Verizon continues to hold out on giving us any sort of official release or pre-order date for their version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, even after almost every other major carrier in the U.S. has announced an in-store date. The only thing we know for sure, is that it’s coming in May and you can sign-up through their site to be notified of future happenings. Not much, right? Thankfully, we have Best Buy. 

The HTC One is now available from AT&T and Sprint, along with a handful of retailers across the country. After being announced back in February we were starting to wonder if this day would come thanks to reports of delays. Both AT&T and Sprint are selling the 32GB version for $199 on new 2-year contract. AT&T also has an exclusive 64GB version that can be purchased for $299 on contract.

The rumors were true, Samsung will open mini-stores or Experience Shops inside 1,400 Best Buy stores across the country beginning this month. Similar to what Apple has done with their personalized section of the “worlds largest consumer electronics retailer,” Samsung will carve out their own space in both Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile shops to provide customers an opportunity to explore their smartphones, tablets, laptops, and cameras with help from a Samsung Experience Consultant.

The shops will vary in size, with the largest being approximately 460 feet, and will offer up a hands-on, interactive experiences of Samsung products to customers. Samsung and Best Buy are expecting to have 900 of these shops open by May.

Not that Samsung needed any help in boosting their already enormous sales, but this certainly won’t hurt. You have to wonder, how can HTC or Motorola or LG ever compete with something like this? Every time someone walks into a Best Buy store, they’ll be greeted with glowing neon Samsung logos, tables with products for demos, and “specialists.” Good luck, rest of industry.

More info at Best Buy’s Samsung Experience site. 

According to Geek, Best Buy and Samsung are preparing a relationship that will bring a specialized Samsung store to the insides of high-traffic Best Buy locations. Starting soon, Best Buy employees will be informed to clear out two aisles near the mobile section for the installation of a Samsung-only station. In these sections, Samsung will show off their new flagship device, the Galaxy S4, as well as other phones, tablets, and other products. 

On Monday, we reported that Best Buy was offering an exclusive new version of the DROID RAZR M, called Platinum. The device, with its blue accents and “platinum” exterior, was met with mostly positive feedback, however, we still had yet to see what the backside looked like. Thanks to one of our fabulous readers, we have a shot of the backside which as expected, features the same kevlar backing from other versions of the RAZR M, only it has a blue accent around the camera housing.

The device can still be had for as little as $50 on-contract. And don’t forget that Best Buy is also running their $50 giftcard promo for anyone who upgrades to a new smartphone through them in 2013.

Not bad, right? 

If you or anyone you know plans on upgrading their smartphone between now and December 31 of 2013, then Best Buy is offering a little incentive to have you do so through them. The deal goes, if you sign up (an agreement that you will upgrade your phone this calendar year in Best Buy),  they will hand you a $50 card. Juicy prize, right? 

Best Buy appears to be selling a special edition DROID RAZR M in a Platinum colorway that Verizon is not offering. This new look turns one of our favorite mid-range (our review) devices into a grey and blue-accented beauty. The blue comes via the lock switch and volume rocker, though nothing else appears to sport this new color. We don’t have a picture of the back, so we’ll assume it’s the same as the kevlar backing on the white and black versions.

If you want to pick up this special edition colorway, Best Buy is selling it for $50 on contract. 

If the Verizon version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is going to be a major part of your future, you may want to cruise into your local Best Buy. At some stores, the device is already on display, even though we don’t have an official launch date from Big Red. We keep hearing and seeing November 29 as being the day, but again, until VZW says so, we aren’t about to tell you to cut work that day and get in line at your local store.

Still, the sooner you get your hands on this phone the better. As we mentioned in our review, the device will take some getting used to because of the size. I, personally, am not a fan of a phone this big, but others find it to be perfect. In fact, 3 million of them have already been sold globally, and we have yet to see all U.S. carriers kick off sales of it.

On a related note (pun definitely not intended), the Verizon version in Best Buy stores already has the multi-window feature up and running. Verizon’s own site references the feature, so it’s not like we weren’t expecting to get it, we just weren’t sure if it would be there at launch or not. This certainly gives the impression that it will be there out of the box.