Carriers

May

Sprint Signs Contract With WSCA That Nets The Carrier $2B Over Four Years

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Sprint

Sprint's money troubles are no secret to anyone. After losing out on the Lightsquared deal, not to mention the decreased revenue from the iPhone deal (which should pay off in the long run), Sprint has had trouble making ends meet in the short term. Thanks to a new deal signed with the Western States Contract Alliance (WSCA), Sprint will receive $2bn in revenue over the next four years in exchange for its wireless services. Big customer.

It's not enough to offset the absolute thrashing that Sprint's finances have taken recently. When the carrier is taking losses a billion dollars in one quarter, two billion over 16 of them seems like a drop in the bucket.

May

Droid Does Campaign Decides To Trade In World Domination For A More Family-Friendly Image

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Verizon Wireless

There comes a time in every action hero's life where he gets tired of the explosions and the fighting and race horses duct taped to SCUD missiles, and longs for a simple life. Camping and going on road trips with the family, getting a nice office job, sending your daughter off to get kidnapped in Paris. Verizon's Droid Does campaign has hit a similar milestone. After very successfully selling a metric ton of Android devices with harsh, scary looking robot arms and not to mention evil, horror-esque iPhone taunts, the ad campaign is going for a less threatening and more heart-warming approach.

May

Sprint Rolling Out A Fix (FD02) For That Pesky No Data Problem For Galaxy Nexus Users

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Sprint

Remember that problem Galaxy Nexus devices were having on Sprint where owners couldn't get any connection to any data network at all? Well, if you happened to be one of those owners, how could you forget? Worry not, though! Sprint just announced it will be rolling out a fix over "a 1-2 day period."

You'll need to be connected to a WiFi network to do anything (though this shouldn't be new to you if you're affected by this problem). Hopefully this will be the end of the data issues for Galaxy Nexus owners on Sprint. If you've been among those affected, let us know in the comments if this fix works for you.

Apr

Sprint's Galaxy Nexus Gets Treated To CM9 Nightlies, ClockworkMod Recovery

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Nexus / Nexus Prime, Mods, News, Sprint

Despite recent reports of data connectivity issues, it looks like owners of Sprint's Galaxy Nexus have a couple of things to be excited about as we head into the new week.

First off, the CyanogenMod team has begun cooking up CM9 Nightlies for the device, offering users a nightly dose of cutting-edge, ICS-powered code.

Additionally, the Sprint-connected Nexus is now privvy to its own builds of ClockworkMod's recovery solution – both touch and otherwise.

With official CyanogenMod nightly builds and access to what is widely considered one of the most popular recovery options available, it looks like Sprint's Galaxy Nexus is already off to a great start in the modding community.

Apr

T-Mobile Galaxy SII, Sensation, Amaze Planned ICS Update Dates Leaked Along With A Few New Devices, Launch Dates

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Leaks, News, T-Mobile

Giving T-Mo customers a few things to look forward to in the coming months, a roadmap of planned release/update dates leaked earlier today, revealing the proposed dates for several new device launches, as well as dates on which users can expect updates to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Before we take a look at the leaked screenshot, though, it's worth noting that these dates are of course subject to change, especially considering this chart wasn't meant for public viewing.

As you can see, T-Mo's Galaxy SII is looking to catch up to its global counterpart with an update to Ice Cream Sandwich on May 14th, while HTC's Amaze and Sensation 4G will be waiting till June 16th.

Apr

Some Sprint Galaxy Nexus Owners Are Experiencing Data Connection Problems, Sprint/Samsung Working On A Fix

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Sprint

If you're on the Sprint network, and you're thinking about upgrading to the Galaxy Nexus, you might want to hold off for a bit. Some users in Sprint's forums are reporting that they are unable to connect to Sprint's 3G data network, instead only able to get data via WiFi. Ouch.

Said one user, who attached the above screenshot:

I've attached a screen shot from RF Signal Tracker.
It shows EVDO-A is available and a "Network State" of "CONNECTING"
Every now and then it will get a data connection and the network state changes to CONNECTED, but that will only last for a few seconds. It doesn't matter if I'm in an area with 2bars or 5 bars, same results. I've tried toggling all of the differnt options under Mobile Networks.

Apr

Republic Wireless Begins Sending Out Invites To Its Beta Program, Announces Plans For Future Device Availability

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Republic Wireless

No, Republic Wireless hasn't merged with Google as per the Internet's dreams, but it has begun issuing invites to its upcoming beta service.

Indeed, those who signed up for the service a few months back should soon be assigned a "wave" of the beta. Following this assignment, the lucky few will be secured a spot on Republic's waiting list, and the waves will start opening up this summer.

But the real news here is the smartphone pricing that's been sent out to beta customers. Unfortunately, Republic Wireless didn't provide device names or any details of that sort; all that's been disclosed are three price points and some specs.

Apr

[Leak] Verizon's Update List Slips Out The Backdoor, HTC Rezound, Motorola Droid RAZR/MAXX, and Xoom 3G/4G To Receive ICS

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Verizon Wireless

It's April now, a solid five months or so after the Ice Cream Sandwich source code dropped. We've all been waiting eagerly for our old devices to see Google's latest and greatest. Today, on Reddit, a Verizon employee dropped some slides that detail Verizon's plans for ICS launches. Notable devices include the HTC Rezound, the Motorola Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX, as well as the premiere Google tablet, the Xoom 3G/4G.

According to the documents, the Rezound should be seeing an update to ICS on May 9th, while the RAZR/MAXX pairing will be receiving the update later in the month, on the 21st.

Apr

HTC One S On T-Mobile Available Today For $199 With Two-Year Agreement

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, One S (Ville), T-Mobile

Today's the day, T-Mobile customers: the HTC One S is officially available. This new flagship could be the hottest thing T-Mobile has ever seen, with all the specs of a modern-day powerhouse:

4.3-inch Super AMOLED display
1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage
8MP rear shooter, 1.3MP front camera
1650mAh battery
Android 4.0 with Sense 4

If you're still not convinced that this is the best thing that has ever happened to T-Mobile, check out our review of the One S. That should convince you.

The device is available now both online and in stores for $199 with a two-year agreement, so hit the link (or hit the store) to grab yours.

Apr

Galaxy Note For T-Mobile Spotted In The Wild, Probably Not Difficult Since It's Visible From Space

Posted by David Ruddock in Galaxy Note, News, T-Mobile

OK, as much as I like to make fun of the Note, it's actually a pretty awesome phone that a lot of people want, and so news that it's coming to T-Mobile is nothing to scoff at. Photos published by TmoNews all but confirm the gargantuan Galaxy is headed to America's pinkest (and leatheriest) carrier, giving credence to a UA string and some FCC filings unearthed last week. Check out this shot, taken from miles above the earth's surface by a top-secret spy satellite:

Joking aside, this (and the other images at TmoNews) clearly show that the Note will be available on T-Mobile (running Android 4.0, no less) sooner rather than later, which is definitely a reason for Note fans to get excited.