Cell Phones

Looking for a good reason to camp out a Sprint store overnight? Then you won’t find a much better one these days than the Samsung Epic 4G, which is launching on the carrier tomorrow for $249.99 on a two-year contract (in case you needed a reminder). According to Sprint, most stores will be opening at 8 a.m. sharp, which still leaves you plenty of time to read (or re-read) our review of the phone.

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SOURCE:Sprint

We told you it was coming, now the Samsung Epic 4G is on sale at Sprint for a cool $249.99 plus two year life commitment. In other words, it’s time to let Sprint know whether this Galaxy S variant (with — gasp — working GPS) is worth the $50 premium over HTC’s EVO 4G. Well, is it?

Update: As usual, Amazon’s offering a discount showing a $199.99 listing for new contracts. It still shows a pre-order status (with 2-3 weeks ship time) but that’s likely to change any minute now.

[Thanks, Jonathan P. and Jason J.]
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SOURCE:Sprint

The rich landscape of Android versioning just got a bit richer, with word of an official Froyo update for the Droid Incredible being launched tomorrow (based on the screencap pictured above), while the EVO 4G’s recent Froyo software just got rooted. If you’re crazily impatient, an Android 2.2 ROM for the Incredible just leaked out into the wild, and can be installed with a bit of work, but from the official-looking-ness of this leak from Droid Life, a painless official update is not far off. Meanwhile, in Sprint land, the xda-devs have a rather complicated, rather scary method posted for rooting 2.2 on the EVO 4G — you’ll have to ask yourself how much that freedom is worth to you, or just wait for the inevitably easier methods to come along and hold your hand.
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SOURCE:xda-developers, Droid Life

A quick glance of forums about the interwebs suggests that the EVO 4G has another potential defect that seems to be affecting a notable (though probably still very, very small) number of devices: problems with the micro-USB port, an issue that bit Nokia not long ago on the N900. The main symptom here seems to be that the phone will no longer charge or charges intermittently — and considering that your phone amounts to little more than a paperweight if it’s not properly juiced, we’d say it’s a big issue for affected folks. People returning their devices to Sprint have apparently have mixed luck getting reps to agree that the phone should be replaced, but for what it’s worth, we’ve just heard back from an HTC spokesperson who — in addition to emphasizing that the number of affected units seems to be small — says that the problem will be covered under the one-year warranty as long as “it is determined that the issue was not caused by customer misuse.” Anyone out there seeing this?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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SOURCE:HTC, Sprint

Chinese telecom giant dooming Huawei’s attempted buyout of 3Com not long ago — and considering the political climate in US-China relations, this is the kind of lukewarm response Huawei and other major Chinese firms might need to keep dealing with as they try to grow their Western presence.
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SOURCE:GSMA Mobile Business Briefing

Carriers test the waters on new plans all the time, but this new one from Verizon seems — at least at cursory glance — squarely aimed at its CDMA competitor. According to research from Current Analysis, the nation’s top carrier is trying out an unlimited Nationwide Talk & Text plan for $69.99 in San Diego and Los Angeles retail outlets. That’s $20 less than the current price, and coupled with a $29.99 data plan, we’re looking at a monthly fee that’s within pennies of Sprint’s Simply Everything plan. As with other network trials, this one may never expand beyond certain test markets — but needless to say, this seems to indicate Verizon’s taking its smaller CDMA rival a whole lot more seriously. Amazing what a quarter of positive subscriber growth can do, isn’t it?
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SOURCE:Fierce Wireless

If you own a Galaxy S anywhere in the world or you’re thinking of buying one, you’re probably well-acquainted at this point with the GPS issues it’s been suffering that prevent you from getting anything close to a precise lock on your location — it might not be a deal-breaker for some, but for anyone planning on using their phone for turn-by-turn nav or fitness tracking (for instance) it’s a big deal. Samsung’s already committed to updating released versions of the phone in September, but what about the upcoming Epic 4G? Our testing suggests that it’s functional — Google Maps was able to give us extremely precise positions very quickly — and a statement we’ve received from Samsung seems to corroborate that:

“We have tested and validated both Network Assisted (indoor) and Autonomous (outdoor) GPS on the Epic 4G. With regards to Vibrant and Captivate, we are currently testing software updates which will optimize GPS performance. We expect to be able to make the updates available in September and will communicate more information and download instructions in the next few weeks.”

In other words, the Captivate and the Vibrant have the bug and will be fixed next month; the Epic, meanwhile, should be good to go when it launches on the 31st. Cheers to that, we say.
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Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have mobile phones in our sights — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month.

Back in our day, the only “mobile phone” at school was the one that broke off the dorm wall after our roommates got a little too rowdy, but nowadays, a capable, high-power handset is quickly becoming a must-have for students of all ages. Regardless of your budget, your parent’s budget, or your little one’s budget, we’ve got options that should help with studying, gaming, music, and maybe even the occasional call home.

On the cheap

Palm Pixi Plus Sure, the Pixi wasn’t the best webOS-based phone even when it was brand new — but it’s really hard to argue with a free smartphone, particularly one running a modern (read: non-WinMo) platform. Add in the fact that both Verizon and AT&T are selling the Plus version with WiFi, and you might have all the makings of the perfect first smartphone. Key specs: 2.6-inch 320 x 400 display, 2 megapixel camera, 8GB memory Full review - Price: Free on contract at Nokia Nuron Like the Pixi Plus, the Nuron is a compelling choice mainly because it’s free — and it includes Ovi Maps Navigation at no charge. Full review, free on contract at BlackBerry Curve 8520 An optical pad, great keyboard, and BBM make this a great choice for the future corporate raider in your family. Free on contract at T-Mobile

Mid-range

HTC Aria AT&T’s locking down of Android is an ongoing annoyance, but when you consider the inescapable realities that a ton of people use AT&T and there really aren’t that many 850 / 1900 Android devices available, that puts things in perspective. We loved the Aria’s shape, size, and cute design touches, the modern midrange processor, and the fact that HTC stuck with an HVGA display despite dimensions that probably could’ve let them justify stepping down to QVGA. And naturally, Sense works great as usual. Key specs: 3.2-inch HVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, 512MB expandable storage Samsung Intercept Three words: available in pink. For some back-to-schoolers looking for a way to get into Android, that might be the only thing you need to hear. $99.99 on contract from Sprint

BlackBerry Bold 9650 The promise of a future BlackBerry 6 upgrade makes this phone — considered RIM’s top-of-the-line QWERTY CDMA model — worth a look. Hands-on, $99.99 on contract from HTC EVO 4G For our money, the EVO 4G is still one of the best phones you can buy, and it may very well be the best Android device currently sold anywhere in the world. And if you’re in a WiMAX market, it just gets sweeter. Key specs: 4.3-inch WVGA display, 8 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, 1GB expandable storage Full review – Price: $199.99 on contract from Motorola Droid X It’s hard to find a better touchscreen typing experience than what the Droid X offers, thanks to the unusually expansive display and multitouch capability. Full review, $199.99 on contract from Apple iPhone 4 No back-to-school phone buyer’s guide would be complete without an iPhone mention — but with the Apple Store quoting 3 weeks for delivery, you’d better order now. Full review, $199 to $299 on contract from AT&T or Apple

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WebOS device hacking has reach some considerable heights recently with a mod to bring WiFi to a Sprint Palm Pixi, but it looks like even that’s now been topped by this hack that finally brings the Pre Plus to Sprint. As you can probably guess, that involves a Sprint Palm Pre, a Pre Plus (from either AT&T or Verizon), a slew of software tweaking, and plenty of tricky hardware modding to get the Sprint Pre coms board into the Pre Plus. Will it actually work? We can’t say we’ve gone so far as to try the mod ourselves, but PreCentral forum member livinofframen says his modded phone behaves perfectly, right down to the stock Sprint applications. Hit up the link below for the complete details to try it yourself — at your own risk, of course.

[Thanks, Ken M.]
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SOURCE:PreCentral Forums

You may have noticed the update on our Epic 4G review from yesterday where we lauded the fact that Samsung seemed to have fixed the Galaxy S flavor released thus far, but it turns out there are actually two distinct issues. One has a fix — sort of — while the other is hopefully what we’re going to get next month. Here are the two failure modes, based on what we know so far:

• “Use wireless networks” is now turned off by default, but even with it on, the phone may be slow or unable to determine even a rough location. Originally, we’d believed this was the only problem. Samsung tells us that it’s a new Google mandate that Android devices be shipped with the “use wireless networks” option disabled, which means you’re relying on traditional GPS alone to determine your location — a lost cause indoors, in urban canyons, or under dense tree cover. Indeed, we discovered it was turned off on our Captivate, Vibrant, and Epic 4G after fresh hard resets, and there’s no indication to the user that it’s probably in their best interest to enable it; we’re accustomed to being presented with the option during account setup on other Android devices, but it doesn’t happen here. After enabling it from settings, we found that both the Captivate and Epic 4G were able to get our location with 1,000 to 1,500-meter accuracy practically immediately in Google Maps, though the Vibrant still never came through; it had the weakest signal of the three, which may have accounted for that (though it never dropped the signal altogether).
• The regular GPS circuitry and software aren’t doing their job. Cell tower triangulation and WiFi location database services like Skyhook only take you so far — at the end of the day, you still need to tune in to the birds a few thousand miles up to figure out precisely where you are. All Galaxy S models seem to be having trouble turning GPS reception into coordinates, even when the phone is able to see four or more satellites in view (four is the minimum you normally need for a precise, three-dimensional lock). In some cases, resetting the phone apparently helps, but it ceases to work again after a day or two of use. To our knowledge, none of the homebrew fixes out there have been able to solve this part of the problem perfectly and permanently. The Captivate and Vibrant are both affected by this one; we’re not sure on the Epic, but we’re working to nail it down.

What this means for you: for now, simply make sure you have “Use wireless networks” checked in your Galaxy S’s settings under the “Location & security” menu. It won’t get you the most reliable, precise location you should be entitled to, but it’s a start — and next month’s round of firmware updates should hopefully take us the rest of the way.

[Thanks, Carl]
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