Android Coming to Sprint Next Month; iPhone Coverage Gripes Continue The wait for a choice of carriers selling smartphones running *Google's* Android software <http://www.android.com/> will end next month, when *Sprint* plans to start selling its first such device. Sprint announced<http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1327394>the news this morning, saying it will sell *HTC's* Hero, pictured below, starting Oct. 11.
[image: HTC_Hero.jpg]<http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/assets_c/2009/09/HTC_Hero.html> This slim, touchscreen model<http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MTQ0NTJ8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM=&t=1>(PDF) resembles<http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/08/htc-hero-vs-t-mobile-mytouch-3g-fight/>the myTouch G1 <http://www.t-mobilemytouch.com/> *T-Mobile* began selling earlier this year, which remains only the second Android phone to appear in the U.S. market on any carrier's inventory. But the Hero -- $279.99 before a $100 mail-in rebate to new and renewing customers who opt for Sprint's $69.99-and-up voice-plus-unlimited-data bundles -- will run on a considerably wider 3G network<http://coverage.sprintpcs.com/IMPACT.jsp?PCode=vanity:coverage>than T-Mobile's underdeveloped service<http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx?MapType=Data&WT.mc_n=3GMapCoverage&WT.mc_t=onsite>. I wrote last month<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080701150.html>that this sort of move was overdue, but I was thinking then that we wouldn't see any movement on Android phones until later in the fall. I'm glad to be wrong about that. The Hero should, with the equally brainy<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061201164.html> *Palm* Pre, give Sprint two decent answers to *Apple's* iPhone<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/26/AR2009062601217.html>. *Verizon Wireless*, however, still hasn't livened up its own inventory in any significant way. Memo to Verizon: Waiting for *Research in Motion* to match the ease of use and elegance of the iPhone, the Pre or Android doesn't look like a sound strategy. Meanwhile, the iPhone continues to suffer its own carrier-induced problems. The *New York Times* has a good summary<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/technology/companies/03att.html>this morning of *AT&T's* attempts to keep up with the bandwidth demands of iPhone users -- "10 times the network capacity used by the average smartphone user," the piece says. AT&T's troubles have drawn a fair amount of snarky complaints<http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2009/08/the_iphone_is_getting_easier_t.html>(the first comment in Slashdot's discussion<http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/09/03/0258243/iPhone-Straining-ATampT-Network>of this story was "I would have had the first post, but I'm browsing from my iPhone."). The company says it's working to fix these problems by adding new towers and, in some cities, a new layer of wireless spectrum. But in 19 days, things could get a lot worse for AT&T. It's supposed to support multimedia messaging on the iPhone by "late summer,"<http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/#footnote-2>and summer ends on Sept. 22 <http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/EarthSeasons.php>. Failing to meet that deadline to deliver a feature that AT&T provides on just about every other phone it sells, and which iPhone carriers in other countries already offer, will make a non-trivial number of iPhone users here even crankier. *Update:* iPhone users, prepare yourselves for crankiness! AT&T announced<http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=1574>this afternoon that it will enable MMS with a software update on Sept. 25. The word "summer" is absent from its statement. If you're in the market for a new smartphone, what's your take on Sprint's news and AT&T's issues? And how long do you think it will take for Verizon to start selling a smartphone more interesting than the latest warmed-over BlackBerry? http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2009/09/android_coming_to_sprint_next.html?hpid=sec-tech -- Salam, Agus Hamonangan [email protected] http://groups.google.com/group/id-gtug/ http://groups.google.com/group/id-android/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Google Groups "Indonesian Android Community [id-android]" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To request to subscribe to this group, please visit the following page: http://groups.google.com/group/id-android/subscribe?hl=en-GB To send a message to the owner, visit the following page: http://groups.google.com/group/id-android/post?sendowner=1&hl=en-GB For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/id-android?hl=en?hl=en-GB To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
