Phones

I think this has happened 3 times now and this last time I couldn't get the email application to d/l. It would run to completion then say it didn't download correctly and try later. It did that for about a week and a half and finally I called Sprint.

The biggest privacy flaw I see is the cc: mode of the messages: every recipient of the message has access to the whole recipient list. On the phone, if they request, they can hear every recipient and through the web interface they can see additionally see the email addresses of each recipient. (The same flaw exists in Sprint’s Picture Mail service. Try sending the same picture to multiple girlfriends at once and cope with the disaster you get when they learn each others’ phone numbers!)

If Sprint Nextel and Verizon are getting into bed with Yahoo! and other search companies, then what does that mean for the independent phone directory people? More importantly, how are small and medium-sized businesses going to be able to take advantage of this technology on a local scale?

While it may seem WiFi hot spots are ubiquitous, especially here in Northern Virginia, it’s actually not the case. Many are located in hotels, which means they are essentially inaccessible. Starbucks stores are located on seemingly every corner, and you can sign up for T-Mobile’s service. At $40 a month (if you forego signing the contract), it’s cheaper than most data plans. It’s also good at Border’s book stores. Oddly enough, if you go to a Starbucks in a Barnes and Noble, you can use T-Mobile, while B&N is pushing Cometa - or is it SBC nowadays? If you go to Tysons Corner, it’s Sprint PCS. Hardly efficient.

Attended the Sprint wireless developer web session today as a java developer who has a phone on the sprint network and I want to play.

UMTS isn’t quite EV-DO, at least here in the USA. Significantly faster than EDGE, Cingular’s implementation still only gets around 300k downstream. A far cry from 1.7mb I got from Verizon’s EV-DO. Either way, both Cingular and Verizon are beat by Sprint’s live television PowerVision offering.

As I wrote in a previous post, I’ve been going through the process of renewing with Sprint PCS and getting new phones. What I didn’t post, however, was my experience with the Sprint PCS rep ’stealing’ from their own store and taking cash from me. I haven waited to write about it until I was 100% sure that was what happened - and now I know for sure.

It is time for me to get a new phone, so last night Sabrina and I went to the Sprint store. I saw the a900 and liked it. I think I can write J2ME software for the a900 to sync with my PowerBook, so I wanted to give Sprint a shot.

I'm not exactly sure if this is something that too many people would be interested in given the screen size and battery issue, but it is pretty big news. Some Sprint Nextel customers will soon be able to watch full-length movies on their cell phones. Sprint Nextel has teamed up with MSpot and for $6.95 a month, customers will be able to download unlimited shows and movies.

Rick finally got to do something he’s always wanted: have a seat on the board. We’re talking billboard of course. At a remote Saturday, Rick climbed up the sign to broadcast from the big billboard that looms large on the east side of Richmond. Not just a photo opp, but a marketing coup. A Sprint remote, on a Sprint phone, from a Sprint billboard, over a Sprint store.

Apparently the Cingular name brand / logo is no more. SBC, in it’s final stage of the communications carrier merger, has decided instead to change the communication giants official name to at&t. Check out the new logo above. It’s at&t. Lowercase. Supposedly more welcoming. Personally, I think the reborn globe is great. I think it’s a lot better than the Sprint / Nextel logo. I’m not really feeling the lowercase at&t though. It doesn’t look complete. But what do I know? I’m typing this up while think tanks get paid to debate over capped or lowercase lettering.

Wall Street Journal Real Time. Is $2.49 the new 99 cents? The recording industry seems to think so -- or at least desperately wants that to be true. That's what downloading a song to your cellphone will cost if you use Sprint's Music Store. $2.49 is the standard, commonly accepted price for ringtones from a variety of wireless carriers. And it's hardly a secret that key players in the recording industry now regret having let Apple Computer set the per-song price for digital downloads at 99 cents, and are seeking higher prices.

Frankly, not many people know. What I know is that it proves to be the WiFi, WiMax, DSL, and cell phone killer. Using standard 900mhz technology (like your home cordless phone), a low power antenna, and cheap parts, xMax can transmit data up to 20 miles at 3.7Mbps!

Anyway, the scuttle on the net is that Apple are going to (in part) bypass the US networks altogether and launch their own with a brand new invention from the networks, the MVNO. In effect Apple would hire bandwidth/airtime from a network (sounds like they’re using Sprint) and label the network “Apple.” People would get SIM cards from their nearest Apple Store (or www.apple.com) and away they go. The MVNO has anumber of operators in the UK so really it’s a no-brainer in my mind.

The Sprint VI-125 by LG is an almost perfect little voice phone and a worthy recipient of our Editors' Choice award. It may not be packed with features, but it makes clear calls, feels great in your hand, has a long-lasting battery, and costs relatively little.

Senders can customize photos with captions and messages. CEIVAMobile can take digital photos directly from camera phones through its recently launched CEIVAMobile™ feature. They make use of certain Sprint PCS Vision phones.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) today announced an agreement with Sprint (NYSE: FON) to offer select SIRIUS Satellite Radio programming. Some of the music channels being evaluated by Sprint and SIRIUS for the new service include new hits, classic rock, hip-hop, country, blues and soul to jazz and Broadway’s best music. The new Sprint service will be available nationwide, and both companies plan to announce more specifics of the service, as well as the price later this year.

From May 1 to June 30, 2005, Jabra will donate $1 to breastcancer.org for the first 15,000 Pink Jabra EarWave Boom mobile phone headsets sold exclusively at Sprint Stores nationwide. With Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and National Wireless Safety Week all occurring in May, the pink version of the popular Jabra EarWave Boom makes a functional yet fashionable gift for a loved one that supports a worthy cause.

So I finally broke down and got rid of my Cellular One service. I was planning on going with Sprint, but really wanted to get the Motorola Razr. Ultimately, wanting the Razr won, so I went with Cingular instead. I’ve only had Cingular for one day, but so far my coverage in my house is much better - there aren’t any dead spots, but this post isn’t really about Cingular, it’s about the RAZR.

Idetics products deliver live tv and video to Sprint and Cingular cell phones, currently available at a low frame rate of 1-2 frame per second rate for most of the video-capable phones now available. Idetic was recently named to the prestigious Red Herring list of 100 Hottest Private Companies in America.

Now that you've heard the stories about Sextel , get ready for Sprintel, as Intel and Sprint have joined forces to roll out WiMax based networking.

- Mewes is in the middle of a tourney when we leave, but he’s got a Sprint card that allows him to get online via his cell phone, so he brings his laptop with him in the car. We head deep into the Valley out by the Topanga exit and I swing into Lisa and Greg’s place to say hi and grab my girls while Mewes throws down UB in the car. I carry Harley out, say g’night, and drive us all back to the house.

I’ve made some updates to my wp-mail.php hack for Sprint PCS phones. The ChangeLog is below for the last few versions.

* - Yet another fix for Sprint Picture Share emails

* - Allow multiple Sprint pictures at a time to work (jcjones AT ufl DOT edu)

* - Support the new (April 2005) Sprint Picture Share emails (jcjones AT ufl DOT edu)

Sprint Corp. on Tuesday said it has made Fox news programming available to mobile phone subscribers nationwide.

The Overland Park, Kan., wireless carrier said Fox News Channel Live has been added to the programming available through Sprint TV, which is available to people using Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Phones. Fox has been add at no extra charge to the Sprint TV service, which costs $9.99 a month.

With so much talk about whether Vonage will do an IPO or simply raise another round of money, ZDNet's Russell Shaw throws out another scenario: Vonage being acquired by Sprint. Russell offers seven different reasons for why such a deal makes sense, ranging from Sprint's lack of a residential VOIP service to its strong consumer presence in the wireless business. I definitely agree with his thesis that Vonage will taken out - probably this year as consumers get more comfortable with...

"Rumors about tension between the carriers and Motorola and Apple have been running rampant ever since Moto scrapped the handset�s unveiling last month, and it looks like the carriers, which are introducing their own wireless music download services later this year (BusinessWeek reports that Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint all have them in the works), are playing hardball now".