Verizon Getting Rid of Mail in Rebates Through Valentine's Day

via Android Central

Ever get tired of those $199.99 (with $100 mail in rebate) deals from Verizon?  Followed by having to mail in the rebate along with the UPC code that you cut form the box, then waiting two months before you see that gift card arrive in the mail.  

Yup, we've all been there.  From January 31, 2011 through February 14, 2011 Big Red is turning those mail in rebates into instant ones, meaning that you can actually get that $199 phone for $199.  The deal only applies to current phones $149.99 and up, so now would be a good as time as any to get that new phone for that special Valentine.

Peep the full list of phone rebates below:

via Boy Genius Report

Related articles

• New Verizon Wireless rebate sheet reaffirms policy change (bgr.com)
• Samsung Continuum pricing leaked ahead of Nov. 8th event (phonedog.com)

Let the Verizon iPhone Commercials Commence!

I have been already seen the Verizon iPhone4 commercial 4 times already while watching the Playoffs.  Here's the one I've repeatedly seen: 

And here's another that you'll probably be seeing as the coming weeks past until the arrival of the iPhone 4 on February 10, 2011:

If you were one of the unfortunate people who renewed their contract before the announcement of the iPhone4, fear not for Verizon hasn't left you out.  As long as you purchased your new phone between the dates of November 26, 2010 and January 10, 2011, you have the opportunity to receive a $200 Visa Debit Card in exchange for purchasing the iPhone4 at the full retail price (16GB - $449.99, 32GB - $749.99).  Is that a good deal?  I'd say it's worth it for the 16GB model, but not for the latter, especially considering the fact that the contract price is $199.99 for the sixteen gig.  And why the off contract prices are $50 more than what AT&T are selling it for is beyond me.  It's probably just VZW being greedy again. 

With that said, of course people will be rushing to go out and get this thing when it drops.  Let's just hope that Big Red's network doesn't experience an overload similar to Sprint's when their HTC Evo 4G was released earlier this summer.

Related articles

• Verizon Will Give Recent Phone Buyers a $200 iPhone Make-Good [Iphone 4] (gizmodo.com)
• Is the Verizon iPhone 4 disappointing? (phonedog.com)
• Apple Store vacation blackouts issued in preparation for Verizon iPhone 4 launch (bgr.com)

Say It Ain't So Sprint...Say It Ain't So!

Last week Sprint puts out some bootlegged, rehashed commercial for their Evo Shift 4G (still would've bade more sense to me if it was called Evo 4G Shift) and today they dropped a fairly huge bomb that affects all of the carrier's smartphone users.

If you're currently a Sprint customer who owns a smartphone and use the Everything Data plan, after January 30th,  you will be charged an additional $10 should you chose to upgrade to a new smartphone.  Not only does this hold true for individual plans but the $10 fee, known as the Premium Data fee, will be charged to each additional line on the family plan for those smartphone users.

Seeing as the main reason I switched to Sprint last summer was because of their pricing plans, this is a quite a downer.  On the other hand, it's still better than paying $20 for unlimited texting and $30 for data on Verizon.  That's already $50 and that doesn't even include the calling plan.  

Currently, the Everything Data plan includes (using 450 min in this example):

• Everything Data 450 $69.99
• 450 Anytime Minutes Included
• Nationwide Long Distance Included
• America - Roaming Included
• Unlimited Any Mobile, Anytime
• Unlimited SMS Text Messaging
• Unlimited Picture Mail
• Unlimited Data Usage
• GPS Navigation
• Sprint Data Essentials Pack
• Nights: M-TH 7pm-7am Wknd: F 7pm-M 7am
• Caller ID
• Call Waiting
• Three-Way Calling
• Voicemail

Below is Sprint's Press Release:

Premium Data Add-on Charge for All Smartphones
Effective 1/30/11, all current and future 3G and 3G/4G smartphone activations will require the $10/month Premium Data Add-on charge. This allows Sprint to continue to offer simple and affordable unlimited data plans for our smartphone customers, while maintaining a wireless network able to meet the growing appetite for mobile data.
Complete details are included in the Premium Data Add-on Charge Launch Guide found on ISC > Quick Links > Premium Data Add-on Charge.
Details:
The Premium Data Add-on charge applies to:

• All smartphones operating on the CDMA, iDEN and 4G networks.
  • A smartphone is defined as a device that supports a robust operating system including: Android, BlackBerry, Instinct, Palm and Windows Mobile.
• All customers activating a new line or upgrading/swapping existing lines (consumer, IL, and most CL customers).

The Premium Data Add-on charge does NOT apply to:

• S&R exchanges (warranty or insurance events)
• 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee devices exchanges for handsets activated 1/1/11 to 1/29/11
• Existing smartphone customers will remain on their current rate plan, until they upgrade, perform an ESN swap or activate a new smartphone
• Existing Seasonal Standby customers prior to 1/30/11

Special priced CL customers tied to a Corp ID

Another Bad Sprint Commercial feat. the Evo Shift 4G

Image via Wikipedia

As much as I love Sprint, they  have the worst marketing team of any cell phone provider company I have ever seen.  In recent memory there's been the awful Epic commercial and now this one that features Sprint's newest phone, the Evo Shift 4G.  The commercial is the exact same as the Evo 4G commercial, except for the end where it shows the Evo having the slide out keyboard.  C'mon Sprint, that's just lazy and unappealing.  


Evo Shift 4G Commercial

 

Evo 4G Commercial

Sad, Sprint.  Just sad...

Related articles

• HTC EVO 4G Shift specs confirmed by Walmart (bgr.com)
• HTC EVO Shift 4G shown off on video (bgr.com)

The Playstation Phone is Real

I'll admit, when the protytpe pictures leaked I was extremely skeptical.  It just didn't look real to me at all.  Then I saw this: 

via Droiddog

YUP! It's real and is named the Sony Xperia Play.  More photos and video are available over at Droiddog.

A Phone, A Computer and A Tablet, All in One Device

Now this is the kinda phone I'm talking about.  I can't even explain how cool this phone is.  Just check out the video.  Oh, and it comes with a 1930 mAh battery.  It's about time cell phone companies started focusing more on the longevity of their devices. 

Make A YouTube Link Begin Where You Want It

Ever have those times where you wanna share a YouTube video with your friend, except you want the video to start a specific point rather than at the very beginning?  Just pause the video where you want it to begin, right click and chose "copy video URL at current time", then send the link to your friend.  Easy peasy.  

 

via Lifehacker

Related articles

• Right Click to Copy a YouTube Video at a Specific Time [Video] (lifehacker.com)
• YouTube Adds Drag-and-Drop Video Uploading [YouTube] (lifehacker.com)

Winamp Automatically Plays Similar Songs for You

Image via Wikipedia

One of the problems with having a huge music library is deciding on what songs to listen to.  Yes I know, that sounds strange but just hear me out.  Let's say you play one song that puts you in a certain mood and you wanna keep the groove goin', but it can be pain sorting through hundreds or thousands just to find one that matches the set mood.  And we all know there are times where you don't wanna ruin that mood ;-)

Winamp easily solves this problem.  Just right click on the song you're playing and choose "play tracks similar to..." Based upon your settings, Winamp will generate a playlist of related songs.  That's it!  Simple right? There are several options to choose from such as if you want to include the same artist and album you began the playlist with, as well as how long you'd like the play list to be.

Solving the Winamp Playlist Generator Problem

Every now and then, usually when I upgrade to a new version of Winamp, it's unable to generate the playlist.  Here's a fix for it:  

1. Make sure Winamp is closed
2. Enable the viewing of hidden folders on your computer
3. Navigate to: %AppData%\Winamp\Plugins\Gracenote or %ProgramFiles%\Winamp\Plugins\Gracenote
• You should be able to get to these directories from from My Computer\Users\
4. Delete the file named: cddbplm.pdb
5. Delete the file named: cddbplm.idx
6. Open Winamp, right-click, go to options and select preferences
7. On the left side, under Plug-ins, select media library and then click on Playlist Generator in the right side of the window
8. Click on scan (or reset database and then click scan)

Thank you to Juanus in the Winamp Forums for the fix.