In yet another display of near complete disregard for its customers, Verizon Wireless announced this week it plans to eliminate the $30/Month unlimited data plan any user subscribed to prior to the company’s transition to tiered data plans last July. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said at the 40th J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference that once unlimited 3G data plan customers upgrade to 4G LTE, they will be forced to purchase the company’s shared data plan.

“Everyone will be on data share,” Shammo said. The carrier’s shared data plans are scheduled to launch in the coming months, and will allow users to share a single pool of data between multiple devices. “If I can add as many devices as I want, that is more efficient from a family perspective and a small business perspective,” the CFO said.

When asked how Verizon will migrate customers off their unlimited data plans, Shammo said that LTE will draw customers away from it. “A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited,” he said. “When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us.”

Sure, beneficial to you, but how does that benefit customers again? Oh yeah, it doesn’t. It just means people should get ready to pay ever increasing costs for mobile data.

How do we feel about this?

Not sure what we were really hoping for here, but regardless, it’s nice to see the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE finally make an “official” appearance. That’s right, today HTC and Verizon made the new device official this morning, complete with specs.

However, they didn’t announce a price or release date just yet, saying only that it would be arriving “In the coming weeks.” As we discussed previously, the device has the following specs: 4-inch qHD Super LCD display, a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, expandable storage, 1700mAh battery, 4G LTE, an 8-megapixel camera, Beats Audio and Sense 4 atop Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Not bad but, not earth shattering either. This is obviously being positioned as a mid-range device and isn’t really supposed to be direct competition for HTC’s flagship One X or even the One S.

Still, if you’re looking for a solid Android device on Verizon’s network for what will most likely be a reasonable price point (think $199 with contract) this could be a great option. Check out Verizon’s full press release after the break.

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You have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat the guys over at Droid Life. This time around they’re out with the scoop on the soon-to-be-released HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE.

According to the report, the highly anticipated device popped up on the Droid Does website, complete with full specs, only to vanish a short while later. We can only assume one or more people are now looking for work this morning or, at the very least, nursing the results of a severe ass kicking for letting this info out early.

Of course, now that the full specs are confirmed, you may or may not be excited about the device. Either way, here they are:

• 1.2GHz dual-core processor (likely the Snapdragon S4)
• 1GB RAM
• Sense 4.0
• 4″Super LCD qHD display (so slightly different than the One S display)
• 8MP rear camera; VGA front camera
• Beats Audio
• 1700mAh battery
• 8GB internal storage (expandable to 32GB)
• 4G LTE
• Size: 2.4 x 4.8 x 0.46 inches
• Weight: 4.66 ounces

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As most of you probably know, the iPhone is an extremely popular smartphone which has been sold to millions of customers around the world. In fact, most of us here at The Flickcast use the iPhone on a daily basis as our smartphone of choice.

But just because the iPhone is popular and most of us use it, that doesn’t mean we don’t take a shine to other smartphones worth checking out. One such device coming soon is HTC’s Incredible 4G, which is headed to Verizon Wireless later this month.

Up until now, details on the new device have been relatively scarce. We do know it’s been approved by the FCC and is expected to be released soon. Fortunately, the folks over at Android Police have dug a little deeper and come up with even more info.

Not only do they have some new info on specs, they also managed to snag a few photos of the device as well. Regarding specs, the display will reportedly be 4″ in size and the device will be powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor.

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Well, this is a bit disappointing. Granted, it will probably only affect a small percentage of you out there, but it’s still kinda lame.

According to reports, even if you have Apple’s shiny new iPad and want to engage in a little FaceTime with a, um, friend, you won’t be able to do it, even if you have super fast 4G LTE. It will only work over Wi-Fi.

If you try, you will be prompted to connect to an available Wi-Fi network. Curiously, if you are using your iPad as a Wi-Fi hotspot, which you can with the Verizon version, FaceTime will work if you initiate a call using an supported iPhone or iPod.

Apple has so far been moot on this issue but you can be sure people are going to be asking about it. After all, in many cases 4G LTE is as fast (or faster) than available Wi-Fi networks so the fact that FaceTime isn’t supported is difficult to understand.

Again, this isn’t a critical point for most of you, we just found it interesting as it gives a bit of insight into how Apple deals with wireless carriers. Of course, it could be a decision on Apple’s part. . . but we kinda doubt it.

If you follow tech news very much, and Apple in particular, you know one thing is certain: even if you have the “latest thing” from Apple they will be releasing an even better one sooner or later. That’s never been more the case, and more the subject of scrutiny and speculation, than with the iPhone and iPad.

So, it should come as no surprise that pretty much everyone is in the “what will Apple release next” game, including the Wall Street Journal. This time around the Journal is reporting that Apple’s next generation iPad (aka iPad 3) will feature, among other things, 4G LTE wireless connectivity.

In addition, said iPad 3 will be sold at both AT&T and Verizon. That isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, though, as both wireless carriers have had 4G LTE for some time and have hardware that runs on it already.

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If you have a shiny new iPhone 4S as some of us do here at The Flickcast and you’ve experienced less-than-stellar battery life, this will be of interest to you. There’s been a few reports around the Internets, and elsewhere, that the iPhone 4S’s battery life leaves something to be desired.

Sure, it could have to do with the fact that it features a faster processor or that Siri is a bit power hungry. Or, as was postulated by the folks at iDownloadBlog, it could be the iPhone 4S’s Time Zone service that’s causing the problem.

Reportedly, a bug in iOS 5 (which ships on all iPhone 4S units) forces its location tracking feature to remain active much more than necessary which drains the phone’s battery far more quickly. Users can manually turn off the automatic time zone setting by going to Settings > General > Date & Time. Once there, toggling “Set Automatically” to “Off.”

We’ve tried this “fix” on a couple of our own devices and so far it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. That said, and this is in no way scientific, we tend to get pretty much the advertised battery life on our iPhone 4S units. So, maybe it’s actually a hardware problem on some units and not software after all? Or, perhaps it’s a carrier issue as our iPhone 4S units are all using Verizon and not AT&T?

Whatever the issue, Apple is usually pretty fast to issue a fix for these problems so expect to see one sooner rather than later. In the meantime, let us know if you try this “fix” and what your results are, if any.

Did any of you own a Motorola RAZR? I’m sure you did. Back in 2005 it was the coolest phone to own.

It was skinny. It was light. It had cool glowy blue buttons. It was on all the carriers. It was the phone to have. At least if you were a tech-crazed high schooler, like myself back then.

It seems that Motorola may not have done it again with the newest addition to the RAZR, but the new Motorola Droid RAZR, as it’s being dubbed, is still a really neat phone.

Sporting 4G, a 1.2 GhZ dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 32 GB of storage, 12.5 hours of talk time, an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p recording, a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display strengthened with Gorilla Glass and Kevlar fiber, and at only 7.1mm thick, the Droid RAZR is now the thinnest 4G phone on Verizon. And because of the kevlar, the phone will be protected against spills and other nasty accidents.

You know what else is made of kevlar? The Batsuit. I’m officially calling this one the Batphone. This thing is cool.

The phone will also be compatible with the rest of Motorola’s line of devices, including the Moto Webtop and the brand new MOTOACTIV, a pretty nifty fitness watch that was also announced today. Only downside to this phone seems to be that it’s running Gingerbread, and not the upcoming version of Android, dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich.

Motorola’s announcement comes just hours before Samsung announces their newest version of their Nexus line, which will be exclusive to Verizon AND will have Ice Cream Sandwich. So the Motorola Droid RAZR certainly has some competition.

You’ll be able to pick up your very own Batphone, I mean Motorola Droid RAZR, in early November exclusively for Verizon Wireless.

Now that we know Apple will be announcing something next week on October 4th, the speculation can continue as to what that will be. And here’s one for today.

Mac Rumors reports that a China Unicom executive apparently confirmed during a presentation at this week’s Macworld Asia that the “iPhone 5″ set to be announced next week will support HSPA+, which is sometimes called “4G.” This technology  offers a maximum theoretical data speed of 21 Mbps.

They’ve even got a photo of a slide presented during the talk that seems to support the assertion. According to the report, research vice president of China Unicom, Huan Wenliang, said the iPhone 5 “will support W-CDMA based high-speed data transfer standard HSPA Evolution” (aka HSPA+) during a keynote speech at the event.

T-Mobile and AT&T both offer 21Mbps HSPA+ in the United States and market the networks as “4G,” although it really should be thought of as more “3.5G” if anything, based on the speed. Apple is reportedly testing a true 4G LTE iPhone but we probably won’t see that being announced next week.

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With the iPhone being so popular and all the speculation about the next gen iPhone 5 reaching fever pitch, it’s sometimes hard to keep in mind the other fine smartphones on the market or coming soon. One of these is the upcoming Motorola DROID Bionic from Verizon Wireless.

Even for fans of HTC devices (which many of us are), it’s easy to be impressed with Moto’s latest offering. With specs such as a dual-core 1GHz TI OMAP processor, 1GB of RAM a 4.3-inch qHD display, the Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread OS and, of course, compatibility with Verizon’s lightning fast 4G LTE network, this device looks poised to dominate Verizon’s 4G offerings.

And now, Verizon Wireless on Wednesday finally made the Motorola DROID BIONIC official and has released pricing and availability details. The new Android smartphone launches Thursday, September 8th, for $299.99 with a 2 year contract.

Check out all the info in the official press release after the break.

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As expected, Motorola on Wednesday announced that the sequel to the popular DROID X smartphone will launch later this month. The Motorola DROID X2 will be available for pre-order on May 19th and will launch on May 26th.

The device will cost $199.99 with a new two-year contract. It features some pretty nice specs including a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, dual-core 1GHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), an 8-megapixel camera with support for HD video capture, an HDMI-out port, a case that is nearly identical to the original Motorola DROID X, and “double the does,” according to Verizon Wireless.

Sounds like a nice device. As an iPhone user I’m always interested in what the Android folks will come up with next. These phones just keep getting better and better and the Android platform keeps maturing.

Hopefully Apple will realize its got some competition and step up with some amazing new features for iPhone 5. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

In the meantime, for the rest of the scoop on this new device, check out the full press release from version after the break.

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With all the hubbub about Apple and Android tracking your location via iOS 4 iPhones and 3G iPads and Android powered devices, it was just a matter of time before somebody released an official statement about it. Somewhat surprisingly, that someone first out of the gate with a statement is Apple, who released said statement today.

In its statement Apple says that it never has, and never plans to, track users’ devices and that the purpose of the database file in question — consolidated.db — is to “help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”

Apple also said that a software update will limit the size of the location file and be available in the next few weeks. In addition, the next major IOS release will also encrypt the file as well.

Click through for the full statement from Apple which, contrary to most info from Apple, is pretty comprehensive and actually answers most of the questions people were having. Now can we move on from this?

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