Just yesterday, Droid-Life received a new tip that claims the Droid 4 is on its way very, very soon. In fact, just days away with a release date of February 10th. Supposedly this model will cost for $199 with a 2-year contract. The rumor seems at least somewhat believable considering it includes a screenshot from a Verizon equipment guide.

So what does the newest member of the Droid family bring to the table? A dual-core 1.2GHz Processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4-inch qHD display, Android 2.3.5, 8 MP rear-facing 1080p camera, a 720- front-faing camera, 4G LTE, and a 5-row slid-out physical keyboard. This phone will also feature GSM global roaming capabilities.

Is the 10^th is the real launch date for the Droid 4? We’ll find out soon enough.

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Waiting for a good deal on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus? It looks like this is the right time to make your move to take a big bite out of Ice Cream Sandwich. Online retail giant Amazon is currently offering the handset with a price tag of a mere $99.99.

The deal is for new customers only and there is also that two-year contract that you will need to sign. But it is most probably the best offer that you have seen to date. It’s a full $200 less than the amount Big Red is asking for the device.

Just to refresh your memory, the LTE enabled Galaxy Nexus runs Android 4.0 and boasts a 1.2GHz dual core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720p HD Super AMOLED display, a 1.3MP front facing cam and a 5MP rear camera with LED flash, auto focus and 1080p full HD video recording capabilities. And features such as Face Unlock and Android Beam add to the fun. And all that will now be yours for the heavily discounted price.

So, why are you still sticking around? Check out the Amazon website to order the phone.

Just a few days ago we got wind of a new Motorola Droid Maxx ad. To me, it meant a release of the Maxx was imminent, and apparently this hunch proves true.  The Motorola Droid Maxx has officially been confirmed to be available in Verizon stores this Thursday. While there is plenty to get excited about in regards to the Droid Maxx, it’s the 21-hour battery life on one charge that is the most epic feature being touted. So for those out there that are really, really social: be prepared to talk, text, and browse you hearts out with the Droid Maxx.

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There are already many LTE devices on Verizon’s network, and now they have added one more. The LG Spectrum is now available on sale from the carrier. The smartphone, which is aimed at the mid-range market, is coming with high-end specs including a beautiful HD screen.

The Spectrum features a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor, an 8 Megapixel rear camera capable of recording 1080p video, a front facing 720p camera for video calls, 16GB of storage, and 1GB of RAM, and an 1830mAh battery is included in the package.

But it’s coming with Android 2.3 and no hints regarding an upgrade to Android 4.0.  It features Bluetooth 3.0, but Bluetooth headset users would probably prefer BT 4.0 as it consumes much less power in standby mode.

The device’s main attraction is its large screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. Although it’s not as big as the one on the Galaxy Note, the 4.5 inch 720p IPS display might just be enough to attract you. And of course, the LTE device will take advantage of Verizon’s high speed network.

We are expecting to get the device soon for a hands-on experience so that we can judge it fully. But we encourage you to pay a visit to your nearby Verizon store to take a peek at that screen for yourself. And do let us know how you felt.

The device is coming with a price tag of $199.99 with a 2 year contract.

[Verizon]

The Samsung Galaxy Note was one among the popular devices to be shown off at CES 2012. The device turned out to be quite a head turner with its 5.3 inch HD Super AMOLED display and dual-core CPU, and is also 4G LTE enabled. But many were disappointed as the device was announced only for AT&T. But now, according to a new rumor, the device appears to be headed to other carriers as well.

The Galaxy Note will hit both Verizon and Sprint during the first half of 2012, and will possibly be called the Samsung Galaxy Journal. That’s according to Industry Analyst Paul Mueller who spoke with the Examiner.

It will definitely be great if the device arrives on two more carriers, but so far we haven’t got any confirmation whether it will actually happen. But that does not mean it will not happen. We hope its coming as we found it to be an awesome device from our hands-on experience.

Back in July last year, the same Paul Mueller indicated that Verizon would be the first carrier in the US to launch the Samsung Galaxy S II (as the Samsung Function). But that rumor turned out to be very wrong. So we better take the current rumor with a pinch of salt.

Just to let you know, a CDMA version of the Galaxy Note does not exist anywhere on the planet. But it is possible to make one and it will be a great experience to use that on Verizon’s extremely fast network.

We will keep you updated on the matter. So stay tuned.

Verizon is widely known for its Verizon Wireless operations. But cell phone carrier  services are not all that the big V can offer to its customers. A growing Verizon FiOS network that was first deployed 6 years ago offered ultra fast Internet access, it has since evolved into a multi-functional service that includes FiOS Internet, FiOS TV, and FiOS Digital Voice.

Fiber optic cable technology employed by Verizon FiOS is famous by its so called “last mile problem” solution. In short, Verizon FiOS has fiber optic cable going to the premises to never lose on signal quality and bandwidth.

FiOS TV service consequently feeds up to 530 high quality and HD  TV channels to homes. The alliance between Verizon, Samsung and LG are to bring very high quality TV content, together with rich Internet media content, to the Verizon customers’  TV sets. Flexview DVD catalogs shown here are just one possibility. Thanks to FiOS speeds, chosen content starts playing almost instantly, that is, with no delay or buffering.

High quality multi-party video conferencing can also become a reality. When WiFi hardware under new 802.11ac standard will become available, benefits of such an alliance may show on new WiFi-connected mobile devices from Samsung and LG.

When talking about boosting the performance of Verizon Wireless 4G/LTE service, we mentioned the Verizon JetPack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L as a good supplement to the Sleek 4G signal booster .  Here, at CES 2012, Verizon Wireless and ZTE  have now announced the Verizon Jetpack  EuFi890 model. Developed by ZTE, the Jetpack is a 4G /LTE Mobile Hotspot allowing 4G/ LTE – customers to get download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G/LTE Mobile Broadband coverage areas.  The global ready device will work in 205 different countries, and 125 more with 3G too.

Other key features:

• Support for up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• OLED display with interactive keypad
• Backward-compatible with the Verizon Wireless 3G network
• Data usage alerts via text message displayed on the Jetpack
• Wireless Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n
• Supports Windows®, Macintosh® and Linux operating systems
• Security: WEP/WPA/WPA2 and VPN pass-through support
• Dimensions: 3.49″ x 3.49″ x .70″
• Weight: 4.7 oz

Looking like a 3.49-inch rounded compact plastic square with an OLED display, this particular Jetpack has 3 buttons that let you manage connections, settings and display data usage alerts.  Pricing for the device is not released yet. $269 is the price for Verizon’s Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L if that’s any indication to you.

The next time you walk in to a department store you may not be greeted by a human, in fact, if Verizon Wireless has anything to do with it, you’ll be looking at a VGo. Presented at CES 2012, Verizon is aiming to enable 4G LTE devices beyond what we would expect with a typical smartphone or tablet. We saw the Golden-i headset display earlier that would allow remote data to be sent to the wearer, now, they’ve brought on a state-of-the-art robotic telepresence with embedded 4G LTE to man their booth.  The VGo is a 4-foot robot that can be controlled by up to 1 user at a time, lasting 6-12 hours depending on the battery pack. What the VGo does is remotely replicates a person’s presence directly from Verizon’s LTE Innovation Center. The bot was free to move anywhere around the booth and communicate via a video camera, microphones, and LCD with attendees. What would you do if you walked in to a store having an issue and all that you could talk to was a VGo?

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Verizon Wireless at CES had Golden-i on display. The rugged headset is aimed to public safety and field work applications where visual data can be fed to the wearer. This is not so far away from Terminator T-800 facial scanning and recognition technology we saw in the sci-fi flick from 1984. Information like missing children, floor plans of the building, and remote surveillance camera feeds are just some of the examples of the data that could be attained when in use in field.

The display sits in front of your right eye, it’s easy to read, sound is clear and audible even in CES. Navigation was done by voice command, like bringing up the home screen or launching apps. Noise cancellation microphones are heavily used otherwise it would have difficulty in its surrounding environment. The device will run on Verizon’s LTE network since the bandwidth to send this video will be quite vast. It supports Bluetooth, runs a TI OMAP processor and is essentially a full computer running Windows CE 6.

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According to Motorola and Verizon, the Motorola Droid 4 is the thinnest 4G LTE QWERTY smartphone on the market. The handset measures in at 5 by 2.7 by 0.5 inches. It’s no Droid RAZR and definitely not the thinnest handset on the planet, but we have to keep in mind that the device comes with a 5-row keyboard which slides under a 4-inch qHD display.

The keyboard features sharp-looking, edge-lit keys, and the display is coming with “scratch- and scrape-resistant” glass.

The device also features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, and an 8 MP camera which is capable of recording 1080p video.

The only disappointment is that the device will be running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, instead of Android ICS. Motorola has promised that the upgrade will arrive sometime in Q2 of this year. The late arrival of the latest OS is most probably because of Motorola’s relatively heavy UI layer and their Webtop mode and all. Moving all that to ICS will take time.

The Droid 4 will hit store shelves sometime in the coming months, but there have no announcements regarding the price tag.

As we told you earlier, the DROID RAZR MAXX is also headed to Verizon and one of the main features of the device is that its battery lasts 21 hours on a single charge. And the carrier also announced that their DROID RAZR, black and white models of which are on sale at present, will be available in color purple and its price will be dropped to $199.

Verizon Jetpacks, two global ready 4G LTE mobile hotspots, have also been announced. With each Jetpack, you will be able to connect up to 10 Wi-Fi enabled devices for sharing Verizon’s network. The Jetpacks come with an OLED screen and interactive keypad which will allow you to manage the connections. With the Jetpack, you will be able to get online in more than 205 countries. No word on pricing at the moment.