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Less than one day after Verizon announced the release date of its BlackBerry Tour 9630, Sprint has now also confirmed (via its Twitter account) that it will launch the new RIM smartphone on July 12 as well – online and through telesales for the beginning. Unsurprisingly, Sprint will sell the Tour for the same price as [...]

Nokia plans on addressing its relatively weak presence in the U.S. smartphone market by eventually producing a CDMA smartphone that large carriers such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel could launch, the company's chief executive said. Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo summed up his company's position in the United States succinctly: "We are the incumbent in the world at large," he told BusinessWeek , "in the U.S., we are the underdog." The company commands the global smartphone market, and had more than 41 percent market share in the first quarter, according to Gartner. However, its attempts to crack into the U.S. market have so far been feeble; according to Strategy Analytics, Nokia's overall share of the U.S. handset market stood at 7.9 percent, up from 6.5 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Two of Nokia's flagship smartphones--the 5800 XpressMusic and the N97--are available in the United States, but not through a Tier 1 carrier. Regional carrier Cincinnati Bell sells the 5800 for for $149 with a two-year service contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate, and the N97 is available unlocked for $700. However, AT&T Mobility did launch the company's E71x phone earlier this spring, marking a rare bright spot in Nokia's U.S. efforts. To address the company's U.S. gap, Nokia is looking to tap the CDMA market. "We are investing in CDMA," Kallasvuo said. "It is our ambition to come out with a smartphone in CDMA." He did not elaborate on the company's plans or say when Nokia would introduce a CDMA smartphone. For more: - see this BusinessWeek article Related Articles: Nokia CEO pushes LBS integration, N97 for U.S. market Nokia's North American troubles continue Report: Nokia embracing touchscreens with upcoming devices Nokia's Ovi Store finally opens for business AT&T launches six new phones

The Snap (S511) by HTC is replacing the venerable Motorola Q9c on Sprint and is its low cost Windows Mobile messenger device ( $149 with contract; $399 without). Running Windows Mobile Standard 6.1, the phone packs quite the punch in terms of specs and features HTC’s new offset QWERTY keyboard, meant to mimic a real desktop keyboard. After three weeks of using the device and putting it through the works, we have our verdict. Read on for our full-featured review! <!--break--> Hardware The guts of the Sprint Snap are quite good for this class. Clocking in at 52MHz , sporting EvDO Rev A and a super sharp 320x240 screen , the device is quite speedy at launching everything from Outlook to Skyfire. Unfortunately, absent is WiFi and the trackball has been replaced by a standard 5-way. Memory Memory (both RAM and ROM) is not exceptional, with roughly 80MB of free RAM after a boot and 75MB of storage . But once again, for this class of device, it seems acceptable. After the last three weeks of usage I have about 21MB of internal storage left (after clearing IE cache), which is getting a bit on the low side for my tastes. RAM seems fine, although we do see some Windows Mobile 6.1 memory management going on when we run things like Skyfire, Kinoma Play and numerous other apps running concurrently. Still, the device never slows down and rarely needs to be rebooted. It should go without saying that the Snap takes a microSD card for more storage (under battery cover). Screen Still chugging at 320x240 , the Snap’s 2.4-inch screen seems out of place with today’s more common VGA resolutions. However, for what it is, it is very good. The screen is exceptionally sharp, bright and vibrant. Whereas the Moto Q9c’s colors seem a bit washed out, the Snap screen is simply beautiful — in fact it easily is the nicest version of this type of screen that we’ve seen. Brightness is good enough at 2 tics (out of 4) and 4 just seems ludicrous, though perhaps...

Sprint Nextel will be the exclusive provider of mobile data services for the upcoming 2010 U.S. Census. The contract is a significant win for the carrier's newly established Business Markets Group, which focuses on enterprise and government customers. The Harris Corporation, which is the system integrator for the Census, will have 140,000 workers out in the field using hand-held devices that will run on Sprint's CDMA network. Harris field workers started their data collection in April. The devices--there will be 150,000 provided in all--will have GPS and fingerprint ID scanning capability. The devices will allow workers to transmit data back to the Census Bureau in near real-time, Sprint said. Additionally, Sprint will provide 1,500 mobile broadband data cards and other managed services. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, the contract marks a milestone for the Business Markets Group, which Sprint formed in April. The formation of the group, alongside Sprint's focus on embedded wireless partnerships and wholesale deals, reflects a growing sense that the carrier will have to look beyond traditional wireless money-makers to boost growth. For more: - see this release Related Articles: Sprint offering cable companies converged services Sprint, GE Healthcare partner on wireless networks Sprint looking for embedded wireless partnerships

The QWERTY keyboard is no longer a stranger to iDEN circles. With the introduction of the Motorola Clutch i465, push-to-talk fans now have an affordable QWERTY messaging phone to use with the leading PTT carrier in the US. Following on Boost Mobile’s announcement, Boost’s parent company Sprint (NYSE: S) has today announced the Motorola (NYSE: [...]

Filed under: Handsets , Motorola , Sprint , iDEN 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. Sprint follows Boost, gets Motorola Clutch i465 this summer originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments