According to PhoneArena, Verizon plans to force current customers, with unlimited 3G data plans, who transition to an LTE device to a new tiered data plan. Big Red will be releasing new shared data plans this year and want to move everyone off unlimited data.

What’s not clear, is if customers that have already made the switch to an LTE device will be forced off unlimited on their next upgrade. I’m sure this is a preemptive strike against iPhone users, as the next version will have LTE and VZW will want to limit those users who currently have unlimited 3G plans.

 Hardware

The Samsung Illusion is very light and feels pretty good in the hand. The back is slightly rounded which helps top make it more comfortable to hold. It’s not as thin as an iPhone 4 or the Droid X2, but it’s not as thick as some of Verizon’s LTE phones. With a 3.5″ screen, the Illusion has a pretty small overall footprint but feels really cheap. The low, 320×480, resolution screen leaves a lot to be desired. Especially for Samsung who is known for their great AMOLED displays, the screen is a major pain point. The Illusion feels like a free phone.

Software

The Illusion is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread along with Smasung Touchwiz puked all over it. It’s not the worst skin, but chances of this device ever being updated past 2.3 are slim to none. You get a customizable five row dock which is nice, and Samsung hasn’t gone to crazy with the widgets. There are however about 10 pre-installed apps ranging from 6 V-cast apps to games. This has got ot be the most irritating thing to find on a new cell phone. There is no way to remove all of this extra “fluff” even if you don’t use it. I don’t understand why carriers don’t just make these items available through the Android Market and let the user decide what services they would like on the phone. At the end of the day the software doesn’t take away from the Illusion, but it certainly doesn’t add anything either.

Camera

The Camera is complete crap. Wish there was another way of putting it, but it just sucks. Shots are grainy and video is even worse. Considering the other devices in Illusion’s price range, this is an area where it takes a huge hit.

Power and Performance

The Samsung Illusion is 3G smartphone on Verizon, so do not expect blazing fast data speeds. The up side is that you will have a battery that lasts an easy 13-15 hours with heavy use. The device was pretty snappy overall and I had no issues with slow down or lag. It’s hard to imagine that a 1ghz Hummingbird processor is now a mid range phone feature. Got to love how fast technology moves! The 1 GHz processor gets the job done and that’s really all you can ask for. However, gaming and video won’t be very impressive on the Illusion.

Conclusion and Final Score

The Samsung Illusion does nothing for me. Even being free, the price doesn’t overcome the Illusion’s shortcomings. The screen is shit, the hardware feels cheap, and compared to the iPhone 4 or Droid X2 (one $99, the other $50), this phone looks even worse. The performance is there which is a good thing, but other than a phone that runs as it should, you don’t really get much here.

Guru Inspection
Hardware
Cheap, plasticky, and just plan crap.
Cameras
The camera is horrible. Shots are grainy and video is no where up to snuff
Software
Running 2.3 and Samsung Touchwiz leaves a lot to be desired. There is also no plan for this to get ICS......ever.
Battery and Performance
Lasting all day and not having issues with lag is this phones only redeeming quality

Overall
This phone disappoints on pretty much all levels. If you're going to sign a two year contract, you owe it to yourself to get into a better device.

Well it is finally here, for everyone who has been waiting on the long drama of the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus release. Verizon, officially announced the phone will be available tomorrow morning in stores, and online sales will start at 1AM EST. So stay up late, or hit up a local Verizon first thing in the morning to grab one.

Galaxy Nexus will be $299 with a 2 year contract, and full retail comes in at a whopping $649. This will start the first phone with Ice Cream Sandwich in the states and hopefully there will be updates coming soon. Let us know what you think if you pick one up tomorrow.

Press Release

GALAXY™ NEXUS™ BY SAMSUNG NOW AVAILABLE ON THE VERIZON WIRELESS 4G LTE NETWORK

First Smartphone to Combine Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the Power of America’s Fastest, Most Reliable 4G Network

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless, Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) and Google™ announced Galaxy™ Nexus™ is available starting today in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

Customers can browse the Web, stream music and more at blazing speeds using the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. Galaxy Nexus customers can enjoy access to the 4G LTE network in 190 markets covering over 200 million people across the United States, and fly through the Web with fast download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within the 4G LTE Mobile Broadband coverage area.

Galaxy Nexus runs Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, which brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. Galaxy Nexus offers customers a redesigned user experience with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Near Field Communications (NFC) sharing with Android Beam™ and a full Web-browsing experience. The lock screen, home screen, phone app and everything in between have been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful and useful. Galaxy Nexus also features an ultra-thin 9.47mm design with a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED™ Contour Display to watch movies, view pictures and play games that come to life in 720p (1280×720) resolution.

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) features:

Redesigned user interface – software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones, and a dedicated recent apps button to make multi-tasking easy
Face Unlock – use state-of-the-art facial recognition to unlock Galaxy Nexus
Android Beam™ – quickly share Web pages, apps, contacts and YouTube™ videos with friends by simply tapping two compatible phones together
Redesigned Camera – introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, and effects such as silly faces and background replacement
People Application – browse friends, family and coworkers, see their photos in high-resolution and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks
Cloud Services – keep email, contacts, photos, music, browser bookmarks and other data synced to the cloud, available across multiple devices so customers never lose important data
Google Music – upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud, discover and buy new music from Android Market™, and stream it instantly on Galaxy Nexus and from the Web for free
Google+ – Create a Google+ account right from the phone and check status updates, manage circles, quickly share updates and photos, video chat with up to ten friends with Mobile Hangouts, and chat with groups of friends with Google+ Messenger
Support for Google Mobile™ Services – Gmail™, Google Maps™ with 3D maps and free turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth™, Movie Studio, YouTube, syncing with Google Calendar™, a redesigned Google+ app and access to more than 300,000 apps, millions of eBooks, thousands of movies to rent, and millions of songs available to download from Android Market
Additional features:

Dual-core 1.2 GHz application processor and HTML5 Web browser – optimized dual-core processing with Android 4.0 combined with lightning fast 4G LTE connectivity for fast downloading of graphics, applications processing and Web browsing
Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G LTE or 3G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices
5-megapixel rear-facing camera with zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, autofocus and LED flash with full 1080p recording
Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat
Textured soft-touch back cover – enhances the ergonomic feel and makes the phone slip-resistant
Bluetooth® 3.0 technology – support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access, human interface device (HID) and object push for vCard and vCalendar
1 GB RAM and 32 GB on-board memory (actual formatted capacity will be less)
Pricing and data packages:
Galaxy Nexus is available now in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
Customers that purchase a Galaxy Nexus by Samsung will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.
Customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/galaxynexus for more information on the Galaxy Nexus. For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

The T-Mobile and At&t merger saga is still going, but who knows if it will ever take place. If it doesn’t, the CEO of Dish Network, Joseph Clayton has said that he would love to partner with T-Mobile for their spectrum. Dish has already been buying spectrum up this year with a LTE network planned to try to take on Verizon and At&t. They are even looking to Sprint if they have to, either way, the carrier wars keep getting interesting as time rolls by.

(via The Verge)

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Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam appeared at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference today, and shed some light on the fact that Verizon is working on incorporating shared data plans into their network. While this sounds like a great idea it might not all be glorious.

It makes sense that there should be a family plan that allows users to share data and possibly cut the cost of their monthly bills. Verizon also says it will be easier to streamline bills and allow them to track data more efficiently. Along with that, it could make a family that is wanting to get smartphones, but don’t want to pay for individual plans, more economically feasible.

There was no official word on when these style plans will roll out, but 2012 was said to be the year that we will see this. This will also allow Verizon to give customers an incentive to get off of their grandfathered in unlimited plans. When this comes to pass we would expect to see the other carriers follow suite. It seems it always works that way, monkey see, monkey do. What do you think, will you want to jump on these shared data plans?

(via Tech Crunch)

Hardware

In today’s world of 4.3” and 4.5” phones being the norm, the HTC Rhyme seems rather small with it’s 3.7” 480 x 800 screen. Measuring 119 x 60 x 10.85mm and weighing in at 4.58 ounces, the Rhyme feels great in the hand. The edges are rounded and the back is coated with soft touch plastic giving the device a very “friendly” feel. The frame of the phone is made of aluminium that wraps around to the back as well. It’s not quite “unibody”, but it feels very solid. The back is also home to a 5mp camera, flash, and charging contacts for the Rhyme’s custom desktop dock. The traditional charging port is on the bottom left covered by a plastic “flap”, which I hate since I have no nails, and the volume rocker is on the top right of the device. The top contains the power button on the right and headset jack on the left. The look is very clean and minimalist. It’s a good looking phone. Even in “plum”.

The Rhyme also comes with a “charm” that plugs into the headset port of the device. It’s a long cord with a plastic square on the end that lights up when you have a missed call or text. The idea is that this charm dangles outside of your purse (or man bag), so you can easily see when you have a new message or missed call. This is one of many specialized accessories that are offered with the Rhyme. There is also a desktop dock that has a built in bluetooth speaker so you can stream your device’s audio to it. Dropping the Rhyme in the dock also activates a pretty snazzy desktop mode that includes a clock, weather forecast, music player and photo slide show.

Camera

The 5mp camera takes decent shots in optimum lighting conditions, but suffers greatly when not in bright light. You could of course turn the flash on, but it washes images out and gives them a yellow hue. Since the Rhyme is running Sense 3.5, you get a ton of photo effects settings. Tapping the effects button on the top left brings up settings like vignette, dots, grayscale, vintage and way more. There are also a bunch of scenes to choose from like portrait, landscape, action, panorama, HDR, low light, whiteboard, and close up. On top of all of that, you have settings for ISO, white balance, auto focus, auto enhance, and more. I can appreciate all the options and settings, but I just want to pull the phone and shoot. I don’t want to have to mess with settings and tweak the image to get a good photo.

The Rhyme also captures video in 720p HD resolution. The videos look pretty good, but they suffer form the same low light issue that still shots do. It’s as if the sensor just doesn’t let enough light in. The audio recording is good as long as there aren’t multiple sound sources or anything too loud. The sound gets washed out pretty easily if your in a loud environment like a concert or party.

Software

Running Android 2.3.4 and HTC’s Sense UI version 3.5 the Rhyme has a very “been there, done that feel”. Sense UI seems to get bigger and heavier with each new version, no longer adding things that Android lacks, but seemly adding things just to add them. Not all additions are bad however. The lock screen is a large improvement over the traditional Android lock screen, allowing you jump into shortcuts quickly. The notification window has a tab for quickly accessing settings like WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. It’s a nice touch, as it’s much faster to swipe down the window shade than rummaging through the settings menu.

HTC Sense is known for it’s huge selection of eye catching widgets and the Rhyme doesn’t disappoint including 70+ widgets. The calendar widgets are as useful as they are beautiful. The weather widgets are sized small to large and provide great at a glance information. Then there are newer additions like the “Quick Launch” widget, which takes up an entire home panel. The widget gives you customizable shortcuts to apps and a clock with your weather forecast. The Quick Widget doesn’t seem that useful, especially considering HTC already provides multiple weather and clock widgets.

My other growing issue with Sense UI is that you are forced to use HTC’s mail app if you want to use their mail widgets. One of the advantages of Android is it’s awesome Gmail app, but Sense forces you to use HTC’s mail app if you want tight integration within the widgets. It feels disconnected to the rest of the Android experience, not to mention the HTC mail app lacks many of the features that Gmail provides.

Then we have the issue of updates. The Rhyme was released with Android 2.3.4, right around the same time Google released Android 4.0. HTC issued a statement with the devices they plan to update first and the Rhyme was absent from that list. I understand that this device is not aimed at the geek elite, but I feel like it should be noted.

Battery and Performance

Today more Gs are more better right? If you’re living on the bleeding edge than you won’t settle for anything less than a 4G device, especially on Verizon. The Rhyme however, was launched with 3G only. Obviously HTC and Verizon are not marketing this device to the tech geeks that count Gs and processors. With download speeds ranging from 600kps-900kbs and upload speeds from 400kps-700kps the Rhyme is no speed demon, but it was very consistent.

Being a 3G only device and powered by a 1600 mAh battery the Rhyme has great battery life. I could easily go 10-12 hours with moderate to heavy use. You won’t be winning any download races, but think of the Rhyme as the turtle from the Tortoise and the Hare.

I was worried that with Sense 3.5 and being powered by a single core 1 GHz processor, that the Rhyme would be a bit of a dog. I have actually been pleasantly surprised by the performance. Swiping through home screens is super smooth and I have seen very little lag overall. The only time where I noticed some slow down, is when unlocking the device. This is probably due to the way Sense UI “spins” the home screens into view when you unlock the phone. Overall, the performance of the Rhyme is solid. It’s not a spec’d out power house, but it delivers where it matters most.

Conclusion and Final Score

The HTC Rhyme is a pretty forgettable device save for the plum color and some cool accessories. It gets lost in a sea of device not only from Verizon, but from HTC themselves. What differentiates this phone from the Droid Incredible 2? Not much if anything. But hey the Rhyme isn’t geared towards me. It’s geared towards busy ladies. Well, at least that’s how HTC and Verizon are marketing it. In all honesty, I like this phone a bit more than the Droid Incredible 2, but would quickly overlook it thanks to it’s plum body. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. What I do know is, if you make a great product, you don’t have to market it to specific genders. If you make a mediocre product, have to do something to make it stand out.

Guru Inspection
Hardware
Even though it's smaller than most of today's smartphones, the Rhyme looks great and feels great in the hand.
Cameras
Both still shots and video suffer from serious low light issues, but in good lighting the camera works well. there are tons of settings for pre and post photo taking to fine tune your image.
Software
HTC Sense 3.5 looks great and offers some advantages to vanilla Android but takes a small toll on performance.
Battery and Performance
The battery will last you a full day easily, but your data speeds suffer greatly with the lack of 4G LTE. The Rhyme showed little to no signs of lag even carrying the heavy load of HTC Sense 3.5

Overall
The Rhyme is trying really hard to stand out with it's lackluster specs and fancy design. It performs well enough, but leaves a lot to be desired.

The Otterbox Defender for the HTC Thunderbolt is all about give and take. The phone is by no means “small” and the case on the phone, we’re talking tank size. It’s heavy, it’s big, but it will take a beating and keep your device safe! With a multilayer approach, the Otterbox encases your Thunderbolt in a plastic housing with a built in screen protector. Then wraps that housing in a thick rubber skin that buffers the phone from accidental damage.

I changed the spark plugs on our car the other day, and I would have normally left the Thunderbolt inside away from harm. I’m paranoid and the thought of wrenches, oil, and other hazardous materials around my device makes me cringe. With the defender on my Thunderbolt, I had no reservations with bringing it out and keeping it close. The result, other than new spark plugs in a Civic, was a scratch free Thunderbolt.

The rubber skin has covers for your charging port, headset, volume and power buttons. While this prevents dust, grime and liquids from getting in the ports, it makes charging and using the headset port a pain. You have to pull back the rubber tabs each time you want to charge or use the headset jack. Not the end of the world but it can get cumbersome.

The Otterbox defender case also comes with a holster that has a 360 degree pivoting clip. It’s a plastic belt clip style holster that you’d imagine a police officer or Batman wearing on their utility belt. With the case being so big, this just looks ridiculous, but it does do a great job of holding the case onto you without fear of it getting hit and falling off.

Again, the Otterbox is all about compromise. You get a great case that is rock solid and will, with out a doubt, protect your phone from the most treacherous of situations. On the other hand, it’s bulky and extremely heavy. Not really the cases fault since the Thunderbolt is BBP (big beautiful phone), but it is something to keep in mind when choosing your protection. I don’t normally put cases on my phones, but when I do, it’s the Otterbox Defender.

Today HTC had an announcement planned, and they finally announced the rumored device code named Vigor. The device was announced under the name Rezound. Verizon has announced several LTE heavy hitter Android devices and this is another to add to the list.

Spec wise the Rezound is very impressive. It is supporting a 4.3 720p display, which seems to be the beginning of the new Android trend on resolutions. Powering the phone is a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of storage on board with a 16GB SD card, and 1GB of RAM, all running on Sense 3.5.

The not so good news is, the fact that the device will launch with Gingerbread, but of course, HTC says that the phone is capable of running Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone will get the 4.0 update early next year. The camera has been really worked to give great shots with its 8MP optics and instant shutter, panorama assist, action burst, complimenting an f2.2 lens. It is capable of 1080p video recording and has slow motion capture integrated.

If you look on back you will see the red Dr. Dre Beats logo. This is the first phone that comes with a pair of Beats headphones ,and there is an API that will allow developers to take advantage of the hardware and software. This HTC phone is a true Android killer and will no doubt be the device you will want to get if you love, Android, Music, Beats Audio, Verizon and HTC.

(via Android Community)