Hasta La Gadget!

This week, as always, 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 September 5, 2011:

• It appears that Sprint employees are being informed that vacation requests anytime between September 30th and October 15th won’t be approved, due to “the possibility of a major phone launch in October.” Vacation blackouts are typically used during certain times of the holiday season, so the timing on this particular memo is a bit striking — as usual, we invite you to come to your own conclusions here. [via SprintFeed]
• Two BlackBerry devices breathed life on T-Mobile this week in the form of leaks. First, the Curve 9360 began showing up on marketing material focusing specifically on its prepaid campaign, which says the device will be offered for $230 without having to sign a new contract. It didn’t mention the on-contract price, but if all goes according to rumors, it’ll likely be out this time next week (September 14th, to be specific). [via TmoNews]
• Speaking of the Curve 9360, the phone will probably be hopping across the pond to a Carphone Warehouse near you (if you live in the United Kingdom, that is). It’s ready for pre-order now on the retailer’s site with a prepaid option for $200. Not bad for a brand-new BlackBerry at full retail cost. [via TechnoBuffalo]
• The second BlackBerry we saw leaked for T-Mobile this week was the Torch 9860, which may have been discovered in T-Mo’s inventory system, according to a leaked screenshot. This doesn’t help us know the date or pricing of the new Torch, but it does signify that it’s likely just around the corner. [via TmoNews]
• It’s possible that the Droid Prime and Nexus Prime have passed through Bluetooth and WiFi certification. Since names were not provided in the documentation, we’re left to speculate using the devices’ model numbers — rumored to be the SCH-I515 and GT-I9250. We’re naturally skeptical, but we’ll keep a close eye on the FCC in hopes that we’ll see these mystery devices pop up soon with at least a few revealing details. [via Droid-Life]
• We’ve been expecting the recently announced Samsung Galaxy W to arrive this month in the UK, but all of our sights have been set on Three as the only known carrier… until now. O2 placed a teaser page on its website this week, listing the Galaxy W as “coming soon: September.” [via MobileBurn and AndroidCentral]

Mobile Miscellany: week of September 5, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Sep 2011 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Verizon iPhone 4 allowed the iPhone to act like a phone again. Photo: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

The iPhone undoubtedly is among the most popular phones ever, and yet another survey shows it continues resonating with consumers.

In J.D. Powers’ semi-annual customer satisfaction survey, Apple’s iPhone takes the top spot yet again, making it the top smartphone brand five years running. Apple scored an 838 on the survey’s measure of performance, ease of operation, features, and physical design. HTC scored second place with 801.

“Our results are based on consumer experience. The intuitiveness of the device itself and ease of operation are important factors, and are cornerstones to most of Apple’s products,” says Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates.

The online survey uses daily interviews to poll current owners of branded smartphones and people who don’t own a smartphone. The data is then collapsed into six month periods, so if you get a phone that’s well received, that manufacturer’s score rises accordingly.

“HTC and Motorola’s scores were closer overall to Apple last year than this year,” said Parsons.

“The iPhone is a beautiful jewel of a device, and it works just the way it should. It’s intuitive, and it’s dead simple,” says Leander Kahney, editor and publisher of Cult of Mac (and a former Wired.com managing editor and news editor). “It’s taken the pain out of personal computing in so many different ways.”

The iPhone has helped propel Apple to record revenues since its debut, breaking several sales records along the way. It was among the first smartphones to successfully implement a touchscreen and ditch the keyboard, making it utterly unlike peers like the first generation Sidekick phones, which featured QWERTY keyboards and no onscreen touch controls. With the introduction, and continued popularity, of the Apple App Store, the iOS solidified itself as a robust, capable platform on the iPhone.

Although the endless stream of rumors can get tiresome, the iPhone remains a buzz magnet because Apple’s upcoming products and technological developments are so closely guarded.

“Apple is so secretive. It’s such an aggressive company. There’s this great anticipation that they’re going to push the state of the art even further,” Kahney says. According to J.D. Powers and Associates, that certainly helps Apple stay at the top of the rankings.

“It’s not unexpected that satisfaction is higher for devices that have new technological advances or features,” said Parsons in the press release.

Or that consumer anticipation rises when those new technological advances get close to their release date.

For instance, reports of the iPhone coming to Sprint in October have persisted for the last few months, with analysts corroborating the move. But it now looks like Sprint not only will have the iPhone, they’ll be offering up unlimited data plans for the handset, too. Competitors Verizon and AT&T already have killed their unlimited data plans. Sprint currently offers a $100 unlimited data plan for BlackBerry smartphones and the HTC Evo.

Reports that ship times for the iPhone 4 were delayed, followed by the removal of shipping times on the Apple website’s product pages, the feeling that the next chapter in the iPhone saga is near has become practically palpable.

Here’s the word straight from Bloomberg‘s unnamed sources: Sprint’s not only getting the elusive iPhone 5 — it’s keeping an unlimited data plan around just to sway buyers who may otherwise spring for the AT&T / Verizon Wireless variants. Furthermore, these folks in-the-know have good reason to believe that it’ll be launched “next month,” which gives Apple a shockingly small amount of time to invite us over for a west coast reveal. As it stands, the only folks who’ll get limitless data with an iPhone 5 on its existing US carriers are those with grandfathered plans; any new customers on Ma Bell or Big Red will be forced to select one of many tiered options. Not surprisingly, neither Sprint nor Apple are commenting on the story, but if it all proves true, Sprint can definitely hang its hat on having one serious competitive advantage.

[Thanks, Prhime]

Sprint rumored to retain unlimited data with iPhone 5 launch, prove unicorns are indeed legit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that didn’t take long. Sprint today revealed that it has filed a suit against AT&T’s proposed T-Mobile purchase — and now AT&T is hitting back with some less than flattering words. An AT&T spokesperson told Engadget, “this simply demonstrates what we’ve said all along — Sprint is more interested in protecting itself than it is in promoting competition that benefits consumers.” AT&T went on to promise a “vigorous fight” and reiterated that such a merger would ultimately prove beneficial to the industry and consumers, improving wireless service and solving spectrum concerns.

AT&T fires back against Sprint over T-Mobile acquisition suit originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s nothing new whatsoever about high-demand phones becoming available for preorder, but it’s not every day that you get a discount for being the first kid on the block to get one. As if there’s any concern about pushing inventory of the Samsung Epic 4G Touch — Sprint’s variant of the Galaxy S II — Wirefly is making the phone even more enticing by slashing $50 off the cost, bringing it down to $150 when signing up for a two-year agreement. Doing the math a different way, lighter on the checkbook plus a Samsung Galaxy S II equals happiness. Head to the source link to check out the deal.

Samsung Epic 4G Touch available for pre-order on Wirefly, early adopters get a $50 price break originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 03:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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