Verizon Bringing 4G to Galaxy Tab 10.1, HP DM1 and Radio Shack
by Jason Inofuentes on July 26, 2011 1:51 PM EST- Posted in
- News
- HP
- Samsung
- Galaxy
- Verizon
- Galaxy Tab 10.1
- dm1z
- Radio Shack
- Laptops
Verizon PR was working overtime today. Big Red had two product announcements and a partnership with Radio Shack that brings America's #1 Wireless Network, and the iPhone and Android phones that come with it, to 4,300 stores nationwide. Expect more in depth coverage soon but here's what you need to know.
The biggest news is, no doubt, the arrival of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE, the first LTE tablet to grace these shores. Available in 16GB and 32GB models, pricing is competitive, if a little disappointing, with $529.99 netting you the 16GB SKU and $629.99 the 32GB SKU. Worse are the data plans introduced with these models, $30/ mo for 2GB, $50/mo for 5GB and $80/mo for 10GB; with no unlimited plans to speak of and data usage sure to grow over the coming years this is a bad sign of things to come. A VZW branded WiFi-only model will also be on offer, priced like retail models at $499 for 16GB. The biggest losers in this announcement go unmentioned, though, the 3G Motorola Xoom buyers who are still waiting for their LTE upgrade.
Along with the Tab 10.1 announcement, VZW is bringing LTE to yesterdays tablet: the netbook. We gave HP's DM1, with its AMD E-350 Fusion processor a Editor's Choice Silver Medal for its excellent performance and battery life and dubbed it the 'netbook we've been waiting for.' Throw in a 4G modem and . . . well, you've got a great netbook with a 4G modem in it. The slim, stylish device can be had for $599.99, a steep price frankly for a computer with only 2GB of RAM, but if you are in the market for a go anywhere no compromises netbook, this could be it.
Both products will be available this Thursday, and will very soon find a retail home at a long time technology favorite, Radio Shack. The announcement today replaces a similar arrangement The Shack previously had with T-mobile and should be in effect by September 15th.
UPDATE: Motorola Xoom users finally know when their wildest dreams will be realized. The e-mail below is being distributed to Xoom owners that have signed up to be notified about their LTE upgrade status and the news looks good. Not great, though. Come September, early adopters will be able to package up their Xoom and ship it off to Motorola HQ for the replacement of their 3G radio by a brand new 4G unit, as peeped in our earlier piece on the 3.2 upgrade.
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yelped - Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - link
The pricing is off-contract, at least on the HP DM-1.Insomniator - Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - link
Who cares about the initial pricing for these products when the data plans are literally hilariously bad. So we wait all this time and are ready to pay 600 bucks for 4G enabled devices and its 80 bucks for 10GB?! I'd say that's a typo but that's how all these plans are priced these days.So we get super fast mobile internet with limits that make it unusable. Greattt
TrackSmart - Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - link
Exactly. The main reason to have extremely fast speeds is so you can enjoy streaming video, music, games, etc. Their 2GB plan won't get you very far under that usage model. And if all you do is check email and read the occasional article on the web, the 4G speed is hardly being put to much use...MadMan007 - Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - link
Being bad at math (and longer-term/non-"monthly payment" thinking) is the key to the whole stupid subsidy model we have in the US.OBLAMA2009 - Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - link
why is it only netbooks are allowed to have lte? netbooks arent fast enough to take full advantage of an lte connection. why not offer an i3 lappy with lte, something with lte that is actually functionalmpschan - Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - link
Because laptop manufacturers don't want to get into the habit of imbedding a cellular radio into their hardware.Think about it, Verizon, AT&T, TMobile, and Sprint (just the top four). There isn't a single radio would work with all of those. You'd have to have 4 variants of the same laptop.
OR, you could buy a LTE hotspot from Verizon for $30 and use whatever wifi device you want with it.
KaRRiLLioN - Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - link
I went into Verizon to look into getting 20 4G LTE aircards. Until they told me that it was $50/mo for 2GB with no volume discount.I felt bad for the salesman because even he thought it was a load of crap. Not much they can do about it though. So now we have AT&T and Verizon in lockstep, and AT&T bought out one of the few remaining competitors.
We don't have a bright mobile future unless someone comes out with real working wimax.
Sigh.
pixelstuff - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
So if we look at it in terms of 1GB movie rentals (for the kids on a long drive) we are talking about $30 for 2 movies or $15 per movie. If you go all the way up to $80 you get to watch 10 movies per month. Crazy expensive.One thing I would like to see is a $15/m 1GB plan. I could justify buying a 4G capable tablet and only use the wifi until I go on vacation or REALLY need wandering access to the internet. Then a $15 one time purchase for that month would be an easy purchase. There would be no mobile movie watching at that price, but should be plenty of browsing and email checking for a week.
At the current prices and entry point they are basically relegating the service to businesses who can make/save money using a tablet or individuals making significantly more money than they actually need. Some could argue that they have the best network, but when Verizon's net income is 1.6 billion (that's 1,600 millions of dollars) they are probably charging more than necessary.