sprint

With T-Mobile USA poised to offer its own truly unlimited data plan, Sprint Nextel is no longer the only game in town.

The move underscores the competitive environment in the wireless industry, with T-Mobile and Sprint required to go the extra mile in their struggle against larger rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless, both of which have piled more limitations and restrictions on their own data plans. Sprint has said that its unlimited data plan has been a key differentiating factor against its competitors.

T-Mobile believes it has a strong counterpunch for its rivals with its latest option, but … Read more

Sprint seems to be saying "What else do you want from us? We've got unlimited data, but we're still not good enough? What should we do, pay you to switch to us? OK, fine!"

PhoneArena has posted a photo of what looks to be a print ad for Sprint that offers a $400 credit to customers that switch over at least three lines to one of the carrier's Everything Data Share plans.

The cash rebate has to be used "in store" -- presumably meaning Sprint stores -- at the time of purchase to … Read more

If I can unlock my Verizon iPhone so I can use it on a local carrier's network while I'm on vacation in Europe, why can't I pop in a SIM card to that same unlocked phone, and use it on AT&T or T-Mobile when I get home?

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain why the term "unlocked" doesn't really mean "unlocked" when it comes to the iPhone 4S.

Why a Verizon Wireless unlocked iPhone 4S won't work on AT&T

Dear Maggie, I have a Verizon … Read more

Sprint and Virgin Mobile announced today that they will carry the Kyocera Rise, a slideout QWERTY keyboard phone that we first caught a glimpse of in May during CTIA 2012.

In addition to its four-row keyboard, the Rise runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It has a 3.5-inch LCD display, a 1,500mAh li-ion battery (which roughly translates to 8.5 hours of reported talk time), and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

The handset also has a 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera with accompanying flash, and an Eco Mode feature that allows users to customize and conserve battery … Read more

Sprint is upping the ante to move the iPhone 4S to customers as many expect Apple to unveil the next generation of the popular smartphone next month.

After a price drop last week, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier is now packaging a $100 gift card with the purchase of any smartphone by new customers over the Internet. Apple plans to match the deal by offering Apple Store credit for the same amount, Business Insider confirmed.

The new promotion, which is good until August 26, comes less than a month before the expected launch of the new iPhone on Sept. … Read more

On Sunday, Sprint will welcome its second Photon to the family. The Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE, with 4G LTE, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, jazzed up with edge lighting, goes on sale for $199.99 with a new service agreement. Preorders begin today.

With the Photon Q's list of specs, it's clear that Motorola is aiming for premium placement in Sprint's lineup. It sports a 4.3-inch LCD "Color Boost" screen (with a 960x540-pixel resolution), an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD video support, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing … Read more

Editors' note: This article was originally published on July 26, 2012, and updated August 10 with more details.

When we first heard of Motorola's upcoming Motorola Photon Q, we thought that the keyboarded Android smartphone would serve as a nice lifeline for disillusioned and disenfranchised BlackBerry refugees fleeing the sinking ship.

Running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and driven by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, the Motorola Photon Q will certainly surpass Motorola's Droid 4.

While the Droid 4 proved that a QWERTY slider could indeed pack in a swift 4G LTE radio, nimble components, and an excellent physical keyboard, it also suffers from a few shortcomings. First, at half an inch thick and weighing a hefty 6.31 ounces, the phone is big and heavy. Second, the Droid 4 still lives in a time warp, mired by the outdated Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS.

Thankfully, the Motorola Photon Q boasts fresher features.… Read more

T-Mobile USA continues to bleed its most valuable customers as the carrier struggles to keep up with its fellow national rivals.

The carrier, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, said today it lost 205,000 net customers in the second quarter, largely due to a defection in customers with long-term contracts.

T-Mobile posted a second-quarter profit of $207 million, down slightly from $212 million a year ago. Revenue fell 3.3 percent to $4.88 billion.

The company's subscriber results look a lot like Sprint Nextel's struggles with customer growth over the past few years, with staggering losses on … Read more

With Sprint Nextel aggressively pushing into the prepaid business, it's no surprise that the iPhone would eventually end up on one of its no-contract units.

At the end of June, Virgin Mobile, which is owned by Sprint, began selling the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, representing a new avenue of distribution for Apple. Virgin's no-contract plans meant customers would have to foot the entire bill for the iPhone, with the 16GB iPhone 4S selling for $649.99.

The iPhone 4S is selling at Virgin, Chief Sales Officer Paget Alves said, though he declined to say how well it … Read more