Following up the launch of the Motorola DROID, Verizon has also launched the HTC DROID Eris.

As previously reported, the DROID Eris is functionally identical to the Sprint Hero with pricing set at $469.99 Retail/Month-to-Month, $269.99 after a new 1 year agreement and $199.99 after a 2 year, with the $100 mail-in rebate bringing the totals to $169.99 and $99.99 respectively, undercutting the Sprint Hero by $80.

Buy the HTC Droid Eris from Verizon Wireless

Verizon has launched the long-awaited Motorola DROID Android smart device after weeks of anticipation.

The complete featureset consists of the 3.7 inch WVGA resolution capacitive touch display, QWERTY keyboard, 550 MHz application processor, microSDHC expansion slot with included 16GB card, 5.0 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, autofocus and DVD resolution video recorder.

Secondary specifications include Bluetooth with stereo audio support, Wi-Fi radio, light sensor accelorometer, proximity sensor, GPS support with transceiver, WebKit based browser with HTML5 and future Flash support scheduled for 2010 along with speakerphone.

The device is now available for $499.99 Retail/Month-to-Month, 269.99 on a 1 year agreement or $299.99 after new 2 year agreement before an additional $100 mail-in rebate, bringing the totals to 269.99 and $199.99 respectively.

Buy the Motorola DROID from Verizon Wireless

Today Sprint announced that they will be adding the BlackBerry Curve 8530 to their smartphone lineup.

The Curve 8530 features BlackBerry OS 5.0, a landscape HVGA resolution display, dedicated media player keys, 3.5mm headphone jack, optical directional pad, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, redesigned QWERTY keyboard and Wi-Fi radio. It also includes preloaded applications including BlackBerry Media Sync, Sprint Music Store and Sprint TV access as well as a 2.0 megapixel camera with video recorder. The BlackBerry Curve 8530 will be available in three color options – Black, Royal Purple and Red at a later date with pricing and availability yet to be disclosed.

Verizon has launched the LG Chocolate TOUCH after an unexplained delay.

The LG Chocolate TOUCH is a music oriented touch screen device that features an FM radio with 12 presets, Song ID, dedicated side key foraccess to favorite songs, Bluetooth with stereo audio support,“Join the Band” music accompaniement feature, Dolby Mobile equalizer technology, 3.2 megapixel camera and video recorder with speakerphone.

The LG Chocolate TOUCH is now available for $259.99 Retail/Month-to-Month, $199.99 on a 1 year agreement or $129.99 before a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a Nationwide Calling Plan, bringing the totals to $149.99 and $79.99 respectively.

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T-Mobile USA CTO Cole Brodman has confirmed that carrier billing will be coming soon for purchases made on the Android Market. While no timeframe has been set for the introduction of the service, this will allow customers the choice to bill purchases to their T-Mobile account instead of having to use a credit card for separate purchase transactions.

In related news, T-Mobile will be launching its own content channel on Android Market where the carrier will recommend selected applications to customers, with the launch expected before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The FCC has revealed the LG GM730F Windows Mobile smart device with US 3G support.

The draft user manual makes references to AT&T services such as Video Share support and MEdiaNet access, while the device features HSDPA access, optical directional pad, 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus, microSDHC expansion slot, Bluetooth with stereo audio support and Windows Mobile 6.5.

Pricing and availability information is not available at this time.

Verizon has confirmed that it will allow tethering on the forthcoming Motorola DROID for an additional $15 on top of the required $30 data plan for the device, pricing both device data and modem access at $45 per month.

Verizon will begin to offer the service in 2010.

Update: Verizon has clarified to PhoneNews.com that the rate for the tethering add-on for consumers will be $30 on top of the required $30 data plan for the device, with corporate accounts being priced at $45 for handset data with the tethering add-on at an additional $15, totaling the same $60 a month rate as the consumer account and the source of the initial confusion on pricing.

This morning during a press event in Taiwan, HTC CEO Peter Chou once again confirmed US availability of the HTC HD2 Windows Mobile device, with the launch being made on a “major US carrier” in early 2010.

The device is expected to launch on T-Mobile according to a leaked internal employee slide first reported on last month.

As previously reported, the US launch of the HTC HD2 will mark the availability of the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform to US consumers, having already launched in Europe and Taiwan to favorable reviews due to improvements in application speed and general usability.

An internal document has been leaked confirming that Verizon Wireless will raise the ETF on customers that purchase what it classifies as an “Advanced Device” (smartphone) from the carrier to $350 beginning on November 15th. The ETF will decrease by $10 for each month the customer remains with the carrier during the 1 or 2 year agreement.

The increase will apply to all smart devices sold by the carrier and is seen as a way to retaliate against customers that would work the system set up by the carrier with its frequent BOGO (Buy One, Get One Free) offers (e.g. BlackBerry devices) and sell smart devices for profit by taking out a second line, acquiring another device, then paying the $175 ETF in order to profit later on the sale of the second device on auction sites, making the ETF increase a deterrent against the above practice.

Customers signing up and purchasing smartphones before the 15th will be grandfathered into the old ETF policy, with the $350 ETF not applying to Corporate Liable lines of businesses with a Major Account Agreement and Enterprise Customer profile, Government and Telemetry account types.

Read More for Verizon’s internal explanation of the change.

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Not long after the introduction of the VoLGA voice over LTE standard in September, AT&T and Verizon along with other telecom companies have introduced their own standards-based proposal known as One Voice.

If adopted by the 3GPP, One Voice would utilize the IMS (Internet Multimedia Subsystem) network overlay to send voice calls and SMS over LTE networks, with the companies involved in its development believing the proposed solution will allow for the widest range of compatibility for wireless network operators, equipment manufacturers and handset manufacturers while ensuring worldwide roaming over LTE networks.

One Voice is currently competing with other proposed voice over LTE delivery standards such as the aforementioned VoLGA and the 3GPP’s own Circuit Switched Fallback standard (CSFB). The CSFB standard as proposed by the 3GPP would allow LTE devices to revert to GSM or UMTS for incoming/outgoing voice calls as well as SMS.