Verizon Wireless at CES 2011
At a news conference at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today, Verizon Wireless announced a suite of 10 forthcoming 4G LTE devices – including smartphones from HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung; tablets from Motorola and Samsung; a MiFi from Novatel Wireless and a mobile hotspot from Samsung; and two notebooks from HP – which will transform the wireless experience and offer consumers new ways to connect and share their lives at blazingly fast speeds. Verizon expects these consumer-oriented devices to be available by mid-2011, with some available as early as March 2011.
The company also announced it is expanding its 4G LTE network to an additional 140 markets by the end of this year.
Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless, said, “Today, we’re unveiling the next evolution of 4G LTE for consumers. During this three-year journey, from acquiring spectrum to launch, we not only transformed our network, but also our business by engaging in a strategy of collaboration and openness, while driving partnerships that will make 4G LTE successful across the globe. The result is true magic – the sum of a powerful network, applications, software systems and devices that bring 4G LTE to life.”
Marni Walden, vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless, said, “For consumers, our 4G LTE network isn’t about simply doing things faster. It’s about doing things we couldn’t do before. In the consumer electronics arena, it’s not just about devices. It’s about those powerful devices with deeply integrated applications and how our 4G LTE network truly transforms the wireless experience with rich multimedia and real-time response intervals.”
4G LTE devices available from Verizon Wireless by the middle of 2011 include:
Smartphones
HTC ThunderBolt (exclusive to Verizon Wireless) – HTC Sense 2.0, Skype mobile™ with video, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3” WVGA display, Dolby surround sound, 8-megapixel camera and HD video recording, wireless DLNA capability.
LG Revolution – HD support for streaming, playing and recording video, large 4.3-inch touch screen, Android™ 2.2, video telephony support with front-facing camera and mobile hotspot capability to share a 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
DROID Bionic 4G – Android with Adobe Flash and HTML5, front-facing VGA camera and See What I See video feature, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch HD quality screen, HDMI connectivity, dual-core 1GHz processor, 512 DDR2 RAM.
Samsung 4G LTE Smartphone – Android 2.2, Google Mobile services, including Google Search™, Google Maps™ and Gmail™, YouTube™, brilliant 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus touch screen display, powerful 1GHz application processor, HTML5 Web browser, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera to support video chat capabilities, Samsung Social Hub and Media Hub.
Tablets
Motorola XOOM – 10.1-inch HD 4G LTE upgradable tablet, Android™ Honeycomb, 1080p HD video, Adobe Flash Player, front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats and 5-megapixel camera to capture video in 720P HD. Mobile hotspot capability provides connection for up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab™ – 7-inch enhanced TFT display with 1024 x 600 WSVGA resolution, Android 2.2, Adobe Flash 10.1, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird application processor, rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder enable video chat capabilities.
MiFi and Mobile Hotspot
Novatel MiFi 4510L Intelligent Mobile Hotspot – Small enough to fit in the palm of the hand, share Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE and 3G networks with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot – Dual-mode device works as a wireless access point to connect up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices to Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE or 3G networks.
Notebooks
Compaq CQ10-688nr – 10.1-inch diagonal anti-glare widescreen LED display, Intel Atom N455 processor, up to 8.5 hours of battery life, multi-format digital media card reader, webcam and multiple connectivity options.
HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr – 11.6-inches, HP CoolSense Technology, HD 1080p, VISION Technology from AMD, up to 10.75 hours of battery life, 320 GB of storage, full-size, island-style keyboard, multi-format digital media card reader, HDMI port, Dolby Advanced Audio and GPS for mapping and navigation.
Verizon Wireless also introduced new applications that are being fully integrated into the new smartphones and run seamlessly over the 4G LTE network. An upgraded version of Skype mobile takes advantage of video capabilities enabled by 4G LTE’s incredible speed, allowing users to see and hear friends and family when making or receiving Skype-to-Skype video calls. EA’s ROCK BAND leverages the high-speed, low-latency 4G LTE network to provide the next generation of multiplayer gaming. At launch, this will be the first time the game can be played with friends over the mobile network, which means consumers can rock out with their friends like never before with 20 favorite hits – while on the go.
Since its launch 32 days ago, Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network has provided laptop users with speeds up to 10 times faster than the company’s 3G network. In real-world, fully-loaded network environments, laptop users experience average data rates of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink.
Tony Melone, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Verizon, said, “We will aggressively continue launching 4G LTE markets over the next 36 months. We’ll cover two-thirds of the U.S. population in the next 18 months, and by the end of 2013 we’ll offer our 4G LTE network from coast to coast – everywhere that we offer 3G today. In order to get there, we’ll add more than 140 markets in 2011, including Detroit, Raleigh-Durham, Memphis, Milwaukee, Honolulu, Boise, Mobile, Little Rock, Sioux Falls and Salt Lake City.”
