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Verizon finally allows uploads on its 5G network
Verizon customers with 5G-capable smartphones should notice increased upload speeds starting today.
Motorola Edge Plus review: It’s... fine?
By comparison, the new, $1,000 Motorola Edge Plus feels conventional. Motorola's approach here is very much the opposite: It's all brute force with little underlying finesse.
This is how Verizon torture tests every new phone
We know Verizon goes to extreme lengths to field test its network - but it turns out the carrier is also pretty tough on all of the devices it offers. Nestled in cozy Bedminster, New Jersey lies Verizon's labs, where it subjects new phones to a battery of creative torture techniques -- we've already seen what Samsung and Apple put their own devices through -- to make sure they're up to snuff. If they survive, they make it onto the company's network. If not, they get sent back from whence they came (with lots of notes to the manufacturer). And if you were wondering, yes, Verizon does its best to recreate all of the dumb ways we destroy our phones. One test machine's only job is to drop phones from a meter high at just about every angle. (We also learned that phablets only get tested at a half meter - read into that what you will.) Check out the full gallery from our tour of Verizon's labs below.
LG GizmoPal wearable lets kids call their parents with one button
Even though the wearable space is flooded with a ton of options, most of those are geared toward grown-ups. And, hey, why not let the little ones join the fun too. Earlier this year, LG introduced the KizOn in South Korea, a wearable for children that made it easy for them to communicate with their parents. Today, that same device is coming to the US on Verizon, but here it will be known as the GizmoPal. The idea behind LG's new wearable is extremely simple, as it only requires being set up with a pre-configured number and, using a single button, kid(s) can then easily make or receive a call to and from it. The GizmoPal also comes with a companion app, available for iOS and Android, which uses GPS features to allow you, the parent, to easily monitor your child's location at all times.
Verizon backpedals after cutting off free LTE for Chromebook Pixel owners
Nothing like a public shaming to make a company do an about-face. After cutting off free LTE service for Chromebook Pixel owners earlier than expected, Google stepped in to offer users a $150 gift card. Outrage from users persisted, though, and now Verizon appears to be reversing its decision. "We do understand that a very small number of Chromebook Pixel customers may have had a promo end prematurely," a Verizon spokesperson told TechCrunch. "We apologize for this, and will work with these customers to address the situation." Based on that statement (and what a vague statement it is), it's unclear whether the carrier actually intends to restore LTE service, or whether it intends to make amends some other way. We're asking Verizon to clarify, and will update this post if we hear more.
Verizon slashes More Everything prices to keep pace with AT&T
Not to be caught cold by recent price cuts from AT&T, and to keep up with T-Mobile's relentless UnCarrier marketing blitz, Verizon has slightly tweaked its More Everything plan to reward its more data-thirsty customers. As of now, subscribers to the company's Edge early-upgrade program who sign up for 10GB or more of data can add additional smartphones to their plan for $15. That's $5 less than the $20 it originally charged. On top of that, Big Red has also slashed the cost of its monthly access fee from $40 to $25, meaning a family of four will pay $160 a month for 10GB of data and unlimited calls and texts. That puts Verizon on a completely level playing field with AT&T, while keeping T-Mobile directly in its crosshairs. You will, of course, need be part of Edge to benefit from these discounts, but it means you'll also be able to upgrade your phone as quickly (or as slowly) as you'd like.
Verizon reportedly launching 'More Everything' plans with higher data caps, lower prices
The Nexus 7 arriving on Verizon Wireless apparently isn't the carrier's only big news this week. @VZWnews just tweeted that "#More is coming," teasing an announcement for tomorrow. According to our tipster, Verizon will launch so-called More Everything plans with additional data and reduced prices for Edge customers. Plans with 8GB or less of data will be discounted $10, while those with 10 gigs or more will be reduced by $20. For those unfamiliar, Edge is Verizon's trade-in and upgrade program, which lets you pay off the cost of a phone over the course of your two-year contract. Share Everything plans will reportedly become the new More Everything plans, and they'll get a boost in data caps in the process. Those plans will also allow for unlimited messaging to anywhere in the world from the US. Finally, More Everything plans will apparently include 25GB of free cloud storage. We're hardly the first to say it, but it certainly looks like the carrier is feeling the heat from T-Mobile and others competing for customers with increasingly ambitious offers. We'll have #More details on the announcement tomorrow, so keep an eye out! [Thanks, anonymous!]
Verizon waives activation fees, offers smartphone trade-in deals -- for a limited time
Is The UnCarrier to blame for Verizon and AT&T running different promotions lately? Perhaps. But regardless of who's to blame thank for this, the stiff competition between US carriers is a great thing for you, the consumer. The latest ones come by way of Verizon, which recently kicked off a couple of limited-time deals in hopes of luring customers in. For starters, Verizon's offering a $100 in-house gift card for any smartphone "in good working condition appraised for less than $100," though you could get up to $300 for a more valuable handset. Additionally, Verizon's also waving its $35 activation fees on new lines during the next few days -- which, when combined with the recycling promo, could end up saving you a good amount of cash. The trade-in offer will be running through March 31st, while the other is set to be valid until February 17th.
Verizon activated about 3.9 million iPhones in Q3 2013
Here's news to warm the hearts of Wall Street analysts who are trying to make predictions in advance of Apple's Q4 2013 earnings call on October 28: Verizon reported that it activated about 3.9 million iPhones during its third fiscal quarter during that same time period. Not only is that number up 26 percent year over year, but it also represents 51 percent of the total smartphone activations during the quarter. In announcing the news, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo also noted that the company ran into iPhone shortages when the iPhone 5s and 5c were introduced. The iPhone is resulting in higher wireless data revenue for Verizon as well. Many customers are upgrading from the 3G-based iPhone 4 and 4s to the newer 4G LTE devices (iPhone 5, 5s, 5c), and those users have a tendency to use a lot more bandwidth. Smartphone users now make up 67 percent of Verizon's customer base, with more than 40 percent of its customers now on shared data plans.
Verizon announces first US pre-order date for Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear: September 6th at 9AM ET
The Big Four (that'd be Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T) have all confirmed that they'll be stocking Samsung's newly-introduced Galaxy Gear and Galaxy Note 3, but none of 'em have been bold enough as to give us two precious details: pricing and availability. We're still waiting for the damage, but VZW has come forward and alerted its customers that pre-orders will open up on September 6th. Given that the Note 3 just sailed through the FCC (and that the Gear is due to land in October), we're guessing that you'll have to wait anywhere from one to eight weeks for shipment. We'll keep you posted if we hear anything more concrete. Follow all of our IFA 2013 coverage by heading to our event hub!
Verizon CEO: No Canadian expansion planned
The Canadian government has been looking for ways to expand mobile coverage from three nationwide carriers -- Rogers, Bell Wireless and Telus -- to four. There were hopes that US carrier Verizon Wireless would purchase a small Canadian regional carrier, then buy spectrum in a government auction that's coming up in two weeks and expand nationwide. Well, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam threw a bucket of cold maple syrup onto that plate of poutine, noting point-blank that "Verizon is not going to Canada." That's the result of Verizon spending US$130 billion to buy out Vodafone's share of the company. Without the cash to invest in either Wind Mobile or Mobilicity, two small and struggling Canadian regional wireless carriers, Verizon won't be making any big moves north of the border any time soon. [via iMore]
PSA: Verizon's Motorola Droid Mini begins shipping tomorrow, not August 29th
Product delays are often talked about (and judged) around the interwebs, and thus it's only fair to give a company credit when it plans to deliver something ahead of schedule. As such, those who pre-ordered a Motorola Droid Mini for Verizon will be happy to find out that the 4.3-inch handset will begin shipping tomorrow, August 22nd, instead of August 29th as was originally planned. PhoneArena was the first to spot this tidbit earlier on the network's website, however a Verizon representative has since confirmed to us that the change in dates is indeed true. It's not clear whether the Kevlar-wrapped Droid Mini's also going to be on sale at Verizon's brick-and-mortar stores, but we'll be updating this story if we hear anything.
Leaked photos: Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini is headed to Verizon
Here is it: the Galaxy S4 Mini... for Verizon? As of now, Samsung's smaller Galaxy S4 sibling is an international-only device; in other words, no US carriers have officially signed on to offer it. That said, a Samsung SCH-i435 recently made its way into the Bluetooth SIG's website, and those who follow VZW's classifications of Samsung products are all-too-familiar with the "SCH" prefix. Of course, a handful of leaked photos can't confirm a release date nor a price, but if it's already popping up with that label on the rear, surely the wait won't be much longer. Hop on past the break for a side-by-side shot with an iPhone 5. [Thanks, Anonymous]
Isis NFC payment system to roll out later this year, provide iPhone support
When three of the big four mobile carriers -- AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile US, and Verizon Wireless -- agree on something, you know that it's going to get a big push. The three companies formed Isis in early 2011 to orchestrate the future of near field communication (NFC) payments, and today the joint venture announced that the Isis Mobile Wallet system will be rolled out nationwide later this year. Isis Mobile Wallet users need an NFC-enabled smartphone and a SIM-based secure element to be considered "Isis Ready." Many Samsung Android devices are equipped for NFC, both for local file sharing and payments. At this point, NFC technology isn't built into iPhones, nor has there been any word from Apple on whether the technology will be in future devices. Nevertheless, the joint venture notes that support for iPhone, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 will be introduced this year. Isis trials were held in Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Isis group found that the users were quite happy with paying from their smartphones. The trial showed that active users used their devices for payment more than 10 times per month, acceptance of contactless payment quadrupled to almost 4,000 locations in the two cities, and that 80 percent of the transactions took place at places like fast-food restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations, and convenience and grocery stores. If Apple doesn't embrace NFC with the next generation of iPhones, it's likely that an NFC-enabled case will be required in order to use Isis.
Verizon activates 7.5 M smartphones in Q2 2013, more than half were iPhones
Verizon today announced its earnings for Q2 2013. As expected, the carrier reported strong results with $5.2 billion in profit and $29.79 billion in revenue. Verizon added 1 million new customers and now has 100.1 million retail connections. The carrier also confirmed it activated 7.5 M smartphones, over half of which were iPhones. This brings Verizon's quarterly iPhone activations to approximately 3.87 million units, which is up from the 2.7 million it activated in the same quarter last year. It is right on par with the 4 million activations it reported in the opening quarter of 2013. [Via CNET]
Verizon expanding San Francisco Innovation Center, currently working on cross-carrier HD Voice support
2011 sure doesn't feel like that long ago, but it's evidently long enough for Verizon to realize that demand for innovation is booming in Silicon Valley. Not quite two years after the company cracked open the doors to its San Francisco-based Innovation Center, it's already looking to expand. During a briefing today at its other Innovation Center -- the one located just outside of Boston -- we were told that plans are underway to expand the SF facility. Presently, the Waltham, Mass. center is the vaster of the two, and it's Verizon's goal to stretch the California edition to (roughly) match the original location. We were also told that the company has looked at a variety of other cities where potential Innovation Centers could be planted, and while "three to four" undisclosed metropolises are in play, the company wants to nail the execution of its first two before hastily expanding into new locales. According to Praveen Atreya, director of Verizon's Innovation Program, there's just too much involved in the incubation and launch process to not devote the proper amount of manpower to it. In other words, there's more to launching a product than just design and manufacturing; a lot of TLC goes on in order to make something have a successful shelf life.
Verizon activates 4M iPhones in the quarter, split evenly between 3G and 4G models
Verizon reported its earnings for the opening quarter of 2013 and announced that it activated 4 million iPhones. This figure is up year-over year, but down from the previous quarter which saw 6.2 million iPhone activations. This decline is expected as sales generally fall in the first quarter of the year. Within the 4 M iPhone activations, Verizon confirmed that 2 million were 4G LTE models (iPhone 5) and 2 million were 3G only models (iPhone 4/4S). Overall, the wireless carrier activated 7.2 million smartphones in the quarter, 5.9 million of which were 4G LTE compatible. Smartphone ownership has reached an all-time high with over 61 percent of the carrier's postpaid subscriber base now using smartphones. You can read more about Verizon's earnings on the carrier's investor relations website.
Daily Update for April 11, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Verizon CEO: I sold Jobs on LTE for iPhone 5
Tuesday at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam spent some time touting his company's investment in its LTE network and the fact that 4G LTE makes it possible to stream video. McAdam also relayed a story, recounted on Fierce Wireless, about how he was able to convince Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs to build LTE into the iPhone 5 To quote from the article: McAdam was trying to convince Jobs to make the iPhone 5 compatible with LTE. "I was really trying to sell him and he sat there without any reaction. Finally, he said, 'Enough. You had me at 10 Mbps. I know you can stream video at 10 Mbps.' And Apple's next phone was LTE," McAdam said. Part of the reason for McAdam's appearance at NAB was to allay the fears of broadcasters who are concerned about Verizon's plan to use LTE Broadcast technology to broadcast the 2014 Super Bowl and similar live events to its customers. McAdam reassured the crowd, saying "We don't want to get in the way of broadcasters," but noted that there are some events where Verizon could "add a dimension and it becomes better." Photo by Stuart Isett, Fortune Brainstorm TECH. CC BY 2.0
Daily Update for January 22, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
