First up, originally slated to end March 26th, but extended through March 31st, the DROID Madness Sale. This sale is only good on new Verizon Wireless activations. New activation includes a new individual account, a new family account, or a new line to an existing account. The promotion does not include upgrades or contract extensions.

All Motorola DROID devices on Verizon are on sale. The DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB in black is $199.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. While the DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB, DROID X2, DROID 3 Global, and DROID PRO are all just $0.01 each – a penny! My wife has the DROID RAZR and she loves it, it is a very nice phone.

The second sale has some overlap with the first, now extended through April 15th (formerly March 31st) Double Your Data on 4G Phones. It is pretty simple – all 4G Verizon phones qualify for twice the amount of data for the same monthly price. New 4G smartphone activations and upgrades are eligible, including existing customers with 4G smartphones.

The following prices are for new activations, upgrade pricing may differ. As above, the DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB is $199.99. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G is $99.99. The HTC Rezound 4G is $79.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. The LG Spectrum 4G is $19.99. The HTC ThunderBolt 4G, Samsung Stratosphere 4G, DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB, Samsung DROID CHARGE 4G, and Pantech Breakout 4G are all just $0.01 – one red cent.

Of all of these the one I’d select is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – which is in fact the phone I carry. My second choice would probably be the DROID RAZR, or maybe the DROID RAZR MAXX, though battery life hasn’t really been an issue for me so far.

First up, running through March 26th, the DROID Madness Sale. This sale is only good on new Verizon Wireless activations. New activation includes a new individual account, a new family account, or a new line to an existing account. The promotion does not include upgrades or contract extensions.

All Motorola DROID devices on Verizon are on sale. The DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB in black is $199.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. While the DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB, DROID X2, DROID 3 Global, and DROID PRO are all just $0.01 each – a penny! My wife has the DROID RAZR and she loves it, it is a very nice phone.

The second sale has some overlap with the first, through March 31st Double Your Data on 4G Phones. It is pretty simple – all 4G Verizon phones qualify for twice the amount of data for the same monthly price. New 4G smartphone activations and upgrades are eligible, including existing customers with 4G smartphones.

The following prices are for new activations, upgrade pricing may differ. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G is $99.99. The HTC Rezound 4G is $79.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. The LG Spectrum 4G is $19.99. The HTC ThunderBolt 4G, LG Revolution 4G, Samsung Stratosphere 4G, Samsung DROID CHARGE, and Pantech Breakout 4G are all just $0.01 – one red cent.

I note that the sale specifically states “all 4G Verizon phones qualify”, yet the DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB and DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB from the first sale aren’t listed in the second. But I’d expect them to qualify as well, as they are “4G Verizon phones”.

Of all of these the one I’d select is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – which is in fact the phone I carry. My second choice would probably be the DROID RAZR, or maybe the DROID RAZR MAXX, though battery life hasn’t really been an issue for me so far.

• LG – We’re thrilled to welcome global consumer electronics leader LG to the Google TV family. LG will showcase a new line of TVs powered by Google TV running on their own L9 chipset at CES.
• Marvell – Also new to the Google TV family this year is Marvell, an innovative worldwide leader in chipsets. Marvell will be showcasing a new generation of Google TV solutions which will help bring more products across more price points to consumers.
• MediaTek – We’re also excited to partner with MediaTek, the leading Taiwanese chipset designer. MediaTek chipsets will power yet another wave of Google TV devices.
• Samsung – We’re excited to work closely with Samsung to bring Google-TV powered Samsung devices to market in 2012.
• Sony – We’re happy to build on our partnership with Sony. At CES, Sony will unveil new devices for the US and plans to offer Google TV powered products in several countries around the world in 2012.
• Vizio – Last year we announced our partnership with Vizio at CES. This year we’re excited to join Vizio as they hold private demos at CES showcasing their new line of Google TV-powered products.

The shift to ARM based processors has been widely anticipated, though the specific partnerships with Marvell and MediaTek is new info. It is a little surprising as you might expect well known chip vendors from the mobile industry, such as NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, and Samsung, to be involved but perhaps Google feels the requirements for Google TV are different enough from mobile Android systems that alternate chip designs are better.

Sony is the only vendor who brought first generation products to market to return to this list. Samsung and Vizio both talked about Google TV at the last CES, but held off on shipping products. Which was probably for the best, given the multitude of issues with Google TV 1.0. Now that Google TV 2.0 is out, and is vastly improved over its predecessor, it is much more viable as a connected TV platform. With the addition of LG, if all four vendors really execute on Google TV in their new models, we may well see Google make good on their bold claims of Google TV being in the majority of new TVs this year.

Via the Google TV Blog.

Edit: I see in my YouTube feeds that they’ve also posted a video preview of what’s to come:

First up, Special Holiday Deals on Select LG Home Entertainment Products. Save on 25 different HDTVs, three different Blu-ray Disc players, and three different Home Audio Systems.

Or maybe you’d prefer a Free Family Pack of 3D Glasses with Select LG Cinema 3D LED HDTVs with Smart TV. Five LG 3D HDTV models to choose from.

Or a free LG AN-MR200 Magic Motion Remote when you buy an LG Infinia 42LV5400 42″ 1080p HDTV with Smart TV.

Next up, Save Big on Select Sony HDTVs. Seventeen different models to choose from.

Of perhaps Great Savings on Select Panasonic HDTVs. Sixteen models to choose from!

Next, Save up to 45% on Select HDTVs. HDTVs from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony – 102 different models to choose from!

Maybe Big-Screen HDTVs for $999 or Less. LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, TCL, Toshiba, VIZIO and Westinghouse, 42 models all together.

And to feed those HDTVs content, Blu-ray Disc Players and Digital-Media Devices Under $100. The Apple TV and TiVo Premiere are in there along with the Roku 2 family and Roku LT. Blu-ray Disc players from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, VIZIO, and Toshiba, and streaming devices from Iomega, Western Digital, Patriot, Netgear, and the aforementioned Apple, TiVo, and Roku boxes.

And for those Blu-ray Players, save on thousands of TV shows and movies on Blu-ray and DVD.

Now, if you want to create your own content, there is this special: Instant Savings on Select Sony Camcorders. Eighteen different models to choose from – from the $89.99 Bloggie to the $399.99 HDR-XR160.

If still photography is more your thing, get a Free DSLR Backpack, Memory Card, and Tiffen Filter with Select Canon Rebel DSLR Cameras. Thirteen different camera models to choose from.

Or perhaps you prefer to Save Big When You Bundle Select Canon DSLRs with Qualifying Canon Lenses and/or Printers. With seven different cameras to choose from.

Amazon certainly has your entertainment electronics needs covered.

Looking at a graph of market share by smartphone vendor, the precipitous decline of Nokia is painfully obvious, and it looks like RIM isn’t doing so well either. On the other hand, you can see the rapid rise of Samsung. Samsung has claimed 26% of the global smartphone market, becoming the largest vendor. Apple slipped from 19% to close to 14%, but that could be due to anticipation of the iPhone 4S (the figures are from before the launch). Nokia has toppled from the top of the heap to under 14% in roughly a year. HTC overtook RIM with 11% to 9% as the former continues to gain market share and the latter loses it. Sony has approximately 6%, LG 5%, and Motorola 4%.

Unsurprisingly the units shipped by vendor closely aligns with the market share of each vendor. The sheer number of devices being shipped is really impressive.

Via Droid Life.

You can also save 5% to 15% on four other Blu-ray decks. The LG BH200, which handles Blu-ray and HD DVD discs (for those of you who made the mistake of investing in HD DVD media), normally $599.99 is now $509.99. The Panasonic DMP-DB30K Blu-ray deck, normally $399.99, is $359.99. The Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray deck, also normally $399.99, is $339.99. And finally the Sharp AQUOS BD-HP20U, yet again normally $399.99, is $379.99.

Personally I can’t recommend the LH BH200 to anyone who doesn’t have a number of HD DVD discs they still need to play. It just isn’t a good value as a Blu-ray player, and it is BonusView / Profile 1.1 only, despite having an Ethernet port and supporting Internet connectivity for HD DVD. While the Ethernet port means it is possible it could be upgraded to BD-Live someday, it doesn’t seem likely as LG has really stopped work on this family with the death of HD DVD.

The Sharp unit is not only the most expensive of the remaining three, but also the least capable, being just Basic Profile / Profile 1.0, and not even BonusView. Give it a pass. The Panasonic DMP-BD30K is a nice player, but it is also only BonusView and as it lacks an Ethernet port it will never be updated to support it. The one recommendation for the Panasonic is that it has 5.1 analog audio output.

The real pick here is the Samsung. Not only is it the least expensive, but it is the most advanced of the lot. It is ‘BD-Live Ready’, which means that while it is BonusView-only today, Samsung plans to add BD-Live support via a firmware update.

Personally, as I’ve said repeatedly in the past, I think a dedicated STB is a bad move. Unless they can make it dirt cheap, and I mean $99 or less, I don’t think a dedicated client STB is a good option. Remember, this is simply a device which provides access to a service you have to pay for via your subscription. And if it is just going to handle the streaming, then it doesn’t need to be that powerful.

But it sounds like they may have taken the route I’ve suggested before, making this a service that will be included on other boxes:

The leader of online DVD rentals will be entering an increasingly crowded and confusing market when it rolls out the new device via an LG-networked player sometime in the second half of 2008.

And:

Pricing and other specific details of the LG product were not available, but a person with knowledge of the situation said LG would likely embed the receiver into its $799 dual-DVD player, which supports the competing Blu-ray and HD-DVD high-definition DVD formats.

So they may be embedding this as a thin software client into LG’s DVD and/or Blu-ray product line. That would follow from what was said on the conference call, and it seems to make more sense than producing a dedicated Netflix STB. Certainly, a DVD or Blu-ray player which also happened to support the streaming service is a much better value proposition than a single-purpose streaming STB.

Actually, that’s another issue, I don’t know that Netflix’s streaming service is going to hold up to being displayed on large screens. It certainly is not going to be HD content as very, very few people have broadband connections fast enough to stream real HD content. Even if limited to 720p using H.264 it would be tough to stream real-time without massively over-compressing the stream. This is probably going to be limited to SD content, maybe 480p streams upscaled by the player – like a DVD. In a world increasingly going HD, that seems iffy. Especially with competitors like VUDU going HD, and Amazon Unbox/TiVo expected to go HD soon as well.

On the other hand, being a streaming-only service does reduce their hardware requirements, particularly in storage, and that could make it easier for Netflix to land additional partners. All HD DVD players have network interfaces, and a growing number of Blu-ray players do as well. TiVo is still a possibility, reviving their old partnership, though likely only on the Series3 and TiVo HD as the older boxes can’t handle the newer codecs. (And streaming MPEG-2 is unlikely.) Just about any media center extender product would be a candidate too. But the first thing to come to mind for me was actually the Sling Media SlingCatcher product, now due in 2008.

Hastings said the LG partnership was the first of many such deals for Netflix. “We’d like to see a hundred Netflix-capable boxes,” he said, noting he also was exploring partnerships with makers of Internet-connected game consoles, cable and satellite companies.

Still a lot of unanswered questions. But we’ll probably see and hear some more at CES next week.

From EngadgetHD.

EDIT/UPDATE: The New York Times has an article today which offers a bit more info. It confirms that the streams will not be HD, at least initially. And it has this:

The deal with LG is something of a strategy shift for Netflix. The company had been experimenting with building its own Netflix-brand set-top box. Last spring, to help create the device, the company hired Anthony Wood, the founder of ReplayTV and a pioneer of the digital video recorder.

But Mr. Hastings said that integrating Netflix into other companies’ devices made more sense. He said Mr. Wood would soon leave Netflix to return to another company he founded, Roku.

So it does seem that Netflix had been toying with their own STB, as rumored for a while. But they came to the same conclusion I’ve expressed all along – something like this is better as a service embedded in other boxes, than part of a standalone box. Standalone boxes that do nothing but download movies have not done well – see Akimbo and Moviebeam, Akimbo morphed into a service for Windows and dropped the boxes, Moviebeam is dead. I don’t think VUDU will be successful either, unless they can sell the box for $99 or less – then maybe. But it is still better to be a value-add on a box with other features.

If you really want a combo player, the Samsung BD-UP5000 is $799.99 with the same basic feature set – fully HD DVD and Blu-ray support, with Profile 1.1. And Profile 2.0 expected in an update. (Again, it has the hardware required.)

LG’s press release:

Dec 10, 2007 10:55 ET

Second-Generation ‘Super Blu’ High-Definition Disc Player Available From LG Electronics Retail Partners

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ — LG Electronics’ second-generation LG Super Blu(TM) Player (model BH200) is now available nationally at leading consumer electronics dealers. This advanced multi-format disc player (suggested retail price $999) lets consumers choose from the widest variety of high-def video content as it is the only player capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

“LG introduced the BH200 to focus on consumer needs by ending the confusion caused by the current format war,” said Allan Jason, vice president of consumer electronics marketing at LG Electronics USA, Inc. “This second generation, dual-format player allows consumers to enjoy their favorite movies, features and extras, regardless of format, on the best-in-class high-definition media player.”

One Player, Latest Technology

The Super Blu Player offers consumers increased HDTV entertainment choices because it provides access to between 50 and 70 percent more high-def movie titles than any single-format player.

The multi-format combination ensures users of the BH200 the latest technology available from both high-def disc formats. The LG Super Blu Player features the “BD Standard Profile,” and is also ready for “BD Profile 1.1″ when Blu-ray discs with the new profile become available in 2008. When such Blu-ray discs begin to be distributed, viewers will be able to enjoy advanced options, such as “Picture-in-Picture”, for an expanded viewing experience. In addition, the Super Blu Player provides access to web-connected interactivity available from a number of current HD DVDs. Access to these features enables viewing of storyboards, production videos and director’s commentary, as well as up-do-date and real-time information, while the movie is playing.

In addition to supporting the latest high-def disc technologies, the Super Blu Player is the ideal match for movie enthusiasts and even music enthusiasts as it supports audio CDs and has the ability to up-scale standard DVDs to Full HD 1080p resolution bringing new life to existing DVD movie libraries.

“The BH200′s enhanced features and functionality eliminate the need for a second or third player and the additional cables and remotes that those units would require,” said Tim Alessi, director of consumer electronics marketing at LG Electronics USA, Inc. “Its full support for features available on both Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs makes the Super Blu the flagship of the LG home video product line and complements the company’s expanded line-up of ‘Full HD’ 1080p flat-panel HDTVs.”

The Ultimate Movie Viewing Experience

The LG Super Blu Player can output video resolution up to 1080p via the HDMI connection, delivering an outstanding image quality that is ideally suited to LG’s line of 1080p plasma and LCD TVs. The unit includes multiple inputs/outputs such as HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color, component/composite video outputs, digital optical and analog audio outputs as well as a LAN Ethernet port for network interactivity. The player’s USB Media Host port on the front panel provides access to digital music and photo slideshows, making it a powerful and versatile media center for high-def home theaters.

The LG Super Blu Player features Qdeo(TM) advanced video processing from Marvell for superior up-scaling accuracy, improved noise reduction and consistent color precision. Featuring advanced per-pixel motion-adaptive 3D de-interlacing for HD and SD video, as well as per-pixel noise and compression artifact reduction, Qdeo removes “jaggies,” feathering, video noise, and compression artifacts for quiet, natural images without distraction. The Super Blu player’s Qdeo technology also delivers details in darker scenes with Adaptive Contrast Enhancement (ACE) and renders vivid colors through Intelligent Color Remapping (ICR), providing a rich video experience from Blu-ray discs, HD DVDs and standard DVDs.

The new Super Blu Player also incorporates LG’s SimpLink(TM) connectivity solution, which enables easier control of other LG SimpLink-compatible equipment. SimpLink units are connected with an HDMI cable and use the HDMI-CEC communication standard, which allows the user to control other components on-screen or directly from each component.

About LG Electronics USA, Inc.

LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $48.5-billion (2006 consolidated worldwide revenues) global force in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a wide range of digital appliances, digital display and digital media products, and mobile phones under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit http://www.lgusa.com/.

Source: LG Electronics USA, Inc.

CONTACT: John I. Taylor, +1-847-941-8181, jtaylor@lge.com, or Clara
Chang, +1-201-816-2011, clarachang@lge.com, both of LG Electronics USA, Inc.;
or Ojas Naik, +1-312-397-6008, ojas.naik@ogilvypr.com, for LG Electronics USA,
Inc.

Web site: http://www.lgusa.com/