By: Juan March 30th, 2012
The days of Sprint as WiMax’s champion are officially over. Earlier this morning, Bob Azzi, senior vice president of networks at Sprint, told attendees at the Competitive Carriers Global Expo that Sprint is through launching devices that use the WiMax 4G technology. Considering that Sprint announced its first 4G LTE phone at CES, the unreleased Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it’s no surprise that the carrier is throwing focus and resources squarely — and solely — behind LTE. Azzi amplified the sentiment, Fierce Wireless reported. “We are wrapping up final field integration tests,” he told the audience. “The technology works and delivers more benefits than we expected.”
Sprint dared to be different by choosing WiMax as its 4G technology rather than LTE, like its rivals. Riding on WiMax, and partner Clearwire, Sprint made a mark by beating LTE carriers to market with the United States’ first 4G phone, the HTC Evo 4G.
By: Juan March 30th, 2012
PC Magazine’s latest poll reveals that ratings for Windows 7 phones are higher than those for Android or iOS devices according to those polled. There is some nifty information about what was found if you’re interested in reading the article. The article also speculates that store employees and other tech savvy friends of potential buyers tend to steer the interest towards non-Windows 7 devices. Could this really be why sales for Microsoft’s platform are still typically low?
What has been your experience? Would you agree that Windows outperforms the other major platforms? You can read more about this story by clicking here.
By: Juan March 28th, 2012
Sprint is opening to selling a 4G LTE version of Apple’s iPhone, whenever Apple builds a phone running on the latest cellular technology.
Joe Euteneuer, chief financial officer at the nation’s third largest carrier, said Sprint is free to sell a 4G LTE iPhone, but wouldn’t say whether Apple was planning on building such a device, according to a Dow Jones Newswire report.
Currently, Sprint doesn’t offer LTE service (though it does offer its 4G WiMax service). But the carrier will launch its faster, newer 4G network by about the middle of this year in a handful of cities. Sprint has previously said that it plans to have about 15 devices running on its 4G LTE network by the end of the year.
LTE networks promise speeds that can be as much as 10 times faster than 3G service, with theoretical peaks of 300 megabytes per second for downloads and 75 megabytes per second for uploads. Among the nation’s four largest carriers, only AT&T and Verizon currently have LTE networks up and running.
According to the Dow Jones report, Euteneuer also said that Sprint’s contract with Apple to sell iPhones is similar to that of AT&T and Verizon’s.
Traditionally, Apple has launched new iPhones in the summer and fall, and although the tech giant hasn’t said when or if a new iPhone is planned for this year (4G LTE or otherwise), the Sprint executive said it would be ready for a 4G LTE iPhone if one arrives.
By: Juan March 27th, 2012
Hesse received compensation valued at $11.9 million in 2011, when the company’s shares tumbled 45 percent. That compared to $9.07 million in 2010, according to a regulatory filing today. The executive also received stock awards worth $3.22 million and non-equity incentive plan compensation of $4.84 million. Sprint last month said it excluded the cost of the Apple Inc. IPhone from its 2011 bonus calculations for eligible employees.
The Overland Park, Kansas-based carrier reported widening losses last quarter – its first offering the IPhone – signaling the best-selling device may not be helping Hesse turn around the business. The company sold 1.8 million iPhones in the period, fewer than some analysts projected and trailing larger rivals AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless.
By: Juan March 27th, 2012
The new release is a major upgrade over Bluestacks’ alpha version, which was made available for three months last year to early testers and was only able to run nine preselected Android apps. The new beta version, which supports Windows 7, Vista, and XP, gives you access to pretty much any Android app — though not all of them run very well.
Still, it’s a big step for the startup, which made waves last year when it first announced its emulation technology. Dubbed Layercake, the software emulates Android apps written for ARM processors on x86 processor-based Windows PCs. Without such emulation technology, software between the two different chip platforms is fundamentally incompatible (without being recompiled). Emulation is nothing new, but Bluestacks is the first company devoted to bringing the rich variety of Android apps to PCs.
“It’s really a whole new product,” said Bluestacks CEO Rosen Sharma in an interview with VentureBeat yesterday. The company has been working on the emulation technology for two-and-a-half years, Sharma told me, but now its original vision is finally coming into view.
While the Bluestacks software won’t appeal to everyone, it could be useful for those who want to test out Android apps, or users who want access to apps that don’t yet have desktop versions. And judging from the company’s Facebook page — which has garnered 75,000 fans within the past three days, for a total of 286,000 fans — it’s clear Bluestacks has struck a chord with a sizable audience of geeks.
By: Juan March 23rd, 2012
Your Android phone could one day eavesdrop on background noise in voice calls and use it to pick out contextual adverts, if a new Google patent is any indication, with a barrage of sensors tailoring promotions to the user’s environment. The patent, “Advertising based on environmental conditions”, describes using a smartphone’s various sensors – tracking temperature, humidity, sound, light, air composition, location, and speed of movement, or any combination – to help pick mobile adverts that suit the environment the user is currently in. While clever, it’s a system that would likely prompt uproar among privacy advocates should Google ever attempt to implement it.
By: Juan March 23rd, 2012
Sprint Nextel Corp. S -0.18% is offering new lower priced plans on its Boost Mobile pay-as-you-go service in a bid to retain customers in its fastest-growing segment.
At $45 per month, the new Boost offer is $5 less than the starting price of the brand’s current lowest-priced plans. However, customers may eschew the new offering because it doesn’t include unlimited web use and is available only on three phones.
Sprint has had some success drawing customers to its Boost brand through a program that lets users lower their bills by $5 per month following every six on-time payments. Sprint’s prepaid customer rolls grew by 20% last year to 14.8 million, while its contract business shrunk.
By: Juan March 22nd, 2012
Latest Sprint Press Release
In this day and age, pretty much every small business has suffered an IT glitch – a PC on the fritz, a PDA that’s shot, a gummed up printer or application.
If the small business is lucky, there’s a resident tech guru to fix it. If not, some small businesses burn hours of down time waiting for so-called consultants, “amateur techies,” and gadget guys to help – some with little professional training, no insurance, expensive fees, and little hope of fixing the problem.
Sprint (NYSE: S) thinks small businesses deserve better. Today, the company announces the availability of IT Helpdesk, a comprehensive portfolio of IT services tailored to troubleshoot and resolve issues with small businesses’ computers, PDAs and peripherals on both Sprint and non-Sprint devices. The solution is part of the Sprint Biz 360 portfolio www.sprint.com/biz360.
Around the clock every day, IT Helpdesk can assist with all types of software issues on Macintosh and Windows operating systems – from emergency nightmares to day-to-day issues. IT challenges targeted by IT Helpdesk from Sprint range from virus attacks to slow-running computers, setting up new email accounts, and integrating email with mobile devices.
Specifically, IT Helpdesk solutions include:
By: Juan March 22nd, 2012
Reports around the internet are speculating that the Samsung Note will be upgraded to Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich during the second quarter. The Samsung Note is a cross between a cell phone and a tablet and attempts to combine the best of both worlds in one package.
There are also more apps to be available at the same time, namely a Premium Suite.
By: Juan March 21st, 2012
Some big news just hit our desks, folks. Official invites for a special press event hosted by HTC and Sprint is set for April 4 in New York. Headliners are none other than Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and HTC’s president, Jason Mackenzie.
No details yet about what the purpose of this shindig will be; we assume it’s a party since it’s after hours, but I’m thinking it’ll involve the HTC One X. This superphone, which debuted at Mobile World Congress, is the company’s current flagship handset. Perhaps the Sprint model will even boast quad-core power like its global counterpart.
