Verizon

The tie-in campaign includes a customized television commercial directed by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" director Michael Bay. An in-store consumer promotion with Verizon Wireless will also kick off nationwide. The promotion allows consumers to enter a sweepstakes automatically when they send Friends and Family one of three pre-recorded phone messages from Optimus Prime. As the grand prize, one winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to attend a screening of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." The winner will also receive 10 LG phones for friends and family, a 55-inch LG television, and an LG Blu-Ray disc home theatre system.

Also, LG launched a movie-themed micro site, www.uncoverlg.com, which includes an engaging and interactive online game. To round out the already compelling campaign, LG announced earlier this year at CTIA their limited edition Versa for the movie tie-in. The phone will be available only through consumer promotions. Read more

The Casio EXILIM features a 180-degree rotating display, professional 5.1 megapixel camera and access to instant messaging, Visual Voice Mail and V CAST Music with Rhapsody and is available in black or champagne.

The EXILIM meets military specifications 810F standards for: water (immersion and rain), humidity, salt-fog, shock, vibration, dust, solar radiation, altitude, and low and high temperature storage. So, you can bet that this will last you a very long time.Read more

Motorola just introduced a phone made for texting – the Motorola Rival A455. With just one touch, you can start texting your friends with IM-style emoticons. It features a backlit slide-out QWERTY keyboard, touch dial pad, EVDO connectivity, and comes in two colors – Tin Silver and Purple.

The Motorola Rival can hold up to 500 text messages and even organizes them by contact and displays them in a chat-like format. Pretty cool! Other features include a 2 megapixel camera, a 3.5 mm headset jack, up to 8 GB optional removable memory (sold separately), Mobile IM and Mobile email. The phone also supports V CAST Music with Rhapsody, VZ Navigator and Visual Voice Mail.

The Motorola Rival A455 is available today at www.verizonwireless.com and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

To add a little fun to your day, Motorola also launched the Thumb-Fu Challenge, an online game that lets you compete for the title of "Thumb-Fu Master." Try it out and see if you are the Master at www.motorola.com/rival!

Today, RIM and Verizon Wireless announced that the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 will be available through Verizon Wireless beginning June 19th.

Features of the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 include:

• Two high-resolution color displays -- an external LCD lets you preview incoming messages without opening the handset
• 2.0 megapixel camera with zoom, flash and video recording capabilities
• Large SureType QWERTY keyboard
• microSD/SDHC card slot with support for up to 16 GB of memory per card
• Support for BlackBerry App World
• Rich multimedia capabilities and an advanced media player for music, videos and pictures
• Easy mobile access to Facebook, MySpace and Flickr, as well as instant messaging services (e.g. Yahoo! IM, AIM, Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger)
• BlackBerry Media Sync allows for easy syncing of music collections to the BlackBerry Pearl Flip (certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies)
• Visual Voice Mail ($2.99 monthly access)
• VZ Navigator-capable ($9.99 monthly access)

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8320 will be available for $129.99 from www.verizonwireless.com after a $70 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

Well, well, well…it looks like Sprint won't be the only one carrying the Palm Pre. According to a report from Reuters, Verizon Wireless will be selling the Pre, but you'll have to wait about six months after the launch to get it at Verizon stores. Verizon Wireless' Lowell McAdam confirmed the news on a webcast, Reuters said.

Verizon Wireless also said they would be introducing a new version of the BlackBerry Storm and a new BlackBerry called Tour, which is said to be a new upscale BlackBerry. Also slated are devices from Motorola and phones based on Google's Android operating system.

"Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm," on the Verizon Wireless network, McAdam said. "You can expect to see us launch a steady stream of new devices from multiple vendors."

The LG enV3 will be available this Friday from Verizon Wireless, while LG enV TOUCH and LG Glance will be available June 5th. They will all include the following features:

• Text, picture and voice messaging with threaded message feature
• Bluetooth headset-capable -- headset, hands-free (car kits), object push (for vCard and vCal) and phonebook access
• VZ Navigator
• Mobile Email, Mobile Web, Mobile Instant Messaging and Chat
• Chaperone Parent-capable
• Ability to save up to 10 contacts as favorites

Read more

Jessica wrote earlier in the week that Verizon would be releasing a Netbook. Well, there is not a person who is better connected than Jessica … I think it is because we custom publish Best Magazine for Best Buy, and we know the right people. Click the cover of the magazine on the top right on the page, and then after the jump click the cover again to launch the digital magazine. Anyway… the Verizon netbook hits stores on May 17, 2009.

The HP Mini 1151NR will cost $199 after a $50 mail-in rebate. You will also have to agree to a two-year activation on a Mobile Broadband plan that will run $40 a month. The mail-in rebate will be in the form of a debit card, that is accessible anywhere credit cards are accepted.

The Verizon Wireless Netbook proves that Verizon is different, and customer-centric. They are really looking out for their customers, and you can prove it to yourself when you call their customer service. Their coverage is superior to any other wireless carrier, and if you have Verizon… you know it is true.

Check out their product and service offerings by visiting www.verizonwireless.com

Verizon Wireless is said to be jumping on the netbook bandwagon later this month, offering the HP Mini 1151NR netbook at a cost of $199 with a two-year contract (at $40-60 per month). The netbook is rumored to be available on May 17th.

This makes sense for Verizon…after all, AT&T already sells netbooks from Acer and Dell. However, the netbooks available at AT&T are priced lower (as low as $50) than the HP model Verizon will be offering. Maybe Verizon will decide to lower the initial price of the netbook… they end up making a killing on the monthly data charges anyway, right?

May 17th also happens to be the date that Verizon's MiFi portable hotspot router will be available. And guess what? We just happen to have a review unit. Stay tuned for a hands-on review.