Samsung Galaxy Tab Available for Preorder by Sprint Premier Customers

For the next three days, Sprint will be taking preorders for their version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The seven inch tablet is expected to be a major iPad competitor, and has been announced for T-Mobile and Verizon, too. The Galaxy Tab features a seven inch capacitive touchscreen, dual cameras, and Android 2.2. The tablet also has support from Google and features the Android Market and Google apps, something that some other tablets have failed to get. The tablet has already been reviewed by a few sites, such as Engadget, with one of the major complains being that some of the apps don't scale properly for the different screen size of the Galaxy Tab. Pricing is $400 with a new two year contract, and the smallest data plan is $29 a month for 2 GB of data. Oh, and for all you 4G fans out there, this is a 3G only device, so sadly no Wimax.

Sprint 4G Launched In Five New Markets, Including New York City

Sprint has finally launched WiMax in New York City, along with Hartford, New Haven, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Tampa. For everybody out there with 4G devices, this means you can finally get a taste of 4G speeds in all these locations. The addition of these five markets brings the total number of markets with 4G coverage to 61, which is a good number considering that no other wireless carrier has publicly launched a 4G network yet. (Sprint)

Samsung Intercept Now Available on Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile, the prepaid, no-contract carrier that operates on the Sprint network, is now offering the Samsung Intercept. The Intercept, which is an entry-level Android handset that has been available from Sprint, features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen, and Android 2.1. The phone is the first Android handset to be available from Virgin Mobile. The Intercept will cost $249, but you won't have a contract to deal with when buying the phone, and can cancel your service at any time without an early-termination fee. (Sprint)

Sprint Announces the Samsung Transform Android Phone

Sprint is on a roll with new Android phones today, and the first phone we have is the new Samsung Transform. The Transform comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, front and back facing cameras, and will launch with 2.1, but will be upgraded by the end of the year to Froyo. The front facing camera is VGA quality and the back facing camera is 3.2 megapixels. The Transform will be available on October 10 for $149 from Sprint. If you didn't notice, the phone doesn't support Sprint 4G, which means there will be no $10/month charge for getting the phone. (Sprint)

Epic 4G Coming August 31 for $249

For everybody waiting for Sprint's next 4G phone, the Epic 4g now has a release date and pricing. The phone will be released on August 31 for $249 with a mail-in rebate and new two year contract. The phone, a part of the Galaxy S series from Samsung, features a slide out QWERTY keyboard, Android 2.1, and a Super AMOLED display. The phone will also pick up your 4g signals whenever you are in a service area. The phone will also let you chat with your EVO owning friends with a front facing VGA camera in addition to the normal 5 megapixel camera. It also has a mobile hotspot function for five devices and a Samsung 1 GHz processor. Sprint says that the phone will get Froyo (Android 2.2) within the coming months. Engadget/

Samsung Restore Eco Phone Now Available

If you didn't like the design of the Samsung Reclaim but still wanted to be eco-conscious, you now have another option in the Samsung Restore. The phone is similar to the Samsung Rant in design, but with more curved edges. It will have the same interface as standard Sprint feature phones with One Click, and has the slide out QWERTY keyboard, a two megapixel camera, and a memory card slot. The phone is available for $49.99 with a new two year contract.

Samsung Seek Touch Screen Messaging Phone

For all of those users out there feeling feature phones, Samsung is now giving you a new one with the Samsung Seek. On the outside of the phone there is a nice large touch screen, slide out QWERTY keyboard, 1.3 megapixel camera, and MicroSD slot. When you look at the software of the phone, however, you will see that the interface is very similar to the Samsung Instinct software. The phone even has the three buttons below the screen that were on the Instinct to go with the large on screen buttons, for better or for worst. One of the best things about the phone is that it is free with a new two year contract, and is available in red, blue, or pink.

New Sprint 4G Phone Rumored to Be Out By End of Year

As if the HTC Evo 4G wasn't a mouthful, there will be another Android 4G phone that should hit the market by the end of 2010, the Samsung Galaxy S Pro. Although Samsung has already announced their Samsung Galaxy S, that device was for GSM networks (likely coming to T-Mobile), but now we have our own Samsung goodness.

Early hands on with the unannounced device have determined that there is a "Sprint 4G" logo on the back, meaning that it would with the WiMax network where it comes out. The phone should also be coming out with a VGA front facing camera (for making calls to all those Evo owners), a Samsung 1 GHz processor (somewhat similar to a Snapdragon), a Super AMOLED screen (thing BRIGHT, even in direct sunlight), and a five megapixel camera back facing camera that can record in 720p.

But those are all the normal features, the real draw to the phone is that it should have a slide out QWERTY keyboard! You heard right. So anybody that was holding off on the Evo because it didn't have a real keyboard to type out all those emails (if you couldn't just use the gigantic screen), well this might just be your dream 4G phone.

The phone should come with Android 2.1, which will hopefully change before or soon after with Froyo being released, along with Touch Wiz 3.0 layered on top. It should also come with all the typical Sprint software, like Sprint TV, for those that use the services.

Hopefully this turns out to be one heck of a phone for Sprint 4G, and for Sprint in general, because of its differences and similarities to the Evo. Now if we can just work on that battery life and coverage of our WiMax then we would be all set with our new WiMax phones. (Softpedia)

HTC Evo Breaks Sales Records

The HTC Evo, Sprint's new superphone, has broken sales records for the carrier. Although false numbers were first reported because of an error in calculations, it has now been determined that the phone has now sold twice the amount during launch days than the Palm Pre, and six times greater than the Samsung Instinct. Because there were so many activations on launch day, Sprint's activation servers crashed and made it a very long process to get the phones activated. Stores eventually resorted to calling into Sprint to activate the phones. Hopefully the activation issues were from subscribers coming from other carriers and needing new accounts, but we will have to see how many new subscribers Sprint gained from the Evo when results from the quarter have been released. (Sprint)(Engadget)

New Smartphone Low Prices

Starting this week, multiple smartphones from Sprint have dropped in price. Here are a few of the dropped phones:

Palm Pixi: $49 (was $99)
HTC Hero: $149 (was $179)
Samsung Moment: $99 (was $179)
Blackberry Tour: $99 (was $149)

Maybe the most notable of these smartphones is the Palm Pixi, which is only a couple of months old. If this is anything like the Pre, the price has dropped so soon because of weak sales. The launch of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on Verizon might have a hand in that, though. The Moment is now a great deal if you are looking for an Android phone, especially with the full keyboard and Android 2.1 coming soon. If you are in the market for any new Sprint smartphone, though, now would be the time to buy for low prices. But if you are looking to get the latest and greatest, these price drops might just mean we are going to be getting some new smartphones soon, such as the Bold. (Sprint)

Samsung Moment Coming Soon

The Android revolution is here, and it's coming fast. Now that there are more Android phones coming, and not all the phones are on T-Mobile anymore in the form of the G1 and the My Touch 3G, people are starting to realize that Android is a powerful platform. The OS has already come to Sprint on the HTC Hero, but it was covered over with the (great) HTC Sense UI. Although the HTC
Sense UI is great, some people would prefer the stock Android OS without Sense. Welcome Samsung Moment. The Moment is the second device that will be coming for Sprint, and will probably be the second that isn't from T-Mobile. Although it doesn't seem to have as solid as a build as the Hero, it features a faster processor and a slide out keyboard. The phone also features an optical touch pad, similar to the new Blackberry's, which is a nice touch instead of the trackball that HTC has put on their Android phones. The Moment is geared more towards users that want a keyboard on a phone, not just a full touch screen. This will be a great device for that market, and will be a solid smartphone to Sprint's already robust smartphone lineup. Expect to see the Moment sometime in November.