Engadget Mobile Gallery

Sprint proves money can solve problems, buys iPCS to settle litigation

by Darren Murph posted Oct 19th 2009 at 1:48PM

Considering Sprint's financial position and the overall credit market, we're not exactly sure where the carrier managed to pick up $831 million, which it promptly used to acquire affiliate iPCS and take on $405 million of net debt. If you'll recall, the aforesaid youngin' was worrying papa way back in May of 2008, and it seems that Sprint has finally had enough of this whole "litigation" thing. The acquisition puts all of the court battling to rest (or at least it's expected to), enabling the operator to stop divesting its iDEN network in select iPCS markets. Money may not buy happiness, but it sure buys a good muzzle.

[Via Reuters]

Motorola i856 Debut now available on Nextel

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 12th 2009 at 11:12AM

Perhaps recognizing that the average Boost customer is more interested in the latest, greatest trendy handsets than the average Nextel customer (read: construction worker with a penchant for putting mil-spec certifications to the test), Sprint has launched a couple recent groundbreaking models -- the Clutch, Moto's first QWERTY iDEN device and the Debut, its first slider -- on Boost first before bringing them over to the big daddy. Don't fret, though, Nextel subscribers, because the i856 Debut is now available to you, bringing that crazy red / black color combo, integrated music player, and network-first slider form factor to a more grown-up audience. It's available now in all sales channels for $99.99 with a $50 rebate on contract.

Motorola and Boost bow the i856 Debut slider

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 2nd 2009 at 11:57AM

Quick: name an iDEN slider. Having trouble? Really wracking your brain over there? Well, allow us to help you out by introducing you to the i856 Debut, a just-announced model that's been rumored for Boost for the better part of 2009. The phone pushes iDEN even deeper into consumer territory and away from its traditionally business-oriented roots, featuring a funky (well, funky for iDEN, anyhow) design, stereo Bluetooth, microSD expansion to 8GB, GPS, a 1.3 megapixel cam, and that slider form factor that plays far better among Boost's youthful demo than among Nextel's decidedly heavier-duty clientele. It's available today for $169.99 (and for the record, we think we deserve a little credit for not cracking a "Motorola debuts the Debut" pun).

Boost's Motorola i465 Clutch getting redone in graphite, available next Tuesday

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 23rd 2009 at 7:07PM

If you're feeling the need to text your face off on Boost Mobile but the original i465 Clutch's maroon shade wasn't your cup of tea, fret not -- there's a new shade in town. "Graphite," which is really just a fancy way of saying "black," is going to end up being the second color option for Motorola's first QWERTY iDEN set when it launches next Tuesday for $129.99. Sounds expensive, but when you consider that Boost is commitment-free, it's not that bad.

Sprint getting orange BlackBerry Curve 8330, red 8350i

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 9th 2009 at 3:38PM

All eyes are on the Tour right now as far as the BlackBerry ecosystem on Sprint goes, but we might remind you that there are still several other RIM-supplied models in the company's lineup, including the 8330 and the iDEN-capable 8350i. If anything can divert even a scant few eyeballs away from that Tour, it might be some truly insane colors -- and that appears to be what Sprint has in the works. Launch documents over on BerryReview have an "Inferno Orange" 8330 soft launching today with a red 8350i following on at the end of the month. We don't know what shade of red to expect out of that 8350i -- which is typically a straight-up business phone, by the bye -- but we wouldn't be surprised if the 8330 took a page out of T-Mobile's Sunset playbook. Whether that's a good thing or not... well, that remains to be seen.

[Via PhoneDog]

Sprint follows Boost, gets Motorola Clutch i465 this summer

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 29th 2009 at 6:31PM

Sprint subsidiary Boost Mobile got first dibs, but now it's the parent's turn -- which means Sprint proper will be taking delivery of the Motorola Clutch i465 for its Direct Connect iDEN network this summer. No exact release date was given, but interest parties are welcome to sign up now to be informed when they can drop the cash -- $39.99 on contract, to be exact, after the application of a total of $70 in rebates on a new two-year agreement. The little beast gives you full QWERTY (a Motorola first for iDEN), mil-spec 810F compliance for withstanding the worst you can throw at it, Bluetooth, GPS, and a VGA camera that isn't likely to win you any photography awards. Of course, if you want it that badly, you could just make the leap to Boost today -- but otherwise, stay tuned.

Motorola's i856 iDEN slider takes a mind-bending journey through the FCC

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 17th 2009 at 1:14AM

Remember that Motorola i856 we told you about way back in March? It's now lost its FCC innocence, garnering external photos and a user's manual for our excited perusal. As phones go, it's nothing much to look at -- but this is iDEN we're talking about, where sliders and multimedia features are still awfully hard to come by . Indeed, the i856 has a dedicated music button right on its face, a far cry from the ultra-rugged workabout Nextels of yore. Probably not a fit for construction site types, but for your average Boost Mobile customer, this'll definitely be a win. No word on a release date or a full list of carrier partners just yet.

Sprint lays out process for selling some iDEN assets, making iPCS happy

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 14th 2009 at 3:19AM

Sprint's fight with iPCS continues to wage on multiple fronts, all of which have been ongoing for eons -- especially the whole iDEN tussle in the wake of Sprint's merger with Nextel. Most recently, that little soap opera had seen an Illinois court rule that Sprint's got to divest some iPCS-controlled iDEN markets to bring it back into contractual compliance and restore Mother Nature's balance, and now Sprint's gotten around to announcing how that process is going to work. In short, it seems like a free-for-all -- the company has apparently put out a few feelers for buyers, but anyone it hasn't contacted is invited to hook up with Citi, who's managing the ordeal on Sprint's behalf. The carrier says that it expects everything to be squared away by January 25 of next year, which is when the court-imposed deadline falls; in the meantime, subscribers, stay cool, because Sprint says that service will continue uninterrupted and expects any transition to be seamless.

Boost Mobile repaints Motorola Stature i9 in red

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 10th 2009 at 10:41AM

Boost Mobile's i9 stands head and shoulders above the rest of the carrier's line as its clear-cut hero device, but there's a problem -- the launch color, kind of a dark bronze, was a little bland. That's not cool for an iDEN flip this far up into the rare air, is it? Of course not, so we're glad to see that they've partnered up with Moto to bring out the so-called Stature in a second (more fitting) color, red. It's available now for exactly the same price as the original that's been available since February, $299.99.

Motorola Clutch now on sale at Boost

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 1st 2009 at 10:23AM

It's not the prettiest handset in the world -- nor the fanciest -- but it's not designed to be. Instead, Moto's i465 Clutch has but one purpose in life, and that's to bring QWERTY power to the iDEN masses (that is, those who can't be bothered to lug around a BlackBerry). We opined that it'd be cheap when Motorola announced it, and indeed, it's running just $129.99 now on Boost Mobile -- expensive by contractual standards, but like all Boost offerings, this price is agreement-free. The phone's available immediately -- so assuming all those messaging issues are ironed out, we should be good to go.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Motorola's i465 Clutch coming to Mike in Canada

by Chris Ziegler posted May 5th 2009 at 11:54AM

Boost Mobile won't be the only iDEN network to launch Motorola's first QWERTY iDEN set -- according to a leaked screenshot, it looks like Telus Mobility's Mike wants in on the action north of the border, too. The i465 Clutch is a low-end device that concentrates on messaging capabilities -- a common theme across carriers and network technologies these days -- and we're not terribly surprised to see Mike make a play for it. Of course, here's the million-dollar question for you, Mike users: how's texting for you? Fast? Slow? Unbearable? Intermittent?

Boost Mobile says SMS bottleneck to clear up by May 7th

by Ross Miller posted May 4th 2009 at 6:21PM

So Boost Mobile's $50 per month free for all hasn't gone exactly as planned, with a surge in the carrier's customer base exacerbating excessive text message delays that have been known to plague Boost and Nextel in the past. The house of "Where You At" has acknowledged the issue, with spokesperson John Votava telling the Wall Street Journal there'll be a fix in place specifically by May 7th. He said the number of new customers that have signed up has overwhelmed the company, and with SMS a still growing trend, that iDEN network's gonna have to either get in better shape or wait for enough frustrated customers to leave and reach a more stable equilibrium.

Texting goes to hell in a handbasket on Boost; Seidenberg vindicated?

by Chris Ziegler posted May 1st 2009 at 6:07PM

The knee-jerk reaction to Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg's recent inflammatory interview -- saying he doesn't know "what Sprint thinks it is" in response to Boost's blowout $50 all-you-can-eat calling and texting plan -- was to call him out for slamming competition (because, let's be real, no one likes executives hating on affordable stuff). His belief was that Sprint simply didn't have the network capacity to support a plan priced that aggressively because it'd bring too many new subscribers on board, and drama over on the iDEN airwaves suggests he may not have been too far off the mark. Boost resellers and customers alike are apparently experiencing insane text messaging delays -- sometimes several hours' worth between sending and receiving -- that are rendering the service useless, and while voice and push-to-talk are still said to be performing flawlessly, a strong swing toward messaging in the past 18 months across all US carriers (along with the upcoming launch of the Clutch) puts the spotlight squarely on the problem.

Texting has never been iDEN's strong suit; it's simply not what the network was originally built to do, and when we approached Boost about this at CTIA earlier this year, we were told that the situation was under control. A company spokesperson says that they're working around the clock to get the delays resolved and expect to have it smoothed out by next week -- but with the $50 plan continuing to win conquest subscribers hand over fist and a network that's being stressed in ways it's never been stressed before, we have to wonder: is this every going to be fully resolved? Even more importantly, though, with Boost's pricing undercutting its national-level competition by a country mile, do they even have to fully resolve it to keep customers on board?

[Via mocoNews]

Motorola intros i465 Clutch, company's first QWERTY iDEN device

by Chris Ziegler posted May 1st 2009 at 12:17PM

Following the seemingly unstoppable trend toward QWERTY and heavy texting in the low end of the market, Motorola has announced its very first iDEN device to ever feature a full keyboard. The rumored i465 looks just a little better in glamorous press shots than it did before, and it's picked up a name along the way -- Clutch. Naturally, Boost Mobile is a perfect fit for the thing, and the Sprint division looks to be launching this quarter. Specs include Bluetooth 1.2, a 160 x 128 display, video capture via a VGA cam (hey, it's low-end, what did you expect?), and mil-spec compliance for shock, vibration, and all that good stuff that you might need when your phone hits the pavement. Pricing will be announced closer to launch, but we don't expect it to break the bank.

Motorola's r765 and r765IS could crush your phone with their bare fists

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 17th 2009 at 11:33PM

You may have been under some horribly misguided impression that your silly little i580 was "rugged." Well, we've got news for you, pretty boy -- Motorola has handsets that eat i580s for breakfast, and they're coming out this year. The r765 and r765IS are designed for use in some of the harshest working environments in the world, and odds are you'll never see one, much less own one -- in fact, they're targeted for private iDEN networks, not anything like Nextel -- but those who need it will probably appreciate the mil-spec compliance, the full watt of radio power (0.6 watts on the r765IS), and the latter model's intrinsic safety rating for use in explosive environments. Look for the r765 to launch this quarter, with the IS model following on a quarter later.

[Via MobileBurn]