Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Verizon is taking a play out of Apple’s book (yeah I know, Dell is doing it too). Verizon has flooded mailboxes (nothing new), gone door to door and even handed out free ice cream as it seeks to sell its new FiOS television, telephone and high-speed Internet service. Now, they are opening up stores in shopping malls to show off their offerings to consumers.

The stores, called Verizon Experience, provide a snazzy setting for people to toy with new gadgets, play computer games, lounge in front of high-definition TV sets and see how they’re all enhanced by FiOS, its multibillion dollar effort to replace the copper wires of its telephone network with high-capacity fiber-optic lines.

Verizon opened its 5,000-square-feet Fairfax store Dec. 15 inside Fair Oaks Mall with little advertisement or fanfare. On a recent weekday afternoon, the 20 or so staff members outnumbered customers. Verizon has so far opened only one other store in Southlake, Texas, near Dallas. Both stores are located in Verizon’s most developed FiOS markets.

The FiOS infrastructure is incredibly expensive: the company estimates it will spend $23 billion just to rewire its network. FiOS TV has been launched in parts of seven states: Texas, California, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Massachusetts and New York. FiOS Internet service is available in parts of 16 states. The company said it has about 118,000 TV subscribers nationally out of more than 1 million who are able to receive the service.

Read [Washington Post]

Best Buy has begun to launch cell-phone-only stores in Manhattan via a partnership with U.K. retailer Carphone Warehouse. The stores, called Best Buy Mobile, carry more than 80 cell phones from manufacturers like Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. Shoppers also have the option to choose from seven mobile phone service carriers, including Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, Amp’d Mobile and pay-as-you-go plans from Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, Verizon InPulse and Cingular GoPhone.

“What we’ve seen over time is no one out there is offering customers both choice and service in one location,” said David Sprosty, chief executive officer of Best Buy Mobile, in an interview. “Our hypothesis is that by offering the level of care that they get from a carrier store with a better choice of phones, ultimately we can create something that will hopefully meet the needs of the customer that are underserved today.”

RadioShack has recently started selling Cingular Wireless phones and cut ties with Verizon Wireless to try to revive its wireless sales. It has also signed a new 11-year deal with Sprint Nextel.

The Best Buy Mobile stores operate either as small stand-alone stores or as “stores-within-a-store.” Employees will not work on commission and will not be pushing one wireless brand over another—they will just stop at no end to make a sale.

New York stores are at the following locations:

• 360 Madison Ave.


• 2233 Broadway


• 2 Union Square East


• 750 Seventh Ave.


• 1186 Third Ave.


• 1280 Lexington Ave.


• 622 Broadway


• 60 W 23rd Street


• 529 5th Ave.

Read [Best Buy] Read [Yahoo] Via [Engadget]

As expected, YouTube and Verizon Wireless will hookup to bring user-submitted videos from the Web to mobile phones nationwide.
Customers who use Verizon Wireless’ V Cast video and music service will be able to access many of the random-ass humor videos from their mobile phones, starting next month. YouTube co-founder Steve Chen called this the company’s “first move into the mobile space’’ and said his goal is to make sure all mobile phone users have access to the videos. He did not say how long an exclusivity arrangement with Verizon would last.

“The great thing about the emerging new phones, they all come with the ability to take pictures and video at the same time,’’ Chen said. “Now everybody with a cell phone in their pocket will be able to upload it without going back to their computers.’’

Only pre-selected high-quality videos will be available for viewing on Verizon’s YouTube channel. Users will also be able to upload to the YouTube Web site after shooting video on a Verizon phone.

It is still not clear whether Verizon will charge users for the YouTube content, like the rest of the VCast videos. I am not sure what the mobile potential is for pay-per YouTube view, when you can just go home and watch the clips for free. That being said one or two people are paying for music videos and other clips downloaded to their phone.

Read [DVHardware]

Can we please have a moment of silence for the Motorola RAZR.  Ok enough. Motorola has finally released the successor to the ever popular handset that changed the landscape of teh mobile phone market forever. The MOTOKRZR K1m is only 17 millimeters thin, 44 millimeters wide and wrapped in a metallic gloss finish.  Simple touch sensor music controls (can you say Chocolate) offer a music player for both V CAST Music and mp3 files. The handset also support V Cast video clips and music videos to be played on the 1.9 inch color screen.

The specs round out with a 1.3 megapixel camera with 4x zoom, video capture and playback, expandable microSD memory, Get It Now, EV-DO, Bluetooth, 250 minutes talk time, and 440 hours standby.

MOTOKRZR K1m is available now at www.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.  The phone will be available in stores on October 5 for $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and new two-year customer agreement. 

Read [Verizon] Via [Crunchgear]

SanDisk is exclusively selling its new, micro-sized 2 gigabyte microSD card at Verizon Wireless for the Chocolate music phone. This is the largest smallest card there is. Yeah that’s right, this is the largest capacity of the smallest sized memory card, the microSD card available, perfect for new phones and cameras. The micro card will allow you to store more than enough songs and pictures while leaving the manufactures more room to add features or to reduce product sizes even more.

The card, is sold with an adapter that enables it to fit into a standard-size SD slot of other devices. It is exclusive at 1,900 Verizon Wireless stores for the next 60 days selling for $99.99 on its own or for $50 with the Chocolate $249 bundle.

Hey for 2 GB this thing is light!

See a comparison pic from Gadgetell’s hands on with the microSD.

Buy [Verizon Wireless]
Read [Sandisk]

Because of the lack of consumer self-anticipation for upcoming handsets, Verizon--for the second time--is attempting to build excitement for this upcoming, hot new Chocolate phone.

Verizon Wireless is now featuring the LG “Chocolate” 8500 handset on its homepage, noting that it will be for sale soon (possibly as early as August 16th-the date on the phone’s LCD screen). The slider phone will be exclusive to Verizon Wireless. The handset will most likely sport V CAST as well as user transferable tunes, going with it’s black and red ‘iPod-like’ navigation wheel. The handset also has a 1.3 megapixel camera and a whole host of other features.

Update: Check out the peep show of us unpacking this supper sexy handset.

Read [Verizon Wireless]
Via [MobileMag]
Image via [Slashphone]

Third generation cellular wireless technology is still in its infancy and the CEO of Sprint could not spot talking about the next generation. Don’t get me wrong, 20 Mbps download speeds, compared to 3G’s 400-700 Kbps is nothing to cry about, but isn’t it a little early? I guess Gary Forsee doesn’t think so.

Sprint has spent billions of dollars building its 3G network, which is based on EV-DO, technology. The company started offering the service only a year ago, and has spent the latter half of 2005 and the first half of 2006 expanding the network. WiMax seems to be the front runner for the next gen wireless highway, delivering speeds equal to your in-home cable or DSL connection--but straight to your handset. 4G is required for mobile TV and streaming of other large content over networks both quickly and without crashing the servers.

All three of the big U.S. cell phone carriers--Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless--already offer mobile video today, but only about 1 percent to 2 percent of the cell phone market is using the service. Sprint isn’t the only mobile carrier investing in new network technologies to handle broadcast TV on mobile phones. Verizon Wireless has already agreed to work with Qualcomm, which is developing a network especially for mobile TV using a technology it calls MediaFlo.

Read [News.com]

Dell has hopped on anew diet plan to shed some weight off their laptops. The first announcement is the news Latitude D420, with a starting weight of three pounds, and the potential to deliver more than seven hours of battery life.

The Latitude D420 features a 12.1-inch wide-aspect display, full-sized keyboard and dual pointing capability. Customers can configure systems with choice of Wi-Fi 802.11g or 802.11a/g, as well as optional integrated mobile broadband connections from Cingular or Verizon Wireless in the United States, and Vodafone in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is 802.11n-ready, and features the Wi-Fi Catcher, a switch that can help find wireless connections without turning on or booting up, or turn all wireless devices off.

While systems come standard with Smart Card readers and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security technology, customers can add biometric fingerprint readers at time of purchase. The Latitude D420 includes three USB ports, an IEEE 1394 port and a Secure Digital (SD) card slot. The new system also includes the standard Latitude three-year limited warranty with next-business-day on-site service.

Starting at $1,379, the Latitude D420 is powered by Intel Core Solo processors Ultra Low Voltage. Single-core configurations are available immediately. Dual-core configurations are scheduled to be available later this summer.

Read [Dell]

Verizon Wireless and Motorola today announced the launch of the Motorola RAZR V3m V CAST music-enabled phone. This device was announced a few months ago in April at CTIA 2006, together with the entry-level Motorola W315.

The Motorola RAZR V3m is the CDMA version of the original RAZR V3 handset. It features a 1.3 megapixel camera, video capture and playback, music player up to 1GB of removable MicroSD memory and speech recognition calling. The big deal is the new V-Cast availability so you can download music, wallpaper, video and more to your handset, as well as access Verizon’s music store.

You can get the Motorola RAZR V3m for $149.99 after a $50.00 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

Read [Mobile Guerilla]

Product: UTStarcom XV6700 for Verizon Wireless
Price: $299.99 with 2 year contract, after mail-in rebate
Rating: Good 7.08/10.0
Pros: Spacious QWERTY keypad, integrated Wi-Fi, can be used as a Laptop wireless modem
Cons: Large device, poor touch-screen sensitivity, limited battery life, poor talk quality
Overall:The XV6700 is extremely comfortable for typing long emails or editing documents on the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform but we would like to be able to receive calls while in hotspots as well as get more time from the battery.

Design - 7.75 - The UTStarcom XV6700 brings EVDO download speeds and connectivity to Verizon Wireless users. It is encased in black plastic coming in at 5.2 by 2.3 by 1.0 inches and 6.5 ounces, larger and heavier than most other all-in-one models, but it also packs more punch. The XV6700’s face has a large 2.8-inch (diagonal) screen with a 320x240 resolution, taking up most of the front. The unit had the basic controls on the front with two soft keys, Start and OK buttons, Talk and End keys, and a five-way navigation joystick. The ‘ooo-aahhh’ feature of the XV6700 comes when you slide out the back to reveal a full QWERTY keypad with plenty of space and backlit keys. Additionally the screen switches from a vertical to horizontal layout. There’s an infrared port, a voice-record button, an Internet Explorer launch key, and a volume rocker on the left side, and a camera key is on the right (which we often hit by accident during conversations). The back has the camera lens, flash, self-portrait mirror, and a macromode switch. Finally, a Mini SD slot and a power button are on top and the mini USB port, a reset hole, and a 2.5mm headphone jack are on bottom. Verizon packages the XV6700 with a protective case, a wired headset, a desktop cradle, a USB cable, and an extra stylus.

Features - 7 - In a room the screen looked great, but was hard to read in sunlight (outdoors or in your car). We also found the touch screen to have a mind of its own when determining where our stylus pointed-often selecting an option one higher or lower. Like the Treo 700w Windows Mobile 5.0 provides convenient access to Microsoft Outlook, POP3 and IMAP accounts, and Exchange accounts. There is also a speakerphone, smart dial, vibrate mode, polyphonic ring tone support. The software includes the Mobile Office suite (Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile), a download agent, Zip for Pocket PC (very handy), Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, and BrickBreaker and Solitaire for those off-work times.

The Experience - 6.5 - The phone has integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and EV-DO but you can’t have Wi-Fi and the cell phone on at the same time nor can you use the EV-DO as a modem for your laptop, making Wi-Fi almost useless--unless you are not looking for a phone. There are ways out there to hack the system to changes these settings, but we’ll save that for a How To Tuesday. The QWERTY keyboard was great; one of the best integrated mobile keypads that we have used, but it directly affects the large form-factor. Overall, picture quality was good, and it is very nice using the full screen as your viewfinder. The talk quality was below average. People we called often complained that they heard a loud echo and knew we were on a cellphone-comments we haven’t heard in a long time. Moreover, when on speakerphone I had as hard of a time understanding what they were saying. Pairing a Plantronics 320 Bluetooth headset was a cinch and improved call quality a bit. Finally, the batter life seemed to be closer to 3 and a half hours, compared to the stated 5 hours.