There have been reports of BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 devices failing to power on after being left to charge all night. Late Friday evening, RIM confirmed the issue by saying a “limited number of customers have reported an issue where their device does not power on.” A RIM spokesperson said the company is “actively working on a software update to resolve this issue.” There’s no word on how many devices are failing, but there seems to be quite a few of them as the company’s support board is filling up with complaints.

T-Mobile announced on Tuesday that it will expand its Direct Carrier Billing option to support more digital products. The service allows T-Mobile customers to make purchases directly from their web browsers and charge them to their monthly T-Mobile bills. Customers can purchase music, games, social networking credits and more from their phones, T-Mobile tablets, or any of their computers connected to a T-Mobile network. Direct Carrier Billing will be available later this month, and once it is active, customers will see the option from participating providers during checkout. There is no additional fee for Direct Carrier Billing and customers can opt-out by contacting T-Mobile support. Read on for the full press release.

T-Mobile USA to Extend Direct Carrier Billing to Digital Content and Services

BELLEVUE, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced Direct Carrier Billing – a nationwide purchasing program to provide customers the convenience of securely purchasing digital content and services from their web-enabled device. With Direct Carrier Billing, T-Mobile customers can conveniently charge online purchases of digital games, gaming and social networking credits, music, videos and other digital content offerings directly to their existing T-Mobile account right from the Web browser of their connected device – whether a PC, smartphone, netbook or tablet.

“In 2009, T-Mobile was the first U.S. carrier to offer direct carrier billing for the Android Market. With this new program, we’re extending the hassle-free payment experience to browser-based purchases from virtually any online source and across a variety of mobile devices, delivering more purchasing power to mobile-centric consumers.”

“As the growth in mobile purchasing explodes, we want to be at the forefront in helping customers more easily purchase digital content and services,” said Brad Duea, senior vice president of value added services, T-Mobile, USA. “In 2009, T-Mobile was the first U.S. carrier to offer direct carrier billing for the Android Market. With this new program, we’re extending the hassle-free payment experience to browser-based purchases from virtually any online source and across a variety of mobile devices, delivering more purchasing power to mobile-centric consumers.”

T-Mobile Direct Carrier Billing, which will initially utilize billing services provided by BilltoMobile, Boku, OpenMarket, Payfone, and Zong, simplifies the browse-to-purchase experience for consumers, eliminating the need to manually enter credit card information.

T-Mobile subscribers will be able to visit a wide variety of trusted online storefronts and merchant websites to make secure purchases and have those transactions appear on their monthly T-Mobile bill. As the new offering continues to expand, additional strategic billing service partners and content providers will be added to the program.

Payments that are processed using direct carrier billing will be secured and monitored by both T-Mobile and the billing service partners. Extensive fraud controls, age-appropriate content blocking and spending limit management tools will be available to provide T-Mobile customer with a secure environment for purchasing premium content from trusted brands and merchants. In addition, a two-step customer authentication and purchase verification process will ensure a secure transaction. Purchases will also be detailed on the customer’s monthly T-Mobile bill so they know exactly what they are paying for.

Pricing and Availability:

Direct Carrier Billing is expected to be available later this month. Once available, T-Mobile customers will simply be presented with this option when purchasing online content from participating providers using their mobile device. While standard data and text rates apply, there is no additional fee for T-Mobile subscribers to use Direct Carrier Billing. T-Mobile customers may opt-out of Direct Carrier Billing at no additional charge by contacting T-Mobile’s Customer Care.

District Judge Howard Riddle released 18-year old alleged LulzSec hacker Jake Davis on bail Monday morning. Davis hacked under the name “Topiary” online and served as the public face of LulzSec, often publishing press releases and status updates on the group’s Twitter account, before he was arrested on July 27th. The news debunks earlier reports that authorities had been duped into arresting an the wrong man. Authorities in the U.K. said they discovered personal information for more than 750,000 people on Davis’ computers. Davis has been charged with hacking the Sun, Times, Sony and the Serious Organized Crime agency. Davis’ lawyers are highlighting his role as a press secretary for LulzSec and have argued that Davis did not participate in the attacks directly. Davis was released on bail but cannot access the Internet from any device, including from smartphones, The Financial Times said.

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Here’s some good news for DROID Charge, LG Revolution, and HTC ThunderBolt owners: BGR has independently confirmed with Verizon Wireless that the carrier is extending its free 4G LTE mobile hotspot offer on those devices from June 15th to July 6th. Verizon Wireless will issue a software update on July 6th that deactivates the free promotion. Users will then need to pay for the service, and Verizon says 4G phone owners do not qualify for the 1GB $20 monthly option. While the carrier hasn’t yet confirmed new hotspot pricing, the next tier data plan is the $35 3GB monthly hotspot data plan, so that may be the new requirement.

[Via MobileBurn]

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An MSNBC investigative report, and related lawsuit, claims that AT&T has “systematically overstated” the data usage of iPhone and iPad customers. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, seeking class action status, hired an independent computer firm to compare the actual amount data used by iPhone and iPad customers with the amount that AT&T bills users for. “Did you find overcharges on every single transaction,” asked MSNBC’s Lisa Myers, speaking with the investigating firm’s representative. “Yes, every single one,” he responded. “Did you ever find an instance where the discrepancy worked to the benefit of the customer,” poses Myers as a follow-up question. “Never,” quipped the representative. ”Always an overcharge; never an undercharge.” The study alleges that AT&T overstates customer data usage by 7% to 14% and, in some rarer cases, by up to 300%. To illustrate its point, the firm bought a new AT&T iPhone and line of service, “disabled everything that might trigger data usage,” and let the phone sit untouched for ten days. During that time period, thirty-five different data charges appeared on the virgin phone’s bill. AT&T responded to the report saying that the claims are “without merit” and that applications may auto-update or refresh in the background without a consumer’s knowledge or consent. Whatever the reasoning is for the purported up-charging, we’re sure this isn’t the last you’re going to hear about this one. A video clip of MSNBC’s report is waiting for you after the break.

UPDATE: An official statement from an AT&T spokesperson is after the break.

An AT&T spokesperson has provided the following statement to BGR:

Accurate billing is clearly important and, unfortunately, there have been some incorrect claims about our data usage billing practices. We properly charge for all data that our customers send and receive, including data activity that runs in the background on smartphones and other powerful data devices. Data usage for emailing, downloading applications, browsing the web, downloading a video or streaming music is all applied to a customers’ data plan. So are real-time updates to applications, such as weather updates, sports scores, or stock tickers. Particularly for smartphones, tablets and other advanced mobile devices, applications are often constantly running in the background and engaged with our network. And, AT&T captures your data activity nightly to create a bill record in our systems. This will appear on your bill to be a late night “charge,” but in fact, the time stamp reflects the time that your device established a connection to the network, not the time that you sent or received data.

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Verizon Wireless announced on Monday that it will activate its blazing fast 4G LTE service in Pensacola, Tallahassee, and Gainesville Florida; Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama; Fayetteville-Lumberton, North Carolina, and in and around Philadelphia on May 19th. Verizon currently offers two 4G LTE phones, the HTC ThunderBolt and the Samsung DROID Charge, two USB modems, and two 4G LTE mobile hotspots. Hit the jump for a release detailing Verizon’s LTE roll-out in Philadelphia, the largest market from today’s announcements.

4G Smartphones, Modems And Hot Spots Arrive On The Expanded Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Network In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 19

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Starting Thursday, May 19, more Verizon Wireless customers across the Philadelphia metro area will be able to surf the web, download files and share music and photos up to 10 times faster than before with Verizon Wireless’ 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The expansion will improve coverage in New Jersey to the northwestern sections of Gloucester, Camden and Burlington Counties including the towns of Woodbury Heights, Blackwood, Runnemede, Voorhees, Moorestown, Cinnaminson, Mount Laurel and Delran. In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 4G LTE coverage will be expanded to include the areas surrounding Newtown, Richboro and Buckingham.

Consumers and businesses in Philadelphia, including Philly International Airport, portions of South Jersey and Delaware, have had access to the nation’s fastest 4G mobile technology since last December. The company also launched 4G LTE service in the Lehigh Valley in April and has announced plans to activate its 4G LTE service in Harrisburg and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre by the end of 2011.

“We are proud to help lead more of the Philadelphia metro area into the 4G LTE wireless broadband world, helping residents, small businesses and local government connect faster and more fully with each other and those outside our community,” said Mario Turco, regional president of Verizon Wireless. Our 4G LTE network is revolutionizing the way people communicate, and we know this connectivity will be a key communications and technology enabler for many years to come.”

Smartphones, Hotspots and Laptop Modems

Residents in more locations across the Philadelphia metro area can choose from an array of devices that have already launched to access the blazingly fast speeds of the 4G LTE network, including:

• Just introduced on Saturday, the DROID Charge by Samsung features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED™ Plus display, a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for both stills and video chatting, Android 2.2 platform, 1 GHz application processor, HTML 5 Web browser and Mobile Hotspot capability that lets customers share the 4G LTE connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices or the 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Available for $299.99 after discounts with a new 2-year customer agreement.
• ThunderBolt™ by HTC smartphone is powered by Android™ 2.2 and has an 8-megapixel rear facing camera and HD (720p) video recording, 1.3-megapixel front facing camera with video chatting capabilities, newest generation of the 1GHz Snapdragon processor and Mobile Hotspot capability that lets customers share the 4G LTE connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Available for $249.99 after discounts with a new 2-year customer agreement.
• Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi® 4510L and the Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-LC11 let customers share the 4G LTE internet connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices at the same time. Each available for $99.99 after discounts with a new 2-year customer agreement.
• Verizon Wireless 4G LTE USB Modem 551L comes equipped with a fold-out USB connector, a four color LED Service Status Indicator and an internal antenna. Available for $99.99 after discounts with a new 2-year customer agreement.
• The LG VL600 4G LTE modem comes equipped with a fixed USB connector, an LED Service Status Indicator and an internal antenna. Available for $99.99 after discounts with a new 2-year customer agreement.
• Pantech’s UML290 USB modem comes equipped with a fold-away, 180 degree rotating USB connector, an LED Service Status Indicator and a internal antenna. Available for $49.99 after discounts with a new 2-year customer agreement.

Coverage

In real-world, fully-loaded network environments, 4G LTE users should experience average data rates of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink, so customers can enjoy the fast speeds of the world’s first large-scale 4G LTE network. Verizon Wireless began introducing the globe’s first large-scale LTE network on December 5, 2010, covering more than 110 million Americans, and is quickly expanding national coverage. In addition to expanding five new markets, the company is adding nine new markets this week, for a total of 55 metropolitan areas covered. The company is rapidly building out its 4G LTE network, and is on course to deliver 4G LTE to its entire 3G wireless footprint by the end of 2013. In addition, the company is working with rural communications companies to collaboratively build and operate a 4G network in those areas using the tower and backhaul assets of the rural company and Verizon Wireless’ core 4G LTE equipment and premium 700 MHz spectrum.

When customers travel outside of a 4G coverage area, the devices automatically connect to Verizon Wireless’ 3G network, enabling customers to stay connected from coast to coast. Verizon Wireless’ 3G network is the most reliable high-speed wireless data network in the country, allowing customers with laptops and smartphones to download and use cool apps, from mobile social networking platforms to GPS-enabled maps, rapidly browse the web to keep up with news, sports, stock quotes, Hollywood gossip and more, work on-the-go with fast file sharing and stream must-see video and customized radio stations.

4G LTE Data Plans and Pricing

With the DROID Charge by Samsung and the ThunderBolt by HTC, customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access and an Unlimited 4G LTE data plan is $29.99 monthly access.

4G LTE Mobile Broadband plans for the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi® 4510, Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-LC11, Verizon Wireless 4G LTE USB Modem 551L, LG VL600 4G LTE modem and Pantech UML290 USB modem begin at $50 monthly access for 5 GB of data. Data usage can be tracked by logging on to My Verizon online at www.verizonwireless.com/myverizon.

Visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte for more information about Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network.

Verizon’s second 4G LTE smartphone, the Samsung DROID Charge, is finally available. Here’s a quick refresher of the phone’s spec sheet: it offers a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 32GB microSD card, and an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p HD video. We recently reviewed the DROID Charge, and with data speeds that hovered regularly around 20Mbps in New York City, we called it the 4G LTE “phone to beat.” You can pick up the DROID Charge in Verizon Wireless stores and online for $299.99 with a new two-year contract.

Verizon Wireless is finally prepared to launch its latest 4G smartphone, the Samsung DROID Charge. Verizon has confirmed with BGR that the device will become available for purchase Saturday, May 14th, online and in stores across the country. We recently reviewed the Samsung DROID Charge and called it “the phone to beat” for consumers looking for blazing fast data speeds. All that speed comes at a price, however, as the DROID Charge will cost $299.99 on contract when it becomes available tomorrow.

UPDATE: Hit the break for Verizon Wireless’ full press release.

VERIZON WIRELESS UNLEASHES DROID CHARGE BY SAMSUNG DROID Charge Joins Verizon Wireless’ Android Family

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced that the DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for purchase in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com.

The DROID Charge is designed with Samsung’s 4.3-inch Super AMOLED™ Plus display, setting a new touchscreen standard for brightness, clarity and outdoor visibility.  The DROID Charge is equipped with both a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for both stills and video chatting.  The smartphone’s 1 GHz application processor and HTML 5 Web browser maximizes high-speed 4G LTE connectivity for faster downloads and graphics processing.

Additional features:

• 4G LTE – Customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage area
• Android 2.2 platform – Support for Google Mobile Services including Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Talk, Google Search, Google Maps and access to more than 200,000 apps available to download from Android Market™
• Adobe^® Flash^® Player compatible
• Mobile Hotspot capability – Share 4G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices or a 3G connection with up to 5 devices
• Samsung Media Hub – Samsung’s own content service, offering a vast lineup of critically acclaimed films and TV programs for rent or purchase
• Virtual QWERTY keyboard featuring Swype technology

Pricing and data plans:

• The DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
• DROID Charge customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package.  Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access.  Unlimited 4G LTE data packages start at $29.99 monthly access.  Mobile Hotspot feature will be included for a limited time at no additional charge.

I’ve spent more than a week living and breathing alongside the Samsung DROID Charge, Verizon’s second 4G LTE smartphone, and and it had some pretty big shoes to fill following Verizon’s first 4G LTE smartphone, the HTC ThunderBolt. The DROID Charge is loaded with all the trimmings you could ask for, including a huge Super AMOLED Plus display with colors that will blow your mind, an 8-megapixel camera that can shoot HD video, and of course, support for Verizon’s 4G LTE network. But do all of these features make it worth the $299 you’ll have to drop in order to own one? Hit the break for my full review to find out.

Hardware / Display

Samsung told me that the “pet name” for the DROID Charge was the “Stealth,” and that’s certainly an accurate description of its industrial design. The area below the phone’s large 4.3-inch screen tapers down to a small chin, and its rounded edges, glossy mirror gray finish, and sharp accents around the camera lens definitely add to its fighter-jet style. Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus display is one of the clearest, brightest, and sharpest screens I’ve ever seen on a smartphone. The display offers even deeper blacks than the Super AMOLED screen on Samsung’s Galaxy S phones, which is really saying a lot. Colors are stunning and you really just have to see it to understand the beauty, but a beautiful screen this size comes at a cost; the DROID Charge definitely has a bit of heft at just over 5 ounces, but at just 0.46-inches slim it easily slid into my pocket.

Unlike the Galaxy S devices before it, the DROID Charge has hardware keys below the screen instead of touch-sensitive buttons. The keys have nice bounce and each has a soft white backlight that illuminates while the screen is activated. Under the hood the DROID Charge runs on a 1GHz processor, which is a bit lower powered than the dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 devices that have started to infiltrate the market. Still, there’s 512MB of RAM that helps speed things up a bit, and our unit came with a 32GB microSD card so there’s more than enough space to store videos, music, and photos. A 32GB microSD card runs about $60 on Amazon, so I’m starting to see why the DROID Charge is priced as high as it is.

One feature that I really enjoyed using was HDMI-out. You can purchase movies from Media Hub for about $9.99 each, or move files over to the phone using your USB cable, and then output them to an HDTV using a mini-HDMI cable. There were a few hiccups in the frame rates, but otherwise the movie played without a hitch. I’ll revisit this a bit more in the camera section of the review.

Software

Here’s where things get a bit stale: The DROID Charge runs Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Samsung’s custom TouchWiz user interface on top. I’m not a big fan of TouchWiz — it’s too cartoony looking, the widgets are always larger than necessary, and they don’t use screen real estate efficiently. There are several useful features, like the ability to sync Twitter or Facebook with your address book, but generally TouchWiz turns me off. Thankfully, the DROID Charge’s processor hummed along just fine despite the UI, which can slow things down just a bit on other devices. There are  also other small issues that drive me mad about TouchWiz, though — like its black e-mail interface — and at times I just wish Samsung had stuck with a vanilla version of Android on the Charge.

The Charge’s virtual keyboard mirrors those on Samsung’s Galaxy S devices, and I’m not a fan. The space bar is too small and seems to be positioned too far to the left; half the time I try to type a space I end up hitting the period button instead. This, of course, is where third-party developers come in, and I definite;y recommend installing your third-party keyboard of choice on the Charge.

There’s a fair amount of bloatware on the phone including VerizonApps, a Guided Tour, VZ Navigator, TuneWiki, City ID, Bitbop, and more. Thankfully, though, Verizon chose to use Google as the default search option on the DROID Charge, which is a welcome change from the Fascinate.

Calling / Data

The call quality on the DROID Charge was clear during my tests and I had no issue with dropped calls in New York City or during a trip to Orlando for BlackBerry World. Friends and family on the other end of the line said I sounded good, and the ear speaker was loud enough even while walking on busy streets. The speakerphone had adequate volume as well, but voices were distorted at higher levels. Callers said I sounded fine on speakerphone and they couldn’t tell I wasn’t directly talking into the handset.

The DROID Charge is Verizon’s second phone capable of placing phone calls while surfing the Internet, and this feature worked perfectly during my tests. I looked up a quick place to eat lunch while I had a friend on speakerphone, and I didn’t notice any drop in call quality or data speeds. BGR Editor in Chief Jonathan Geller, in his ThunderBolt review, wondered if perhaps the poor voice quality on that phone was related to the talk / surf feature, and I’m glad to report that’s not the case with the Charge.

Data speeds on Verizon’s 4G LTE network regularly exceeded 20Mbps on the downlink in New York City, and I typically saw upload speeds around 4Mbps. The download speeds are faster than you’ll find on any other U.S. carrier hands-down and are even on a par with home network connections.

There are drawbacks to being an early adopter, however. During my first week of testing Verizon’s 4G LTE network, it went down for just over 24 hours. Users weren’t compensated for the downtime, and I couldn’t even access a 3G network during the outage. That’s a big deal, especially for business users or those of us who rely on our smartphones throughout most of the day. Similarly, while tethered to a laptop, I noticed that the signal dropped a number of times, and there are reports from some websites claiming the same issue — hopefully this is something that will be fixed in a future software update. I’m not dinging Verizon, though; it’s the first to roll-out such a high-speed network and there are bound to be small hiccups along the way.

Battery Life

The DROID Charge moniker is quite fitting as I found the 1,600mAh needed frequent charging under heavy 4G use. The phone offered up better battery life than the 4.5 hours Jonathan saw with the HTC ThunderBolt, but it still wasn’t great. Generally, I was able to go from about 7:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. with moderate usage on 4G.

If you need to save battery life, there’s an option under wireless network settings to use a CDMA network only. This let me place voice calls and use Verizon’s slower 3G EV-DO network for surfing the Web. It’s definitely a welcome change over the HTC ThunderBolt, which didn’t ship with that option, although an app is now available. With 3G enabled, I was able to get through a full work day with moderate usage. Unfortunately there isn’t a widget to quickly switch networks out of the box; that would certainly be a welcome addition, but I’m sure Android enthusiasts will whip something up to fix that.

Camera

There’s an 8-megapixel camera on the DROID Charge, and I used it to shoot a bunch of photos during a trip to Florida. Images were crisp and colors looked true in daylight. Photos look amazing on the Super AMOLED Plus screen, and they just had a little distortion when I pushed them out to my 32-inch TV using HDMI-out. Pictures snapped under incandescent lights had a decidedly orange hue to them, but were otherwise perfectly acceptable.

A night shot taken of a neon sign, without the flash, had brighter colors bleeding into the darker areas of the screen, even with the camera’s anti-shake feature activated. In lower light conditions, the single-LED  flash did a decent job grabbing our subject, too, but I prefer the dual-LED option on phones like the HTC ThunderBolt.

I shot several HD video clips in 720p, but the DROID Charge defaults to a 720 x 480 resolution, so you’ll want to be sure to activate the HD option for better video. The frame rates were fluid when I played the video back on the Charge’s display, and I was just as blown away when I watched the same clip on my TV using HDMI-out. The video and audio were both crisp and I didn’t notice any pixelation, even when panning the video around. One issue I did run into, though, is that the phone required a reboot when I unplugged the HDMI cable and then tried to plug it back in again to resume playback.

Wrap-up

If you’re looking for 4G speeds, the Samsung DROID Charge is the phone to beat — but you’ll need deep pockets. Sure, I’d take HTC’s Sense user interface over TouchWiz any day, but the DROID Charge offers a few things HTC’s ThunderBolt doesn’t, namely a gorgeous Super AMOLED Plus display and an out-of-the-box option to turn off 4G to save on battery life, which meant I was able to get through a full day with moderate usage when I didn’t need to surf the Web at blazing fast speeds.

The DROID Charge is priced at $299, which is $50 more expensive than its only 4G LTE competitor, the ThunderBolt. That’s for good reason, however. It offers better battery life, a killer display, clearer phone calls, and a much less bulky design — easily worth the $50 difference. Sure, Verizon has a number of new 4G LTE smartphones coming down the pipeline, but if you want in on the carrier’s blazing fast data now, the DROID Charge is your best bet, hands-down.

Not a bad day to be an Android-loving Verizon Wireless customer. The nation’s largest wireless carrier has made two new handsets available: the sleek HTC DROID Incredible 2 and the ruggedized Casio G’zOne Commando. Both handsets run Android 2.2 (Froyo) and will retail for $199.99 with a signed 2-year contract. A third handset, the Samsung DROID Charge, is scheduled for release today as well… however, our inbox is littered with tips stating that the device will not hit store shelves today due to yesterday’s nationwide LTE outage. We’ve reached out to Verizon Wireless for comment and will update this post with any relevant information provided.

We just got our hands on a brand new Samsung DROID Charge from Verizon Wireless (thanks, FedEx!), and we’ve been checking out the carrier’s second 4G LTE smartphone for a little while. Here are some of our first impressions: Right out of the box we were blown away by the DROID Charge’s 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen; the blacks are so dark that it’s hard to see where the screen ends and the chassis starts, and colors really do pop. The phone is powered by a 1GHz processor, which feels fast, but the Charge also doesn’t seem to zip around the UI as quickly as some of the dual-core devices we’ve tested recently, such as the T-Mobile G2x. Part of the problem could be Samsung’s custom TouchWiz software, however, which runs on top of Android 2.2 (Froyo). The DROID Charge feels very solid —  albeit a bit big — and it reminds us of the Samsung Omnia II in some ways. The DROID Charge’s 4G LTE data speeds were very solid in our initial tests; our download throughput averaged 11.24Mbps down, and the phone uploaded at an average of 5.38Mbps. We’ll be working on our review over the next couple of days and we’ll be sure to address the 8-megapixel camera, battery life, 4G data speeds, call quality, and plenty more. In the meantime, be sure to check out our hands-on DROID Charge gallery below!

Verizon Wireless just took the wraps off of the Samsung DROID Charge, its latest Android 2.2 smartphone capable of running on the firm’s 4G LTE wireless network. The DROID Charge sports a 4.3-inch Super-AMOLED Plus display — which made its debut on the Galaxy S II — an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for voice chats. It’s powered by a 1GHz processor and is also capable of sharing its 4G LTE connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi enabled devices (while connected to LTE). The DROID Charge will launch on April 28th for $299.99 with a new two-year Verizon Wireless contract. Hit the break for the full press release.

VERIZON WIRELESS UNLEASHES DROID CHARGE BY SAMSUNG

DROID Charge Joins Verizon Wireless’ Android Family as Samsung’s First 4G LTE Smartphone

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced that the DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for purchase on April 28 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com.

The DROID Charge is designed with Samsung’s 4.3-inch Super AMOLED™ Plus display, setting a new touchscreen standard for brightness, clarity and outdoor visibility.  The DROID Charge is equipped with both a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for both stills and video chatting.  The smartphone’s 1 GHz application processor and HTML 5 Web browser maximizes high-speed 4G LTE connectivity for faster downloads and graphics processing.

Additional features:

• 4G LTE – Customers can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G Mobile Broadband coverage area
• Android 2.2 platform – Support for Google Mobile Services including Gmail^™, YouTube^™, Google Talk, Google Search, Google Maps and access to more than 150,000 apps available to download from Android Market^™
• Adobe^® Flash^® Player compatible
• Mobile Hotspot capability – Share 4G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices or a 3G connection with up to 5 devices
• Samsung Media Hub – Samsung’s own content service, offering a vast lineup of critically acclaimed films and TV programs for rent or purchase
• Virtual QWERTY keyboard featuring Swype technology

Pricing and data plans:

• The DROID Charge by Samsung will be available for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
• DROID Charge customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan and a 4G LTE data package.  Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access.  Unlimited 4G LTE data packages start at $29.99 monthly access.  Mobile Hotspot feature will be included for a limited time at no additional charge.

Find the DROID Charge

Beginning April 21, anyone over the age of 18 can participate in an exclusive DROID Charge Scavenger Hunt.  Follow the online clues to find hidden locations in 16 different U.S. cities to win a DROID Charge by Samsung.  For additional information about the DROID Charge Scavenger Hunt, visit: www.chargelanding.com.

For more information about the DROID Charge by Samsung, visit www.droiddoes.com/charge.  For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

The prices for several upcoming Verizon Wireless smartphones — including the Samsung DROID Charge, HTC DROID Incredible 2, LG Revolution, and Motorola DROID X 2 — have seemingly been revealed by Phone Arena. There aren’t too many surprises in store, but it’s clear that you’re definitely going to be paying a premium for a new 4G LTE phone. The DROID Incredible 2, and DROID X 2 are both priced at the standard $199.99 with a new two-year contract. The Samsung DROID Charge, on the other hand, could be priced at $299.99 — the cost of a low-end netbook — but it does pack in 4G LTE support, a 4.3-inch Super-AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel camera, and other high-end hardware. Next up is the LG Revolution, another 4G LTE Android 2.2 smartphone with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and a 4-inch display. It’s apparently priced at $249.99, which is dead-on with the pricing of the HTC ThunderBolt. Release dates for these devices haven’t been confirmed, but we’d bet you’ll see a few of them — almost certainly the DROID Incredible 2 — in the coming months.

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If you were planning to buy a smartphone from Verizon Wireless soon, you may want to hold off for one more month. It looks like there are a number of high-end smartphones that are set to launch this spring; at least, according to a tipster who leaked an internal document to Phandroid. The leak suggests that Verizon Wireless will release the Casio Commando, an Android powered smartphone, and the Samsung DROID Charge — capable of running on Verizon’s 4G LTE network — on April 7th. The next week, Verizon Wireless will purportedly launch the Sony Xperia PLAY and the Windows 7-powered HTC Trophy. On April 28th, the HTC DROID Incredible 2 may also make its debut. Verizon Wireless’ other 4G phones, including the LG Revolution, Motorola BIONIC, Motorola DROID X2, and Samsung Galaxy 2 (presumably the Galaxy S 2), and are reportedly scheduled to launch in May. Again, this is all speculation, and given that the source’s Excel file looks a bit shoddy, we wouldn’t place too much stock in this… but the timing does make sense.

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Remember that vaguely named “LTE Smartphone” being flaunted at CES by both Samsung and Verizon Wireless? According to intel gather by blog PocketNow, it looks like that very same handset will henceforth be known as the DROID Charge. Originally codenamed Stealth, the DROID Charge (also known as the SCH-i510) packs a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with 720p video recording, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, LTE/CDMA radios, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, aGPS, HDMI-out, and Android 2.2. Neither Verizon nor Samsung have confirmed the device’s new nickname, and “April” is a popular release-date rumor circulating the intertubes.

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