Verizon
”Verizon Rolling Out Geek Squad Knockoff Called 'Expert Care'
Starting today, Verizon will join a growing list of companies including Best Buy and AT&T that offer a service dedicated to in-home customer support. Verizon's 'Expert Care' will offer a 'protection pak' that provides home repair and replacement coverage for your computers, televisions, and telephones as well as monitors, modems, keyboards, mice, OEM remote controls and FiOS backup batteries. Service starts at $5 a month and can run up to $20 depending on your equipment. They are also offering a "Premium Technical Support" service that adds 24/7 phone and online support for $15 a month. More »BlackBerry Storm Tech Manual Offers Proof of iPhone Inspiration
It's probably not a surprise that RIM definitely had iPhones on the brain while creating the new (and pretty awesome) BlackBerry Storm—but who knew they'd make it this obvious. In the vodaphone technical specifications manual, the company's Storm is sporting a very familiar OS, and it's definitely not the regular BlackBerry's. Hmmmm. [BlackBerry UK]
BlackBerry Storm First Hands On
The very first time you touch the BlackBerry Storm—RIM's first all-touchscreen keyboard-free smartphone, just announced for Verizon Wireless—you will be startled. No matter how many times your fingers dance on the screen like you've been trained on every other touchscreen, nothing will happen. At least, not until you push the screen all the way down and you feel a click. Yes, the screen is a giant button, one you have to punch for basically every action, even every letter you type, completely breaking the touchscreen paradigm. Surprisingly, it works.
More »Best Buy Presentation Leaks Cellphone Ship Dates
Oops, someone at Best Buy leaked a presentation that's revealed the ship dates for several upcoming handsets. For instance, the titanium version of the Verizon Blitz, now has a ship date of October 26th (it's only marked as Coming Soon on the Best Buy site. Other cellphones dropping on the 26th include Sprint's HTC Touch Pro and black Samsung M540 Rant, AT&T's BlackBerry Bold 9000 and T-Mobile' BlackBerry Pearl Flip. Oh yes, the BlackBerry Storm's on there as well, with a ship date of November 16th. [BGR via Electronista]One in Three iPhone 3G Buyers Bailed on Their Carrier (Half Were From Verizon)
Whether people were holding out for 3G, the $199 pricepoint or just for their damn contracts to run out, in a market where carriers are pretty much forced to steal customers from each other, the iPhone 3G has been a Batman-worthy thief. One out of three iPhone 3G buyers jumped from other carriers to AT&T, though it might surprise where they came from.
More »
Official BlackBerry Storm Documents Leaked
The sneaksters over at Boy Genius Report have somehow gotten their hands on an official Powerpoint presentation of the soon-to-be-released BlackBerry Storm. This is evidently a Verizon property, since the wallpaper on all the Storms is their signature red V, but no mention of price or release date. Still, some good shots and a lot of info, including new stuff on media syncing, touch typing, and more, for those waiting for the touchscreen wonder. [BGR]The Verizon BlackBerry Storm Hopes You Like Red
There's sure been a lot of talk about the Verizon BlackBerry Storm, but since a picture is worth 1000 words...uhh, I guess this picture means there's even more talk about the Verizon BlackBerry Storm. A leaked press photo from the CrackBerry forums, that red interface gives us a not-so-migraine-free reminder of that one time we played the Virtual Boy. [CrackBerry]Verizon Training Doc Shows BlackBerry Storm, Touch Diamond Release Date, OTA Ringtone Backups
A friendly tipster sent us this training to-do list for Verizon employees, which yields a couple of tidbits. First, training on the BlackBerry Storm has to be finished by Nov. 2, which our tipster says "guarantees" it'll be launched by early November, as we've heard. Verizon's Touch Diamond can be expected by late December, based on its training dates. More »Crystal Clear Screens of BlackBerry Storm's Latest Touch UI
We've seen some of the BlackBerry Storm's older UI in blurry shots and videos, but it's obviously gotten a recent facelift—especially the keyboard, which used to look absolutely gross. Storm Reviews has a load of pics of the freshest UI off of Vodaphone's version, and it looks pretty good, though I find the italics for the keyboard font to be oddly annoying. [Storm Reviews via BGR]



















