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HTC Thunderbolt rumored to be hitting Best Buy February 14th, sans mobile hotspot or Skype video?
The HTC Thunderbolt may have been officially announced way back at CES, but there's still quite a bit we don't know about the phone -- namely, a price or a release date. We now at least have what looks to be a fairly solid hint of the latter, however, courtesy of the above shot of a Best Buy inventory screen that lists an in stock date of February 14th. You'll note that the screen doesn't actually mention the HTC Thunderbolt anywhere, but some sleuthing by the folks at Android Central reveals that the product code matches one found on a Thunderbolt box that turned up in a recent hands-on video. Joining that rumor is a separate one from Droid Life, which has obtained some supposedly authentic Verizon materials that suggest the Thunderbolt won't be shipping with mobile hotspot functionality enabled at launch, and that Skype video chat won't be enabled initially either. No word on a reason for the delay (if there actually is one), but both features will seemingly be enabled at some point, and there will apparently be a placeholder icon in the case of Skype that will display a "coming soon" message if it's launched.
Motorola Droid's next update to be Android 2.1, includes multitouch browser
We've just gotten the inside line on the next Droid update that's making the rounds through Verizon's testing department from one of our trusted sources, and overall, it looks like this should take users 95 percent of the way to curing pangs of Nexus One envy. Here's what we've got: It's based on Android 2.1. The build currently being circulated is identified as 2.1 version 1, mirroring the update just pushed to the Nexus One last week. Google Goggles is now pre-installed (no matter how unhelpful it may be). The browser's now multitouch enabled, just like Google Maps 3.4. Huzzah! No Flash, but then again, we weren't really expecting that. Interestingly, the home screen's still got the same look as 2.0.1, meaning it doesn't adopt the Nexus One's rotating 3D grid of app icons -- it's still got the pull-up drawer tab at the bottom. No active wallpapers. Bummer! The news and weather widgets introduced on the Nexus One are included. Maybe certain capabilities of 2.1 are going to be restricted to devices with minimum performance benchmarks? There's no word on timing, and for all our source knows, this build could still very well fail testing -- goodness knows it's happened with plenty of pre-production firmwares in Verizon's past. We'll keep our ear to the ground and you do the same.
Motorola Droid's website published a bit early, with specs galore
A 3.7-inch, 16:9 touch screen with 480 x 854 resolution. A 5 megapixel camera with 4x zoom, autofocus, and dual LED flash. A 1400 mAh Li-ion battery for up to 385 minutes of usage time and 270 hours standby. A 550MHz processor (marginally better). A pre-installed 16GB microSD card. Bluetooth, 802.11b/g WiFi, and a micro USB port. Six ounces of weight spread out over a 2.4 x 4.6 x 0.5-inch body. We know, you were wanting the Motorola Droid's price and release date, too, but that's the one detail not on this page, we're afraid. [Via Boy Genius Report]
Motorola Droid's website published a bit early, with specs galore (update: video)
A 3.7-inch, 16:9 touch screen with 480 x 854 resolution. A 5 megapixel camera with 4x zoom, autofocus, and dual LED flash. A 1400 mAh Li-ion battery for up to 385 minutes of usage time and 270 hours standby. A 550MHz processor (marginally better). A pre-installed 16GB microSD card. GPS, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g WiFi, and a micro USB port. Six ounces of weight spread out over a 2.4 x 4.6 x 0.5-inch body. We know, you were wanting the Motorola Droid's price and release date, too, but that's the one detail not on this page, we're afraid. Update: Guess Motorola realized the error of its ways, but not to fear, we've got the site and specs captured in the gallery below. Update 2: Some kind soul inhabiting middle internet managed to snag video of the Droid in action. Check it after the break. %Gallery-76317% %Gallery-76448% [Via Boy Genius Report]
Verizon changing some plan names, gets Alltel in-network calling
We've been able to independently verify Boy Genius Report's claim that Verizon will be changing the name of IN Calling to the simpler "Mobile to Mobile" (and we can also kick in that INpulse will become just "Prepaid") on February 15. That alone isn't terribly awesome, but more importantly, Alltel numbers are now included as in-network calls for Verizon customers. Alltel customers, meanwhile, have to wait for the merger to complete. Sorry, folks!And here's a little something for the data fiends: the venerable BroadbandAccess laptop plan becomes Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband (there's a mouthful for you) this coming Monday. That's an incredible upgrade from four to ten syllables, so we should all be thanking our lucky stars for that.
