Hasta La Gadget!

The iPhone 5 will come to Sprint’s network in mid-October, according to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.

That’s also the time frame that Apple’s next-gen iPhone is expected to land on larger U.S. carriers Verizon and AT&T.

It’s been widely reported that Apple is testing LTE models of the iPhone, but it’s unclear if LTE will be embraced in the iPhone 5, or a later model. Generally, the iPhone 5 is pegged to look similar to the iPhone 4, with a speedy A5 processor, an 8-megapixel camera, a flat metal back and curved glass front, and possibly NFC technology. And as is the case with many Apple products, a large portion of the public is anxiously awaiting Apple’s release of the iPhone 5.

Speculation initially suggested September as the expected launch month for the iPhone 5, but the Journal’s report seems to corroborate with an October launch date rumor that’s been perpetuated for the past few weeks.

In the past, the iPhone has typically been unveiled in June, and up until this past January, was only available on AT&T’s network.

It’s not too surprising that the iPhone will finally be available on Sprint, as a market analyst pointed out earlier this summer. It would provide Apple with increased distribution, which it desperately needs to battle the multiplying ranks of Android smartphone owners.

When the iPhone 5 launches on Sprint, the carrier will also begin selling the iPhone 4, according to the Journal.

Photo: Sam Gustin/Wired.com

United Airlines and Apple announced today that the airline will deploy 11,000 iPads for its United and Continental pilots. This is the first major airline to replace paper flight manuals with electronic flight bags, or EFBs.

“The paperless flight deck represents the next generation of flying,” said Captain Fred Abbott, United’s senior vice president of flight operations, in a press release. “The introduction of iPads ensures our pilots have essential and real-time information at their fingertips at all times throughout the flight.”

Alaska Airlines ditched paper charts for iPads in June, following Executive Jet Management’s lead. The FAA allowed the company’s pilots to use iPads as their primary source of information starting in February. Delta has also been testing out tablets with their pilots. They are first testing the iPad, and then will test the Motorola XOOM.

Just like on land, Apple’s iPad is dominating the scene.

“What makes the iPad more attractive, in comparison to its competitors, is that it is extremely stable and is less likely to experience a system crash. Even if that did occur, the reboot time is one of the fastest in the tablet market,” said Resolve Market Research analyst Kari Cafouros. “These advantages are more appealing to companies when choosing to give out tablets to their employees, compounded by the fact that they know their employees already want the device for personal usage.”

The switch to tablets on board aircraft isn’t just good for Apple. United’s plan will save 16 million sheets of paper and 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year, because each 1.5-pound iPad will take the place of about 38-pounds of operating manuals, flight charts and checklists, logbooks, and informational papers pilots normally reference. Paper-based flight bags normally house over 12,000 sheets of paper… per pilot.

The iPads will run software called Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck, which includes interactive route navigation information and geo-referenced terminal charts.

Image courtesy United Continental Holdings

According to the Wall Street Journal, the iPhone 5 is coming to Sprint. The usual sources “familiar with the matter” said that Sprint customers can expect to grab it in mid-October—exactly when everybody else is expected to get it. More »

Apple is suing Motorola, Samsung and HTC; they’re all suing Apple back. RIM and Kodak are suing each other. Kodak is suing Apple. Sony is suing LG. Microsoft is suing FoxConn and Barnes and Noble. Oracle is suing Google. More »

While the world waits to find out what the fifth-generation iPhone looks like, TechCrunch reports an anonymous app developer has pulled information from their registration logs confirming the existence of a new device that’s rocking both CDMA and GSM radios. That conclusion is based on registrations that came from the same device that show mobile network codes and mobile country codes from both AT&T and Verizon. This is hardly shocking however, since the Verizon iPhone 4 already has a dual mode chipset from Qualcomm with the GSM side turned off, and we’d heard back in January that Apple was planning to go the one-size-fits-all route this time around. Who this does matter for however, could be world travelers that will find keeping their device connected between countries and networks much easier with a world iPhone, whenever the new phone is revealed later this year. The bad news is still the same however, as this probably also means there’s no plans for speedy LTE access — pencil in a pithy explanation from Steve about why it’s not necessary here.

App logs reportedly confirm dual mode CDMA / GSM iPhone 5 in testing originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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