At the end of last week, we were tipped to a possible $100-off deal from Verizon for the DROID RAZR MAXX, which normally runs $299 on contract. As of today, that deal is in place online and in stores for those looking to make 3300mAh of battery juice a part of their daily ritual. Not a bad price for 4G LTE, top-end specs, and the best battery in the business. You can read our review of the MAXX here.

And we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t throw out the idea that normally when we see price drops like this, that new phones tend to be around the corner. That would be me referring to the RAZR HD and not the Incredible 4G LTE. Is it time to clear house and welcome in Motorola’s next big thing? It would be about time.

Via:  Verizon

A device by the model number SCH-I535, which has been rumored to be tied to Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy SIII, appeared in a Nenmark benchmark last night. Nothing in the benchmark itself should surprise you, but if it’s the real deal, it confirms that Big Red’s version will not rock out with a quad-core Exynos processor and will instead use Qualcomm’s dual-core and LTE-friendly Snapdragon S4. The “Adreno 225″ GPU and CPU info of 1.5GHz are the clues here.

Other than that, we can see that it runs Android 4.0.4, has a 720p HD resolution, and says “Verizon” as the carrier.

Still no word on a release, but June popped up as a potential timeframe for the U.S. carriers during Samsung’s unveiling of the device.

Via:  Nenamark | Blog of Mobile

A new update as VS920V6 is primed and ready to be rolled out to the LG Spectrum on Verizon. According to the changelog, it appears to be pretty major yet somehow is not Ice Cream Sandwich.

After updating though, users will find calendar improvements, Google as the default search, new Google apps (Play, YouTube, Gmail, and Talk), and a whole bunch of bloatware. Your version of Android will be 2.3.6. Typically when we see these changelogs go live, you can expect the update to be made available shortly thereafter.

Check out the full list below. 

Can you believe it? The NVIDIA TegraZone, the premier spot for serious mobile gamers to shop, has hit its 1-year anniversary. To celebrate the occasion, NVIDIA has launched a Players’ Choice Awards contest where gamers can win a variety of prizes (including some right here at Droid Life), simply by voting at the TegraZone site in 3 categories:  best graphics, best gameplay, and overall fun.

The Players’ Choice Awards will run from May 10 through May 31, but throughout the voting period, NVIDIA will hand out 7 Asus Transformer Pads to those that have voted. On Droid Life, we will hand out 3 separate tablet bundles of our own (1 per week for 3 weeks) that include a Transformer Pad with keyboard dock, Jambox speaker, and a Logitech gaming controller. In other words, you have a bunch of chances to win some pretty amazing prizes.

To start voting and to get your name entered to win prizes, scan the QR code below:

You can also head to the TegraZone site or NVIDIA blog.

Is the LG Optimus Vu the weirdest phone of the last year? Quite possibly. Once rumored to be LG’s knee-jerk reaction to the Samsung Galaxy Note, this thing is a monster. It’s being sold as a phone, but with its 5″ display, it’s much more. On the spec side, it has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor (probably the Snapdragon S4), LTE, 2080mAh battery, 8MP rear camera, and is only 8.5mm thick. Oh, it also still runs Gingerbread.

After playing with it, I can sort of see how it would be a nice coffee table device, maybe as a mini tablet. I’m still struggling to decide if I would ever want to carry around a device this big as my daily driver. You’ll see in the video below what I’m talking about. Aside from the size, it hums along nicely, has nifty screen capture tricks up its sleeves, takes decent pictures, and would be a joy to consume media on.

It has not been announced for the U.S. market yet. 

LG is one of the few big wigs that has a major presence here at CTIA this week, so we stopped by their booth to check out their newest line of Optimus phones. First up is the Optimus 4X HD which so far, has not been announced for the States. It’s currently an international phone with a 1.5GHz Tegra 3 processor, 4.7″ HD display, HSPA+, 1GB of RAM, 8MP camera, 2150mAh battery, NFC, and Ice Cream Sandwich.

After playing with it for a bit, I will give LG some credit for once – this phone is very nice. This version of their custom skin is their best yet. They also took things like their native video and camera apps and pumped them up with features that no one else is doing (to my knowledge). It may not be stock, however, this phone is still something to consider if/when it comes to our shores. 

A new update for the HTC Thunderbolt has been approved by Verizon and is ready to be rolled out. The build number of  2.11.605.19 may look familiar since it leaked a few weeks back. The update itself isn’t major and appears to be focused on connectivity issues. It also has better VPN functionality and better handling of Yahoo Mail.

When these update docs arrive, we usually see an update within a week or two.

The update is 61MB in size. More info.