Hasta La Gadget!

If there’s one device that could save Sprint from a losing battle for customers with wireless giants Verizon and AT&T, it’s the iPhone.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told the company’s board that the carrier agreed to purchase 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Today, a purchase of that size amounts to $20 billion US.

“This is a bet-the-company kind of thing,” The WSJ quoted a person familiar with Sprint’s decision making.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203405504576603053795839250.html#ixzz1ZohCdgwR

Such a large bet on Apple is telling of the drastic measures Sprint is willing to take in order to remain a contender in the wireless carrier arena. The purchase will take a huge chunk out of Sprint’s projected income, but perhaps could help the carrier bounce back after its merger with Nextel in 2005.

Sprint’s lack of carrying the iPhone has been the biggest reason customers leave or switch from Sprint’s network, the Journal reports Sprint CEO Dan Hesse saying. The carrier plans to subsidize each iPhone to about $500 in order to attract buyers and stay competitive with rivals. Currently on AT&T and Verizon an unsubsidized iPhone costs $650.

Spokespersons from Apple and Sprint declined to comment on the rumor.

AT&T was the first carrier to offer the iPhone since the device first launched in 2007, while Verizon joined the club earlier this year. Sales from the iPhone and iPad continue to provide Apple with record profits, which Sprint is hoping to take advantage of. The phone has continued to top the charts with regards to both sales and consumer satisfaction. Mounds of evidence have been stacking up that Sprint will get the iPhone come Tuesday’s press event.

Sprint needs a hit. The carrier’s stock has dropped 80 percent since the iPhone debuted on competing networks. Sprint currently serves only 52 million subscribers (Verizon, for comparison, serves over twice that many).

But now Sprint has a chance to bite into its larger competitors, as consumers will have a third option when it comes to choosing a carrier for their iPhone.

If the next iPhone is 4G, then Verizon, followed distantly by Sprint, would be the speediest option. Tests performed by RootMetrics found that Verizon’s 4G speeds were greater than 10 Mbps about 90 percent of the time, AT&T primarily achieved data speeds of 500 or less Kbps or 1.5 to 3 Mbps, while Sprint’s data speeds varied, but primarily fell in the 5 to 10 Mbps range.

After data-hungry iPhone users began clogging up their networks, both Verizon and AT&T abandoned unlimited data plans. AT&T’s biggest option for iPhone power-users, which provides 4 GB of data per month and unlimited calling and messaging, will currently run you $135 per month. On Verizon, you can get a plan with unlimited voice and messaging and 10 GB of data per month for $170 per month (but if you’re not going to be using data quite so much, it’s $30 to $50 less for a lower data plan).

Sprint, however, still offers an unlimited data package. The plan includes voice, SMS and data service for $100 a month plus a $10 smartphone fee. It’s still a pricey phone, but Sprint’s most expensive plan is still cheaper than comparable ones on AT&T and Verizon.

Oh, iFaithful, your newest Apple phone(s) are only a day away. Which is even more reason to hunker down into this latest chunk of pre-announcement gossip. According to information obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Sprint’s betting the farm on a 30 million-plus order of next-generation iPhones to put it on an even battle ground with heavyweight rivals AT&T and Verizon. The cost of this loss-absorbing gamble? That would be about $20 billion, with the Hesse-led co. subsidizing the $500 cost of each handset. For the third place operator it’s matter of do-or-die, as there really isn’t an alternative to the critically-praised, Jony Ive-designed handset that set off this smartphone race. Hesse’s purported admission to the company’s board that customer churn is directly linked to its iPhone omission only serves to underscore the uncomfortable plight his company faces. It remains to be seen if Sprint can convert its base of 52 million subscribers (mostly pre-paid) into the contracted customers it needs to stay financially afloat. While an iPhone on Sprint certainly seems a given, it’s unclear whether this next device will opt for a WiMAX or LTE radio.

WSJ: Sprint places $20 billion order for next iPhone, hinges company future on Apple’s handset? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

• The top story this week revolves around the HTC Thunderbolt’s long-awaited Gingerbread OTA update. It was finally rolling out, which was exciting news for owners of the device — until it had to be pulled because of some rather significant bugs. The largest of them all was that voicemail notifications no longer worked properly; video chatting through Google Talk was also slightly messed up as well. No word on when we can expect to see it come back with those bugs fixed. [Droid-Life]
• Unfortunately, the Thunderbolt isn’t the only phone falling victim to pulled revamps; the LG Optimus S on Sprint had its Gingerbread update kiboshed, though users have had two weeks to get it — plenty of time for anyone to experience some of the bugs, which included the phone not charging, the SD card not being recognized when the phone’s connected to the computer, no access to data services, and predictive text on the virtual keyboard stopped working. It’s disappointing to see this happen so soon after the Kyocera Echo update went through a similar debacle. [SprintFeed]
• LG Optimus 3D: V10K firmware update, enables phone to convert OpenGL-capable 2D games into stereoscopic 3D. Note: this still runs Android 2.2.2, so we’re still waiting for Gingerbread. [AndroidCentral]
• Motorola Xoom WiFi: Android 3.2.1 is beginning to roll out. [AndroidCentral]
• Dell Streak 7: Honeycomb update rolling out now to unspecified regions [AndroidCentral]
• Asus Eee Pad Transformer: Revamped to Android 3.2.1, adds other bug fixes [AndroidCommunity]
• Casio G’Zone Commando: Gingerbread rolling out now [Droid-Life]
• Motorola Droid 3: Minor maintenance refresh; enhances Google Talk with video chat support, several other fixes. [PhoneDog]
• T-Mobile Samsung Nexus S: OTA install (with option to manually install) to Android 2.3.6; doesn’t appear to break tethering. [AndroidCentral]

Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery

• The Android 2.3.5 ROM for the global Samsung Galaxy S II leaked early this week. [Pocketnow, SamFirmware]
• You can now download the Android 2.3.4 SBF for the Motorola Droid X2, courtesy of XDA. [Droid-Life]
• If you have a Sony Ericsson Xperia-branded device from 2010 or 2011, CyanogenMod7 support will most likely come included as part of an upcoming update. Ten Xperia devices will be added, though a timeframe for release wasn’t announced. Check here to see if your device made the list. [XperiaBlog]

Other platforms

• Check here to see if your phone is ready to receive Windows Phone Mango.
• The ultra-rare AT&T HP Pre 3 just received an OTA update to 2.2.3.2207, right after a new webOS Doctor became available for the same refresh. [PreCentral]

Refreshes we covered this week

• Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update now rolling out
• How to force Mango to your phone right away
• Samsung Taylor receiving Mango?

Refresh Roundup: week of September 26, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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 September 26, 2011:

• Last week we heard the rumor that Sprint would be launching the BlackBerry Curve 9350 on October 2nd, and we’ve finally received the official confirmation. The device will be hitting stores tomorrow for $80 with a two-year contract. [PhoneArena]
• The Motorola Photon WiMAX, referred to as the Photon 4G in the US, is now making its way to Japan as KDDI announced the launch of the device this past Monday. [Motorola]
• Verizon Wireless launched the Pantech Jest 2 this week, which is a feature phone with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. [Verizon Wireless]
• The Samsung Galaxy Y is now listed as “coming soon” on O2’s website, which makes it the second carrier to announce upcoming availability in the UK. The actual date of release, however, is still unofficial. [O2]
• Softbank (Japan) looks ready to land the ZTE Lord V882, which appears to be an Android device running on Gingerbread, and comes packed with a 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 3.8-inch LCD at WVGA resolution and a 5MP camera. [LandofDroid]
• NTT DoCoMo and Orange have teamed up to offer the Sharp AQUOS SH80F, which features dual 8MP stereoscopic cameras and claims to be the world’s first Android device capable of converting 2D content into 3D in real time. It’ll first be launched in France on October 6th and will follow to other European and Asian countries shortly after. [Softpedia]
• Maybe Microsoft Canada just assumed nobody actually reads terms and conditions, because the company outed the names of a few upcoming Windows Phones in the T&C for a developer contest: the Nokia Sabre and a duo of Samsungs named the Yukon and Wembley. The Nokia Searay was also named in the list, indicating the Sabre is a second device running on Mango. [Nokia HDBlog (translated)]
• In preparation for its Windows Phone debut, Nokia is also rumored to be featuring a new voice navigation system with 3D maps, according to some leaked marketing materials. [WinRumors]
• Here’s a rendering of the HTC EVO Design 4G, also known as the Kingdom or Hero S. [Pocketnow]
• Samsung may have a midrange device coming soon to AT&T’s lineup as a complement to the Galaxy S II. We’ve already seen the I857 pass through the FCC and show up in a leaked roadmap, and now it appears to have been dubbed the Doubletime, according to uncovered Cellebrite records. [Pocketnow]
• Also appearing in Cellebrite records are the HTC Vigor (PH98100), Motorola Droid HD (XT912), and the Samsung Nexus Prime (SCH-i515). [Droid-Life]

Mobile Miscellany: week of September 26, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, look at Ma Bell now, wishing it’d all just go away. Tied up in lawsuits, the company has filed motions to dismiss the two complaints brought by Sprint and C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South), which seek to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile. In the filings, it’s argued that the two providers represent their own interests, rather than that of the public. AT&T further reveals that C Spire had pursued private negotiations prior to the lawsuit, where the regional provider agreed to support the merger “if AT&T would agree not to engage in facilities-based competition in Mississippi.” Ma Bell goes on to state, “This inappropriate proposal confirms that what Cellular South fears is competition, not lack of competition.” Given the latest maneuver (which smacks heavily of PR spin), there’s no doubt that lawyers for Sprint and C Spire will have a bit of homework for the weekend.

AT&T asks court to dismiss lawsuits filed by Sprint and C Spire Wireless originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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