Last week we got a shot of the packaging for the DROID Incredible 2 that was all white and were wondering why they moved away from the standard DROID grey box.  Apparently they haven’t.  That was just a demo unit box – the official retail box is the one you are seeing above.  Nothing to get overly excited about, especially after seeing the hotness that was the HTC Thunderbolt’s box.

Now the DROID Charge packaging on the other hand, is a thing of beauty.  Stay tuned for it.

Cheers ac666!

The Casio G’z0ne will be out this Thursday, but if the phone itself wasn’t necessarily something you were interested in and the apps were, then you are in luck.  Everything, including the G’z0ne Toolbox, widgets and live wallpapers have all been pulled and can be enjoyed on any Android 2.2 device (well, at least the ones I’ve tested).  Turn your Thunderbolt or DROID into the outdoor-sy beast you always dreamed of without sacrificing those hot looks.

Download:  Commando.zip

In the file, you’ll find 3 folders:  Tools, Widgets and Live Wallpapers.  In order to enjoy all of the apps and widgets, you have to install each one individually, but you really need to make sure you have the GzMenu.apk as it allows you to access them all.  The widgets work as you would normally expect them to, and the live wallpapers are all pretty solid especially the Honeycomb and Growing Tree versions.

*No root needed.

Via:  XDA

If you already own a Motorola XOOM and have become a little jealous over the Asus Transformer and its nifty keyboard/laptop dock, then we may have a solution for you.  Moto and Verizon plan to release the “Keyboard Folio” which is like a leather laptop case with built-in keyboard (assuming it’s just the Bluetooth keyboard) so that you can also take advantage of an all-in-one and on-the-go experience.  While it may not look exactly like a laptop as the Transformer does, it still gives you an option and should help ease any post-tramatic-XOOM-disorder.  No telling what the price may be.

Update:  We’ve added a close up shot of the new keyboard folio above, but it’s looking all that pretty.  Is that contrast stitching I see?  Eww.  Click that image for the big dog version.

Cheers Legion!

Verizon’s brand new 4G LTE network is and has been down across the nation for a number of hours now starting at some point late last night.  Yep, anyone with a Thunderbolt will be running on 1x until they fire this thing back up, even if you are in a non-LTE city.  And toggling your LTE on/off isn’t going to help you either.  Time to pull out the OG?

Verizon has acknowledged the problem:

Possible fix to get you back on “old” 3G while they work out issues: (spursrchamps2007)

Dial ##778# and hit send

* A pop-up window named EPST will show up giving you 2 choices: View Mode and Edit Mode. Pick: Edit Mode.
* Enter the Password: 000000
* Go down to Modem Settings and pick “Rev A“
* You’ll want to choose enable and click OK, hit the menu button and then press “Commit Modifications.”
* Restart your phone and you should see 3G is working

To switch back to 3G/4G, follow same instructions but choose eHRPD.

Update 7:51AM:  We’re hearing reports that Chicago may be fine as well as the Lehigh Valley, PA.

Update 9:02AM:  Verizon with a minor update, although it doesn’t tell us much other than the network is still down for HTC Thunderbolts.

Update 1:47PM:  Another update.  We’re still down in a lot of areas, but at least they have figured out the problem and are starting to bring people back up:

Update 8:32PM:  We just heard from 3 separate sources that the DROID Charge has been delayed due to this network outage.  It looks like we all may be without 4G LTE for a little big longer.

Update 7:36AM (4/28):  We’ve just received word from Verizon that 4G LTE is back up nationally.  Unfortunately eHRPD is not up though, and that means no soft hand-offs between 3G and 4G.

Stay here as we’ll continue to keep you updated…

Cheers Edward, Adam and everyone else!

Just 2 weeks ago, one of our astute readers noticed that full retail prices on smartphones at Verizon seemed to have dropped significantly over night, leading many of us to wonder if this was the new pricing model now that 1-year contracts had been eliminated.  Big Red was quick to deny any connection between these lowered prices and their approach to contracts, but it is looking like this new lowered pricing is here to stay.  The brand spankin’ new DROID Incredible 2 which comes out this Thursday, will launch at just $439 without a contract, according to the employee flyer you are seeing above.

While many of us weren’t excited to see 1-year contracts go, it’s hard to be too disappointed in this new approach to full retail pricing.  We may only have two options when buying a phone now, but at least Big Red appears to have met us somewhere in the middle.

Change anyone’s mind on the Incredible 2?

Via:  TheDroidGuy

As always when a new DROID family member is just days away from release, we ask our readers if they plan to buy it, but since there are two dropping on the same day, this feels even more important.  And it’s not that we are trying to force two of our favorite phones to battle it out, although we are curious as to which has the most interest at this time.  With one as the first DROID from Samsung with 4G LTE, and the other stepping in as a revamped 3G version of its former and incredibly popular self, it’s hard for us to not want to know their current popularity.  So folks, interested in the DROID Charge or Incredible 2?

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I don’t know how long City ID has been allowing this to go on, but today when notified that my trial of their service was over, I was able to uninstall it.  Yes, you read that correctly.  City ID, known for their notification annoyances on phones like the DROID Incredible, is no longer on my Thunderbolt.

And at this time, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank them personally.  You understand that if we don’t want your app that we should be able to remove it from our phones.  You understand that we like to actually feel like we own our phones by not having permanent fixtures of spam sitting in our app drawer.  You understand that some people have old phones and a minimal amount of app storage space.  You understand that corporate greed should not control a product’s life.  You understand…well, you just understand.  Thank you City ID.

*Update 1* – We should point out that this option appears to only be available on the Thunderbolt.

*Update 2* – As some have also pointed out, the actually CityID.apk still remains in your /system/app folder, but to the average user, that doesn’t mean anything.  They’ll just be happy that the app is gone from their app drawer.

*Silly post I know, but we like to make sure that some of the carriers around the world see that we appreciate little things like this.

Cheers rudyt83!