Motorola announced the relaunch of the Razr brand, everyone’s first ridiculously (at the time) thin mobile phone, except now, it’ll be aligned with the current trend in phone gadgetry and will be what Motorola is touting as the world’s thinnest 4G smartphone. So, instead of those slick buttons the old flip Razr had, it’ll have a slick screen.

The Droid Razr is 7.1mm thick, sitting in a chassis with a stainless steel core, protected from behind with a woven kevlar back. The Razr sports a Super AMOLED 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass screen, a type of glass that we found out from a drop test is actually pretty sturdy. Sitting between the screen and woven kevlar back is a 1.2GHz processor along with 1 GB of RAM, double the RAM found in the iPhone 4S. Supposedly, the battery will deliver 12 and a half hours of talk time and around 9 hours of video playback, but we all know not to believe any kind of announced battery numbers for any device unless they’re unimpressive. The phone will feature an 8 megapixel camera on the rear capable of taking 1080p high-def video, while also sporting an HD camera on the front.

One of the biggest problems with touchscreen devices — and mobile devices in general — is that you keep them in your pocket, but they’re constantly alerting you to things that require you to take them out of your pocket. I know, I know, first world problems. Still, if someone could just create a mechanism by which one could interact with their touchscreen device via a series of simple gestures through the fabric of one’s pants or jacket, that’d be pretty cool, right? Microsoft is working on it.

The PocketTouch uses a custom sensor placed on the back of a smartphone that can detect multitouch strokes through a variety of fabrics. In order to enable the touch function, the user first uses an unlock swipe which serves not only to unlock the PocketTouch functionality but also to tell the phone which way is up, so that it doesn’t have to be sitting in your pocket in any particular way.

Starting this past Thursday, unlimited data plan users on the Verizon network who use huge amounts of data will see their speeds dropping. The new policy will only affect those people on 3G smartphones with an unlimited data plan, and only those who are within the top 5% of data consumers while they move through areas of data congestion. The company’s 4G LTE service will not be included in the data restriction plan.

In their statement, Verizon apparently claims that this policy is not really throttling. The company points out that other data providers, namely AT&T, restrict connection speeds for an entire billing cycle. Verizon, on the other hand, says it uses a “smart” approach by only restricting speeds when heavy data users are in particularly congested zones.

High-volume users looking to avoid speed reductions are advised by Verizon to switch to a 4G LTE plan, use WiFi more often, or opt out of the unlimited data plans and switch to a tiered plan. Users who fall into the top data consumption category and are included in the speed reduction plan will be informed via their monthly bill, though it’s likely that they’ll notice on their own.

(Verizon via DroidLife)

We’re getting to the point where smartphones can do everything PCs do and more. They play and store media, let us read emails, surf the web, take pictures, so why not give them another challenge and let them help us drive our cars? A new technology, SignalGuru, is aiming to do just that and the results are looking promising, according to researchers from MIT and Princeton.

The main thing SignalGuru tries to do is help you pace yourself so that you can time traffic lights perfectly, just like you do out of sheer luck every now and again. SignalGuru, through the use of a smartphone’s camera, GPS and traffic signal data, might be able to make this an everyday occurrence by anticipating when a dumb (fixed interval) light will change with a margin of error around two-thirds of a second and when a smart (varies based on traffic flow) light will change with a margin of one to two seconds.

]Before you head happily off into the weekend, we’ve got some sour news for those of us grandfathered in to AT&T’s unlimited data plan for smartphones. Starting on October 1st, the top 5% of AT&T data users will have their connection speeds greatly reduced.

According to AT&T’s press release, this move is a response to their networks being overtaxed by the proliferation of streaming video, music, and gaming on mobile devices. Once the new plan kicks in, the users who suck down the most data in a billing cycle will find their speeds reduced. AT&T assures users that this will not affect any of the tiered plan users, and most (95%) of the unlimited data users will be unaffected. They also promise ample notice prior to throttling, and a grace period, presumably to let you change your wicked ways.

Far from a total lock-down, this plan is surprisingly nuanced.

Fierce Wireless is reporting that the rumors are true and Verizon will be ditching the unlimited data plan for its phones starting July 7. From Fierce Wireless:

Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney told FierceWireless that new smartphone customers will choose from one of three options: $30 for 2 GB, $50 for 5 GB or $80 for 10 GB. There will be an overage charge of $10 per GB of data. Verizon will also charge $10 for 75 MB per month for feature phone users.

The report goes on to say that Verizon will begin charging for use of the LTE mobile hotspot service. Existing users can pay $30 per month for unlimited use, new users can pay $20 per month for an additional 2GB for hotspot or other data usage. Existing Verizon customers will have their unlimited plans grandfathered for at least one smartphone upgrade after the changes are made.

(Fierce Wireless via Gizmodo)

If you’re using an Android device on the Sprint network, you may have noticed some apps appearing mysteriously on your phone. No, your phone is not filled with bored ghosts, downloading games to amuse themselves. Apparently, Sprint has brokered deals with some companies to have their apps preloaded — occasionally during firmware updates — onto Android phones. Even more annoying is that these apps cannot be deleted by the user.

CNet writer and Sprint customer Elinor Mills was able to get the skinny on the whole situation. A Sprint rep told her:

“Sprint does offer a variety of partner applications that are optimized for use on our wireless phones, [...] From time to time, we will provide new apps to our customers in conjunction with a software maintenance release. Also, Sprint, in conjunction with Google, is taking steps to develop a technical solution that would allow customers to remove any unwanted applications that have been preloaded or pushed in an over-the-air software update.”

Now that’s a feature made with users in mind: A Redditor spotted the above set of instructions in the manual for a colleague’s new Samsung phone, detailing how to make fake incoming calls to “get out of meetings or unwanted conversations.”

To make a fake call

*In Idle mode, press and hold the Navigation key down.

*When the keys are locked, press the Navigation key down four times.

Apparently this is a standard feature for many Samsung phones.

(Reddit via Boing Boing)

Boy Genius Report managed to snag an exclusive photo of the new BlackBerry Dakota, seen above, as well as the fairly pretty specs on the upcoming device, which can be seen after the break.

“Anssi Vanjoki, outgoing head of Nokia’s smartphone division, likens mobile phone makers that adopt Google’s software to Finnish boys who ‘pee in their pants’ for warmth in the winter.”

–This is an actual quote from a Financial Times article on Nokia’s commitment to its own OSes, most notably Symbian, over Google’s Android. Engadget wins with their headline on this — “CE-Oh no he didn’t!” — although Anssi Vanjoki was technically an executive vice president rather than Nokia’s CEO, and indeed one of the reasons he left the company is because he was passed over for the top slot.

(Financial Times via Engadget via Phandroid)