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Verizon's Galaxy Note II purportedly poses for the camera, over-branding included
Phablet lovers on Verizon may have reason to rejoice, because the carrier's variant of the Galaxy Note II may have been captured in the flesh. The white device is aesthetically identical to the version straight from Samsung's house, save for its questionable carrier-branding. While the back of the phone sports a seemingly legit "Verizon 4G LTE" logo along with its moniker, you'll notice a rather obnoxiously-planted "Verizon" logo on its home button -- perhaps a bit too ridiculous to be the real deal. That said, it's almost certain that the Note II will officially make it to Verizon, no matter if it's dressed like the photos above or not; this purported variant lines up nicely with screenshots leaked earlier this week showing AT&T and Verizon compatibility. Now, if only we could have further confirmation -- perhaps in the way of a second visit to the FCC in the near feature or some leaky memos. [Thanks, Sean P.]
Nokia grabs the Windex, clears up 'erroneous' Maemo carrier customization claims
We aren't too sure where a number of outlets overheard that Nokia was planning to pass on customizing its Maemo-based devices, but one of two things has happened: either Nokia is lying to our faces and has secretly had a change of heart, or everyone was just misinformed from the get-go. Regardless of the hows and whys, Nokia has now come clean and stated that those very reports -- you know, the ones that "erroneously suggested that Nokia will not support operator customization for Maemo devices" -- are "simply incorrect." A long winded explanation follows, but the long and short of it is that the suits in Espoo are (at least now) very open to letting operators "tailor future Maemo devices to suit their needs," which may or may not be a positive in your eyes depending on the carrier you're chained to. Now, aren't you glad we had this little talk?[Thanks, Dallas]
Nokia putting foot down on Maemo, won't allow carrier customizations
Google and Apple have both managed to wrest a great deal of control over the mobile user experience from carriers over the past couple of years -- cheers to that, by the way -- and now Nokia's decided it wants a piece of that action with the introduction of Maemo 5 and the N900, which it says will be free of the branding that Symbian products frequently get subjected to. It makes total sense that Nokia would be looking to come play in that rarified air that Android, iPhone OS, and webOS are all playing in -- a place where ARPUs are high, UIs are slick and modern, and the apps (and data) flow like water -- but since the majority of customers for these types of devices rely on subsidies to justify the purchase, they'll still need carrier buy-in to pull this off effectively. At least Palm and the gang have all proven that there's precedent for it, and it's definitely a noble fight to wage -- no one wants a bright magenta interface, right? [Via Phone Scoop]
