The Motorola Edison first popped up when one of our readers noticed earlier this week that the name was listed in the DROID Bionic webtop app.  We were pretty clueless at that point as to what the device was, but now know it is the Atrix 2 or revamped Atrix look-a-like that made its way onto a forum back in July.  The device was once rumored to have an HD screen, however, we are only expecting this to be similar to the Bionic, just on AT&T’s network.  And speaking of networks, the FCC filing for this device does not mention the word LTE anywhere.

Continued coverage over at Android Life.

A lot of HTC device talk has been filling up the Android world both at DL and at our brother site.  With an event scheduled for September 20 in NYC, you can bet we will see a number of these unveiled officially. In other news, another carrier is preparing to launch their first 5 LTE cities this weekend – only 138 behind Verizon.

• Is there a perfect tablet size?  Samsung’s new 8.9″ Galaxy Tab could be.
• AT&T is launching LTE in 5 cities on September 18.
• The HTC Runnymede could launch as the HTC Bass, as in music, not the fish.
• New HTC Sensation EX might be one of the hottest phones ever assembled.
• HTC Flyer can now be partially unlocked over at the HTC Dev site.
• Motorola Atrix finally receives beta CM7.

The rest of the day’s non-Big Red news can be found at Android Life.

We still have no reason to believe that Verizon will get the Samsung Galaxy S II after their head spokesperson Brenda Raney, denied that they would carry a variant of it to the Wall Street Journal.  And after seeing the Verizon version missing from a promo picture that was outed last week which featured versions from T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint, things are looking more grim then ever.  But what about this new LTE version?

Many of you saw the announcement over the weekend from Samsung that they have a newly revamped version of the Galaxy S II to unveil at IFA, one that will include a bigger 4.5″ Super AMOLED Plus screen, upgraded 1.5GHz dual-core processor and, wait for it, LTE support.  There is a chance that the rumored next Nexus device will be very similar to this phone.  It doesn’t have an HD screen though, but neither does the GT-i9250 that was the rumored model number.  Other specs definitely seem to match up pretty closely to what we have been hearing behind the scenes.

With Big Red saying “no” to the SGS2, that could also just mean they will re-brand it on their own network.  A story this morning mentioned that the next Nexus will head exclusively to VZW with the “DROID” brand attached, but our sources aren’t so sure of that happening.  We wouldn’t be surprised though if we saw some form of this phone on Verizon, just without the Galaxy tag – although, we aren’t sure what the heck they would do with it.  Nexus certainly seems like the next option if they don’t go Galaxy or DROID, but that would also mean it wouldn’t be exclusive.  (Confused?)

It’s all a mystery still at this point, folks.  Samsung is pumping out so many new devices and variants of current devices that it has become almost impossible to keep up with them.  One thing we do know, is that they figured out a way to pack in an LTE chip without adding extra girth.

Full specs at Android Life.

It looks like the Motorola XOOM with 4G LTE (aka the Motorola XOOM LTE)  is about ready to launch, along with the DROID3.  Both devices have been added to Verizon’s MAP (minimum advertised price) list, which is one of the better indicators that a device is about to be released.  There is no telling if this is the mystery device that we first spotted from a VZW tablet commercial last week or just the same ol’ XOOM with an LTE radio in it.  We’re going with the latter.  Oh, and this is a pretty good sign that we should be hearing from Motorola about sending in our current non-4G XOOMs for upgrades.  (/Fingers crossed.)

The DROID3 on the other hand is still headed for July 7 until we hear otherwise.  It was just announced as the Milestone3 in China, so you’ve got to figure that Big Red and Moto are just looking for the perfect spot to make it official here in the U.S.

What do you guys think?  Finally ready for 4G in a XOOM?  Is this a newer version of the XOOM or just the current version with a 4G radio in it?

Cheers ___ and  ___!

(Click map for fullversion.)

For those not wanting to sift through the long list of 4G LTE launch cities, then simply click on the map above and look for your city.  It should be noted that Detroit is missing, but Verizon clarified during today’s conference that it will be included and that they are just working out some  final bugs.  Personally I’m disappointed to see a tech savvy city like Portland missing, but at least our airport will have the coverage.

On a related note, we aren’t expecting any major 4G LTE devices to be used in these cities until 2011, but Verizon does plan to showcase a half dozen smartphones and tablets at January’s CES.  No Incredible HD this year people.

Cheers  @DigitalDaggers!

Lowell McAdam, COO of Verizon, just announced that we will see 4G LTE smartphones and tablets in action this January at CES.  He mentioned that development has really taken off much faster than they had expected and will show a half dozen or so devices at the event.  You have to assume this will be the first major sighting of the Droid tablet (Stingray) which is now rumored to be LTE capable and possibly the Motorola Tegra 2 device.

In even better news, the Droid Life team will be at CES to cover all of this insanity.  This holiday season is looking to be more and more of a snoozer with January as the target of some game changers.

Verizon COO Lowell McAdam will be on stage at CTIA in 45 minutes discussing  the company’s plans for 4G LTE rollout.  It is expected that 30 cities will have 4G coverage by the end of the the year, but we’re hoping to hear additional details including some device specifics.  At this time, we have zero confirmations on any 4G Android devices for Big Red and this would be a great time for them to announce one.

Watch the LTE webcast live:

Via webcast (view/listen-only): http://www.verizonwebcasts.com/vzw/10825

U.S. toll free: 800-857-1380 / International: +1 773-799-3385
Passcode: 3243400

And be sure to hit up our chat in the toolbar (bottom right)!  We’ll be in there discussing all things LTE!

Tomorrow at 11:30AM PDT, Verizon will hold a press conference to drop details on its 4G LTE network launch which is expected to be spread across 30 NFL cities by the end of 2010.  The announcement will come at CTIA in San Francisco and will be delivered by VZW’s COO, Lowell McAdam.

Details of the conference after the break.