Last week rumors and scuttlebutt started popping up that perennial fourth place wireless provider T-Mobile had a new trick up its sleeve that would shoot it into third place passing Sprint. Exactly what the cryptic Project Black (or Project Dark as it’s also known) was and still is unknown.
US friends and lovers: you read the European review and seethed with envy; you read our Sprint review and drooled with delight; now you can buy the HTC Hero yourself and seethe/drool on your own time. Sprint have finally pushed the CDMA HTC Hero out of the door, priced at $179.99 with a new, two-year agreement and following a wretched $100 mail-in rebate.
Samsung only made the Android-based Moment official a few hours ago, but we’ve already been playing with it today. Sprint’s first Android device certainly makes a good first impression, with an eye-catching, color-popping AMOLED touchscreen that’s certainly on a par with its rivals for capacitive touch-sensitivity, though we wish Samsung could’ve put the Moment on a diet before it launched as it’s not the smallest of handsets.
Samsung have announced their first US Android smartphone, the Samsung Moment, and it’s headed exclusively to Sprint. The Moment has a 3.2-inch 320 x 480 AMOLED touchscreen together with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, optical joystick, EVDO Rev.A and WiFi b/g; as a “with Google” device, it has the usual Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and other software.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that AT&T and Verizon had the lions share of the Windows Phone action today, but Sprint would hate for you to think they’re left out. They’ve launched the Samsung Intrepid, at first glance a straightforward candybar handset with a full QWERTY keyboard, but which in fact includes a touchscreen and thus runs Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional rather than Standard.
That’s an unusual form-factor, but other than the display – a 2.5-inch 320 x 240 resistive panel – it’s a reasonably straightforward Windows Phone. As well as EVDO Rev.A the Intrepid supports GSM for international use, together with WiFI and Bluetooth, a 3.2-megapixel camera and GPS.
We weren’t short of praise for the HTC Hero when we reviewed the European GSM model back in July, and since then there’s been no small amount of anticipation for the US version of the device. That arrives on Sprint come October 11th, and we’ve been playing with it to see whether its lost its charm in the journey across the Atlantic.
Having played with the Palm Pixi early last month, we’ve been looking forward to the super-slim candybar’s full launch and the opportunity to take the second webOS smartphone for a second spin. According to the Boy Genius Report’s latest source, the Pixi is set to hit shelves – in both Sprint and Best Buy retail locations – on October 20th, which if true means there are only a few weeks to wait.
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Considering the Sprint HTC Touch Pro2? We'd find something else to do today besides head down to your local Sprint store, given that the latest leaks from the carrier tip an imminent price cut for the Windows Mobile smartphone. As of October 1st, the Pro2 will apparently be $199.99 with a new two-year agreement and following a mail-in rebate.
Palm have finally pushed out their latest update for the Palm Pre, webOS 1.2.0, a 79MB over-the-air firmware install that adds support for paid apps, Amazon MP3 downloads while on a mobile network (rather than WiFi) and cut/copy/paste support of text in the web browser. There’s also a new gesture – swiping down from the top of the screen toward the bottom – which opens the application/connection menu, together with music playback controls on the lock screen.
However what hasn’t changed is iTunes compatibility, with the Pre still unable to sync with Apple’s media software after the Cupertino company changed their settings to block the Palm smartphone. Recently Palm was scolded by the USB-IF for their attempts to circumnavigate Apple’s settings by using an iPod USB identification number.
Samsung’s original Instinct surprised many when an eager public turned it into one of Sprint’s most successful devices, so it’s little surprise that the carrier are now expecting similarly impressive things from its successor, the Instinct HD. High-Definition is certainly one of the more popular buzzwords around right now, so you can’t argue with Sprint’s branding onus; the big question is whether the device itself lives up to the billing. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
SlashGear Japan
