Here's an interesting factoid to chew on: the cycle between the first rumors that the Palm 755p was coming to Verizon and its launch was longer than the window of time between launch and sunset. Just think about that for a second. Seriously. Verizon has reported to Palm Infocenter that it's officially decommissioning the Palm OS-based smartphone -- the only in Verizon's lineup with strong ties to Palm's old-school industrial design -- in favor of the Centro, a smaller, friendlier, more consumer-oriented device. It seems like Big Red might be at risk of alienating some Garnet-loving business customers who aren't interested in carrying a device with a keyboard as small as the Centro's, and honestly, doesn't it feel like the 755p has at least a few more months of life yet? Or are we crazy?

Verizon has gone ahead and jumped its own gun by a week, launching the rugged Adventure V750 today for a penny under $100 on contract after rebates. The phone becomes the very first on Verizon's network to support Rev. A-based push-to-talk, a quantum leap in robustness and functionality over the older 1xRTT fare; the G'zOne Boulder is expected in the next few weeks, bringing Big Red a pair of durable units that should appeal to the typical PTT crowd. Buyers of the V750 can expect a 2 megapixel camera, external music controls, microSD expansion, GPS, and of course EV-DO Rev. A data, so it's a pretty well-spec'd setup considering its lot in life.

[Via phoneArena]

Sweet, another impenetrable fortress of planned obsolescence falls to Windows Mobile 6.1's ever-advancing forces. Grab the update now, in Windows 2000 / XP and Vista flavors -- but be warned, we hear it doesn't do anything to fix the i760's weird-ass styling.

Though it already offers content filtering, Verizon's about to get a whole lot more comprehensive with its tools for helping parents keep their kids' cells on lockdown. Positioned to compete head-to-head with AT&T's Smart Limits, Verizon's Usage Controls with run $4.99 when it goes live on July 23 and will offer billable minute thresholds (which provide text alerts to you and your tyke, but not a hard stop on usage), messaging limits, time restrictions, blocked number lists, and trusted number lists. Launching simultaneously will be Chaperone 2.0, a refresh of Verizon's tracking service. BlackBerrys and push-to-talk devices won't be eligible for the new controls, but let's be honest: if your 8 year old's sporting a Curve, there might be more important issues to deal with there.

[Thanks, HTCKid]

Sure, you might be the biggest Christian Bale fan in the world right now, but what about this time next year when The Dark Knight DVDs are already collecting dust on bookshelves around the globe? That was the million-dollar question on our minds when we heard that Verizon was commemorating the launch of its Nokia 6205 and the latest Batman flick with a tied-in version of the low end flip. Turns out it's all good, though -- a look through the custom packaging revealed a grand total of two battery covers, one with the Batman logo and one without, so it should be pretty easy to avoid those embarrassing "what's with the batphone?" queries in a few months' time. Otherwise, there's very little to say about the phone -- it truly is a minimalist flip -- though we're definitely excited to see Nokia's apparently renewed commitment to working not just with CDMA, but with CDMA carriers in North America.

Alright, you three are sworn enemies, so what are we waiting for? Let's get it on! Go ahead, seriously, exchange some blows. No better way to get the party started than with a little speed test; the Instinct's data services still seem to be jacked, but the Dare and iPhone 3G squared off with the LG model consistently besting Apple's by between 50-100kbps over Verizon's EV-DO network (see the gallery for the side-by-side). That's not to say the Dare is consistently the faster phone -- it has everything to do with the network in your area, the time of day, the circumstances, and which side of the bed you woke up on this morning -- but it's an interesting observation here nonetheless. We'll follow up with an Instinct speed test (and another round of testing on the Dare and iPhone) when we can.

"Chocolate" is a storied word in the phone industry. In terms of brand recognition, it's right up there with RAZR and iPhone thanks to well-executed marketing campaigns by both LG globally and Verizon in the US, but more recently, LG has moved on to other marques -- Shine and Secret, to name a couple -- leaving Chocolate to trickle downmarket. We wouldn't exactly call the Chocolate 3 "downmarket," but its launch is definitely not being played up to the same extent as, say, the original VX8500's was; these days, those honors seem go to iPhone fighters like the Dare.

We'd heard that the latest incarnation of the Chocolate series from LG on Verizon would be launching next Monday, but we've got some great news to close out the week, fans: you'll be able to plunk down your cash a full day early. It turns out that the Chocolate 3 will actually be launching this Sunday, July 13 for the expected $129.99 after rebate, featuring a 2 megapixel cam, GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack, and an in-your-face set of external music controls, all in your choice of black or light blue. Just add an 8GB microSD card and the Rhapsody tie-in, and you've got yourself a little musical powerhouse here.

So how much is it going to cost you to play Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A push-to-talk game this month? $99.99, that's how much -- assuming you take advantage of a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate. Documentation for Motorola's musclebound V750 Adventure suggests that it'll be available to buy in all channels (meaning web, store, telesales -- you name it) on July 28, offering a 2 megapixel cam, microSD slot, VZ Navigator support, and all the walkie talkie action you can handle. We don't know yet whether the G'zOne Boulder will launch on the same day, but if it does, we could have quite a PTT smackdown brewing here.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

phoneArena is reporting that the latest incarnation of Verizon's Chocolate series, the clamshell Chocolate 3, will be available on July 14. It's said that the phone will run $129 on a two-year contract after the redemption of a $50 rebate -- not exactly cheap, but where else are you going to find a Verizon phone with an FM transmitter in baby blue? That's what we thought.

It looks like Motorola and Verizon are getting ready to take a third crack at the Q9 form factor, following up the Q9m and Q9c -- and this time around, there's a little something extra in store. On top of the EV-DO Rev. A radio, the so-called "Napoleon" (codename, of course) features GSM, because -- surprise, surprise -- businesspeople who use Windows Mobile devices tend to do just a bit of traveling. It looks like Moto has taken this opportunity to give the Q9 meme a little nip-tuck job, too, with a rounded body and a tastefully-applied ring of chrome around the top edge. They've even tossed in a fingerprint scanner for good measure, a tip o' the hat to the suits who'll undoubtedly populate the upper 90 percent of this sucker's client base. No word on a release date or price, but can we cautiously submit a thumbs-up for the design direction here?

The Verizon version of the Treo 755p from Palm is the latest of the world's 755p's to be graced with a firmware update -- or as Palm describes it, a "tune-up." There's very little detail to go on here, with the support page for the new binary simply saying that it "improves the phone application, stability and device usability." Hey, that's good enough for us -- and if you own an affected device, it's probably good enough for you, too.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

Anyone remotely familiar with the HTC or Sprint Touch will feel right at home with Verizon's version, the XV6900. The XV6900 isn't content to just fall in line and play "me too," though -- Big Red decided to go with a blindingly glossy white finish, bucking the soft-touch black used as a staple of the Touch line, and that could be a boon or a bust depending on who you are and how you intend to use the device.

The tenets of HTC's TouchFLO interface are totally preserved from the other Touches we know and love, and thankfully, Verizon went easy with the application of bright red to the UI elements. Physically, the XV6900 is just ever-so-slightly larger than its GSM cousin -- not enough for the average person to ever notice in the course of regular use -- and the addition of 3G data is more than enough to make up for that slight difference as far as we're concerned. One thing that struck us was how much better the XV6900's display was over the original's; the overwhelming improvement in contrast is pretty striking, although to be fair, we would've never noticed had we not had them side by side. Check out the full gallery below.

Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg gave a particularly candid interview with the Financial Times recently, revealing that he'd like to see Verizon take full control of Verizon Wireless -- a joint venture with Vodafone in which Verizon holds 55 percent -- given that Verizon is "doing 100 percent of the work." Zing! Despite saying that Voda's "been a great partner," the bulk of the conversation makes it sound like relations are definitely strained between the two telecom giants, and Seidenberg thinks that once bigwig Arun Sarin hands over the Vodafone reigns to Vittorio Colao next month, "maybe he'll want to do something different." You know, "different" as in "sell off $60 billion worth of Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications." Also interesting is Seidenberg's revelation that Sarin wanted Verizon to snap up Alltel last year before it sold to private equity firms, but thanks to Verizon's majority on the VZW board, they were able to put the kibosh on the plan, apparently over concerns that they'd end up in a nasty bidding war. Alas, all's well that ends well, we suppose.

[Via mocoNews]

While you're waiting for LG's very latest Chocolate to show up in Verizon stores next month, have a gander at some high-quality shots of the clamshell -- which we understand is not actually edible, by the by. The Chocolate 3 will be available in both black and blue (to start, anyway, though we wouldn't be surprised to see a few more over the course of the phone's lifespan) and features a full gigabyte of internal storage for the tunes in addition to the standard microSD slot. That's one heck of a secondary display there, isn't it?