Sprint

In addition to the LG Lotus and Samsung Highnote and Rant phones, Sprint today announced that it would soon be adding the HTC Touch Diamond and the HTC Touch Pro smartphones to its portfolio. Sprint will be the first U.S. carrier to offer both phones. Both phones operate on Windows Mobile 6.1 and both will feature TouchFlo 3D, a touch based interface that, according to Sprint, is "an unparalleled touch experience that puts live television, weather, email, photos, contacts, music and more at your fingertips."

Both phones allow you to zoom and pan with your fingertip and both offer landscape view simply by tilting the device, like the iPhone. The Diamond features a 2.8 inch VGA display and uses Opera for web browsing. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera with video capability. The Touch Pro is basically the same

Sprint today introduced One Click, its new, simple and customizable interface. Three new devices that will use the One Click interface were also announced - the LG Lotus, the Samsung Highnote and the Samsung Rant.

The One Click interface allows customers to quickly access their favorite features on a carousel style menu, bringing the simplicity of navigation commonly found on high-end phones to the mid-range level. Customers will be able to personalize their device by selecting the features they want on their home screen and thus making the application accesible by a single click. One Click also allows the user to add shortcuts to favorite Internet sites to the home screen. One Click will soon be available on more Sprint phones, including Sanyo's Katana Eclipse later this Fall.

The LG Lotus is a flip phone that features a full QWERTY keypad. It has a unique square shape and features a 2 megapixel camera. It will come with the typical Sprint features including texting, Web access, email, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store. The Lotus will be available exclusively

Beginning today Sprint will be offering Motorola's new MOTORAZR VE20 clamshell phone. The phone runs on Sprint's Mobile Broadband Network and comes with a plethora of entertainment applications including Sprint TV, Radio and Music Store. It also comes with NFL Live Mobile which gives you

access to audio broadcasts of all regular season games. It will also have audio/video streams of eight games beginning this November plus a live stream of the NFL Network, which is good news for fantasy football players. The VE20 also has Sprint Picture MailSM and Video mail. It has a 2.0 megapixel

Yet another "iPhone killer" is now on the market. Samsung's Instinct may actually live up to that description. The Instinct was named "Best in Show" at this year's Emerging Technology Award competition at CTIA Wireless in addition to honored as the "Most Innovative Product at CTIA Wireless 2008" by the editors of LAPTOP and "Best Cell Phone" by CNET.

The Instinct is an EV-DO Rev A device that has a virtual QWERTY keyboard like the iPhone. It also features speech activation for calling, texting, picture messaging, traffic, movie, sports, news, weather and search. Like all new phones the Instinct has built in GPS and comes with Live Search and Sprint Navigation, which provides audio and visual turn-by-turn driving directions and one-click traffic

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel today announced plans to merge their broadband businesses to form a new wireless company. The new company, which will retain the Clearwire name, will focus on developing the country's first nationwide mobile WiMAX network.

The new Clearwire envisions bringing much faster service to a broad range of consumers including individual consumers, small businesses, medium and large enterprises, public safety organizations and educational institutions. According to Clearwire Chairman Craig O. McCaw, "The power of the mobile Internet, which offers speed and mobility, home and away, on any device or screen, will fundamentally transform the communications landscape in our country. We believe that the new

Sprint is set to become the first U.S. carrier to to launch the OpenWeb solution from Openwave Systems Inc., which will offer an enhanced mobile Web browsing experience on virtually all Web-capable Sprint phones.

OpenWeb will provide a more PC-like experience to the millions of Sprint customers accessing the Web each month. Site renderings will be faster and more user-friendly, even if they are not optimized for mobile devices. OpenWeb is designed to adapt the standard layout of a Web site and reconstruct it to

Sprint and LG have claimed the official St. Patrick's Day phone with their green LG Rumor. As long as you are carrying one of these you can't be blamed for not wearing green. But the green has more significance than just being a celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

The green LG Rumor will be the first device from LG and Sprint to use environmentally friendly packaging. The box is recyclable and made from 70% post-consumer waste. It is not bleached, but

Sprint has announced that it is now offering the first EV-DO Rev. A capable handset in HTC's Mogul. It is available for customers via a software ugrade from HTC.

Available since June 2007, the Mogul is a Windows Mobile 6 device that operates on Sprint's Mobile Broadband Network. The EV-DO Rev A upgrade allows faster data rates and higher system capacity that will allow customers to send and receive data at speeds comparable to those of basic DSL. The

In response to last week's rapid succession of $99 plan introductions from Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T, Sprint has finally come up with its own $99.99 plan. Dubbed "Simply Everything," the plan includes unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TV(SM), Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect(R) and Group Connect(R) for $99.99 a month.

According to Sprint Nextel president and CEO, Dan Hesse, "today's handsets are powerful data devices. Each day they get better, faster and easier to use with more intuitive user interface designs and full Internet access. Our high-speed networks were built with this in mind and it's where we believe

Sprint has not yet responded to the recent unlimited calling plans for $99.99//month offered by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile but, when they do, some analysts think they could undercut the competition by up to 40%. As the third largest U.S. wireless provider Sprint is under pressure to at least match these plans, which "increases the potential for an all out pricing war" according to analyst Michael Nelson of the Stanford Group.

However, Sprint will most likely offer a better plan. "They're not going to be competitive if they simply match these prices because their networks are weaker and their brands are not as strong," according to