Another wonderful weekend for the HTC Thunderbolt, eh? Let’s see if we can sort of summarize everything that just happened in a couple of quick paragraphs since writing about it has become more of a chore than anything. After all, this device is quickly becoming the world’s most controversial when it was originally supposed to be a world’s first. (more…)
The iFixit crew wasted no time tearing into the Motorola XOOM and confirming that it indeed sports a Tegra 2 along with every other listed spec, but that’s not the story here. When we broke news that the the 4G LTE upgrade for the XOOM would take approximately 6 days, the internet caught fire and people seemed genuinely disappointed in the news. While we’ve known since CES that the device would have to be shipped back to Motorola for the upgrade, most people wondered why it would take almost a week? well, iFixit seems to be wondering the same thing and points out that almost any seasoned tech should be able to perform it…
A seasoned technician can perform this swap in less than 10 minutes. Heck, a donkey could probably pull it off in less than two hours. We have no idea why a customer couldn’t just go to a Verizon store and have on-site representatives enable 4G on the spot, just like they’re able to transfer mobile contacts and perform other activation procedures.
And who knows, maybe Moto and Verizon will get together and train their crews on how easy it could be to upgrade this little guy. After all, they have about 90 days to get everything in order. Or maybe this was part of their agreement? It wouldn’t surprise me if Verizon said, “If you [Motorola] want us to release this device early? Then you are responsible for updating it.”
Thoughts?
Via: iFixit, Daily Tech
The Motorola XOOM is finally available from Verizon. You can purchase one right away online or head into a store first thing in the morning to experience the first ever Honeycomb tablet. We’ve got one in our possession right now and in the 5 minutes we’ve had to play with it, are super impressed. The screen is beautiful, Honeycomb is a lot more polished than we had imagined, and the build quality is top notch. If you haven’t made the decision to purchase one, I highly suggest that you at least sneak into a store and give it a good 15-20 minutes to see if your mind can be changed.
We’ll be giving it a proper run-through as the day wears on, so keep it close!
Update: Here is a quick dark room, late night gallery… (more…)
For those of you heading into a Best Buy or Verizon store early tomorrow morning to pick up a Motorola XOOM, you are probably wondering how the upgrade process to 4G LTE will work and we have you covered. As expected, the upgrade will be free to everyone and will be available approximately 90 days after launch, so we’re looking at May before this thing will be cooking up those 4G speeds. And as we were told by Motorola at CES, you will have to send in your device and will be without it for 6 days while they upgrade the hardware and software.
Full details after the break. (more…)
The Samsung 4G LTE device that we got our hands on at CES made a major appearance in Verizon’s Info Center just a few minutes ago and is apparently still nameless with only a model number of SCH-i510. It received its “MAP designation” which stands for Minimum Advertised Price and is usually a good sign that the device launch isn’t all that far off. We aren’t sure exactly what that price will be, but if it follows the Thunderbolt model at all, we should expect it somewhere around the $249 mark on a 2-year contract and hopefully no where near that $749 number. (more…)
A new HTC Thunderbolt commercial just popped up on Verizon’s YouTube channel as Verizon’s announcement for the device. While no date was given, you have to assume it’ll be coming any day now or they would have at least slapped a “coming soon” tag onto the end. Maybe they have a dual-marketing plan hashed out for the XOOM and TBolt for this Thursday?
Update: At some point in the night, Verizon removed the original spot and replaced it with one that says “Coming Soon” at the end. We have that version below. (more…)
1 Mississippi. 2 Mississippi. We’re getting close people. An official landing page for the HTC Thunderbolt went up late last night and no longer redirects you to Verizon’s 4G LTE page. You can also sign-up through this new page to receive email alerts when there is additional news on the phone, but you know we’ll have it before then, right? (Kidding! Sort of.)
Oh, and that sneaky little storm commercial with the girl counting the time between lightning strikes? It’s back…in English. (more…)
Well check “pricing” off the list of things we wanted confirmed for the HTC Thunderbolt. Best Buy plans on selling the device for $249 on new 2-year contract, a price we had heard before, but are seeing officially for the first time in next Sunday’s ad (Feb. 20th). Oh, and a full price of $749 is also confirmed. Yikes.
We have a Motorola XOOM pricing confirmation as well.
Note: So that everyone is clear, this is the ad that comes out on the 20th. You won’t see it in tomorrow’s newspaper.
Cheers ____!
