Upcoming Verizon handsets: Motorola Sholes, BlackBerry Curve 2, BlackBerry Storm 2, more
We just got hit with a nice outline of some of Verizon Wireless’ upcoming handset release dates, and boy do they look appetizing. First up is the Motorola Sholes, a phone most of us assumed wouldn’t be launching until very late in the year. According to the information we obtained, it looks as if we could see that handset hit Verizon as early as October. See that Nokia Twist 7705? Any bets what that will be? Our sheet shows it landing on VZW in late September with an estimated $230 subsidized price.
Next up is the LG Chocolate Touch which should hit in October for around $230 as well as an HTC Razzle/Blitz 2 (maybe marketing confusion or two different devices? If you know, drop a comment). The rumored Samsung Intensity gets a September launch date at $130, but what you’ve really been waiting for is the BlackBerry stuff, right?
Our roadmap pegs the BlackBerry Storm 2 for launch in October with an undisclosed price (we’d guess $199), and while that’s great and all, the BlackBerry Curve 2 is more intruiging. Since the BlackBerry CDMA lineup doesn’t see as many devices as their GSM counterpart, we assume that’s why the BlackBerry Curve 8530 will launch as the BlackBerry Curve 2 marketing name. Cost isn’t disclosed for that one as well, but with a late November launch window and some smart moves by Verizon, we could probably assume that’s going to run $49.99 – $99.99. Full photos after the jump, guys!
What makes the Sholes so appealing? Um, the fact that VZW has yet to carry any phone w/ an OS other than WM. If this doesn’t get crippled, it will become the device that stops the masses from vacating Verizon. Seriously, it could make the iPhone’s anticipated VZW arrival next year a bit less impactful.
p.s. why does anyone care about the OMnia II? we’ve turned a corner w/ Android and the iPhone OS, so while hardware is important, OS’s are now important again. And who cares about Symbian?
Can not wait for the sholes. hope verizon leaves it alone.
Verizon’s getting new devices? Wait–what?
If I’m not mistaken Verizon has retired the crippling of smartphones. They are actually upgrading the Diamond 2 from its stock version.
“The masses from vacating Verizon..”? Really? You do realize VZW has the lowest churn rate of all of the wireless carriers, right? And that’s with the Pre and iPhone on other networks… 2010=LTE, iPhone, and Pre with more Android choices and wi-fi on all smartphones and Blackberries. I’m pretty sure VZW has the upper hand still…
from my understanding the Touch 2 and Omnia 2 are still off a bit. Last i heard they are doing what they can to get them out before the holiday but VZW has so many other things on the float atm they are not being pressed. There biggest thing atm is to get the first Andriod 2.0 device to the market. And from what I’ve heard/seen on the Sholes it can and may stomp on all these other devices being talked about. And to top my list bigger screen then and iPhone even, plus a full keyboard let alone the other nice specs it has going into it. IMO full touchscreen is for the birds for daily use. I’d much rather have keys for typing stuff.
As for crippling smartphone….lol that is a joke. You want to see crippled get a dumphone from VZW and then lets talking crippling. Juat about anything crippled on most smartphones can be worked around excluding GPS stuff. However where there is a will there is a way. And boy is it nice to have full featured dumbphone working on VZW with Java even running on it with full data access. Bye Bye GIN and vcast, Hello free games and apps.
Izzyd: I could definitely understand a holiday launch goal for the Omnia II, since it could appeal to many users from 14 years old and up. (i.e. broader mass appeal, and minimal business appeal)
However, with the Touch Pro2, given the information we have to date (warehouse showing “on order”, demo units out to corp customers at the end of July, etc), then I’d be surprised if that didn’t come out in the next 30 days. After all, in the past (XV6700, XV6800, and TP1), demo units didn’t go out until 45 prior to telesales/online launch.
alright this is another bgr hoax. Just lke the whole best buy thing, this doesnt mean anything. BGR is NOT credible.
Lawrence A Aubin, sorry about the late reply, unfortunately I have spoken to just about everyone i know about the Omnia 2 and nobody has any info on it. Except i know that the sku is in our inventory but no quantity.
I played with a touch pro 2 about 3 weeks ago….It is amazing, super fast, no lag, programs load almost instantly.
ok…
1) samsung rogue is the samsung glyde replacement
2) DOES IT SAYS $370?! does anyone else think thats totally, unreasonably, absurd?!? all i’m saying is the rogue should NOT be that expensive, i think it’s for show..
3) i’m waiting it out for the rogue or the intensity….=]
I thought that BB model 8900 is Curve II but I see some people here are talking about 8530 so I am confused. Any explanation?
I was just recently told by someone in Verizon that the new Curve coming out will be just like the Tour except without the Global functionality. I was just going to get the Tour, but I’m holding out for the next Curve.
Why the Sholes? Because it’s the only thing they’ll be offering that any semblance of modifiability by “power users”.
Basically, the environments these folks want on their phones all have some kind of Unix underpinnings. (Just worked out that way). iPhone has their “embedded OS X”, Palm Pre has WebOS on top of Linux, and Android…
…ah yes, Android. It might keep me as a Verizon customer, but it might also be too little, too late. My patience is running out, and I’ve been talking about “jumping ship” to get the Pre.
Honestly, these walled gardens on our phones remind me of the Bad Old Days, when we leased our phones from Ma Bell. In essence: almost all cell phone technology is rapidly moving into the (early) 90’s. When we can call (or Skype) from our phones via wireless w/the same number that we use for mobile, _then_ we will have arrived in the 21st Century.
(Femtocells are just a stopgap measure until we get control of our phones.)
Last time I got information from this website for when phones were going to be released it was wrong.
Vallor;
Android will drag phones and carriers into the 21 century – in fact, it already has by your measures. Say hello to Google Voice…
http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html
You have to get an invite right now, which is a bummer. If you are lucky enough to get an invite, you will get free calls to US and Canada, transcripts of voicemails, answer calls from any of your phones.
I’m pretty sure GV answers most of your gripes!
If the sholes doesn’t hit verizon this year, im out. Verizon has shit phones and refuses to get anything worth my money.
Hello iPhone.
eldora speedway and charlie sheen obama and hangover square and cheronda guyton photo and
I agree! I just left VZW after 10 years for the iPhone, knowing full well service would suck. My wife and I then took off on a 10-day road trip halfway across the US and back…guess whose phone never stopped working? Yup…my wife’s VZQ BlackBerry! My iPhone worked only in the large cities and when it did work in smaller ones, there was no 3G service, so why bother. I returned the iPhone (still inside 30 days) when I returned and happily returned to my Curve. I’ll upgrade it to the Storm 2 whenever it appears.
I am very intrigued by the Moto Sholes.. Is Motorola making a comeback?
I’m also intrigued with Android. I have played with BlackBerry OS, Iphone, Windows Mobile, WebOS, and all this stuff and none of it really seems to do what I want in a phone.
Maybe Android is the answer to my problems. Time will tell I guess.
@ M
And you’ll come running back right after the Sholes came out so why bother? At any rate I think its more believable to expect a November release. It will definitely be out before the New Years. Verizon would never let the Sholes miss the Holiday season. There’s like 3 or 4 Android phones being rumored anyway. I’d expect 2 this year.
Motorola Sholes will be the way to go. I can’t wait.
That is such a wrong statement. They offer the blackberry which does not run Windows anything except for the live messanger.