Verizon to Release Motorola A4500, Firmware for Storm

Mobile phone carrier Verizon is reported to be on its way to add another QWERTY device to its offering, this time the Motorola A4500 (which was also known as Napoleon). The handset looks nice, though not as great as one would expect, especially when compared to the BlackBerry 9630 Niagara, which is reported to come with the operator in July as BlackBerry Tour.

The new Motorola A4500, the same as Tour, is reported to be a world phone and will come as a simple QWERTY option from Verizon. The handset has been already approved by FCC, according to the news, and it sports a design resembling both the maker's older Q-series and RIM's BlackBerry devices.

The specification list shows CDMA, EV-DO and GSM (quad-band) connectivity, along with Windows Mobile 6.1 as the operating system, a QVGA display, the mentioned QWERTY keyboard, GPS capabilities, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, TV out, a fingerprint scanner and a 2-megapixel photo snapper, not to mention the memory card slot for additional storage space.

No details on the availability of the phone are available at the moment, nor on the price tag it is expected to feature. Hopefully, the Motorola A4500 will hit the shelves in the near future, especially since it has been spotted for the first time about a year ago.

In addition to the new phones it intends to launch, Verizon is also reported to plan on releasing a firmware update for the BlackBerry Storm. The new software version is said to finally come in May, after a long wait we might add, and it seems that the version is not 4.7.0.113, as believed until now, but 4.7.0.141, unheard of before.

Moreover, the BlackBerry 9630 Niagara is expected to become available in May, and Boy Genius Report says that the price tag for the World Edition phone has been set at $199. The news also points towards a replacement for the Voyager, the VX11000, which should come as the enV Touch. And finally, it seems that the operator is thinking about raising the 5GB cap on its data plan as soon as LTE starts rolling out, as it expects subscribers to consume more.