4G, or 4th generation, wireless technology is expected to be promoted at this year’s annual CTIA festival. The newest wave of technology designed to connect mobile phone users to the internet, 4G can transmit data at speeds between 2 to 5 megabits per second– about 2 to 3 times the speeds generally available with 3G. This translates into faster, smoother downloading of large files like music and videos.

Sprint is expected to introduce its first smartphone designed to take advantage of the speeds offered by the latest generation of wireless at CTIA this week. Sprint currently has a 4G network available in 2 dozen cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Seattle.

Verizon Wireless expects to offer 4G in select cities by the end of the year. AT&T is expected to offer 4G early in 2011. Meanwhile, both carriers intend to develop and improve their current 3G networks. T-Mobile’s current network doesn’t have the spectrum necessary for 4G. The company is exploring options that will allow it to provide 4G access to its subscribers.

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The popular Apple iPhone is widely expected to end its exclusive agreement with AT&T this year and allow Verizon and possibly other U.S. carriers to offer the iPhone.

Analyst like Jonathan Chaplin, with Credit Suisse, said today, “Our analysis suggests that Apple will eventually sell the device at all carriers.  However, they say that Apple will stay with AT&T for another 12-18 months before it opens the flood gates with other carriers.

Like most analysts and consumers, Chapin thought that Verizon could begin offering the iPhone this summer, but now has evidence that the situation has changed. However, he did not go into detail.

We have already heard all there is to know about the sexy Motorola DROID smartphone. In fact we posted up our full review of the handset not long ago, and we really liked it. The only thing left to know now is how well Motorola did the first weekend of sales.

Bloomberg reports that Motorola likely sold about 100,000 DROID handsets on the first weekend it was available. The sales figures are pointed at as a sign that Motorola is recovering, though it still trials Apple in the market.

Bloomberg reports that Verizon had 200,000 DROID handsets on hand and that stores sold about half their stock of devices the first weekend. Motorola is expected to sell about a million Android handsets in Q4 2009 counting the DROID and other devices. One analyst says that anyone expecting the DROID to outdo the iPhone on opening weekend had their goals set too high.

In case you missed it last week, the Storm 2 from Blackberry hit the Verizon network officially on Friday. We also reviewed the Storm 2 at the end of October and found it to be a device worthy of being on your touchscreen shortlist.

Verizon customers can now get the Storm 2 for $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate. In case you somehow missed the hoards of posts with the specifications for the device, I’ll run the main items down for you here.

The handset has a touchscreen measuring 3.25-inches with a 480 x 360 resolution using capacitive technology. The handset supports 3G and operates on the EVDO Rev A network. It runs the Blackberry OS 5.0 and has a 3.2MP camera with autofocus and image stabilization. The battery is a removable 1400mAhr unit good for 5.5 hours of talk and 11.2 hours of standby.

Verizon’s second smartphone announcement this morning is one for the heavy messengers (no, we’re not talking about fat couriers): the BlackBerry Curve 8530, tipped as dropping this month back in August.  The Curve 8530 has not only EVDO Rev.A but WiFi b/g and GPS, together with a full QWERTY keyboard and 2-megapixel digital camera.

There’s also VZ Navigator, a 3.5mm headphone socket and dedicated media keys, all the usual messaging accounts (including SMS, MMS and IM) and a microSD card slot.  Onboard storage is 256MB and the processor is a 528MHz chip; the traditional BlackBerry trackball has been replaced by a touch-sensitive trackpad.

The BlackBerry Curve 8530 will go on sale from November 20th in black and smoky violet, priced from $99.99 following a $100 mail-in rebate.  That presumes a new, two-year agreement, with data plans kicking off at $29.99 on top of a regular voice plan.

Press Release:

VERIZON WIRELESS INTRODUCES THE BLACKBERRY CURVE 8530

New Smartphone Features 3G Connectivity, Built-In Wi-Fi and GPS, Touch-Sensitive Trackpad and Dedicated Media Keys

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and WATERLOO, ON – Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8530 smartphone, an exciting new addition to the BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones. The slim BlackBerry Curve 8530 gives customers access to Verizon Wireless’ 3G network, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi® capabilities, as well as easy access to music, games and other mobile apps for entertainment on-the-go.

Available Colors: black and smoky violet

Key features:

• Easy-to-use, highly tactile, full-QWERTY keyboard and touch-sensitive trackpad for reliable, responsive typing and navigation

• 256 MB flash memory and 528 MHz next generation processor for enhanced performance

• Supports voice-activated dialing and Bluetooth® (2.1), with support for hands-free headsets, car kits, stereo headsets and other Bluetooth peripherals

• 3G-enabled (EV-DO)

• Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)

• GPS with support for location-based applications, including geotagging pictures; Supports Verizon Wireless’ VZ NavigatorSM service.

• 2.0 megapixel digital camera with zoom and video recording*

• Advanced media player for music, pictures and videos, with dedicated media keys and a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, plus BlackBerry® Media Sync, which makes it easy to quickly sync music from your computer to the smartphone**

• Access to BlackBerry App World™, featuring a broad and growing catalog of third-party mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones. Categories include games, entertainment, social networking and sharing, news and weather, productivity and much more

• Access to e-mail, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS) and popular social networking sites (including Facebook® and MySpace)

• Rich multimedia capabilities, including dedicated media keys smoothly integrated along the top of the handset, giving customers an easy, convenient way to control their music and videos

• Support for BlackBerry® services with access to up to 10 supported email accounts, including most popular ISP email accounts such as Yahoo! ®, Windows Live™ Hotmail®, AOL® and Gmail™; and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server support, which provides advanced security and IT administration features for corporate deployments

• Expandable memory via hot swappable microSD™/SDHC memory card slot, supporting up to 16 GB cards today and expected to support next generation 32 GB cards when available

Pricing and Availability

• The BlackBerry Curve 8530 smartphone is expected to be available from Verizon Wireless beginning Nov. 20 for $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a voice plan with an Email and Web feature or an Email and Web for BlackBerry plan. Customers will receive the mail-in rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. Data plans for the BlackBerry Curve 8530 smartphone begin at $29.99 when added to any Nationwide voice plan.

• For information on all Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

* Video recording requires microSD card, sold separately

** Certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies

It comes as little surprise given we’ve already seen it unboxed and know the pricing, but Verizon Wireless have officially announced that, as of tomorrow, they’ll be offering the DROID Eris by HTC.  Basically another version of the HTC Hero, the HTC DROID Eris packs a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel autofocus camera, EVDO Rev.A and the HTC Sense UI.

There’s also a microSD slot – Verizon are popping in an 8GB card as standard – and both GPS and a digital compass.  The browser gets Flash Lite for in-page video streaming and there’s all the usual Gmail, Google Maps and other standard Android applications.  No Google Maps Navigation, however, as the DROID Eris – unlike the Motorola DROID – doesn’t come with Android 2.0.

As we’ve already heard, it’s the pricing that makes the HTC DROID Eris something of a bargain.  Verizon have priced at it at $99.99 (after a $100 mail-in rebate) and presuming a new, two-year agreement.

Verizon have announced a new set of prepaid data plans that the carrier is hoping will lure in some occasional mobile users currently turned-off by the contract offerings.  As of November 16th, the Verizon Wireless USB760 modem will be available with a $15 daily access rate (with a 75MB allowance); alternatively the carrier is offering weekly or monthly rates.

For a weekly allowance of 250MB, you’re looking at $30, while 500MB to use in the course of a month is $50.  The USB760 itself has a memory card slot for up to 8GB of storage, and is Windows and Mac compatible.  We’d still recommend looking at Virgin Mobile’s pre-pay mobile data plan, however, as its rates undercut those of Verizon.

Verizon’s apparent intention to show up AT&T and the iPhone at every turn continues, with the latest snook to be cocked being confirmed tethering for the Verizon DROID by Motorola.  According to the CDMA carrier, early 2010 will see the Verizon Broadband Access Connect plan arrive on the Android slider, likely priced at the usual $15 per month on top of your regular data contract.

That gets you a 5GB per month limit, the same as Verizon’s standalone data card and USB modem plans.  Not perfect, no, but considering AT&T customers are still waiting semi-patiently for iPhone tethering it’s another plus in the DROID’s favor.  More on the Verizon DROID here.

Recently I asked, if a DROID could take on the Death Star? Now, Motorola and Verizon, along with some help from Google launched DROID. I’ve spent the day with a device and here’s what I think so far. First, Verizon was clear that DROID is going to be a family of devices running Android, Motorola’s device will be the only one called DROID, others will be known as the DROID-XXX. DROID is the first Android 2.0 device and the Google branding points to the fact that this is stock Android. And I do mean stock Android: there are zero Verizon services on this device (with the exception of a non-branded visual voicemail app). No VCast. No nothing. One wonders if Verizon were willing to go to this length a few years ago, would the iPhone have landed on Verizon? Android 2.0 is a great update and finally is starting to feel complete. Compared to V1 Android running HTC Sense, it’s a mixed bag. HTC’s UI is lightyears ahead of stock Android in my opinion but the DROID performs so much better than any Android V1 phone I’ve used and is nearly feature complete that it’s hard to recommend a V1x device at this point.

The hardware itself is unassuming with a slider keyboard (MOTO says it’s the thinnest slider on the market) and nice capacitive touch screen. The keyboard itself is a bit of disappointment. I kept making errors (that’s what happens when you aim for thin). Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. It’s just not best of breed IMHO. The capacitive screen worked great and the processor is clearly up to the task. Apps launched and switched quickly and in general, there’s none of the usual lag associated with Android. This device is clearly how Android was supposed to perform. There’s a 1,400ma battery inside, although it’s too early to tell what real world battery life will be. Google’s app catalog is here. There’s a decent selection of applications but it comes down to a simple fact, is the app you want here or coming soon? What ultimately will decide platform success is the exclusive apps, deepest and widest app catalog and best of breed apps. Right now, the mobile application center of gravity is elsewhere.

Voice calls sounded great. In Manhattan and Northern NJ where I live, I never dropped a call and 3G worked flawlessly. Charging is via micro USB and there’s two docks available. One will turn the device into a bedside clock/radio/weather companion. The other is optimized for Google Maps. Why Google Maps? Starting with Android 2.0, Google now offers turn-by-turn directions as part of Google Maps. It’s a free service with no charge for use. I used it to get home from the launch event and it worked as well as the dedicated device in my car. This is huge news. Google has totally changed the economics of the GPS market in one fell swoop. No word whether other versions of Google Maps – such as for iPhone or BlackBerry – would get this feature.

The other hot feature in Android 2.0 is Exchange support at last. Once I figured out the slightly cryptic way to enter Exchange information, I had all my calendar, contacts and email on the device. Google integrates contacts into one large contact view (which can also include Facebook contacts as well, but not LinkedIn) but if you use Gmail or Google Calendar, those apps are separate from the core programs. Google does let you connect to more than one Exchange source at a time. Overall, though, Palm’s Synergy is better integrated and more powerful.

Android 2.0 isn’t perfect; for one thing, there’s still no native support for multitouch. That’s just silly with a screen as good as this one. Microsoft, HTC and Palm have added native multitouch support for their devices. It’s silly for Google not have it at this point. There’s other little niggles as well. Contacts can’t be sorted in last name order (as they can in every PIM built in the last 25 years). There’s also still only three screens for apps and widgets (licensees like HTC upped this already). Overall, much improved over V1 but there’s a lot more to be done.

Worst feature is that there’s no way to sync media directly from either iTunes or Windows Media. At the moment, this is a drag and drop solution. C’mon? Control sync, control the world and that includes media. Every other platform offers this feature. It’s a major oversight for all parties. TIP, if you do have a DROID, I’m told Double Twist will have DROID support on Macintosh sometime today. Still. This needs to be native.

Bottom line? DROID is a compelling device, at least at this moment in time. The combination of performance, updated Android OS and the Verizon network make a strong combination for users looking for a high end device on the Verizon network. Likewise, Android aficionados will be pleased with the latest version and the best performing version of Android on the market. There’s a lot, however, I miss about HTC’s Sense UI and better Exchange setup, onscreen keyboard, and custom widgets that I’d love to see on Android 2.0 running on faster hardware.

The end result is a device that will likely please consumers that are only considering Verizon’s network (at least until we see more of the DROID family and what it looks like). Despite the hype of the initial iDon’t campaign, it’s not likely to win many converts though from other platforms. Google needs to continue to evolve the OS forward and at the same time build out the app catalog with more apps that are unique to the platform or are showcased best of breed. For now, what we have is a very capable DROID that needs some other family members to keep it company and create a DROID army that could become more platform competitive over time.