Sprint Strategy Update coming on October 7th, significant 4G plans likely to be unveiled

Sprint’s Dan Hesse told us point-blank back in July that he was penning a “great story around 4G” for this fall, and it looks as if October 7th will be the date that it “all becomes clear.” We just received an invitation to quite the atypical event — a “strategy update” for the press to cover in New York City. All we’re told is that presentations by senior management will be on tap, with a sure-to-be-lively Q&A session to follow. ‘Course, this may all be a ploy to waste our precious time on a precious Friday in autumn, but something tells us Sprint ain’t exactly in a position to be blowing cash on a Hot Air session. So, what’s on deck? Let’s count the possibilities: more details on its side regarding the iPhone 5? A full-on acquisition of Clearwire (plus a shift to LTE-Advanced)? More details on that elusive LightSquared arrangement? A merger with AT&T&T to create the largest telecommunications provider this side of Pluto? We’ll be there to find out, but for now, hypotheses are being accepted in comments below.

Sprint Strategy Update coming on October 7th, significant 4G plans likely to be unveiled originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG VS920 pushes through FCC with Verizon LTE, could be the LG Revolution 2?

The LTE-toting LG Revolution is still the most recent phone to debut on Verizon’s 4G lineup — at least for another week or so, that is — but we’re already seeing clues to the phone’s sequel popping up. We saw the Revolution 2 show up on a leaked roadmap so the mysterious follow-up has been on our radar, but we weren’t expecting to see it quite this early. Yet here it is: the LG VS920, complete with Verizon’s LTE Band 13, global GSM / EDGE and 900 /1900 / 2100 WCDMA and HSPA, has received the FCC’s blessing. Now, it doesn’t specifically come out saying it’s the successor, nor does it signify its relation to the previous device; since the original Revolution is designated the LG VS910, however, we’re taking the liberty to put two and two together here. Check out the gallery below for more measurements and diagrams.

LG VS920 pushes through FCC with Verizon LTE, could be the LG Revolution 2? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: HTC Holiday for AT&T in the wild — 4G LTE, 1.2GHz, 4.5-inch qHD display

Looks like AT&T’s fall lineup will include at least one slab of irresistible. The so-called HTC Holiday is indeed real, and it’ll soon be gracing Ma Bell’s airwaves — and not just the HSPA+ ones, either. We’ve confirmed that the Holiday will be amongst the first handsets to launch in AT&T’s LTE markets, bringing with it a rather gargantuan frame, a 4.5-inch qHD touchpanel, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of memory, an 8 megapixel rear camera (with flash), 1.3 megapixel front-facing shooter, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and a foursome of capacitive touch buttons below the panel. Software wise, it’ll ship with Android 2.3.4 and HTC Sense 3.0, and while we haven’t been able to nail it down with 100 percent certainty, there’s a better-than-average chance it’ll go by “Waikiki” upon launch — if “Holiday” doesn’t work out, that is. We’ll be bringing you more as it arrives; for now, cut loose in the gallery below!

Exclusive: HTC Holiday for AT&T in the wild — 4G LTE, 1.2GHz, 4.5-inch qHD display originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile Miscellany: week of August 22, 2011

This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of August 15, 2011:

Phone Releases

  • Fido launched the Samsung Galaxy Q, also known as the Gravity Smart in the US, on Thursday. [via MobileSyrup]
  • The BlackBerry Curve 9360 can already be purchased on Telus for $50 with a three-year contract, and the Torch 9860 will be available on August 30th. [via IntoMobile and CrackBerry]
  • SouthernLINC Wireless announced the immediate availability of the Motorola Titanium, offered for $150 with a two-year commitment.
  • T-Mobile released the Samsung Gravity TXT, a basic messaging phone that’s on sale for $10. [via UnwiredView]
  • Cricket has begun offering a new messaging phone called the Samsung Comment, which offers a full QWERTY keyboard, stereo bluetooth, a microSD slot and 1.3MP camera. It can be had for $90 with no commitment required. [via PhoneScoop]

Other news

  • The government of South Korea, in reaction to Google’s planned acquisition of Motorola, now intends to form a consortium of local companies that will work together in building a brand new mobile operating system. [via IntoMobile]
  • Randall Milch, Chief Counsel for Verizon, is so frustrated with the patent wars going on that this week he filed an appeal to President Obama, asking for him to provide assistance in the matter. [via PhoneScoop]
  • The Motorola PRO is expected to debut in the UK in mid-September, though pre-orders are already taking place at select authorized resellers. [via UnwiredView]
  • Leaked posters indicate the BlackBerry Torch 9850 will be offered by Verizon and screenshots show the same phone going to US Cellular, though we’re still unsure of the release date or pricing. [via CrackBerry(1) and (2)]
  • Last week we reported on the rumored Sony Ericsson Nozumi, a smartphone that will likely feature a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm S2 CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, and 4.3-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution. At the time, it was assumed to be only selling in Japan; however, there’s a good possibility the Nozumi will end up available globally instead. [via XperiaBlog]
  • Pantech’s LTE phone on Verizon may actually end up being called the Breakout (rather than the “Apache”), according to a leaked screenshot. When released, it’ll feature a 1GHz CPU with 512MB of RAM, dual cameras, and will be preloaded with Gingerbread. Not much to write home about at this stage in the game, considering these are incredibly similar to the specs of the LG Revolution. However, it would be the first 4G phone on Big Red that has a 4-inch display. [via AndroidCentral]
  • T-Mobile may be planning to throw a data pay-per-use feature onto any smartphone that currently has its internet access blocked. If this happens, it will affect current customers as well as new ones. [via TmoNews]
  • Dish has petitioned the FCC for permission to use 40MHz of allocated spectrum to begin building out an LTE-Advanced network. [via PhoneScoop]

Mobile Miscellany: week of August 22, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Vigor poses for a couple of spy shots, reveals little

So it turned out that render of HTC’s Vigor on a Dutch online store wasn’t exactly kosher; but what might be are two spy shots that Droid Life obtained today, providing us with what would seem to be the first legitimate glimpse of the Verizon-bound, LTE-toting smartphone. Gracing its derriere is a texturized backplate, which sports the usual self-explanatory “WITH HTC SENSE” label along with a large lens plus dual LED flash; whereas on the other side we see a front-facing camera along with four capacitive buttons. Whether or not it’ll arrive with the also rumored 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage remains to be seen, but you’ll know more when we do.

HTC Vigor poses for a couple of spy shots, reveals little originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Android tablet details and specs continue to leak, ‘S2’ is the Sony Tablet P

We’ve got more info for you on the pair of Android tablets Sony plans to launch next year month, as our source indicates the dual 5.5-inch screened clamshell, thus far codenamed the S2, will launch as the Sony Tablet P. Hardware specs include a weight of 370 grams — less than the iPad 2’s 601 grams, but more than say, a Kyocera Echo at 193g — 512Mb of RAM, 4GB of storage and a 2GB SD card, with connectivity over 4G or WiFi. Both the Tablet P and the Tablet S will share NVIDIA Tegra 2 processors and 0.3MP (not 3.0MP as we’d previously reported) front cameras, but the more conventional, WiFi-only Tablet S weighs in at 600g, has 1GB of RAM and will be available in 16GB or 32GB versions. There’s still no word on price or exact shipping dates but retailers have reportedly been told to expect more information soon, so stay tuned for further updates.

Update: This post previously stated the tablets would launch next year, that was a mistype. We’re still expecting to see them launch in September.

Sony Android tablet details and specs continue to leak, ‘S2’ is the Sony Tablet P originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trio of US Samsung Galaxy S II models get together for a group photo?

Gaze closely at the above picture. Is this classy-looking bunch of phones the actual trio of Galaxy S II devices we expect to see unveiled at Samsung’s press event this coming Monday? If so, our mouths are commencing salivation as we speak. From the looks of it, the Samsung Hercules, Epic Touch 4G and Attain are shown off hanging out together in full disclosure. Granted, we’ve seen the T-Mobile and Sprint versions before, so this image simply verifies what we’ve already seen. The big reveal, however, is the look of AT&T’s variant — a device that’s managed to do the best job at playing hide-and-seek — which appears to be eerily similar to a leaked render we encountered in June. We’re only a matter of days away from knowing for sure, but this will definitely get your weekend started off on the right foot.

Trio of US Samsung Galaxy S II models get together for a group photo? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola rolling out 4G LTE upgrade for select Xoom users?

It’s been a while coming, but it looks like some Motorola Xoom users will finally be receiving 4G LTE support, in the very near future. According to a customer service e-mail obtained by Droid Life, the manufacturer has already begun sending out instructions on how to receive the upgrade, as part of an apparent gradual rollout. To make the jump, select consumers, businesses and government clients will have to first back up their Android-based tablets, before shipping them off to Motorola in a pre-paid FedEx box. Once that’s taken care of, they’ll have to twiddle their thumbs for three business days before receiving their newly refreshed devices, dripping in Verizon’s LTE goodness. No word yet on when the rest of the Xoom community can expect similar treatment, but hit up the source link to read the full e-mail for yourself.

Motorola rolling out 4G LTE upgrade for select Xoom users? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: HTC Puccini in the wild, AT&T LTE support confirmed!

Have a gander. Take as long as you need. That, friends, is the AT&T-bound HTC Puccini, and it’ll be the first tablet to hit Ma Bell with inbuilt LTE support. According to our sources, the Android-based slate is currently in testing, and should be hitting the markets in the not-too-distant future. ‘Course, AT&T just started shipping its first two LTE devices, but having something other than a WWAN modem would certainly be appreciated. As for specs? We’ve confirmed that a 1.5GHz dual-core processor is onboard, alongside 1GB of RAM, Honeycomb, 16GB of storage, an 8 megapixel rear camera and a 10.1-inch WXGA touchpanel. We’re digging for more as we speak, and will be updating accordingly. Meanwhile, feel free to peruse the gallery below — oh, and that “smaller” device? That’s the WiFi-only Flyer that we saw soar through the FCC in April. That’ll be let loose on US shores next month, and we’re sniffing around for a price as we speak.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Exclusive: HTC Puccini in the wild, AT&T LTE support confirmed! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint brings short-term data passes to HTC EVO View 4G, the contract-averse silently applaud

Because tablets were made to consume data, Sprint’s launching an alternative pay model for those hesitant to enter into long-term contracts. Available now from the Hesse-led carrier, HTC EVO View 4G owners can select a per day, week, or even month data pass according to their wireless appetite. If you’re amongst the shackled hordes currently subscribing to a monthly package, you’re gonna have to sit this one out. For the commitment-phobic, however, there’s a $14.99 day plan that nets users 150MB of 3G / 4G use, a $29.99 week plan that ups the ante to 500MB, and the top end $49.99 month pass that serves up 1.5GB of wireless radio soup. In the event you haven’t been sufficiently seduced, the third place network’s even thrown in a “free day” promo pass to get you hooked started on that “third device.” Be sure to head to the source for the full à la carte breakdown.

Sprint brings short-term data passes to HTC EVO View 4G, the contract-averse silently applaud originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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