After all the wait, we’ve finally gotten definitive word from Verizon: The LTE Galaxy Nexus, which will be the first ICS phone sold in the US, will go on sale tomorrow for $299 with a two year service plan from Verizon.
Furthermore, the hold up was in fact the 4.0.2 update which we told you about hours ago.
Verizon hasn’t been saying much about the release date of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. There seems like there has been too many rumored dates to count, and as time ticks by we’re starting to think the Galaxy Nexus launch in the US is going to happen next year — but luckily that’s not the case. In an official statement, Verizon confirmed with Android and Me that the Galaxy Nexus is still on track to launch this year.
The Galaxy Nexus is still on track to launch this year. We will definitely send a press release to announce availability. Feel free to visit www.verizonwireless.com/galaxynexus to sign up for email alerts to be one of the first to know.
Also adding more fuel to the fire, a mysterious package from Verizon is on the way to our reviewer and will arrive Friday. They won’t say what it is, but you obviously know what we’re hoping for. We’ll keep you posted on the latest.
The answer to the question of “what would happen if you slapped a keyboard on the back of a Droid Razor” just showed up for a brief moment on Verizon’s DroidDoes website. The Droid 4 “only” has a 4-inch screen compared to the RAZR’s 4.3″ but pretty much everything else lines up the same. Perhaps more importantly, yes, that is a 5 row keyboard (4 rows is for suckers) and of course the speedy LTE comes along too. DOES below. Expand Expanding Close
Verizon has still yet to announce a release date for the highly anticipated Galaxy Nexus, but apparently a Best Buy store didn’t get that memo. A user posted the following on the Android Centralforums:
Went to best buy at 9am in olathe kansas got one all activated everything works fine there was even a post it not that said 12-11
only problem was the best buy computer didn’t have a valid ski, they couldn’t ring it up the manager looked in the system for like 60 min and confirmed it was available today
ended up having the ppm override the system and selling it to me. in the end. i got one me and my buddy.
Hit up your local store to see if you can get lucky! Check out the box after the break:
The folks over at iFixithave torn-down the Galaxy Nexus, per usual, exposing what’s underneath. While they didn’t find anything we didn’t already know in terms of hardware, the team found that it’s fairly easy to get into the device — unlike the Droid RAZR — requiring only a few screws and a guitar pick. For replacing the 1750mAh battery users shouldn’t have any problem. The iFixit team does worn however that the screen is fairly hard to replace. They’re still working to identify a few power amplifiers and motion processing units , but we’ll let you know when iFixit finds them.
Don’t forget, we’re still waiting on the launch of the Galaxy Nexus in the United States. The Ice Cream Sandwich device has been available in the U.K. for a little over two weeks now, and has seen positive reviews. It shouldn’t be too long until we see Verizon’s LTE in the mix. iFixit gave the device a 6/10 on the repairability scale:
Samsung Galaxy Nexus Repairability Score: 6 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).
Battery replacement is incredibly simple thanks to the removable rear panel.
Minimal adhesive makes removal of the motherboard and other components a snap.
Headphone jack and speaker assembly are not soldered to the motherboard, so replacement is easy.
The only soldered components are the volume switch and vibrator motor.
Removing the rear case to access the motherboard and other internals requires a lotof careful prying and guitar-picking.
The glass is fused to both the display and the display frame. So don’t crack the glass unless you’re good with a heat gun, or you’re fond of replacing the glass, display, and frame together ($$$).
Verizon has about the sickest lineup of phones we’ve ever seen for the holidays. While it is carrying the iPhone like almost everyone else, it has not one, not two, but three *incredible* flagship Android devices that are all incredible in their own way. We’ve already seen the Droid RAZR and we just got a close look at the Droid Rezound. We know, and Verizon verifies above, that the buttonless Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be showing up before the holidays.
We talked to Verizon at the Rezound event and they told us there wouldn’t be an event for the Galaxy Nexus, at least from Verizon. They said Google would he handing them out to reviewers shortly. From the paperwork above, it looks like Verizon will be the only carrier doling out Nexi for the holidays with the others following in the new year. The new Android comparison matrix below (via TheDroidGuy):
We’re waiting in anticipation live from the Motorola and Verizon media event where we now know we’ll get a better look at the new Motorola RAZR unveiled in a series of teasers yesterday.
12:00 Sanjay Jha enters. Smartphones are a big deal. “Might of heard about some business news”
12:05 Talking Fitness. Hardware – Music centric experience. “Moto ACTV” Little iPod Nano sized device to deliver Fitness and music to headses.
12:20 Demo-ing the Droid RAZR. Pretty much as seen before. 7.1 mm thin except for the bump. Lightest, Strongest, Fastest, Smartest.
Preorders Oct 27 pre order. November delivery Price $299.
Ahhh. Finally, an LTE phone with everything. Motorola’s Bionic has been on everyone’s lips since its announcement at CES eight months ago. However, Motorola’s first LTE phone underwent numerous facelifts, spec enhancements and delays pushing the phone out to last Friday.
We’ve had a week to play with this thing and can say that for all intents and purposes, this is the best Android device on the US market today. Here’s the rundown of why: Expand Expanding Close
ReadWriteWeb is reporting Verizon has blocked hotspot tethering on rooted Android devices without a data plan. Verizon is forwarding users to a page to buy 3G mobile hotspot, which currently is $20 a month for 2GB, with a $20 per GB overage.This only makes sense..
A ReadWriteWeb employee using a jailbroken tethered Verizon Motorola X without a data plan was sent to this page outlining Verizon’s hotspot data plans today when trying to access a hotspot. This is a new development, since the employee used her jailbroken device as a hotspot two days ago.
This follows our report yesterday that AT&T is removing unlimited plans for users who jailbreak iPhones to tether or hotspot off of AT&T’s unlimited data plans.
Is Verizon preparing to launch the HTC Vigor, Droid Bionic, and two other mystery Android devices? If speculation stemming from a leaked pre-MAP (minimum advertised price) list is to be believed, the carrier is readying four new Android devices for launch including two HTC, one LG, and a Motorola.
DroidLife speculates the third device listed on the MAP memo, “HTC ADR6425”, is the rumored HTC Vigor, which, thanks to an anonymous NenaMark benchmark test, is rumored to sport a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 720p resolution display, and an Adreno 220 GPU.
The “LG-VS920” is most likely the successor to the LG Revolution, as the first-gen Revo was labeled with model number “LG-VS910”.
Less is known about the other mystery devices. The “Motorola MOTXT87” is thought by many to be the new DROID Bionic announced at CES and slated to launch in September. When it comes to the last device listed, the “HTC ADR6330”, your guess is as good as any.
Whether or not any of these devices will launch before the September Bionic launch is yet to be determined. We will keep you posted as more info becomes available…
IntoMobile is reporting an AT&T varient of the Verizon Droid Bionic might just be on its way. If you don’t know what you’re looking for the above image doesn’t exactly tell you much. IntoMobile explains:
The small code following the version number is what to look for. You can see three mentions of the MB860 and one of the MB865. Well, a quick Google search for MB865 will return results for the Motorola Atrix 4G but if you do a search for MB865, you’ll get results for the Droid Bionic.
The GSM Bionic will likely be a slightly bigger version of AT&T’s popular Atrix. The Atrix already has the qHD display and dual core processor. It also got a Gingerbread update this weekend.
Verizon’s Xperia Play hit stores May 16th for $199, but in just two months the device is already seeing a $100 price cut. The Xperia Play is now available on Verizon for just a mere $99! While users like to game on their smartphones, perhaps a smartphone devoted to it just isn’t sitting right. If you’re interested, we suggest you take advantage of this now.
Verizon has launched a sign-up page for their upcoming Motorola LTE phone, the Droid Bionic. The Bionic was announced at CES in January, but had some flaws that needed ironing out. On the sign-up page Verizon says the phone will be available this summer (which is half over already). We reported August 4th could be the launch date — could this still be the case? Head over to Verizon to sign-up and get updates, or just stick to 9to5Google.
Is Motorola pulling a “Samsung” and going back to the drawing board with their XOOM, prettying and slimming it to match Apple’s iPad 2? The Verizon ad (screenshot above, video below) seems to suggest just that. Hopefully that channel inventory is ready to move because who is going to buy a XOOM now that a thinner version is coming down the pike?
Thant didn’t take long. Verizon just announced that it too will have a thin Galaxy Tab 10.1. But this one will still be as thin and carry LTE 4G hardware.
