde.

LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 Well, I'm thinking the name says it all. But will it be a Touchscreen that comes in the form of a slider or a flip? It may resemble the BL40 (4-inch multitouch-sensitive display, aspect ratio of 21:9, scratch-proof glass surface, aGPS and Wi-Fi receivers.)

The much talked about Blackberry Storm 2 or will it be called the Thunder? Expected October/November 2009. The keys on the front are now touch-sensitive as well, and the screen no longer uses the SurePress technology, which made the display of the first Storm uncomfortable to use, 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS and a full HTML browser. So it sounds like what the original Storm should have been like.

Nokia Shade replacing the Mirage 2605

Nokia Twist; possible swivel-styled phone.

Pantech Escapade. Another SIM card loaded Global Phone, This is a flip, much like the Samsung Renown. 2MP Camera, QVGA, 2.5mm jack and its lacking a MicroSD.

Samsung Omnia II (i920) expected out by Christmas and two more Samsungs will fill up Samsung's stable before the end of the year: Samsung u550 with Mobile TV service and the Samsung Strut (u440), what no nickname?

Four new Push to Talk devices: Motorola V860, Samsung Convoy (u640), Casio Rock c731 (said to be Boulder replacement) and lastly the Casio Brigade (c741)

Palm Pre It is already getting excellent reviews after its Sprint launch on June 6 with its 3MP Camera, 8GB Built-In Memory, Full QWERTY and 3.5mm Jack. Now we just have to wait until January 2010. The PalmTreo 800W might follow in its footsteps arriving around February 2010. 

Look for more details and photos on these devices and more in my weekly "Wake Up Wednesday" new phone report. It's hump day after all, we all need a good waking up to get us through the rest of the week. What's better than new technology to do that? Redbull? Well that might be right for some of you.