Titanium Galaxy S2 to be launched by Sprint for $99

T-Mobile Galaxy S2

Sprint is planning to launch a refreshed Samsung Galaxy S2 version this holiday season. The new S2 will be Titanium Gray-colored according to the image below.  It appears that the new Galaxy S2 will be of the same color as the Galaxy S3 or the Galaxy Note 2.
Although, there is not much information available on the other changes that the device will undergo apart from the color, we expect that it should at least support Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box.

According to previous information, the Galaxy S2 Titanium should be priced at $99 and should be launched somewhere around the holidays. It is obvious that Samsung would consider more upgrades than just the color of the device to woo customers. It will be interesting to see how will Samsung position this device to compete with all the new launches during the upcoming busy Christmas season.
So you should expect another sexy device hitting stores soon and look for some cool deals around it! Tell us what more would you like to see in the new Galaxy S2! Do you think it will have enough meat to compete with the latest HTCs and Nexuses in the market?

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Deal: Samsung Galaxy S3 50% off at Best Buy today

If you’ve had your eye on the Samsung Galaxy S3, but haven’t yet made the leap to purchase it, today might be the right day. As previously reported, the S3 is part of Best Buy’s Deal of the Day, selling for 50 percent off, today only.
The deal doesn’t mention a specific carrier, but when I took the deal for a test drive, the only carrier option presented to me was Sprint. It isn’t clear if other carriers may be options depending on your location, but I tried the deal with multiple zip codes and still found Sprint was the only option presented. Still, it’s $99 for a brand new Samsung Galaxy S3, so depending on your carrier preference, this could be for you.
Are you planning to use this deal to get yourself a new Samsung Galaxy S3? Or have you already got one? Have you got any tips for potential buyers?

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Sprint LG Optimus G rooted weeks before official launch

Although it has stopped being the most anticipated Android smartphone of this fall after LG Nexus 4’s intensive rumor rounds and HTC J Butterfly’s unveiling, the Optimus G still looks like a device to be excited for.
After all, you can’t just find a Snapdragon S4 Pro-powered handheld with 2 GB of RAM, a 13 MP camera and a 1280 x 768 pix res 4.7-inch screen anywhere (yet). And if the running of ICS seemed like a major downside, there is some hope that the independent dev community will take care of that in no time.
At least for the Sprint version of the Optimus G, which has already been rooted. That’s right, the phone that’ll be up for pre-order starting on November 1 and that’ll only start selling on November 11 has its road wide open to “software freedom”.
Android Central’s Jerry Hildenbrand is the mind behind the root, although he didn’t actually do that much. The heavy lifting was already done, but he does deserve some credit for being inspired enough to try out a root method of the Korean Optimus G, which happened to work on Sprint’s version, too.

As the phone is yet to be released, we can’t be sure how glitch-free and smooth is the root. What is clear is that on one Sprint version of the G this looks to be working with no problem. We’re also (almost) certain that the tool won’t work on AT&T’s model, though that should be taken care of sooner rather than later as well.
The instructions for rooting Sprint’s G are pretty simple and straightforward, but you should still be careful and keep in mind that you’ll be voiding your warranty if you proceed. That said, you’ll need as little as an LG driver, a Windows-based PC, a USB cable and a couple of minutes to get everything done. Oh, right, and your own “copy” of the unreleased phone.
Rooting the LG Optimus G so early is certainly a promising sign for future unofficial custom ROMs and kernels, but it is just one step. We might be seeing some partially working Jelly Bean-based software packages as soon as in a few weeks, but for everything to go down fast and furious the device’s bootloader should be unlocked, too. And that might take a little while…

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Sprint Mobile Broadband Passes: no-contract LTE plans starting at $15 for 300MB

In line with recent tablet computer launches — particularly the latest iPad and iPad Mini — Sprint has announced new data-only no-contract plans. These data plans give 20% more value than comparable plans from Sprint’s competition.
Sprint’s new LTE plans come in the following packages:

• $14.99 – 300MB per month
• $34.99 – 3GB per month
• $49.99 – 6GB per month
• $79.99 – 12GB per month

The company says these new plans will not be tied to any particular device. This means you can get any compatible tablet or smartphone on a Sprint data plan without any long-term obligation. This includes iOS, Android, and any other supported platform.
Sprint’s plans are relatively more affordable than, say AT&T’s or Verizon’s. For example, Verizon offers 2GB for $30 and 5GB for $50. Meanwhile, AT&T does offer a lower price for its 3GB plan, at $30. But the $50 plan only gets you 50GB and you get charged excess fees beyond this allocation.
Additionally, you can get these data plans both on a monthly, recurring basis or as one-off plans bought by the bucket. With Sprint Mobile Broadband Passes, you get the same data buckets for basically the same prices:

• $14.99 – 300MB
• $34.99 – 3GB
• $49.99 – 6GB
• $79.99 – 12GB

These buckets can be charged directly to your credit card, and are ideal for tablet users who are averse to monthly pricing. Existing smartphone subscribers can opt for a special promotion: an additional $10 on top of your monthly plan gets you 100MB of 3G or LTE data connectivity, and a $15 add-on gets you 1 GB. The promo is currently on limited-run, and could expire anytime.
No activation fee will be charged for new tablet subscriptions, which will be in effect by November 11.

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Softbank CEO admits to considering MetroPCS bid

Softbank CEO admits to considering MetroPCS bid

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Image credit: Danny Choo
Some surprising things have happened surrounding Sprint over the past few days. According to comments made by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, we may not have seen the last of them either.
Just a few days ago, in a move that almost nobody expected to happen, Sprint acquired Clearwire, picking up a large chunk of spectrum in the process. Since Sprint was in the process of closing the deal on its recent acquisition by Softbank, it didn’t seem likely that they would be buy any companies during that time period.
After that acquisition, it would be reasonable to expect that no new purchases would be made for a while, but Son’s comments in a recent Wall Street Journal interview seem to point otherwise. Son said “We shouldn’t rule out any opportunity or alternative.” When pressed for details, Son wouldn’t go into specifics, simply saying “I will be aggressive—that’s all.”
While Sprint was already in place as the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S., behind Verizon and AT&T, a Softbank buyout of MetroPCS would help Sprint to close the gap between themselves and AT&T. Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint has already given the company money it desperately needed to strengthen its position.
Before Softbank paid $20 billion for a 70 percent stake of the company, Sprint was looking at a costly network upgrade that would likely be slowed down by lack of funding. Now they are in a better position to upgrade their network as well as take any other opportunities that may come along.
Softbank will take its position as majority shareholder of Sprint over the course of a few steps. First, Softbank will buy $3 million worth of bonds that convert to Sprint shares and pay the rest in two later installments.
CEO of Sprint, Dan Hesse said “Think of it almost as an insurance policy,” adding “It’s some money in the bank until the deal closes that, for some reason, if we wanted to do something we could.” Given the events of the last week, it’s looking more and more likely that Sprint may indeed find a use for that money, whatever it may be.
Do you think that a Softbank acquisition of MetroPCS could happen? Or was Softbank’s CEO merely thinking out loud during the interview?

 

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