Rant: Rich Uncle Verizon

Ok, this has been bugging me for quite some time now. As I look over Verizon’s website and see all these leaks on Engadget, one thing keeps popping up that I’m not sure people have noticed. What happened to subsidizing prices? Sure they still do it on phones, but with every new tablet coming out prices go up for both the extra 3G/4G radio and having a contract. Take the newly announced Galaxy Tab 10.1. It’s 10.1″ (obviously) and the same Tegra 2 + Android 3.1 as most every other tablet out there (but in a much more svelte package). It’s $500 if you want just the WiFi version and that has no monthly obligation, you can use it as you please. But for only $30 more you can tie yourself to Verizon and shell out another $720 over two years to get 4G LTE speeds wherever you go. Wait what? Yes, you’re paying more to buy a device with a contract. The whole point of me signing a contract to get my phone is that I’m not paying the $600 MSRP for my Droid 2. That’s why I got it for only $100 because I’m paying Verizon even more than that $720 over the next two years. So what’s changed?

Verizon is getting greedy, and they’re just cranking up the heat on how much they’re screwing their customers. They’ve already gotten us into the highest bills for our smartphones and now they’re going after our tablets and other devices. I just don’t see any other way. You can buy a 3G enabled laptop from them for only $250. Not a netbook, like a real decent laptop that has a contract attached to it so you don’t pay so much up front. That’s how the contract system is supposed to work. You promise that Verizon gets your money for the next two years guaranteed and they give you a discount at the register to entice you into that contract. This new approach is more encouraging me to stay away from another contract with Verizon and actually save money. Sure 4G speeds are great and cost money to expand its coverage, I get that. But that does not justify actually charging more on contract. I’ll just add mobile hotspot to my already lengthy contract with Big Red and end up saving myself that $720 for a tablet. And I hope you’ll do the same. Thanks for listening, and if you’ve got any rebuttals or anything to add, please feel free to let me know in the comments or even on Twitter.

You stay classy, World Wide Web.

P.S. I’m sure there’s some kind of copyright on the images used, so who ever you are I’m going to count this sentence as crediting you.

Leaked: Droid 3 Coming Q2?

Image via Technobuffalo.com

Oooh. That beautiful slab of black you see above is most likely the next in the heralded line of Droids from Motorola. Glossy black wrapped in chrome and sporting a great looking new 5 row keyboard, this beast of a phone has already been leaked. Yeah, I know my post about it is a little late and most certainly not exclusive, but I make up for it in original commentary. And my dashing good looks. Find out all my impressions, predictions, and fantastic wizardry with just a single click!

Official: HTC Sensation for T-Mobile

Rise of the superphones! With the HTC Evo 3D set to release on the Now Network, just (yesterday) HTC has announced their GSM (two dimensional) alternative. Dubbed the Sensation, it brings a similar 1.2ghz dual core, a 540×960 (qHD) resolution 4.3″ screen and dual cameras to T-Mobile in the U.S. and Vodaphone in the U.K. It beats out its CDMA cousin sporting an 8MP camera in the back capable of 1080p recording at 30FPS. It also brings with it the new Sense 3.0 software skin from HTC. All of this running on top of an Android 2.3.3 base and the same sexy stylings that have made HTC so popular (for better or for worse). It’s coming sometime this summer to the US but will launch in Europe mid-May. Till then you’ll just have to watch this promo vid and read Engadget’s hands on here. I’ll be doing a post later on about my opinions on Sense 3.0 and the improvements/changes HTC has made.

Video after the break.

You stay classy, World Wide Web.

Source: Engadget

Liberty 2.0 Update: I’m Not So Sure About This Guys…

FREEEEDOM!!!!! (Mel Gibson as William Wallace)

Well after the excitement of having something new to flash this week (See: Ooh! Shiny!) eventually wore of, I started to realize how I really can’t go back to 2.2. Gingerbread really is that much snappier (baking joke). It’s nothing wrong with Liberty 2.0. I can’t stress enough how unfair this review is. Had Liberty 2.0 come on 3 weeks ago and Gingerbread not have been leaked until 2 weeks from now this would be hands down the fastest, most customizable, and easy to use ROM available for the Droid X/2. This is a fantastic ROM. If you’re hooked (like me) on being able to customize your Android experience and are looking for the most stable way to do that to your new phone, this Liberty 2.0 is definitely the answer. I can seriously find almost nothing wrong with this ROM. I feel horrible for the timing of it because Gingerbread really stole a lot of their thunder here. Make no mistake, Team Liberty has cranked out a spectacular ROM here and anyone not willing to make the jump to either stock Gingerbread or waiting for some custom GB ROMs (like me) will be in no way disappointed. Read more after the break.

Theme: Fake 4G on your Droid 2 (Or any custom ROM)

Everyone wants a slice of that delicous 20mbps Verizon 4G pie, but the reality is a lot of us have a lot left in our contracts. What are we poor saps stuck on 2mbps 3G supposed to do? Why, fake it of course! Imitation is the highest form of flattery and thusly I’ll be showing you how easy it is to have your flabby 3G Droid jogging along next to that sexy 4G Thunderbolt. Granted you won’t actually see any speed improvements (believe me I did extensive testing), but at least you’ll look fast. It’s like racing stripes for your phone. Any way, here’s what I did:

1. This is all assuming you have a rooted phone running a custom ROM. These might work with stock software, but it’s unlikely. First off, get MetaMorph downloaded and installed on your Droid of choice. It also requires the latest BusyBox, but odds are you already have that.
2. Next, head over to this link from DroidPirate.com and download your choice of color: Here. It’s a fantastic website with loads of other custom icons you may also choose to install, just one at a time. Get that .zip you downloaded copied to your sdcard\AndroidThemes.
3. Go into MetaMorph on your phone. Let it run its check. Then select install new theme.
4. It’ll uncompress and then click “ok” on the popup. Select apply all.
5. This might take a while, but don’t touch anything.
6. So long as you didn’t touch anything, you should simply select “Reboot” on the popup.
7. Reboots. Tada! You now magically have a 4G LTE modem! Show off to your friends and complain about the lack of coverage and that’s why your phone doesn’t seem any faster.

All credit for the actual MetaMorph theme go to DroidPirate. All credit for MetaMorph go to Stericson Enjoy the theme hack guys and girls!

You stay classy, World Wide Web.

P3Droid Dropped A Bomb on Me… Baby

Warning! The following link may make you lose all faith in the Android platform.

P3Droid’s Post

Ok, that’s a little bit drastic, but at least on the carrier locked cell phone side of things, P3Droid paints a horrifying picture of the future in a post on MyDroidWorld.com. Hope is dwindling that there will be another phone that was quite as dev friendly and well supported as the Original Gangster Droid 1 form Motorola. More hair has been pulled from heads over the locked bootloaders in the HTC Thunderbolt and the Droid X/2 and things don’t look to be changing. In fact, it looks like carriers and manufacturers around the market are banding together against rooters with the sole beef against us being we’re stealing data by tethering. I believe this is an ability of our devices and should not be restricted by the carriers. Google implemented this feature and the carriers don’t want to be “dumb pipes”. This is exactly what I believe they should be. I pay $45 a month for access to CableOne’s Internet. I’m not paying for the ability to stream movies, play games, or share the internet I pay for via my router. They’re just pipes for the internet, not some kind of pay-per-service cockamamie bologna. I shouldn’t have to pay different amounts or an extra monthly service fee for different aspects of the internet. It is my most sincere hopes that the American people will stand up for freedom in all aspects, specifically the Internet here. I don’t normally like to rely on the government too heavily, but this might be a good time to step in and stand up for our rights. We have a right to internet, this is too much regulation by Verizon and the other carriers. I’m paying for unlimited internet, not a gimped mobile browser and that’s it. With the advent of 4G speeds exceeding the average home downlink and true mobile broadband letting carriers run all over us should not be tolerated by any self respecting citizen. If they don’t become “dumb pipes” within the next year by any kind of action I fear greatly for the future of our mobile communications. I will not bow to any carriers or manufacturers idea of what software I run. Unless the mobile computing (smartphones) can become like the PC and ISP realm is now with me able to buy any machine and put any software on it use it for any purpose I want the future of our mobile freedom is already lost. Say a prayer America, we’re going to need it. Fight the power!!!

You stay classy, World Wide Web.