HTC has spent the past few weeks hinting and teasing us with the availability of their bootloader unlock tool, but at long last the wait is over. If you own an international HTC Sensation, then congratulations: you’re free to mosey over to HTC Dev to get your fix. → Read More
Waaaay back at CES in January, Sprint and RIM announced that they were cooking up a version of the BlackBerry Playbook that played friendly with Sprint’s 4G network. And then… nothing. Months went by, with nary a mention from either of the companies involved.
Alas, it looks like the Sprint 4G Playbook will be buried before it’s even born. Blaming a “lack of demand from business customers” (read: everybody who wants a tablet right now probably already has an iPad or a Xoom), Sprint has killed off plans to launch the device. → Read More
Ready to get “back to cool”? Apparently $250 will get you a brand new BlackBerry Bold 9930 from Sprint, according to a leaked flyer obtained by BGR. Although, as per usual, a two-year agreement is required. Along with Bold 9930 pricing, the flyer also points to pricing details for the upcoming BlackBerry Torch 9850. → Read More
It looks like it’s go time for the Samsung Conquer 4G. Upon Sprint’s announcement this morning, we have a few more specs to offer you along with a launch date — August 21. Just as we expected, the handset will go for $100 as long as you sign on the dotted line of a two-year agreement. → Read More
Less than two weeks ago, Sprint cut the price of its Google Nexus S 4G by half to just $99 on-contract. That had me pink in the cheek with barely controlled glee, so you can only imagine my reaction when I saw that both Best Buy and Amazon were offering the device for free (and nearly free).
Best Buy promises all the Google phone you can handle for free as long as you sign on for a two-year contract, while Amazon lists the handset for $.01 (still on-contract). → Read More
It’s looking like Sprint has signed off on death warrants for a few of its handsets, including our nation’s first-ever 4G smartphone, the Evo 4G. According to a leaked screenshot of this internal Sprint document (discovered by SprintFeed), at least 10 phones are getting the ax. → Read More
For Sprint, maintaining their aging iDEN network is proving to be more of a headache than it’s worth. Even though their Nextel Direct Connect service still has footholds in certain markets (construction immediately comes to mind), their financial statements report a loss of 367,000 iDEN subscribers this past quarter. In spite of otherwise strong figures, it seems clear that iDEN is becoming more and more of a liability. That would certainly explain their move to a new Sprint Direct Connect service running on CDMA that is poised to launch in Q4 of this year. → Read More
Sprint has long had to battle against AT&T’s iPhone, and when the Apple smartphone hit Verizon’s shelves, we were all a bit worried about how big yellow would deal.
The Nexus S 4G and HTC’s Evo line have kept the carrier fighting, but as our future duopoly continues to snatch up superphones like Verizon’s Motorola Droid 3 and AT&T’s Samsung Infuse 4G, Sprint more than ever needs an Android phone that blows the rest to pieces. Luckily, these leaked snap shots point to Sprint’s release of the Samsung Galaxy S II, which sold 3 million units in its first 55 days on the market. → Read More
Remember the Motorola Titanium? No? Don’t worry: it’s been over two months since Sprint announced it. That’s, like, a million years in the gadget world.
We’ve finally got some idea when it’s coming, and how much it’ll cost you. → Read More
The big day is here! June 24 is upon us and that can only mean one thing: glasses free 3D is here, delivered straight from the highly anticipated HTC Evo 3D. The Evo 3D goes on sale today from Sprint alongside HTC’s Evo View 4G tablet. → Read More
Lookout, a company that offers security services for a number of smartphones, is launching a new feature today that will protect users from online threats while browsing on a mobile phone.
For background, Lookout’s web-based, cloud-connected applications for Android, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry phones help users from losing their phones and identifies and block threats on a consumer’s phone. Users simply download the software to a device, and it will act as a tracking application and a virus protector much like security software downloaded to a computer. → Read More
Sorry, folks: we’re still waaaaay too burned out from all the pre-release, back-and-forth rumor mongering that went down with the Verizon iPhone to really weigh in on this one, so we’ll just pass on the details. The Details: According to 9to5Mac’s source, a Sprint-friendly version of the iPhone (one closely resembling the iPhone 4) is in testing in the deepest depths of Apple HQ. Apple has, according to the same source, thrown down the cash to have a few Sprint cell towers put up on and near the campus for testing purposes This all goes pretty hand-in-hand with reports last month that Apple was hunting for cell engineers in Kansas.. which just happens to be where Sprint’s main campus is located. Could it happen? Sure. Could it all be a bunch of conjecture? Absolutely. But, hey: at this point, Apple has no reason to not put it on Sprint. Once that one-carrier exclusivity was broken (as it was when AT&T lost exclusivity with the launch of the VZW iPhone), they might as well throw it on every carrier around — it’s not like any of them are going to get mad and stop selling the iPhone. → Read More
The HTC EVO 3D is possibly one of the most anticipated phones of the summer, and both Sprint and HTC have done an excellent job of teasing out its launch date. Thanks to a RadioShack flyer discovered a few days ago, we were pretty certain the 3D-capable smartphone would hit shelves on June 24. Today, however, we’ve been given a little extra confirmation that the smartphone is on its way, since the HTC EVO 3D was spotted passing through the FCC, and nabbed a stamp of approval. → Read More
We’re here at Google’s massive New York City HQ (they own an entire block) for what Google was calling a “partner event” but everyone knew was really an “NFC event”. Sure enough, Stephanie Tilenius, Google’s VP of Commerce, has taken the stage to announce Google Wallet and Google Offers.
Right off the bat, Tilenius wanted to make it clear that this would be an open platform. She invited “payment networks, carriers, and banks to join us in creating tomorrow’s shopping experience”. And some of those partners are already on board. Citi, Mastercard, FirstData, and Sprint are the initial partners. → Read More
Google is holding an event tomorrow in New York City. While everyone seems to be aware that it’s a partner event to announce the NFC strategy for their Android phones, Google has refused to confirm it. Well, they don’t have to. One of their partners just did.
We just got an email from the PR firm representing ViVOtech, wondering if we were going to the Google event tomorrow. They try to talk vaguely about ”Google’s latest innovations”, but that doesn’t matter. Just look at what ViVOtech does. They make NFC software. → Read More
One of the big holdups in terms of paid applications on Android has been the lack of great billing options. In the beginning, there was Google Checkout, but relatively few people use that. So Google came up with a better idea: tying payments into carrier bills. They were quickly able to get both T-Mobile and AT&T on board with that. And today a third big U.S. carrier comes on board: Sprint.
Google says that a phased roll-out of the new option is underway right now and should reach all customers in a few days. When it’s done, Android users on Sprint will see an option to “bill my Sprint account” in the Android Market payment area. Such a payment won’t require the user to enter any other payment information, and the charge will show up on your monthly Sprint bill. → Read More
Everyone’s acceptable Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab, is now available from Sprint for $199 with a two-year contract, a sure sign that they’re basically trying to get rid of these things. → Read More
Hurrah! Back in January, word got out that Verizon was ditching mail-in rebates in favor of instant rebates on their more expensive handsets. We hoped, from the very geekiest depths of our heart (we’ve been burned by the mail-in rebate that never arrives just one too many times), that this would be a trend that other carriers would follow. Sure enough: Sprint has just confirmed to Phonescoop that the company will be making the switch from mail-in to Instant as of March 27th. Oddly, the company isn’t sayin’ whether or not this is a permanent switch — and if it’s temporary, they’re not sure how long it’ll stick around. In other words, they’re testing the waters and aren’t wanting to make any promises. → Read More
AT&T’s $39 billion bid for T-Mobile this weekend wasn’t just a surprise to the general public. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse was also “shocked” to find out about it. “That one was not on the radar screen,” he tells CNBC’s Jim Cramer in an interview today (transcript). He didn’t think it would be possible because of antitrust issues, and he is definitely playing up those issues now.
Hesse doesn’t like the deal one bit because it will make Sprint a distant third after AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. mobile market. (A combined AT&T-T-Mobile will have more than 100 million subscribers, as does Verizon already, while Sprint is half that size with 50 million). He’s already threatening to complain to Congress, and he’s practicing his arguments on TV. He warns Cramer of a duopoly situation: → Read More
This is the biggest news about Google Voice since the company behind it, previously called Grand Central, was acquired by Google in 2007. They’ve integrated with Sprint. What that means is you are one of Sprint’s 50 million U.S. customers, your Sprint phone number is now also a Google Voice number. And If you’re already a Google Voice subscriber, you can use that number on your Sprint phone without the need for any software. Details are at google.com/voice/sprint.
Here’s how it works. If you are currently a Sprint customer, you can opt in to make that Sprint phone number your Google Voice phone number. This isn’t number porting, Sprint retains control of your number. They simply tell Google when you make or receive calls, and forward that call to other phones if you’ve chosen those options. Google also takes over the voicemail for the phone, and long distance calls are completed by Google at Google’s very low international rates.
In other words, if you have a Sprint phone you can choose to make that a Google Voice phone as well. And get all the benefits of Google Voice, like having it ring to any phone you control, initiating and receiving calls from Gmail, hilarious voicemail transcriptions, etc. → Read More
