Verizon Archives

The Technology 202: Apple and Verizon say 5G is here. That’s not exactly true yet.

Posted on October 14, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

“5G just got real,” Verizon chief executive Hans Vestberg said onstage, as he touted his company’s plans to double its availability in some cities and roll out to 60 new markets by the end of 2020.

But in reality, 5G remains a work in progress throughout the United States.

Access to 5G networks is limited to a handful of U.S. cities, and in some instances, it’s currently slower than 4G speeds, my colleague Geoffrey Fowler has found through tests with multiple phones. And my colleagues note that the fastest early deployments have been concentrated in areas most Americans aren’t visiting very much since the pandemic began — such as stadiums.

“It will likely be a few more years before we see what kind of revolution 5G will bring about in the tech world,” Stan Adams, the deputy general counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in an email.

Verizon adds 8-inch TCL Tab to its Android tablet lineup

Posted on October 12, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

You might recognize the TCL brand from its value-priced Roku TVs sold through Amazon, Best Buy and the like, but it’s been a player in the mobile space through its manufacturing of phones for the likes of Alcatel and BlackBerry. In 2020, the Chinese company has moved to release Android phones under its own moniker, which have been well-reviewed by ZDNet’s own reviewers (here and here). Next up: launching into the tablet market through a partnership with Verizon.

Whereas it’s selling its TCL 10 Pro and 10L smartphones unlocked in the U.S., it’s taking a different approach with its Tab 8 tablet by hooking up with a wireless carrier. At $199.99, or $8.33 per month for 24 months, the 8-inch slate is Verizon’s cheapest tablet offering, about three dollars per month cheaper than an 8.4-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Though the Galaxy Tab has a slightly bigger screen

LG Wing lands at Verizon on Oct. 15 for $1,000

Posted on October 2, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

Angela Lang/CNET

The LG Wing, a unique dual-screen phone that you swivel open, will launch on Verizon on Oct. 15 for $1,000. The phone will be available for preorder starting on Thursday.

The Wing has two screens, one of which swivels on top of the other, allowing for things like multitasking and unique gameplay experiences. It also has three rear cameras, including an ultra-wide camera with a built in gimbal to stabilize video even while you’re moving around a lot.

CNET’s Lynn La says the LG Wing isn’t for everybody, but found that the phone’s unique design gives multitasking and recording video a boost. LG estimates that the phone is durable enough to survive 200,000 rotations over the course of five years.

Verizon is offering a handful

Google’s Pixel 4A 5G costs more on Verizon because of millimeter-wave

Posted on September 30, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

The Pixel 4A 5G UW is the latest phone to get a Verizon premium because of 5G.

James Martin/CNET

Google on Wednesday detailed its long-rumored (and leaked) Pixel 4A 5G and Pixel 5, making official what was pretty strong speculation (to put it nicely). Today’s announcement also revealed that Verizon’s version will once again cost more than the Pixel 4A 5G offered by its rivals.

Called the Pixel 4A 5G UW, Verizon’s model runs $600 and follows a trend of some of its other 5G devices in that it’s customized with millimeter-wave antennas to tap into Verizon’s fastest 5G network. Like its other 2020 5G phones, the Pixel 4A 5G will also be capable of connecting to the carrier’s wider-coverage nationwide 5G network when it launches later this year.

Now playing:
Watch this:

Google unveils Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A 5G

7:13

On Google’s specs page, Verizon’s variant is

Verizon is about to launch preorders for the weird LG Wing smartphone

Posted on September 29, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

Verizon is boasting that it will be the first wireless carrier in the United States to offer LG’s strange new Wing smartphone, a model that features two displays with a pivoting arrangement. If you’re nostalgic for old school phones that had hidden, sliding keyboards, it’s easy to see the LG Wing’s appeal — you can get all of the benefits of swiping on a small keyboard with the visual real estate of landscape mode.

If you’ve been using mobile phones long enough, there’s a good chance that at one point in time, you used a phone that had a physical keyboard. These phones differed from traditional candy bar-style phones by offering a full miniature QWERTY keyboard hidden behind the display and accessible via hinges. A full keyboard made it easier to type out text messages and emails.

Of course, society soon transitioned to touchscreens, which have many of their own

LG Wing Smartphone Goes On Sale Oct. 15 for $999 at Verizon

Posted on September 29, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

(Credit: LG)

If you’re a fan of LG’s dual-screen Wing phone, Verizon will start selling it on Oct. 15th for $999.

Verizon plans on becoming the first US carrier to offer the unique product, which contains a second screen that can swivel out of the smartphone.

Introduced last month, the LG Wing may look pretty ridiculous at first glance. However, PCMag had a chance to try out the product, and we actually found it’s pretty great for multi-tasking. The device itself is basically a normal smartphone. But when you swivel out the second display, you can get more screen space.

The key benefit is how the dual screens can enable you to have one app open on the top screen, and another app open on the bottom. In Wing mode, the phone can also easily capture wide-angle photos.

Tomorrow, Verizon plans on kicking off pre-orders for the LG Wing, which

Verizon 5G Home expanding to 2 new cities, bringing total to 8

Posted on September 29, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

Verizon is launching a new 5G Home internet gateway.

Angela Lang/CNET

Verizon is expanding 5G Home to Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, on Oct. 1, the carrier announced Tuesday. The home internet service provides download speeds of up to 1Gbps when used with a new 5G internet gateway router also announced by Verizon. The launch comes at a time when more people are working and studying from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With people spending more time at home during these challenging times, the expansion of 5G Home Internet to new markets with new and improved hardware will provide customers with the flexibility and reliability to enjoy more digital experiences and increased productivity from the comfort of their home,” said Frank Boulben, Verizon senior vice president of consumer marketing and products.

The

TCL SIGNA Is A Minimal Budget-Minded Android Smartphone For Verizon

Posted on September 24, 2020 / by [email protected]_84 /

TCL has unexpectedly launched a brand new budget-friendly smartphone for Verizon customers dubbed the TCL SIGNA.

The 5.5-inch TCL SIGNA isn’t going to be the largest or most powerful phone on the block. Tucked behind the HD+, 18:9 ratio Dragontrail glass panel, the company packed a quad-core Snapdragon 429 SoC. That’s clocked at 1.9 GHz but only backed by 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage — up to 8.5GB end-user accessible.

Storage can be expanded though, via microSD up to 256GB. And the hardware should enable a longer-than-usual life out of the 3,000mAh capacity battery driving all of that hardware. In fact, TCL says that while the phone takes around 2.2-hours to charge, it’ll last up to 29-hours with mixed-use.

For cameras, TCL built its SIGNA around an 8-megapixel standard sensor on the back with an LED flash. Autofocus and EIS are built right in, and video capture is possible

But in reality, 5G remains a work in progress throughout the United States.

For more like this

For more like this