Verizon XV6900 finally available for order

Wouldn't you know it? Just as promised, that strikingly white XV6900 has landed on Verizon Wireless' website and can be snapped up now by those in need. The pain? $249.99 on contract after all applicable rebates -- oh, and knowing the Touch Dual is heading Stateside later this quarter.

[darkstar @ Apr 16th 2008 9:11AM]

would this have evdo?
my friend showed me his from Sprint. he was able to watch and control stuffs from his Slingbox. i was amazed!!! too bad his was dependent on evdo. it doesnt have wifi support.

[brad @ Apr 16th 2008 9:44AM]

yes it will have EVDO but streaming slingbox will blow your limit out of the water on the data plan...unfortunately VZW puts a cap of 5 gigs per month on your usage and sprint has no cap because no one uses their network

[p3t3b2 @ Apr 16th 2008 12:20PM]

Dependent on EVDO?? Would you rather be "dependent" on Wifi?... Which is NOT nationwide. EVDO can be accessed on a subway, wifi CANNOT, also Sprint has EVDO REV-A which is pretty damn fast. Wifi is just to supplement slow connections, i.e. ATT, with Sprints EVDO you don't need wifi.

[darkstar @ Apr 16th 2008 12:26PM]

evdo is "iffy" indoors.
i agree evdo coverage is awesome where i live in philly. its almost faster than dsl! n surprisingly, its faster than drexel's wifi... maybe every kid is dl mp3 or something.

[p3t3b2 @ Apr 16th 2008 12:37PM]

I live in the Los Angeles area, when ever I am downtown I get the same speed in an under ground garage of a 40 story building (and a-top the 40th flloor) that I get at home.

[Gaines @ Apr 18th 2008 12:21AM]

Verizon now has these on their site. I have this same phone with Sprint and LOVE it! Let me know if you have any questions about it I might be able to help with.

http://www.VerizonXV6900.com

[Bill @ Apr 16th 2008 9:17AM]

Got my delivery confirmation already, should be here on Thursday the 17th.

[milton thuroughgood III @ Apr 17th 2008 1:45AM]

Keep that receipt.

[Globular @ Apr 16th 2008 9:17AM]

Nothing on the Verizon site about GPS. Doesn't the Touch have it?

[System48 @ Apr 16th 2008 9:21AM]

None of Verizon's phone have a built-in GPS but they will be happy to charge you a monthly fee for the VZ Navigator service.

[Nate @ Apr 16th 2008 9:33AM]

Oh, there are Verizon phones with GPS. Verizon just makes sure to disable it.

[Jughead @ Apr 16th 2008 9:46AM]

The XV6800 (aka Mogul, PPC6800) has built-in GPS and REV A. You just need to flash it to a ROM based on Sprint's Mogul which can be found over at xdadevelopers. I would suggest something like DCD's 3.01 or higher. I have VZW's 6800 and GPS works fine with google maps.

[Jonathan Keim @ Apr 16th 2008 9:20AM]

I'd hit that... only near-deal-breaking negative is that you'd have to use two hands to dial (as well as two eyes)

[Lein @ Apr 16th 2008 9:24AM]

Two eyes maybe, but two hands?

It's not hard to initiate a call on a XV6700 pocket pc one-handed, so I'd imagine it wouldn't be too difficult on a device that has a screen which isn't recessed half an inch into the device (makes corner and edge taps nearly impossible without the stylus.)

[fortunado @ Apr 16th 2008 10:43AM]

you have one, because I do, and I dial one handed all the time. The only real issue to me is looking at the screen in direct sunlight

[FrankTheCrank @ Apr 16th 2008 9:27AM]

Holy good God...stop the presses! Look at how fugly that phone is.

It looks like something you take rectally.

[Alexander @ Apr 16th 2008 11:43AM]

With an icon like that, your thoughts on style are moot.

[Nabil @ Apr 16th 2008 6:19PM]

"It looks like something you take rectally"

Based on your Avatar, I guess you are an expert on "rectal matters"

[DP @ Apr 17th 2008 1:54AM]

Alexander, 1; Nabil, 0.

[tgold @ Apr 16th 2008 9:29AM]

Yawn. Sprint had this thing months ago and I wasn't that impressed. Hopefully the Samsung Insight will be more interesting. I would spring for an iphone but GSM reception around me sucks.

[Nate @ Apr 16th 2008 9:32AM]

Instinct?

[tgold @ Apr 16th 2008 3:02PM]

Oops yeah, I meant Instinct.

[Nabil @ Apr 16th 2008 6:23PM]

Ya the WinMo 6.0 was sluggish, but have you tried the 6.1 upgrade?

I wouldn't give it up for an iPhone, till you tried WinMo 6.1 on it.

[Nate @ Apr 16th 2008 9:31AM]

No doubt, it's a great looking phone. I'm just not sold on touch only devices. If this thing had a slim slide-out QWERTY keypad, I'd be all over it.

[thebear8me @ Apr 16th 2008 9:33AM]

the lack of a slide out keyboard or an on screen keyboard big enough for my fingers is a deal breaker.

[Frankenstein Black @ Apr 16th 2008 9:41AM]

meh!

[BluesK1d @ Apr 16th 2008 9:42AM]

Man whats the deal with the US carriers? This phone is already quite dated and Sprint has had it for a while now. How about the damn HTC Touch Cruise here in the states? C'mon!

[bob e @ Apr 16th 2008 9:46AM]

I have the sprint version and love it except for two things.

1. When I place a call after a few seconds the display switches from keypad to another screen entirely. Usually about this time I am prompted by the voice mail system to press another key - the problem is I am no longer on the keypad screen and must locate and press another key to get back there - ridiculous! Especially when I am driving...

2. During extended calls I always manage activate the TV somehow and this switches the screen orientation to landscape. Then I need to go into the control panel and switch it back.

Please fix these 2 issues and I will love the phone. It is the perfect size IMO. almost identical to Razr.

[Rich @ Apr 16th 2008 9:51AM]

$249.99 for one of the most basic smartphones around? Crazy.

[Steve @ Apr 16th 2008 10:35AM]

Even crazier...people will buy it! Sigh, VZW with the late arrival of a dated handset, la-di-frickin-da. Where is the Glyde and the new LG handsets? Your current lineup of phones is horrible. Something new please. I'm about to fall off the Big Red landscape and slide to AT&T.

[Kant @ Apr 16th 2008 9:51AM]

is the Touch Dual coming out for Verizon?

[Collateraldmg @ Apr 16th 2008 10:59AM]

Yeah, the possibility of the Dual coming out soon is probably the biggest thing keeping me away from this. I've looked around, but I couldn't find any indication. Knowing Verizon it'll come out about 3 years after it first hits the states, and about 2 years after it's so outdated that no one will want it.

[The Chad @ Apr 16th 2008 9:53AM]

Glyde????? Come on Verizon, it's time to bust out a good phone for a change!!

[packetsniffer @ Apr 16th 2008 10:18AM]

Still not sure why Engadget keeps repeating how blindingly strikingly shockingly white this thing is. It's not pure white; it's a cream shade.

[joshtaylor2 @ Apr 16th 2008 10:31AM]

Why would they disable the wi-fi? Am I the only one that noticed? The xv6800 has it, so does the samsung. I was so excited to get this, but now what? iphone?

[TomTom2007 @ Apr 16th 2008 11:30AM]

They what!?
My two year contract is near and time to get a new phone, so looking forward to this phone, why oh why, it does NOT have wifi ?!

Maybe it's time to switch...

[Aniruddh Chaturvedi @ Apr 16th 2008 10:37AM]

lol isnt this a white htc touch??? or is it supposed to be an htc touch?

[Phoenix @ Apr 16th 2008 12:03PM]

it IS a white touch.

I think the codename is an "elfin" instead of an "elf" because it's CDMA with I think a faster processor...

[D @ Apr 16th 2008 12:18PM]

Faster processor indeed: 400MHz vs. 225, I think.

More RAM too, 128MB if I recall.

The horsepower makes this thing attractive, as does Verizon's EVDO coverage when compared to AT&T's HSDPA coverage.

But that's about all, at least out of the box. Not sure I'm adventurous enough to play with hacked ROMs, but any who are might have a really good device on their hands, if they're into the touchscreen-only thing.

[Juke Box Hero @ Apr 16th 2008 10:46AM]

Good Lord, what is this? A Valentines Day version of the Touch? Maybe it looks better in person...

[ashley @ Apr 16th 2008 11:20AM]

This phone looks good, as long as it is not to heavy or wide. So what does Verizon not let you do? They disable any phones gps? There are a couple apps I don't think I could go without...SecondLife, Bigstring Self Destructing IM, WinAmp, etc.

[schmitty338 @ Apr 16th 2008 11:23AM]

WTF? That's expensive....I paid $150 for the Vogue here in Canada on a 2 year contract with unlimited data (albeit non-tethered) for $7/month..and it would have been free on a 3-year....

I thought the states were usually cheaper with this sort of thing.

[VZWguy @ Apr 16th 2008 12:09PM]

google maps works fine on the device out of the box, windows mobile refuses to make VZ navigator work on their phones, so sorry, talk to them about it.

with the new VZnav roll ot coming in 2 weeks, I would expect the big red to be working on rolling it to all devices.

[michaelportent @ Apr 16th 2008 12:34PM]

Well, I would say Verizon is the least evil of the major cell companies to sign your life away to for a cool phone, but that's not true. I'd still rather get a new Sidekick with a Data Plan from T-Mobile.

[Johan S @ Apr 16th 2008 12:39PM]

QVGA. Lame.

No Sale.

[Rob Schoenfeld @ Apr 16th 2008 12:49PM]

I've had this device for a couple of months on Sprint and love it. HTC has done a pretty good job of adapting windows mobile into a touch centric phone. They are a few annoyances but those can be solved with software. Here are my suggestions.

1. Keyboards aren't great. - PCM Keyboard is a great substitute.
2. Windows Media Player Mobile isn't touch friendly - Some one had the foresight to make a touch friendly HTC skin that works great. Search for Install_HTC_Skin_QVGA.cab on google. You can also try S2P, it's a pretty good touch oriented music player. Lacks play lists and a few other things.
3. The calculator isn't very touch friendly. SPB's website has a great black calculator skin that goes with the HTC themed phone.
4. HTC Home screen is sluggish at times. I personal run Pointui on top of it. Point ui is very customizable and touch friendly. I don't use my stylus too much any more.
5. The last thing that annoys me is the browser, IE Mobile sucks. Some better browsers will be coming out later this year. Opera isn't bad but cost 30 bucks. If you can stomach IE for a few more months you may want to wait.

Here are a few websites where I found some great apps.

http://www.wm6software.net/
http://www.pointui.com

[Peter @ Apr 16th 2008 12:54PM]

does anyone know what the qwerty keyboard would look like? if its the same as the others small black and white microsoft really needs to change it.

[Phoenix @ Apr 16th 2008 12:04PM]

It has that, but some of the later ones in Europe have another keyboard, designed for the finger.

[Alexander @ Apr 16th 2008 2:46PM]

there is no physical keyboard on this unit--only touchscreen keyboards.

After using my eNV... I cannot go back to a touchscreen only device.

[treks @ Apr 16th 2008 3:13PM]

yeah i've been waiting for ages for a device that could show me the time 80s style! :)