AT&T v. Sprint

Sprint and AT&T have released their flagship phones over the past month and I've been doing a lot of research about which new device and plan makes the most sense. I'm currently not under contract so I don't have to worry about an early termination fee, and that's a major consideration. What are the flagship devices?

The two devices are the Instinct manufactured by Samsung that utilizes the Sprint 3G Network, and the iPhone 3G manufactured by Apple that utilizes the AT&T 3G network. Can you compare these devices on an Orange to Orange basis? The answer is yes, but. The Instinct does not have the same quality on the web browser and utilizes miroSecureDigital memory vs built in memory like the iPhone has. The Instict will cost you $129.99 with a two-year contract, and the iPhone will cost you $199 for 8GB (black) and $299 for 16GB (black or white) with a two-year contract required.

What about the plans? Below are the plans copied directly from the respective company websites. AT&T has two components to their plan; 1) Voice + Data(email/Web), 2) Texting add-on




















Sprint Everything Plan












It looks like if you text or talk a lot each month then the Sprint plan is what you need, so you just have to decide if you can live with the not as good web browser and having to buy a 4GB microSD card.

I'm still not convinced that I want the Instinct, but based on the data I'm certainly leaning that direction. I guess I need to go see and use each device before I can really make a decision. If anyone has either or has used both of these devices please leave a comment and let us know which device you prefer.

CTIA Big Announcement Number One

Samsung and Sprint have collaborated to develop what they feel is a true iPhone competitor. This device in many regards is superior to the iPhone because it has GPS and highspeed 3G. Check out the teaser website. Some other great features include:

• 3.1-inch touchscreen phone
• Localized haptic feedback
• Three hard navigation keys
• Visual Voicemail
• 2.0 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and video camcorder
• Advanced Stereo Bluetooth® Wireless Technology with audio caller ID
• Access to corporate and consumer (POP3) email including AOL, Gmail and Yahoo!
• Threaded text messaging provides a view of the full conversation
• Full HTML web browser.
  

IT'S 2008

Last year I wrote about the new computer/mobile device genre created by Intel the Mobile Internet Device that provides laptop like features in a small form factor with either Windows Mobile, Linux, or Symbian. The first big name to release such a device is Nokia which launched the N810 in late 2007 and rumor has it that new versions of this device will be released at the CTIA Wireless 2008 show April 1 - 3 in Las Vegas. Other manufactures like Samsung, ASUS, Lenovo, HTC, and Aigo have either created prototype devices or have announced that they will be utilizing the Intel chipsets. I expect that we will also see a Sony Vaio MID that may support PSP games. Don't forget that a number of UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) devices are already on the market by Sony, Samsung and OQO to name a few. The UMPC utilizes Microsoft XP or Vista in most cases. Engadget broke down the difference between MID and UMPC.
Dan Monahan, Intel's Global Internet Segment Manager of Ultra Mobility. This is how it breaks down.

UMPC

• Business-class device for enterprise users
  
• Runs a "heavy" OS like Vista
• Optimized for office-use applications like Excel, Word, etc.
  

MID

• Consumer-class lifestyle device
• Runs a 'lightweight" OS with quick startup like Linux
• Optimized for things like media playback and web surfing
• In 2009 (or so) Moorestown-based devices will be classed as MIDs only

Another manufacturer that hasn't been documented for these devices is Palm. The failed Palm Foleo was pretty similar to a MID, but it didn't have a built-in wireless chipset, but if you add that then the Foleo would be a great device that could compete in the MID and UMPC genres and could even compete with the Mac Book Air. Hopefully CTIA will provide more details and more cool devices for us to anticipate and then we have to wait for the launch of the Xohm network to really utilize the full capabilities of these new devices.

New Sprint Stuff

Since I am a Sprint "homer" or "fan boy" take your pick as to which nickname you'd like to use, I found this information on phonearena.com pretty interesting. First is that there is supposed to be a launch of the next generation "push-to-talk" functionality on the Sprint network utilizing the QChat product that is a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Push-to-Talk technology developed by Qualcomm in mid April. You might remember back in Oct. 2006 Sprint had a press release announcing that QChat would be deployed and would be interoperable to the Nextel iDEN network; and in 2005 Qualcomm demonstrated QChat at the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association) trade show as it worked with Nextel iDEN network.

Finally after three years the product is set to be launched, or at least four phones featuring QChat capabilities are rumored to be released on April 16.

The first phone is long rumored and even photographed LG device called the LX400 (pictured below). The next two phones are Sanyo models the PRO 700 and PRO 200. Thanks to phonescoop.com for the FCC links for these two devices. The 700 looks to be a "rugged" phone. A fourth phone rumored to be hitting the market place is the Samsung Z400 (picture below) also a "rugged" phone, thanks engadgetmobile.com.



So that's four new devices all utilizing the new QChat functionality and Sprint just in the last few weeks has really been touting the "push-to-x" product family, remember the press release on Feb. 19. It makes me think these new devices will launch with Nextel branding and not just Sprint branding. It only took Sprint 18 months to launch this new capability even though it was demonstrated back in 2005? Why so long you might ask. Well first Sprint had to have EVDO RevA network infrastructure built out to all the towers in the major markets. Then it was tested in each market by employees and select customers. Sprint could not afford to roll out a flop. Sprint has lost so many Nextel customers due to network issues they couldn't afford another network failure. Here we are on the brink of a new era in mobile communication and which company is at the front? Not only that but with Xohm services launching by the end of 2008 I really think Sprint will be turning around and will show growth by Q1 2009.

I almost forgot to mention the other device rumored to be launching on April 16 is the new BlackBerry Curve 8330. AT&T and TMobile offer this device for the GSM crowd, but unlike the GSM version this one will have EVDO which is true 3G. Check out the link here to bbgeeks.com for some pictures of the device. I think I might need to try one of these.... Then again I don't want to pay for the additional blackberry data plan. I'll just stick to my Palm 755.

BlackJack II

Latest and greatest Samsung smartphone from AT&T has just hit the street. Check out the great article about this new super phone by Dave Ciccone on mobilityTODAY. This device features Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and Quad-band EDGE/GPRS with 2.4 inch 65K TFT display screen, Integrated GPS, Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 standard, 2.0 megapixel camera and video recorder, and Stereo Bluetooth 2.0. Check out the AT&T product page.

Front of BlackJack II sporting the bigger screen. You'll also see the AT&T Blackberry Curve 8310 for size comparison.