Verizon Wireless and Google today announced a strategic partnership to bring the Android open platform to Verizon’s cellular network. Verizon Wireless and Google plan to co-develop several Android-based devices from leading handset manufacturers that will be pre-loaded with applications.
Google and Verizon held their joint press conference Tuesday morning, on the eve of the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment Show. The two companies plan to incorporate Android into smart phones as well as netbooks, basic cellphones and other devices.
Verizon has yet to release an Android device. But rumors have surrounded whether Verizon would hook up with Google on a number of Android-powered phones from companies like Motorola and HTC. The Boy Genius Report reported Sunday that Best Buy plans to offer an Android device for Verizon’s network.
Sprint’s HTC Hero, due on October 11, is their first Android phone, and is arguably the best Android device on the U.S. market today, says Laptop Magazine. The HTC Hero has a 528-MHz processor and 512MB of ROM/288MB of RAM, similar to the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, and will cost $180, reports Engadget. It may also be one of Verizon’s Android phones.
The Motorola Sholes, an Android slider, could be another. Verizon will support the Google Voice application. Google has said that Apple rejected Google Voice, while Apple contends it is still evaluating the software.
Verizon’s Google phones are expected to be available shortly for use on Verizon’s current 3G network, the nation’s largest wireless voice and data network, serving 87.7 million customers.
Verizon previously rejected “open” architecture, then — almost reluctantly — said they’d support the LiMO Foundation approach. LiMO handsets are generally lower end phones.
A half-dozen venture capital firms will invest as much as $1.3 billion into LTE development under a new initiative spearheaded by Verizon Wireless. The venture firms will identify and fund ideas for devices and applications.
Verizon’s new 700 MHz frequencies will provide nationwide coverage for their LTE “4G” services. Verizon says the first LTE devices will be data cards, not phones, however, since power drain is still problematic. Phones are expected in the 2012 timeframe.
WiMAX handsets are expected next year from Sprint, but they won’t say who will make them or what mobile OS it will use. Their WiMAX handset will first look for a 4G connection, then default to a slower 3G connection.
Potential candidates for Sprint’s WiMAX phone might include Samsung’s SCH-M830 WiBro phone, which uses Windows Mobile, and LG’s KC1 WiBro phone. HTC’s Android Hero is a 1GHz screamer that could swing that way, too. Stock up on batteries.
Verizon, which has not had a breakout phone, today announced one of the first Windows Mobile 6.5 phones, the HTC Imagio. The carrier will also sell a BlackBerry Storm 2 and the Palm Pre as well as the upcoming Android phones, perhaps a CDMA version of the Motorola CLIQ, which will also be released by T-Mobile on November 2.
Boy Genius says Verizon’s first Android phone will actually be the Motorola Sholes (to be called the Motorola Droid on Verizon Wireless). It is expected to have a 854×480 WVGA capacitive screen, 5 megapixel camera, ARM Cortex 500MHz CPU, Facial recognition, and a custom Motorola Interface/UI, no MOTOBLUR. It has a sliding keyboard.
A new advertising campaign from Verizon Wireless starting last night during Monday Night Football takes a direct swipe at AT&T’s network, playing off the successful Apple iPhone commercials.
Verizon compares AT&T’s HSPA network coverage map to Verizon’s EVDO network map (pdf).
Here’s Sprint’s 3G coverage map and T-Mobile’s 3G coverage map as well as maps from the 3G Store and evdomaps.com.
CNET says it is launching the First Independent Wireless Service Coverage Map.
Related Dailywireless articles include; LTE Marketing Ramps Up, Verizon LTE: 30 US Markets by 2010, Verizon Updates 700MHz LTE Specs, AWS: It’s Done, 700MHz: It’s Done!, Rural Telcom: Big Time Consolidation, CTIA 2009: All About LTE, Cox Plans 700MHz Phone Service, FCC Finalizes Rules on 700MHz: Limited Open Access, No Wholesale Requirement, Frontline: Out of Business, AT&T Buys 700MHz from Aloha, The 700 Mhz Club, 700MHZ Goes Live, Channel 54: Where are You? and 700MHZ Goes Live.
