Hasta La Gadget!

Aiming a cameraphone at a computer monitor conveniently displaying names, dates, and prices of upcoming products always seems to end in sweet, sweet leakage, doesn’t it? New shots over at SprintUsers are showing some low-end noise in the mix like an orange Rumor 2 and a pair of Sammies apparently too lowly to get actual names, but the real news has to be that the long-awaited Touch Pro2 (Sprint should know better than to question HTC’s wisdom in nixing the space between “Pro” and “2” here) looks finalized for a September 8 launch. We wouldn’t freak out at the $599.99 retail price, necessarily — bear in mind that’s a totally unsubsidized, rebate-free price that few customers will actually be paying.

Interestingly, the screencap is accompanied by a PDF identified as an internal “Quick Reference Brief” for the Touch Pro2; part of the doc includes a comparison chart that pits the phone against AT&T’s LG Monaco and HTC Warhawk along with Verizon’s Omnia II, all phones that have yet to be released. Wondering where they’d get the lowdown on unannounced competitive hardware? Us, it turns out — zoom in on the chart for a good look at a super low-res Engadget logo watermarked across the Warhawk. You’re most welcome, Sprint — buy us a drink sometime and we’re square.

[Via wmpoweruser.com]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Touch Pro2 looking good for September 8 launch on Sprint originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint  just turned on WiMAX service in a number of cities last week, and now the carrier is throwing in a little extra motivation for prospective customers: a price cut.

FierceWireless reports that Sprint has quietly lowered the monthly cost of its 4G CDMA/mobile WiMAX service $10 to $69.99 per month. Plus, Sprint is now promising a month of free service as a sign-up bonus.

The carrier is also selling its 3G/4G USB Modem U300 (pictured) for free with a two-year service contract and after rebate, compared to its initial cost of $149 back in December, the report said.

We know of precisely two types of radios going into Heros (or would that be Heroes?) right now: the 900 / 2100MHz 3G for global use that everyone’s using so far, and an 850 / 1900 version for North America that the FCC’s had the pleasure of using. Well, you know how FCC labs work — they get to play with all the toys before anyone else does — and now they’re checking out another version of HTC’s latest and greatest Android device with CDMA / EV-DO. This lends near-infinite credibility to the buzz that Sprint’s signed up to launch the phone this fall, presumably around the same time it drops the InstinctQ from Samsung, at which point it’ll have both the QWERTY and full-touch Android angles covered. Options are good, are they not?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Hero earns FCC approval with CDMA, Sprint launch rumors more solid than ever originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Finally! Although Clearwire turned their WiMax network on in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland earlier this year, Sprint users couldn’t have access to it up until now. That changed today as Sprint said those three cities are ready for Sprint 4G users to jump on board. They join Baltimore, the only city that had official Sprint WiMax service up until now. (We reviewed the service a while ago when it was called Xohm.)

Right now, there’s only one device Sprint is selling for WiMax, the U300 USB modem. Clearwire is selling several different devices for their side of the network, including the Samsung Mondi Windows Mobile handheld and a bunch of modems.

A service plan combining WiMax and Sprint’s national 3G service costs $69.99/month; if you just want to buy a day pass to the WiMax network, it’s $10/day.

According to a Sprint press release, Sprint has several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops and a 4G phone. Back when Sprint 4G was known as Xohm, they already had a data card from Samsung and a bunch of laptops, but pulled them from the market when Sprint changed their strategy.

Also from the press release: Sprint plans to deploy Sprint 4G service in these additional markets in 2009: Chicago, IL; Dallas, Ft. Worth, Philadelphia, PA; Austin, Texas; Abilene, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; Charlotte, N.C.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Greensboro, N.C.; Honolulu, HI; Killeen-Temple, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Maui, Hawaii; Midland-Odessa, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Salem, Ore.; San Antonio, Texas; Seattle, WA: Waco, Texas; and Wichita Falls, Texas. In 2010, Sprint expects to launch service in multiple markets, including Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Color us surprised. After hearing endless complaints about AT&T, especially in discussions of the iPhone, we had a hunch that the big A must be the most hated telecom company in the United States. A survey suggests otherwise.

Global marketing firm J.D. Power on Thursday released results of its wireless customer care survey, which graded telecom companies based on responses from 12,000 customers who contacted their carrier’s customer care department within the past year. Sprint received the lowest grade, scoring 704 out of 1,000 customer satisfaction points. AT&T scored slightly higher, with 730 points. Meanwhile, Verizon, Alltel and T-Mobile tied for first with 747 points.

The study rated customer satisfaction on how well wireless carriers could service their customers by phone, visits to a retail wireless store and on the web. (No, the firm did not poll AT&T customers about Apple’s ban of Google Voice apps for the iPhone.) That’s a small slice of what we consider to be “satisfaction” with a carrier, but too often we hear about AT&T iPhone customers complaining about spotty 3G network performance, dropped calls, poor quality, and the list goes on. (Here at Wired.com we’ve conducted two telecom studies of our own, and the numbers did not look pretty for AT&T.) We expected a lot of peeved AT&T customers to contact customer care to complain, only to be disappointed because most of these problems are network-related and thus not immediately resolvable.

Though the results are a little bland with three carriers tying for first, we find interesting the rather significant point difference between Sprint and the rest of the carriers, even AT&T. We just don’t often hear anyone talk about Sprint. Sprint customers out there: Is your experience really that bad?

See Also:

• Wired.com’s iPhone 3G Survey Reveals Network Weaknesses
• Verizon Leads, AT&T Runs Last in Wired.com’s 3G Speed Test …
• What’s Wrong With the 3G in iPhone 3G?
• IPhone Users Report Network Outages; Second 3G Lawsuit Emerges …
• Suit Alleges AT&T, Apple ‘Oversold’ iPhone, Strained 3G Network …
• How AT&T Stumbled Through the iPhone 3GS Launch

Chart: J.D. Power