Lenovo-owned Motorola just launched its latest flagships, the Moto Z and Moto Z Force. For now they’re only available as “Droid Edition” phones, exclusively on Verizon and — of course — packing a picking of Verizon’s bloatware apps.
After first going up for pre-order last week, the phones (and their Moto Mods!) are now available for purchase outright from Verizon’s website…
Verizon has never had a good relationship with the few customers still holding on to its unlimited data plans. The company has been trying over the past few years to get those customers to upgrade to newer, restricted plans, but despite its best efforts, many customer still remain on these plans. For some users this is fine, but Verizon is sick and tired of those using “an extraordinary amount of data” on their unlimited plans and will soon disconnect those users.
It’s been a few weeks since Lenovo officially announced the Moto Z and Moto Z Force, and in the time since we’ve only had two big question: when are they coming, and how much will they cost? Today those questions are answered, at least for the Verizon editions.
While Lenovo’s new Moto Z is grabbing attention for a lot of reasons, the main selling point for this new device is its design supporting modular backplates. With a few strong magnets and some pins, a special module called a ‘Moto Mod‘ can instantly expand the capabilities of the phone. At Tech World last week, the company showed off several mods that would be available at launch. It didn’t, however, reveal pricing. Thankfully, Verizon has.
Yesterday Lenovo made the Moto Z official, but with that they also confirmed that it would be exclusive to Verizon Wireless for several weeks. Both the Moto Z and Moto Z Force will launch on Verizon this Summer, with an unlocked model coming in September. Sadly however, that unlocked model won’t work with Verizon.
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After an OTA update last week, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners on Verizon reported seeing a new “DT Ignite” service responsible for downloading carrier bloatware apps on their phones. Today, Verizon has an issued a statement clarifying the purposes of DT Ignite.
Verizon released an OTA update today for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge that adds some minor features and fixes several bugs. However, users have noticed that the update also installs a service called DT Ignite that allows carriers to quietly install bloatware. This addition went unmentioned in Verizon’s release notes, but fortunately is easy to disable.
Albeit having been released months ago, much like all of its predecessors, the latest Android version, Marshmallow, is still running only on a relatively small number of devices. Much of it can be attributed to carriers and third party manufacturers, which often take a lot of time to properly re-skin, release certifications, and eventually give the green light to updates.
Fortunately for Verizon customers, however, it looks like Google‘s latest software is beginning its rollout for the Droid Turbo 2. In a note released on Tuesday on Google Plus, Motorola‘s David Schuster confirmed that the upgrade is in “full deployment”…
Verizon has announced that it will be the first carrier to offer the HTC 10 up for pre-sale from April 29. Although it hasn’t announced specific plans or pricing, the latest premium unibody flagship will be available from ‘Big Red’ next week. What’s more, VZW will be hosting in-store previews from that day, letting customers and media get their hands on the device.
In the somewhat troubled downhill path it entered a couple of years ago, HTC decided to change things up towards the end of last year, introducing a somewhat controversial new mid-range phone, the A9. Despite the lack of its signature front-facing speakers, the phone stood out. With a new, heavily iPhone-inspired design but a nonetheless solid build and decent specs, the Taiwanese company seemed to be onto something. There was even a promise of out of the box compatibility with AT&T and T-Mobile as well as Sprint.
HTC went a step further, however, saying that it would do everything in its power to provide support for Verizon, too, with a future software update. Unfortunately, as the company announced today, plans to make the device compatible with the Big Red’s network have been abandoned after a long period of testing…
Verizon is proving to be no slouch when it comes to rolling out Android Marshmallow updates to its customers. Having only recently been made available for the international unlocked Galaxy Note 5, Android Marshmallow is now being rolled out to Verizon-locked models.
Update: You can now order the BlackBerry PRIV from Verizon Wireless for $30.00 per month with $0 down, or pay the full $720 retail price.
According to several Verizon staff members commenting in CrackBerry‘s forums, the carrier is preparing for a retail launch next week. It has seemingly been confirmed that the device will go on sale on March 11, with pre-orders opening on March 3.
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will be hitting US carriers much sooner than the LG G5. While AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have all announced they will carry the LG G5 and its accompanying accessories, there is not a set availability or pre-order date among the carriers. The best hint of when LG’s latest flagship device will be available comes from Best Buy.
Update: Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is now up for pre-order at Best Buy and through the carriers below.
The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge were made official at long last today, with Samsung taking the wraps off of the two devices during its press event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Now, all of the major carriers in the United States are announcing their respective pre-order information and details.
The DROID Ultra, Maxx, and Mini were announced just days before the first Moto X, and now Motorola is reneging on an early promise to provide Android 5.1 to those devices. As consolation, however, they are offering owners a discount on the Droid Turbo 2 or Maxx 2.
Since its launch last year, the Gear S2 has gained new features, watchfaces, and hardware variants. Beginning next month, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon will sell a 3G/4G cellular version of the Samsung Gear S2 Classic.
Verizon’s LG G3 and G4 will be joining the HTC One M9 in getting Marshmallow today. The carrier has announced that OTA updates for those devices are rolling out now. HTC announced Android 6.0 last week and the LG G4 on AT&T and T-Mobile have already gotten their updates in the past weeks.
Verizon today has announced the return of its popular promo that offers users an extra 24GB of data per year for free. The deal is available to users who activate or upgrade to a new phone with a device payment plan on XL or larger Verizon agreements. Verizon’s XL plan starts at $80 per month with 12GB of data (14GB if you include the promo), while the XXL plan runs $100 per month for 18GB of data (20GB with the promo).
Update: Verizon’s HTC One M9 will also get Marshmallow on February 16.
The onslaught of carrier-locked devices getting Android 6.0 is beginning. Marshmallow made its way to the AT&T and T-Mobile variants last week and is now coming to the T-Mobile HTC One M9 and Verizon Droid Turbo 2.
Verizon began lab-testing its 5G network last year, aiming to carry out the first real-world tests this year, and and AT&T has now announced that it will be doing the same. The company seems even more optimistic than Verizon, which estimated 5G speeds some 30-50 times faster than LTE.
We expect 5G to deliver speeds 10-100 times faster than today’s average 4G LTE connections. Customers will see speeds measured in gigabits per second, not megabits. For reference, at one gigabit per second, you can download a TV show in less than 3 seconds.
Don’t get too excited just yet, though, as there are a couple of small hurdles to be overcome first …
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The LG G3 is a tank of a phone, and it still holds up pretty well in 2016 even as the Korean company is planning to unveil the LG G5. If you’re running a Verizon-branded LG G3 as your daily driver, I have some good news: Many people just like you are reporting (via Reddit) that the phone is getting its over-the-air update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
As is usually the case with phones any more than a year old, it’s really a gamble whether or not devices will get the latest version of sweet-and-secure Android. Owners of the LG G3 D855 model, F400L/K/S models, and now Verizon owners, have all hit the jackpot as of yet. You can read more about Marshmallow compatibility with the LG G3 here.
If you’re still using a 2014 Moto X on Verizon, some good news has emerged today. A Motorola Forums Manager revealed today that the company will now allow bootloader unlocks for the 2014 Verizon Moto X, although it will still void the warranty.
The trend of carriers ending contract pricing continues today. According to an internal leaked document obtained by Android Central, Sprint smartphone subsidy options are now limited to customers who wish to add a line to an existing account or upgrade their existing phone. This move follows AT&T’s announcement that it will stop offering two-year contracts this week, as well as Verizon, who simplified its offerings last August.