Verizon scoops aplenty: Touch, Samsung U940, and more!
Getting amped for that snow white Touch, are we? Well, good news: it'll be here pretty quickly, with Verizon's latest estimate putting it on shelves in the late February / early March time frame. That'll be followed up pretty quickly by the Samsung U940, a lovely high-end QWERTY phone in the vein of the F700; we'd previously heard Q1 for this one, and Verizon's pushing Q1 to the extreme here by tagging it for a March release. The Motorola W755 has been dubbed the "COOL" -- though we're not sure whether that's a go-to-market term or just a codename -- and it'll be here at some point in the spring. Finally, we've caught wind that Big Red's prepping a Moto V750, dubbed "UTOPIA," which we don't know much about but may be a spiritual successor to the V710. Whatever the heck it is, look for it in late spring.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave @ Feb 6th 2008 9:03AM
HTC + Verizon = The Ultimate crippled Windows Mobile phone!
RC @ Feb 11th 2008 12:18AM
How does HTC cripple a phone? They only do what the providers tell them to do.
Fluidj @ Feb 6th 2008 9:37AM
Crippled in what way? Other than the GPS, my XV6800 is wide open. Why make senseless remarks that are simply untrue?
Dave @ Feb 6th 2008 10:43AM
how about crippling bluetooth maybe? oh, dont forget how verizon is selling your phone call information to third parties unless youve opted out. Enjoy that.
(http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/10/13/verizon-plans-to-disseminate-your-data-unless-you-opt-out/)
Fluidj @ Feb 6th 2008 11:31AM
Dave you are very misinformed. I suggest you do some research on the bluetooth capabilities of the XV6800. I couldn't care less what information Verizon is sharing about me. I have nothing to hide. As long as they continue to offer me the best coverage all over the US and fastest EVDO at a competitive price then i'm happy.
SomeGuy @ Feb 6th 2008 11:34AM
Dave...sadly you don't understand what you are talking about. Verizon Wireless does not, nor have they ever "sold" your information to anybody. CPNI shares information with company partners, i.e. Verizon Communications and Vodafone. How much of the information is truely shared remains to be seen. But before you spout out links and try to talk down a company, learn your facts first.
Ari @ Feb 6th 2008 10:32AM
Wow, V710. That is one you don't see anymore. I can still remember running to get my hand son that one the day it was released, to find out what crippled really meant. I thought the E815 was the successor to the V71o anyway. Regardless, the smartphones are more interesting to me at this point, I'd like to see if they fixed up the Touch's problems at all or if they release it the way Sprint did.
Peter B @ Feb 6th 2008 11:18AM
"Crippled in what way? Other than the GPS, my XV6800 is wide open. Why make senseless remarks that are simply untrue?"
Didn't you hear? Verizon is this big evil corporation that crushes puppies to fuel its evil doomsday machine. All the while Sprint T-Mob and AT&T love thier customers and give everything away for free and hug you and tuck you in at night.
elgee02 @ Feb 6th 2008 12:52PM
Ha!
Ed @ Feb 6th 2008 11:29AM
Is the samsung u940 a smartphone or a touch dumbphone like the voyager?
Jason @ Feb 6th 2008 2:39PM
It's a dumb phone with a touch screen, like the voyager.
Adam @ Feb 6th 2008 12:07PM
Finally...a phone to replace my V710. Reception, and battery wise(with extended battery) there has been nothing Verizon has put out to replace it. Don't particularly care about all that other stuff if I can't actually make a phone call, and it also doesn't have that horrible Verizon UI like all the other phones(minus smartphones)
xB Owner @ Feb 6th 2008 2:45PM
I've been waiting on the U940 ever since the first spy shots of the F700. Contract with T-Mo is up this month and I've been scoping options at Verizon and AT&T. Right now it looks like either the U940 (Are they still saying it will be called "Q-Ball"?) with Verizon or the Vu with AT&T. Which by the way, had a scheduled release date of yesterday.
I'll be waiting to try each out at a local store before I make a final decision. AT&T definitely has Verizon beat on plan pricing.
Oh, and for "Ed," the U940 is a dumb phone like the Voyager. If it maintains the Croix OS from the F700, it will be one heck of a dumb phone. Most speculating rumors seem to lean toward the U940 getting an OS almost identical to the Voyager. We shall see.
elgee02 @ Feb 6th 2008 3:58PM
"AT&T definitely has Verizon beat on plan pricing."
How so? They are nearly identical.
xB Owner @ Feb 6th 2008 4:28PM
I should have stated "for my particular needs." I am looking for the lowest number of minutes in a family plan (two lines) as well as "unlimited" data on one of the two lines. AT&T provides that.
Unfortunately I pretty much scratched AT&T from my list today. No 3G in my home town (unless they add it as a part of these 80 new cities) as well as pushing back the release date on the Vu. If AT&T was to include my city as one of the 80 to get 3G I could reconsider my decision. I like the idea of GSM (and SIM cards) with 3G. I could use an existing T-Mo phone with the AT&T service until the Vu, or possibly the Nuvifone is released.
Until some of these factors change, I'll plan on switching to Verizon and the SCH-U940.
elgee02 @ Feb 6th 2008 6:41PM
Yeah, VZW offers all that too and it's only a $5 difference... not much at all.
xB Owner @ Feb 6th 2008 8:09PM
I had run the numbers previously and Verizon would run me $22/month more than AT&T. A pretty significant figure once you multiply it out over a 2 year contract. Granted with Verizon we would have 150 more voice minutes and 600 more txt per month. But those are additions that aren't necessary for us. Verizon just doesn't have an option to go like for like on the plan we would prefer.
However, because AT&T can not rival Verizon in the form of 3G data in my area, this becomes a moot point. (Unless my town is one of the 80 added 3G locations for AT&T.) So Verizon with the SCH-U940 it is for now. Maybe I'll just jump around trying different phones and services on 30 day trials for a while.
elgee02 @ Feb 6th 2008 9:59PM
Which family share plans are you looking at? Both carriers smallest fam share plan is 700 minutes per month for $69.99, and an unl data add on for VZW is $44.99 and 5 bucks less with AT&T, unless you are looking at other features like texting, but even then the prices are very similar.
xB Owner @ Feb 7th 2008 11:04AM
A quick break down...
ATT:
Shared:
Nation 550 Family Talk - $59.99
Phone 1:
Media Net Unlimited - $15
Message 200 - $5
Phone Insurance - $5
Phone 2:
Message 200 - $5
Phone Insurance - $5
TOTAL: $95 / Month
VERIZON:
Shared:
Nationwide Basic 700 - $69.99
Phone 1:
Unlimited Incoming Plus 500 Text - $10
Total Equipment Coverage - $6
VCast VPak - $15
Phone 2:
Unlimited Incoming Plus 500 Text - $10
Total Equipment Coverage - $6
TOTAL: $117 / Month
AT&T offers the lower 550 minute plan, as well as a cheaper text plan. Right now we average about 400 minutes a month and don't use anywhere near 200 texts/month each.
elgee02 @ Feb 7th 2008 12:55PM
VZW offers a $5 per line text package that actually gives you 50 more texts than AT&T's $5 text package... so you can go ahead and take off a total of $10 of your VZW quote there.
xB Owner @ Feb 7th 2008 4:15PM
I couldn't find the text option you mentioned online, but I'll definitely ask about it when we do some serious shopping in the stores. Thanks for the heads up.
deano.public @ Feb 6th 2008 2:56PM
Here's a good one...
Brighthand linked to this post and added "Verizon's version will likely be the first to include TouchFLO 2"
If this phone has TouchFLO 2 I will show up at my local Verizon store to buy it wearing only a pink thong with "Verizon Rules" tatood on my a$$.
You have my word.
t-pain @ Feb 7th 2008 12:40AM
what improvements does Touchflow 2 have? that's a big draw to the Touch for me.
BloodiedWraith @ Feb 6th 2008 6:54PM
Seems like no one has stated this yet... but the V750 isn't a phone. It's the successor to the V740, which is an air card.
Gib @ Feb 6th 2008 9:45PM
That that would be motorola's first foray into the aircard areana.
Matt S @ Feb 8th 2008 12:22AM
the V750 is a phone that I can assure you
rokwell @ Feb 6th 2008 10:54PM
I've been researching the touch on sprint and it really seems like a solid phone, and im sure verizons will be similar! i was waiting for the u940, but dumbphones dont help productivity much!
i have a moto q right now, which is customized with programs beyond belief, so i have high expectations for the touch!
add a slingbox and the upcoming skyfire browser and i will be in heaven!! =)
Justin @ Feb 7th 2008 9:15AM
I wonder if Verizon will be letting out the F700 in white. If I'm not mistaken didn't Vodafone get it in white not too long ago? I personally would prefer the white one.
Sabba @ Feb 7th 2008 6:19PM
i want the u940 :p
Verizon what @ Feb 8th 2008 12:37AM
Another bunch of Verizon crippled phones. I wonder how many options on these phones verizon will lockout for the consumer. VERIZON is overpriced!!!!
trooth @ Feb 8th 2008 2:58PM
That is like saying Mercedes and BMW are overpriced. Many people are happy to pay a bit more for service and support that is not outsourced overseas, and for a network that gets the most cash pumped into it.
RC @ Feb 8th 2008 2:41PM
Ah, Elgee is at it again, doing his every bit of anti-ATT trolling to persuade people to go to Verizon.
And as for the phone crippiling, you know Bluetooth is going to be crippled somehow :D
trooth @ Feb 8th 2008 4:22PM
I will bite today forum troll. Name the last phone that had crippled BlueTooth in Verizon's lineup. A cheap phone with no bluetooth capabilities does not count, those are discount phones. The vast majority of the phones that are currently offered support BT FTP. Your argument was valid this time last year. But now you are just misinformed. You may want to read the links where Verizon pumped the most money into the 700mhz spectrum, is allowing open network access, and once again topped customer service surveys with TMobile which is a good company as well, Verizon just beats them into the ground in terms of 3g, Tmobile has very good prices. Hey at least ATT has the IPhone and Sprint is dropping their prices to try and compete. Some people dont mind paying for the best...
RC @ Feb 11th 2008 12:13AM
Bluetooth not crippled? My friend was with Verizon, got a VX8300 only to find out that you couldn't do any file transfers over BT. Went back to the store, where he complained and the salesmen promised that the Chocolate was able to. Goes home, tries to transfer music, and once again, finds it won't transfer. Goes back again, and goes for a U740. Third time the charm? Nope.
elgee02 @ Feb 11th 2008 11:25PM
VZW PDA/Smarthpones do not have crippled bluetooth is most likely what he meant. I will concede many of their dumbphones do not have full bluetooth functionality.
In summary, the XV-6900 HTC Touch will not be crippled any more or less than the version that released on Sprint that scored an EXCELLENT review on Phonearena.com
Cheers
trooth @ Feb 12th 2008 1:32PM
That is why I said current phones. The 8300 doesn't support bt ftp, but was updated with 8350 which does. We dont sell 8300s anymore, the chocolate has been updated as well, we dont sell 8500s anymore whcih did not support bt ftp but wasupdated with 8550s which do. The Samsung U740 is over a year old and unfortunately does not have an updated version, it does not support BT FTP, and to my knowledge none of the samsung dumb phones do. But again the point is your argument was valid a year ago and not now still stands. Thanks for proving it with listing models of phones that could of been purchased for Christmas 2006.
Harbinger @ Feb 13th 2008 7:03PM
Thanks so much for letting me know that verizon has made progress with bluetooth. I have had verizon for the past 2 years, and was thinking about switching to At&t just because I hated how crippled my razr was from verizon. I will definitely look into their smart phones now. Only problem is gsm phones can work with sim cards in iraq... but cdma does seem to have superior coverage and speed here in the states.
elgee02 @ Feb 8th 2008 6:23PM
Ohhh! "VZW phones are crippled" parrots, how cute. It's funny, they have no idea how clueless they really are.
I also like how they say VZW is overpriced when their plans are nearly identical to AT&T's...
Gotta love it when people don't know what they are talking about.
The D Train @ Feb 8th 2008 8:54PM
VZW has a 550 minute plan as well but its a loyalty plan not a first time customer available rate. But I left my VZW employee contract for the very same 550min AT&T Plan, and I still have over 3k rollover minutes stored up hah.
As far as bluetooth cripled phones, you kids are idiots.
Gib @ Feb 13th 2008 8:59PM
But why is the 550 minute plan just for loyalty people? If i had access to it i would sign up for in a heart beat.....
killahP @ Feb 19th 2008 12:37PM
i just bout a sch-i760 2 days ago. anyone got a for sure drop date on this? i have 30 days to try this phone out and swap for another. hope it hits by then just incase i wanna do so. i do a lot of typing for work and such and i dont know if the touch screen is gonna fly with me tho.
Shaun @ Mar 6th 2008 3:04PM
The only crippling i've noticed is that verizon now requires you pay an additional 15$ if you want to tether your phone to your laptop and use it as an evdo modem, but this can be overcome with a small registry edit. As far as gps i have a blue tooth cheapo and it works fine with free google maps. I don't think there is a gps chip integrated but inactivated. That just doesn't make any sense.