MrZorbatron

I do not welcome any part of this.  I don't think T-Mobile really cares about doing anything they say they care about.  I have seen how truly bad their network is in the ways that matter for essential communication, and I want nothing to do with it.  Say what you want about Verizon, but the one thing they have in common with Sprint is that they have historically built out a solid network before trying to make it extremely fast.  I don't care about 50 Mbps to my phone.  I care about calls that don't get disconnected constantly.  I care about that stock trade getting through when I send it, even if carried by EVDO, because EVDO still gets it through.

Sprint's "Outdoor coverage" maps might seem exaggerated to some, but T-Mobile's maps are a complete joke.  Maybe Michigan is a bubble, the only state where this is true, but it really is very true here.  T-Mobile is the network of dropped and undelivered calls, mysterious disconnection, and "call failed" error messages.

If this goes through, look for me at the nearest Verizon store because price to me is absolutely irrelevant.  I see two things happening if this merger goes through:  1:  Sprint spectrum is used to bolster capacity at T-Mobile sites, and 2:  As much of the current Sprint network as possible goes away, even if it means losing sites that would provide valuable fill-in density.  I saw the latter happen with Sprint and Nextel, after they insisted that all Nextel sites that could serve to increase Sprint coverage would be used.  Similarly, there were locations T-Mobile could have used MetroPCS locations to improve their own coverage but didn't, even where it left holes in their network.

Airave 3 isn't a magic box, though.  It requires an internet connection.  I don't even know if the ethernet ports work on the version of the magic box that had them.

Voice over data is still data.

There are still devices that don't support it, so the magic box should support voice.  I'm really annoyed that all of the fill-in coverage around me is just LTE, leaving plenty of small spots where CDMA is weak.

Like it or not, LTE is not going to match CDMA anytime soon for voice performance. It still doesn't on Verizon, it won't on Sprint.  Maybe in a few years with a lot of density improvement, yes, but right now, no.

I would just be happy with one that did voice.

Call the normal 888-211-4727.  If you don't get anywhere, email booster@sprint.com.

You do know that Nexus devices never had a microSD slot so not sure why that is a surprise to you.  Some of the other major flagships don't have that feature either so we just have to deal with it.

 

I am bummed about the lack of OIS if that is true.  Not sure why that compromise was made.  In terms of wireless charging, that does suck but I don't currently use wireless charging so I don't think of it as a deal breaker though at least for me.

Nexus One had SD.

"Tokyo like coverage"....now THAT would be awesome. So these model cities, of sorts, will be the star shining examples of where the network is ultimately headed but we all still get our lovely 2.5, replete with 8t8r radios, beamforming and all? I can get with that.

And let's not forget that Artemis bullshit thing...  

I don't think the Crystal, or even Crystal X, is a flagship class device in Japan.  The 302SH is a better device, even though it's several months older.  I think it's more like the GS4 Mini compared to the GS4, though perhaps not quite so badly decontented.

There's a high chance they will have a high end Sharp phone in the future as well. I doubt they'll bring the crystal X to america as it'll be quite dated in the sea of 805s and 2 carrier aggregation devices that will be popping up in the fall and winter of this year. 

 

This is only just the beginning. 

Not the Crystal X.  Look up the 302SH.  I want that one.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Monsters-from-Asia-the-IP57-certified-Sharp-Aquos-Xx-302Sh-or-the-most-compact-full-fledged-flagship-in-the-world_id54850

http://www.doi-toshin.com/ip57-certified-sharp-aquos-xx-302sh-compact-full-fledged-flagship-world/

I was really hoping for a high end Sharp phone...  This is disappointing that we get the gimped model.

That 1920x1080, IP57, 2.x GHz model looks far more desirable and I probably would buy it as my next phone.

I think/hope the point of it will be to allow you to keep your wifi turned on and get at least some use out of those inconsistent public wifi hotspots which you are currently avoiding. That would be a net gain for Sprint's network.

Then I would expect it to be named "data saver" rather than "download booster" in order to drive that point.  I'm not sure how much of a gain it would be in my case.  I might use up all of .5 - 2MB of Sprint data doing an order which takes 5-10 minutes.  This seems clearly targeted to the heavier user.  The way it looks like it works is to send as much data as possible through each connection in order to get the highest possible download speeds.

This is a stupid idea.  Using the network while in range of wifi will place unnecessary load on the network.  I turn on my wifi as soon as I have data intensive things to do if possible.  I usually don't use it because my Sprint connection tends to be more consistent than public wifi around here and most of what I do is not data intensive, but rather small things like parts orders, electronic mail, etc.

I just hope the providers have a way to turn it off from their end when the user is connected to an overloaded site/carrier.

Consistently the best series on the wall.

Dislike the low resolution and single cellular radio path.