Verizon promises first 4G handset for next summer, foretells end of unlimited data plans

Alright, you ultrafast mobile broadband zealots, whip out your calendars and draw a big red tick around the middle of 2011. Verizon's CTO Anthony Melone has identified next summer as the carrier's release window for its first LTE handset, which should be preceded by the 4G service being rolled out by the end of this year. If you're wondering what you'll be using on that "faster than 3G" network while waiting for the vanguard handset, we saw plenty of LTE-equipped gear at CES and let's not forget about that 1080p-decodin' NVIDIA tablet that was teased during the show. The one bit of bogus news from Melone was the statement that contracts with "as much data as you can consume is the big issue that has to change." Verizon seems resolutely set on introducing some type of tiered or metered price plans, which is unfortunately the same path AT&T is headed down. The message from the networks is therefore clear: with great (downloading) power comes great (bill-paying) responsibility.

Casio G'zOne Brigade now officially available on Verizon

It's no mere coincidence that folks have been able to pick up Brigades this week, because Verizon's chosen today to officially light up retail availability of its latest in the long-running G'zOne series from Casio. The landscape QWERTY clamshell features a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with video capture, microSD expansion, EV-DO Rev. A data, mil-spec 810F compliance for resistance to just about all the bad stuff you could possibly come in contact with during an average day, and a pair of displays: WQVGA on the inside paired with a 128 x 96 monochrome OLED up front. It runs $249.99 on contract after $50 rebate and it's available today, so start planning your next dusty, wet, cold, rocky activity where you can put this thing to the ultimate test.

Unreal Engine 3 up and running on webOS, and we've got video!

Palm just showed us the Unreal Engine 3 running on webOS, which apparently took a couple weeks to port over to the platform using that fancy new PDK. It runs at a pretty smooth clip, with just a tiny bit of artifacting in our enemy's death animation. As an added bit of wow factor, Palm has it currently setup to demonstrate the game at 1 fps when in card view. Like most touchscreen shooters, this doesn't really solve the problem of simulating dual analog sticks, but it's still a fun and good looking engine for a mobile device. We're still unaware of any games that have been built for the mobile engine, which has now been shown for iPhone, Tegra 2, and will be headed to the iPad as well, but we have to assume we'll be seeing some before too long. Check out the webOS video after the break.

Mobiado's 712GCB: 'your choice of yellow or rose gold' is really all you need to know

Were you up late at night trying to imagine what a Mobiado 712ZAF might look like were it covered in 8 microns of 18-karat gold? Well, an honest night of peaceful slumber might finally be within reach now that the Canadian company has answered the call with the 712GCB. The pricey candybar carries over everything you love (or hate) about the 712ZAF, including the 2.2-inch QVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, AGPS, and tri-band 3G, but swaps out the plebeian bits of colored steel for your choice of yellow or rose gold. Price is, of course, unlisted -- but you were just planning on putting it on the black card without asking any questions anyway, weren't you?

First Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series devices to boast 480 x 800 pixel displays, HD2 owners sigh

Even though Microsoft's big MIX event is still days away, the Windows Phone 7 Series development platform is already pretty well defined. It's also clear that Microsoft wants to keep things tidy for developers by requiring all WP7 phones to meet a certain base-level spec. Now, thanks to a post from Microsoft's Shawn Hargreaves, we know the display resolution for the first batch of Microsoft's next generation phones: 480 x 800 (WVGA) pixels at launch, with a future update that will introduce a 320 x 480 (HVGA) native resolution. Dedicated hardware will ensure image scaling across all those pixels without taxing the GPU. That allows game developers, for example, to write to a lower resolution (requiring less horsepower) and then scale up as required while remaining compatible to a variety of screen resolutions.

Now, for those playing along at home, the HD2 getting ready to launch on T-Mobile in the USA is also WVGA and it features a 1GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, Microsoft's WP7 silicon partner. So we can assume (but not guarantee) that it meets the image scaling hardware requirements described by Hargreaves. Man, if only the HD2 had three-buttons.

Vodafone's Wayfinder is first victim of free smartphone navigation services

Back in January 2009, as Vodafone was preparing to close a £20 million ($30 million) deal to buy Swedish mapmaker Wayfinder, it was seen as a bold move from a carrier intent on entering the apparently lucrative market for location based services. Fast forward to the present day -- past the bit where free Google Maps Navigation destroyed TomTom and Garmin share prices, and past the introduction of free turn-by-turn navigation to Nokia's Ovi Maps -- and you'll find Wayfinder gently sobbing into a handkerchief as it permanently closes up its doors. Vodafone's Anna Cloke gives us the reason for it with devastating concision: