Some previously loyal Verizon customers are going to move away if they are made to make a choice like this, and have an opinion that “this is not rewarding loyalty“. Others clearly point blame not at Verizon Wireless but federal regulators for allowing capping and throttling of data in their opinion, and also add blame for this change with unlimited data plans. Would you agree with opinions like this?

Other phone users will buy a phone outright – we’re seeing an increasing amount of users starting to buy cell phones outright, rather than subsidized phones on long contracts, which includes an aim to buy direct at Google for a Nexus. This also applies to the iPhone 5, Apple’s 6th generation model, which should see a release date towards the end of 2012. There are also cheaper devices that are in the sights of buyers wanting to buy a phone and move to a network of their choosing.

The iPhone 5 will not be cheap if you plan on buying it outright, but would you lose your previous unlimited data just to get an iPhone 5 subsidized? Or would you rather find the money to buy the next iPhone outright and keep unlimited data with Verizon?

Newly formed iPhone Rumors has touched on this very issue, and point out that some of their readers have explained that losing the unlimited data plan would stop them buying an iPhone in 2012. Are you planning on buying the new iPhone, and how loyal are you to Verizon? You can also read about Steve Jobs alleged part in the new iPhone 5 redesign here.

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The good news, is that a lot of you are going to be happy. Ice Cream Sandwich updates may be taking their time to come out, but looking at the list it seems that HTC has done a good job in trying to bring Android 4.0 to as many handsets as possible.

Even older handsets such as the HTC Thunderbolt are getting the update, as is the Desire S and Desire HD. Thunderbolt owners should expect the update to occur between July and August, while the Desire HD update is scheduled between July-August and the Desire S a little sooner between June-July.

Unfortunately, it looks like those of you with a Droid Incredible 2 are in for an anxious wait. HTC has basically said that they are still deciding on whether this handset will get the update or not, with a decision to be made before the end of August. Expected ICS updates are happening for the Sensation line of handsets, and there’s good news for Vivid, Amaze 4G and Rhyme owners as well.

It’s a good idea to bookmark and study the update chart over at HTC’s website here. Early HTC Flyer buyers are probably regretting their purchase right now, as the website also drops the bad news that the device will remain on Honeycomb forever.

Overall, it’s nice of HTC to provide these kinds of details that consumers are obviously desperate to hear. The move seems to have been prompted by Motorola’s recent ICS chart, so let’s see if Samsung decide to provide a similar chart soon. Are you happy with this information provided by HTC, or has your handset been left off the list?

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You may remember that Apple insisted that Siri was an iPhone 4S feature only and they didn’t approve of unofficial attempts to port the software over to other iOS devices. Samsung is now facing the exact same thing as recent reports suggest that they have had to ‘block’ S-Voice from being used on other Android devices after it leaked out a few days ago.

In their efforts to explain their reasoning behind the block, Samsung has said that S-Voice is still ‘test software’ and that they didn’t want consumers to judge the program before they have had a chance to improve it. Correct us if we’re wrong, but isn’t the Galaxy S III due out in a matter of days in Europe anyway? It sounds to us like they just want to keep the app exclusive to the Galaxy S III as a method of selling more handsets – Apple style and obviously very logical from a business point of view.

With that issue out of the way, how does S-Voice actually compare to Siri for those that have managed to have an early test run on either the Galaxy S III or other Android devices? An excellent video provided by GSMArena tells the exact story and based on what we see, it looks like Siri may still be on top for the moment. Siri performs searches much more quickly, and the speed of S-Voice may grow to be frustrating for Android users.

One thing that S-Voice does do better than Siri at the moment though is open specific apps. Telling Siri to change your Facebook status or open Dropbox results in your assistant politely replying that she is unable to do this. S-Voice on the other hand has no problem doing this, so this may be an area which Apple needs to improve on.

Should Samsung really be focusing on blocking this app from other Android users, rather than trying to improve the speed of S-Voice searches before the device launches in Europe? They won’t want to play second fiddle to Apple of course, but it looks like Siri may be the better assistant for the time being. If you have had a chance to preview both already, let us know which app you think comes out on top.

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As you can imagine, there is divided opinion over this. Obviously the current crop of Android handsets all surpass the 4-inch range and many Apple fans would love to see an iPhone which offers a much bigger display to suit their multimedia viewing needs.

On the other hand, Apple has stayed true to a 3.5-inch diagonal display screen on every single iPhone released, including the original, so perhaps their priority is not about the size of the display screen, but improved performance and usability instead. That hasn’t stopped the 4-inch iPhone rumors though from coming out on an almost daily basis.

This week we have heard the latest whispers from 9to5Mac that Apple’s next generation iPhone will be a 3.99-inch effort, with a new resolution of 1136×640 pixels. What’s interesting is that the width of the iPhone is set to stay at 1.9632 inches, meaning there’s still no edge to edge display. However, we may be seeing a display which increases the height of the display to 3.484 inches tall. The new resolution is also thought to be very close to a 16:9 screen ratio, which may be excellent news for those of you who enjoy watching media in this format.

A picture showing a mock up of the new iPhone’s display has been provided below, courtesy of Niilo Autio. As you can see it looks noticeably different to the iPhone 4S, but still pretty sexy in our opinion. It’s not the 4.xx-inch display or edge to edge screen that you may have wanted, but it’s still a bigger screen and it looks rather nice.

Would you have any objections if the next iPhone looked like this? Watching full screen 16:9 movies on the iPhone is a great prospect to look forward to, so let’s hope that Apple is planning to reveal more details at WWDC 2012.

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While our tests have found hardly any issues with the latest software update, the same cannot be said for other users with hundreds of posts on the official Apple forums. These users are wishing for the iOS 5.1.2 update to fix issue they have, and iOS 6 couldn’t be further from their mind. The focus for some people is if these issues should be expected with each update, and considering the amount of people owning iOS devices you’d expect problems from a certain amount of people.

It’s fair to say some of the problems being reported could be isolated cases that are related to specific installs, more weight is given to this after our tests with 3 different iPhone 4S models running the latest iOS. Intermittent problems we’ve heard about include crashing with Safari, App Store updates crashing certain apps, and the email client crashing. We first thought this is a small problem affecting a select number of users, especially considering our tests, but it’s clear there is some sort of pattern considering the amount of users reporting similar crashing and freezing. You can see for yourself via the Apple forums here.

Are you more concerned about an iOS 5.1.2 update releasing rather than iOS 6? The issues being reported are not tied to just the iPhone and we’ve heard about the iPad 3 also having intermittent problems as well since iOS 5.1.1, although a few users have managed to correct issues with a fresh install of the software. You can read more on iOS 6 in a recent article here.

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Even other Android owners are probably even aware of the Galaxy Nexus’s plight on Verizon, as it’s an unusual occurrence where such a high profile device fails to receive official support since launching a mere six months ago.

It’s almost turned into something of a laughing stock and obviously not the kind of headlines you are expecting to read when talking about Google’s current ‘flagship’ smartphone. Luckily, this update episode may be coming to an end as Droid-Life has heard that the Android 4.0.4 update could be dropping on May 22nd.

There’s no leaked documents from Verizon or Best Buy databases this time, but apparent confirmation from Verizon employees state that this is the solid date that the update will land. However, despite that there’s also no guarantee that Android 4.0.4 will bring any notable new features to the table and it could just be an update littered with bug fixes.

After waiting six months, we would like to think that Samsung are planning to add some new functionality in order to make up for the huge delay. The company did a similar thing when rolling out the premium suite Android 4.0 update for the Galaxy Note, so something on those lines would be great.

Are you holding your breath for an update on May 22nd, or do you just think it will turn out to be another disappointment? Let us know if the lack of official updates is ruining your Galaxy Nexus experience or not.

More About: Android, Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich

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New vs. loyal customers – it’s true that a new customer couldn’t walk into Verizon and get the same Unlimited Data plan that other customers have enjoyed for a while, but those loyal customers are being allowed to keep this plan at a cost. You’d need to buy a new phone at an unsubsidized price to keep unlimited data (includes LTE), this is not going to be cheap by any means, although this doesn’t sit well with all loyal customers.

If you’re happy to give up the Unlimited Data plan then Verizon will give you options ranging from 2GB to 10GB, and prices range from $30 to $80 at the time of writing. Those of you that didn’t use loads of data will not have a problem with this, but if you did then you might be a little upset at Verizon for making this change and being forced to pay high for a new phone to keep unlimited.

Are you a loyal Verizon customer that wants to keep the Unlimited Data plan? Initial reactions we’ve seen to this change have some customers feeling like Verizon know how to take their money but not look after them when they’re loyal. It’s obvious not every customer feels this way, but we’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below.

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While that is obviously pretty disappointing for owners of those devices, Motorola has come out and attempted to provide a little relief on the situation, as well as provide clarity regarding updates for their other Android handsets.

The good news is that the RAZR and RAZR MAXX are still penciled in for an ICS update sometime during Q2 of 2012. The bad news is that a list provided by the manufacturer names and shames specific devices which will not be receiving an update to the latest version of Android.

Despite being released last Summer, we can confirm that the Droid X2 won’t be getting an update. Also on the doomed Gingerbread-only list is the Motorola Droid 3 and also the Motorola Milestone 3. If you are still using one of these three handsets, it’s probably a good idea to start thinking of a new phone to purchase, or contemplate installing a custom version of Android instead.

Aside from the RAZR and RAZR MAXX, Motorola also reiterate that the Droid Bionic and the Droid 4 are still in line to receive their updates sometime during the third quarter of 2012. No specific months unfortunately, but this list is obviously better than complete silence which other manufacturers and of course certain carriers are well guilty of doing.

If you have time to spare, check out the full upgrade chart over at the official forums. What Motorola device are using at the moment – are you reading good news or bad news?

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While all eyes are obviously on WWDC 2012 and how Apple will take their iOS software to the next level, Pod2g and the rest of the jailbreak team have been working hard on cracking open the current version of the software, which doesn’t require the jailbreak to be installed each time the device is restarted.

A Tweet by Pod2g confirmed the news, while an additional Tweet by Xvolks who is part of the same jailbreak team reveals that the untethered jailbreak is likely to be called Absinthe 2.0. If you are familiar to the jailbreak scene, you’ll know that the original Absinthe jailbreak was released by the Chronic Dev Team and was used to jailbreak the iPhone 4S and iPad2 devices.

If you are looking to install this at the first opportunity, it’s a good idea to keep checking the Twitter page of Pod2g to find out when the download will become available. Since he said days in his last message, we’re guessing that it should be available this week.

Will this prompt Apple to release iOS 5.1.2 before their WWDC event begins, or could we be seeing iOS 6 unveiled for the first time at the event? We haven’t heard too many rumors regarding the next major version of iOS, which is somewhat unusual in previous years – but an element of surprise is always good of course.

Are you on iOS 5.1.1 at the moment? How important are untethered jailbreaks to you – do you not see it as a ‘bad’ thing any more?

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While some may see this as a major security breach, others such as the developer who managed to achieve the feat may be thinking that Samsung could have actually foreseen this outcome. Chainfire, the XDA developer who has rooted the Galaxy S3 has said that the process was ‘relatively easy’ and that Samsung is the only high-end Android OEM who are not completely locking away their devices from users who are eager to explore custom alternatives.

If you think about it, Samsung often come under fire for their TouchWiz interface, but if they appear to have minimum barriers in place for people to root their device – then perhaps it’s not so bad. Now that the root has been achieved, it obviously paves the way for other developers to get started on custom ROMS for the device. Samsung may not be too happy about this aspect, but the fact that their latest device appears to be left open for exploration, Samsung probably deserves a lot of credit for this.

The root method isn’t available at the moment, but you can find out how it was possible over at the XDA forums here. Are you surprised that the device has been rooted, given that it is Samsung’s new prized asset? Will you now look to replace TouchWiz with a custom ROM as soon as possible, or are you intending to keep the phone in its original state?

More About: Android, samsung, Samsung Galaxy S III

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