Mysterious Samsung Galaxy Stellar is Verizon Bound

 

Samsung seems to register new suffixes for it’s Galaxy range of phones every other month these days. Some of the names surface as regional variations of Samsung’s flagship devices and others are tacked on to the end of the entry level phones. Step up the Galaxy Stellar, a name that Samsung trademarked a couple of months ago and has recently appeared on the Verizon inventory. The question is, what exactly is it?

Could it be that the incoming SCH-I200 has an official name? Keep tuned in to TalkAndroid and we’ll be sure to keep you posted as further news arrives.

Source: Droid Life

Verizon Galaxy Nexus rumored to receive Android 4.0.4 tomorrow

Word from the grapevine is that Big Red is planning to finally release Android ICS 4.0.4 to the Galaxy Nexus masses with OTA (over-the-air) roll-out commencing as soon as tomorrow. This rumor supposedly comes from a Verizon customer who was visiting their local store and was briefly shown a Verizon proprietary document detailing the upcoming OTA update. So for those of you who didn’t want to manually install Android 4.0.4 to your GNex, the wait may finally be over. Only tomorrow will tell if this rumor pans out so be sure to keep a eye on your notification bar for a possible icy treat.

Source: pocketnow

Verizon to Discount the Droid Razr Maxx by $100?

When it comes to Android and 4G battery life, the Droid Razr Maxx gives you the most bang for your buck. The problem is, the bang costs lots of bucks – $300 to be exact! Lucky for us, our pals over at Droid Life got their hands on some welcomed marketing material that shows the Razr Maxx as only $200 on contract. No word on when this deal is going to go into to effect but if you were holding out for a new Razr Maxx, may I suggest waiting until they drop that bad boy’s price by 100 bills. No need to call or go to the Verizon website every day, you can rest assured knowing that we will fill you in as soon as the price drops. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

Source: Droid Life

AT&T Also Launching Family Data Plans soon

In a move that mirrors rival Verizon, AT&T will also be offering family data plans later this year. At CTIA 2012 this week, AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega told CNET that he’s “very comfortable with the plan that will be offered to our customers,” though no specific dates were announced at this time.

Historically, de la Vega had serious doubts about such plans due to the complexities of billing and implementation. He seems to have had a change of heart, however, most likely as a response to Verizon’s similar announcement in February. Now we have to see which carrier actually rolls out their plan first.

Family data plans allow for higher capacity data plans that can be used over multiple devices with single account billing. This will presumably help spark sales of more devices to each household.

Make sure to check out all CTIA news here!

Source: thenextweb

Droid Incredible 4G LTE Launch Pushed Back to May 31?

We recently watched as Verizon accidentally and temporarily activated the Droid Incredible 4G LTE page on the Droid Does website. If that wasn’t enough to lead you to believe that its release was just around the corner than how about the rumor suggesting its launch on May 10th? Either way, we are about to get a new Droid phone from Verizon but it would be nice to be able to pinpoint a release date.

According to sources close to PhoneDog, the rumored May 10th launch has been pushed back a couple weeks and now the Droid Incredible 4G LTE could be released on Thursday, May 31st. There is no word on why the release date was pushed back but you can expect that we will fill you in as soon as we hear anything more.

Source: PhoneDog

Verizon Ice Cream Sandwich roadmap leaked

We all love Android here, but there comes a point where all of us at one time or another are waiting and wondering when the latest software update will finally make its way to our device. Thanks to an anonymous Verizon employee, we now have a leaked list of upcoming Android handsets that can expect to receive ICS very soon. Here is the breakdown:

• HTC Rezound – OTA update available May 9
• Motorola RAZR – OTA update available May 21
• Motorola RAZR MAXX – OTA update available May 21
• Motorola Xoom 4G – TBA, awaiting approval
• Motorola Xoom 3G – TBA, awaiting approval

The tipster goes on to say that Big Red pushes out its OTA over a 14 day period from the release date, “in batches“, so no worries if you don’t see the update on the exact day listed. Hit the source link below for more details.

Source: reddit

Verizon Reportedly Has Summer And Fall Roadmap Set For 2012

While Verizon always has a stacked Android lineup, it has to ensure it has the latest and greatest devices by keeping things fresh and up to date. To that end, it looks like Big Red is all set for its Summer and Fall lineup for 2012. For starters, it does indeed plan on carrying a version of the anticipated Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone, which we’ll assume will be a 4G LTE variant and will likely arrive this summer. As a follow-up, Verizon does indeed plan on carrying yet additional Motorola DROID RAZR models, perhaps models that have a bigger screen in HD and no capacative buttons? Finally, Verizon does indeed plan on carrying a phablet-type device, but not from Samsung. Instead, HTC is reportedly working on a device with a monstrous 5-inch screen with 1080P display, a quad-core Krait CPU and an Adreno 320 GPU, HTC Sense 5 and a Scribe pen.

Well, it looks like those of you needing to upgrade your phones this year will have at least a few good options of throwing down some of your hard earned coins. You folks excited at the idea of what’s to come from Verizon?

Source: BGR

ZTE V66 tablet supposedly to be released as the ZTE Turbine on Verizon

Earlier this year we had reported leaked info on the mysterious ZTE V66 tablet that is destined for Verizon some time in the first half of 2012. Originally speculated to be released during Mobile World Congress last month, the ZTE V66 has some fairly decent specs listed, however there are still important details unknown, leaving prospective Verizon tablet customers wondering if and when it’ll ever hit shelves at all.

Fortunately, we may have another piece of this ZTE puzzle. An anonymous tipster who allegedly works for an accessory manufacturer that has proven to be fairly reliable in the past has reported that the official name of the Verizon bound V66 will be the “Turbine“. It’s unclear whether the ZTE brand will be incorporated with the Verizon name, like Sprint’s ZTE Optik, or if it will just simply be Turbine.

So it appears we may be one step closer to seeing the whole picture and hopefully with that, a release date in the near future. The specs of the ZTE “Turbine” will be on par with the ZTE Optik that was recently released as a budget tablet for Sprint, so we can expect similar pricing to be in place. Are there any Verizon customers looking to make the Turbine their future tablet?

Source: pocketnow

Verizon release latest MAP, cut price Galaxy Nexus on the way

Big Red has today released the latest MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) list for the beginning of the second quarter. Bargain hunters brace yourself and keep your cash in your wallet for a few days as the 32GB Galaxy Nexus is set to drop to $199 on a 2 year contract starting from April 23rd.

Those of you patiently waiting for the white and 16GB models may have to wait a little longer as there’s no confirmation of either at this point.

Will this latest price drop prompt you to hit your local Verizon store on Monday? Check out the full MAP list below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source : Droid-Life

Sprint Galaxy Nexus Running Android 4.0.4 While Verizon’s Still Stuck On 4.0.2

As some Sprint customers begin to receive their pre-ordered Galaxy Nexus phones, we have learned that the device is running Android 4.0.4, which is a more updated version than Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus, which is still only on 4.0.2. Verizon customers are not too happy right now since they bought a Google Experience phone to get timely updates, but haven’t gotten an update since 4.0.2 dropped on launch day 5 months ago.

Apparently, some Verizon customers are still complaining about some serious bugs in 4.0.2, specifically mic dropping during calls, bad reception, random reboots, performance issues, and poor battery life. A leaked 4.0.4 build seems to have fixed many of those issues but has not yet been officially released on Big Red. The only solution for many right now is to root their device and install the leak, a process only us geeks are really comfortable doing. Most customers are not like us and have no other choice but to wait for an official update.

Some rumors point to Verizon deciding to wait until 4.0.5 to update their Galaxy Nexus devices, but they are just rumors and we don’t know for sure one way or the other. So what’s the hold up? Is Verizon the blocker here, or is it Google? The way carriers control their roll-outs, it would seem it’s Verizon stalling the updates… but doesn’t that mean the Galaxy Nexus is not a true Google Experience device on Verizon? Remember, Google already stated that the CDMA Galaxy Nexus is not an AOSP supported device due to intellectual property issues with the CDMA technology, but that it would still be updated and supported by Google, whcih further points the finger in Verizon’s direction.

So what’s the deal, Verizon?

Source: droid-life