Cell Bytes

A Verizon source recently tipped the folks of BGR about an event taking place on October 14, involving the launch of BlackBerry 6. The OS will debut via an interactive launch organized by Verizon on Thursday, October 14. Will a new device accompany this launch so soon after the Torch announcement? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

We don’t expect prices for the Samsung Galaxy Tab to be much different from carrier to carrier here in the US, so take this as an unofficial preview of what to expect for Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T: T-Mobile’s Tab will supposedly be priced at $399.99 after a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate. Without a contract, you’re looking at $649.99 to pick up one of the first Android tablets to be released with the chance to challenge Apple’s own 10-inch beast.

We were also treated to some specs, but it doesn’t sound much different from what we’ve heard before. (All of the Galaxy Tabs will have identical specs save for the lack of a front-facing camera on the AT&T version.)  If you need  a refresher, take a quick look above.

[via TmoNews]

We haven’t heard much about the HTC Bee since it showed up next to the Lexikon in an earlier leak. Today, a new leak gives us an early press render of the phone without any carrier branding, but a look at the phone’s ROM shows signs of this thing headed to Alltel. It’s worthy to note that we’ve also heard of this phone going to Verizon, and sure enough Alltel sits comfortably beneath Verizon’s umbrella.

It’s still not clear who the device will be offered through – nor is it clear whether or not Verizon and Alltel will allow you to use it interchangeably between their networks – but I can’t imagine those details will remain hidden for too long. In the meantime, let’s go over some stats: Android 2.2, a QVGA touchscreen (no word on screen size, but a safe estimation is 2.8 to 3.1 inches if we’re going by the resolution.), a 528 MHz Qualcomm processor, 386 MB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera. It definitely is a “bee” of a device as it would be accurate to describe it as Verizon’s HTC Aria. Or Alltel’s. Or whose ever.

[via PocketNow]

The New York Times is independently confirming what the Wall Street Journal said earlier this week: a Verizon version of the iPhone 4 will be released in early 2011. Other than that, the NY Times doesn’t offer any new details we haven’t heard before. [NY Times] More »

A quick little rumor for this Friday afternoon has popped up placing the HTC Merge (or is it Lexicon?) right around a November 11th release date. That sounds about right to us, but of course as a rumor don’t be marking this one down on your calendar just yet. A whole list of Verizon Android devices are slated for the time period spanning the end of October through November, so don’t expect this to be the only option appearing in just about a month.

[via DroidLife]

The Wall Street Journal has a piece on the neverending Verizon iPhone story, this time backing up the new version with some solid info. It appears that AT&T will lose its hold over the Apple handset, that will be sold by Verizon next year. This makes the carrier an interesting option, considering its impressive number of Android devices.

Q1 2011 is what the company is going for and we learn that the iPhone 4 will look exactly like the one sold by AT&T, but it will be based on “an alternative wireless technology”. AT&T and Apple had their own exclusive arrangement dating from back in 2007 and it seems to be ending now, if the Verizon deal is real.

The carrier’s officials have been meeting with Apple officials, testing its network and preparing for the heavy burden it’ll take once iPhone users are on board. At least so says a person familiar with the matter… In the meantime, Apple is working on its fifth gen iPhone model, that’ll adopt a different form factor, according to a source inside the biz.

Verizon’s COO Lowell McAdam took the stage during this week’s CTIA 2010 in San Francisco, speaking about the carrier’s upcoming rollout of the 4G LTE network. Apparently, it’ll debut before the year end and provide LTE coverage for 1/3 of the US population before the year is out.

The freshly appointed COO (a week on the job) claimed that Verizon will offer 4G connectivity in 38 markets this year and they’ll bundle half a dozen smartphones and tablets with this service. They’re made by “top OEMs” and they’ll reach speeds of 8 to 12 megabits per second. We suppose that there’s also a Motorola Stingray tablet among them and at least a HTC smartphone.

Here’s a map of the initial rollout, if you’re curious.