pyroscott

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 23 January 2012 I was told by a sprint store rep that they don't order big bulk orders of phones and that is why they are not able to compete with the sales that Best Buy, Walmart etc can offer. That being said, I can't imagine that the manufacturers would want to build phones for a carrier that doesn't at least guarantee a certain sales number. The amount of R&D they put into developing all the radios to run on Sprint's frequencies would require a certain sales number so they could set a price and actually make money off the handset. I would think that sales numbers are slowing and the stores still need to make money to justify their existence.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012 @S4GRU I forgot about that. I do the same. Although I have done some wifi music transfers that I started on my way to bed, plugged the phone into the dock and in the morning it was complete. The USB 3.0 that is in the works will speed it up too, but who knows how far off that is...

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 16 January 2012 I really like the ability to add storage with a micro SD but the manufacturers are releasing more and more storage on board the phones. At this point I think I would give up the SD slot for Sim slot as long as there is 32 GB+ memory

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 15 January 2012 Will sprint have to include Sim cards with their LTE devices? I think Verizon has them for their LTE devices. Well it allow customers to swap the Sim like GSM and IDEN phones?

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 19 January 2012 Agreed, I don't know why they even bother building the lower end phones. I don't think I have even bought a phone that wasn't a flagship device.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 19 January 2012 They released the Motorola Admiral in November, but that was a midrange phone similar to a blackberry.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 19 January 2012 I suppose a lot of it depends on how the RAZR idea was thought up. Motorola might have given Verizon a period of exclusivity with the device and planned on rolling it out to other carriers, or it could have been totally exclusive with no other release. Whatever the case, I hope the monster battery this beast is packing catches on. If they can put a 3300 mAh battery in a RAZR, they can put it in about anything.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 19 January 2012 While Motorola's current incarnation of the RAZR is clearly not as successful as the first RAZR, it is a powerful, beautiful, extremely thin phone. The RAZR Maxx manages to pack a 3300 mAh battery while staying under 9 mm thick. Will we see this phone, or one very much like it, released in Sprint's stable of LTE phones? It has been 6 months since the Photon was released, could Moto be bringing something big to the LTE table?

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 13 January 2012 While it was widely speculated that when the iPhone 4S was released, it might be a Sprint exclusive, it was not. Now the Kansas City Buisness Journal is speculating in the article " Sprint’s iPhone deal may get much better, analyst says" that thanks to the lackluster marketing that Verizon and AT&T have put forth on the iPhone (probably figuring that it sells itself) that Apple may enter in an exclusive deal with Sprint. Apple may also include T-Mobile, Metro PCS and Leap wireless. A twist on this is that if the iPhone 5 supports LTE, and Sprint and Apple agreed that Sprint would be exclusive when they agreed to buy roughly $15 billion in iPhones from Apple during the next four years it could be the answer of why Sprint made the switch to LTE and why Sprint is so agressive with their network vision plan and rolling out LTE. How great would it be for Sprint if they were the lone US carrier with the LTE equipped iPhone 5? Would their network even handle that stress without clearwire and/or LS2? If this speculation is true, I would be buying shares of Sprint in droves!

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 18 January 2012 I would take their green movement more seriously if they offered a flagship quality phone that met the UL IRS 110 standards. I agree with you legion, the phones they have released have been underpowered and in my opinion, used their "green" status as a selling point instead of the attributes of the phone. The LG Viper doesn't meet the UL IRS 110 standards but is still greener than most other phones. It, however, is another midrange phone.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 18 January 2012 First we saw Sprint release the Samsung Replenish, which had many components made of recycled materials as well as being largely recyclable. We were enticed to buy it because it was an Android smartphone that had the $10 monthly fee forgiven. It was easy to dismiss the first phone to meet UL ISR 110 standards as a way for Sprint to reach out to earth-friendly buyers, but it may have just been the start to a sweeping change for Sprint. It is being reported by ecogeek.org that "Sprint hopes to have 70 percent of its handsets meet the certification by the end of next year." That's a lofty goal, but it has been in the works for a while with sprint already requiring packaging to be earth friendly. So, how do you feel about your next phone possibly being earth friendly? Do you love it? Hate it? Not care?

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 3 February 2012 If I knew how to write apps I would help. I need to read up on it I think...

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 3 February 2012 Yesterday I posted that RIM was accepting Android apps to insert in their market as long as any references to Android or Android market were removed. Apparently, they are now taking it a step further and giving a free playbook to any Android developer who ports their app over to Blackberry. I wonder if this will spur development for Blackberry?

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 5 February 2012 Very true, when software is being developed, it goes through various stages. First is alpha build, which is the very bare-bones framework of the software. Barely anything works in an alpha and if you are not careful or know what you are doing, you can brick your phone. Furthermore, the developers don't want people who load up an alpha build to submit bug reports. Beta build is when the developer has worked out most of the kinks. There may still be some non-working components like GPS, 4G etc, but the OS is stable enough and has enough components that it could be a daily OS for someone. On a beta build, the developers release it for users to test and submit bug reports. After Beta testing has completed and the developer feels that the software is stable and every piece of hardware is supported, it becomes a release candidate. Many times, the release candidate is tested shortly and released. Sometimes it can go through several stages, but if updates are easily distributed, the developer may release it right away without much testing, figuring they will release an update to fix any bugs that surface after release. Hope that little vignette on software development helps.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 4 February 2012 As of February 1st, Cyanogen Mod published CM9 for the E4GT on XDA. This is an Alpha build, which means it is highly experimental and has many components that do not function yet, but this is great news for E4GT owners itching for ice cream sandwich. Samsung has said that they will have ICS for the international version of the GSII released by the end of the first quarter. That probably means that the E4GT will be sometime after that (possibly weeks or months). CM9 will give E4GT owners ICS sooner and some might say it will be a better version by the exclusion of touchwiz and being AOSP based. Hopefully they get everything working perfect sooner than later. It was a good thing when the cyanogen mod team had a E4GT donated for development.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 18 January 2012 I agree, WP is an experience similar to iOS, and they really need to allow some customization. They can give the user some control without losing the smoothness of the OS. It seems like they have a death grip on everything to do with the OS. From hardware requirements to lack of customization. I, for one, do not like my OS to micromanage my user experience and that is the main reason why I continue to use android devices.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 17 January 2012 A lot of the success of a platform depends on the marketing, which is often done by the carriers. Also, Sprint may know something we don't. The WP platform may be changing to allow more customization and compete more with Android instead of iOS, or Microsoft may be gearing up to aggressively market their platform towards the end of the year and Sprint wants some fresh handsets instead of stale ones.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 17 January 2012 We know how the lack of the iPhone hurt Sprint for years with customers bolting to AT&T first, then Verizon to get their hands on the coveted device. Sprint's distaste for the windows operating system has been well documented recently with Sprint calling the HTC Arrive a flop and saying they would not release another WP until around September. AT&T on the other hand has become very close to the struggling operating system recently with several powerful windows phones joining their lineup. I could see Apple being vindictive and refusing to release any new devices to that carrier to "punish" them for not being fully invested in their product, but would Microsoft do the same? Down the road, windows phone may become a powerhouse, and Microsoft may choose to ignore Sprint and release their best devices on other carriers. They might also give up on their mobile OS and disappear.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 27 January 2012 I can't see Apple or Google putting money into the same plan, not because it wouldn't be effective, but because they are arrogant. Microsoft knows that they need market share or they are dead in the water. The effectiveness depends a lot on how well this program is implemented. If AT&T cooperates and makes it work, it could sell a lot of phones. If it gets caught up in bureaucracy, it will be a waste of time and money.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 26 January 2012 Microsoft plans to spend $200 million in incentives for AT&T sales associates for recommending windows phones. According to Android Authority Microsoft and partners will pay $10 to $15 per Windows Phone sale to AT&T sales associates who recommend the platform to the customer. With $200 million behind this promotion that could mean between 13 and 20 million handsets could be sold through AT&T alone before this promotion runs out. Looks like Microsoft is starting their aggressive assault on the marketplace. Look out Android and iPhone. It almost makes me want to go to an AT&T store to see how hard they push for the windows phone... I'm getting a mental picture of all the windows phones lined up in the front of the store and the Android and iPhones piled up in the dim corner.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 31 January 2012 Apparently Motorola was also handed a loss to Apple on the "263 patent" in the northern district of Illinois. Google might want to put on their thinking caps. photo courtesy of http://dailymobile.se/2012/01/30/android-in-trouble-apple-patent-dispute-strikes-at-the-core-of-the-google-os/

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 30 January 2012 This has the potential to get bloody. Google would almost have to jump in. I'm sure Google, Samsung, Motorola, LG etc are all calculating the risk/reward. After this victory, Apple is going to have that much more tenacity going after Android. They tasted blood, now they will be going for the kill.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 30 January 2012 Apple finally had it's day in court, winning the dispute against HTC over their 263 patent. The bad news for Android, this infringing software is at the core of the Android OS and there is no easy workaround like many of the other patent suits that have gone in Apple's favor. Could this mean the end of the line for the top selling smartphone OS? Patent at the core of Android interpreted in Apple's favor

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 31 January 2012 That whole company is drinking the Kool-Aid it seems. How are you going to mentor your "fresh CEO" for 5 years and expect anything to change. They made the right decision by ousting the former CEOs, but they would have been much better off getting a completely new, untainted face in there. RIM is doomed.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 31 January 2012 I read the blog entry RIM CEO talks about Android, needs a reality check by Edgar Cervantes and thought it was hilarious. I'm not sure if his words were twisted or if the RIM CEO really has his head up his hind end. OK, Android: Rezound - Beats Audio, Evo 3D - 3D HTC Sense, Razr Maxx - Huge battery motoblur, Galaxy Nexus - Curved design ICS pure android, Galaxy S2 - Touchwiz huge brilliant screen, Galaxy Note - blurs the line between tablet and phone, Motorola Admiral - physical keyboard sprint direct connect, Casio G'zOne Commando - Durable Milspec, Droid 3 - Slider physical Keyboard, there are also flip phones, dual screen phones, recycled phones etc. Blackberry: Physical keyboard brick, physical keyboard slider, touchscreen w/o physical keyboard. Wow, lots of variety. I really don't think I have seen much change in RIM's lineup, ever. I don't know what he was thinking, but Android is not the OS to pick on if you want to say something is all the same. Maybe Windows Phone since there hasn't been many released. You could make an agruement that iPhone offers no variety but nobody says anything about iPhone without being killed. This doesn't make me optimistic about the future of RIM.