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A Localytics study issued today helps understand why Verizon Wireless recently sided with Samsung in the ongoing Apple vs. Samsung legal saga. Per Localytics’ data, 4G is one of Android’s key differentiators: More than one in three Android phones in the United States take advantage of fourth-generation cellular networks. In the third quarter of this year, some 36.6 percent of Android handsets in the United States were 4G-ready, a notable increase over the 22.6 percent in the first quarter of 2011.

This number is increasing rapidly – since the beginning of the year, the percentage of Android devices that are 4G-capable has grown by over 50 percent, culminating at a full third of the Android ecosystem. It will be interesting to see whether the iPhone 5 supports any type of 4G network. The drawbacks – bulkier antenna and a much shorter battery life – may outweigh the benefits in speed. Regardless, with the growth in 4G-capable handsets Android has seen, it appears that smartphone users are buying into the value of speed. We’ll see how this continues. 

The nation’s most popular 4G handsets in the third quarter were the HTC Thunderbolt (Verizon), the HTC Evo 4G (Sprint), the Samsung Epic 4G (Sprint), the Samsung Droid Charge (Verizon), the myTouch 4G (T-Mobile USA) and the Motorola Atrix (AT&T). A few caveats and the full list of most popular 4G devices in the country right below the fold…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwrf5GMAZWw

This upcoming device on Sprint is a slightly-modified Droid Pro with what looks like a much nicer keyboard and Sprint features such as a push to talk button.  Other notables on this Blackberry to Android transition device are 3.1-inch display, 5 megapixel camera and a light touching of Motorola Blur mixed Santorum-style with Sprint’s own ID overlay.

For those Crackberry addicts that are looking for some Android methadone on Sprint, here you go!
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If you are on Sprint and you love huge, beautiful screens on your smartphones, you can pretty much stop reading here and go get yourself the Galaxy S2 varient dubbed the Sprint Epic 4G Touch.  The WiMAX candybar flagship phone is $199 on a 2 year 4G contract or $149 at Amazon.

But if you care about everything else an Android phone has to offer, keep reading, it mostly just keeps getting better…

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Well looky here.  After all of the commotion over who is getting the Galaxy S II first in the US (Sprint, really), a regional carrier shows up with a pretty incredible deal.   GCI, who does the HSPA+ version of 4G in the Anchorage Alaska area is already fulfilling orders on the phone for $99 with plan as we wait for Sprint’s version to hit shelves later this week.  Engadget tipsters already have them in hand in fact.

How did they do this?  Well, it looks like they just snapped up some of the international S II version without any mods.  Regional carriers, you win.

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According to SprintFeed, the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S2, dubbed Epic Touch 4G phone will be announced by Samsung on Auguust 29th and released by Sprint two weeks later on September 9th.  But that’s not all…

Here’s what we’ve heard about the August 29th US launch:

Verizon will be a no show.  There are likely still some kinks to be worked out in the LTE version of the Galaxy S 2 which will be announced at a later date.

Sprint’s phone called the Epic Touch 4G or the  will be WiMAX and slightly thicker than the others with a grated plastic backing. 4.5 inch screen 480×800

T-Mobile’s version will also be 4.5 inch screen 480×800 and be the first phone to run on its (theoretical) 42Mb radio network.  It will require a Qualcomm dual-core CPU unlike the other devices which will use Samsung’s own dual core processors.

AT&T’s will be the most similar to the international version at 4.3 inches.

All of them will have the Netflix app ready on launch – only some will have it pre-installed however.

Even these incredible phones pale in comparison to the rumors of a 720P Ice Cream Sandwich phone on the horizon however.

The sickest of them all has to be the I9250 superphone. Probably your next handset, it rocks a monstrous 4.65-inch SuperAMOLED display with native 720p resolution (1280-by-720 pixels), the obligatory five megapixel camera (what, no eight-megapixels?) and Android Ice Cream, the latest and greatest version of Android due for release in the fourth quarter of 2011.
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.

This feels more like the Google Phone that was promised a year and a half ago – which was supposed to hit all carriers.  The carriers would then have to fight on prices and quality of service.

As of today, the Samsung Nexus S is now at Best Buy free with a two year plan on 3 of the 4 big US Networks. Get your Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T Nexus S here.

Now, it almost feels like a new superphone running Ice Cream Sandwich is in the works.
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This is my next has unveiled an Android device heading to Sprint, which is said to be a beefed up Motorola XPRT with a dual-core processor. The device is code named the Motorola Pax, and is looking very Blackberry esque with its portrait keyboard. Besides the dual-core processor, the Pax is also believed to include Sprint’s new CDMA 1X Advanced push-to-talk system. There is no word on pricing or availability. Check out another shot after the break.

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Carrier Sprint today announced a fifteen-year deal with LightSquared enabling them to offer 4G LTE services on their network. As you know, Sprint currently offers wireless broadband marketed as 4G through its majority stake in Clearwire, utilizing their WiMax technology. Sprint couldn’t have signed a better deal to joing the 4G LTE craze. LightSquared will actually pay the carrier $9 billion in cash over the course of eleven years to deploy an LTE network, spending itself $13 billion over the next eight years on boosting their network capacity. In return, the company will be allowed to sell their 4G service to Sprint customers. Sprint can tap up to 50 percent of LightSquared’s 4G capacity and a roaming agreement will be in place by 2012.

On the downside, LightSquared plans on launching its first 4G market in 2012 and finish commercial deployment by 2015. Compared this to AT&T and Verizon Wireless which already operate 4G LTE service in select markets and plan to commercially deploy their networks by the end of next year. However, Sprint is the nation’s third-largest carrier with 51 million customers as of June so the ability to host on their network an increasing number of 4G LTE smartphones will positively impact their bottom line and competitiveness. Plus. Sprint is rumored to have been testing a Sprint iPhone for some time, with Apple seeking a carrier engineer in the Kansas City area, where Sprint is headquartered.

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SprintFeed is reporting that the Evo will be given the end of life status, along with a few other phones on Sprint’s network, this fall. The White Evo will cease in September, and the black Evo and Samsung Epic will cease in October. The Evo was a breakout phone for Android and 4G technology, but it is certainly understandable as Sprint puts better phones in its lineup. Check out the rest of the phones in the image above. Anything you’re sad to see go?

(Triumph on the left, Virgin Optimous Center and Samsung right)

Let’s get this out of the way first: I like Virgin Mobile.  The Sprint prepaid subsidiary offers plans that work well for me because I don’t use a lot of voice minutes – specifically, their Unlimited Data/Text Minutes plan which just unfortunately went up from $25/month to $35/month for 300 minutes of talk.  Virgin also doesn’t put too much trash on top of Android and the phones they sell don’t have manufacturer overlays on them either.  You almost get a Google phone, though one here that is left back on Froyo.

If anything slows Virgin down, my major gripe has been their lack of diversity in phones and specifically at the high end in Virgin’s lineup.  Until now, they’ve offered a small anemic Samsung Slider and a very solid but economical LG Optimus V (which I reviewed at Fortune).

That all changed today with the release of the Motorola Triumph (manual- PDF), a slim 4.1-inch screen candy bar with a 1-GHz Processor and front and back cameras.  The device is handsome and coated with a soft rubber feel that certainly improves the grip.  How does it perform?

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This is my next has received exclusive photographs of a Samsung Galaxy S II-esque phone with all the markings (literally) of a Sprint phone. While seeing much success across Europe, the Galaxy S II has yet to hit the U.S shores, but we are expecting it, or a varient, soon. The device photographed above is expected to be Sprint’s version of the Galaxy S II, packing a 8-megapixel camera and the texture that the Galaxy S II currently has. There is also word that the phone in the shot above is running Android 2.3.4. This is my next mentions that this device could be called the Samsung Within, instead of Galaxy S II. Whatever the name might be, all we want is this beautiful piece of hardware.

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Sprint is now offering the Nexus S 4G for $99 on a two year contract. The Nexus S 4G packs Android 2.3, 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, NFC technology, 4-inch Super AMOLED touch screen, and 16GB of built in memory — making this arguably Sprint’s best phone. You may also be interested in HTC Evo 4G and HTC Evo Shift 4G, which are also available for $99.

via TechCrunch
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Motorola’s answer to the rugged business phone is the Motorola Titanium, announced with the Xpert over two months ago. We never heard an official release date from Sprint, but SprintFeed is reporting that the Titanium will launch July 24th on Sprint’s network, for $149. The body style of the Titanium reminds us of the Droid Pro, packing a full QWERTY keyboard. Other features include a 5-megapixel camera, 2GB microSD, Wi-Fi, and..

Android 2.1…

WTF..That’s Original Droid two year old vintage software people!

In the flyer above it says the device meets “Military Specifications 810G”, being able to withstand dust, shock, vibration, solar radiation, and low pressure (and recent Android updates).

A feature that we believe could be a great selling point is Nextel’s push-to-talk. The service industry relied on push-to-talk on Nextel’s older phones, and the Titanium could bring it back. We look forward to seeing how this device will work in the field.

An image leaked yesterday by The Pop Herald suggests a possible successor to the Motorola Droid Pro, which Sprint marketed as the XPRT. In a nod at business users, the yet-to-be-named device packs in a physical QWERTY keyboard, in addition to both capacitive touchscreen and buttons, a possible Sprint 4G WiMax network connectivity and Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box:

According to the tipster, the next QWERTY Motorola smartphone is curvier compared to the Motorola XPRT. The tipster added that the physical QWERTY keyboard of the unannounced phone was slightly modified, now with a “smile pattern,” compared to XPRT’s “ruler pattern.”

Considering that Sprint began offering the business-centric XPRT on June 5 of this year, full six months following its November 18, 2010 debut on the Verizon network, here’s to hoping we won’t have to wait that long for this handset.

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Best Buy just threw up their Motorola Triumph page complete with $299 retail price and anticipated delivery date between July 19 and July 26.

First of all, this is a solid, high end Android phone.  It has a 4.1″ screen, fast processor and runs an almost stock Android 2.2 with all of the trimmings…
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Pocketnow has published exclusive pictures of what they say is a Samsung QWERTY slider on its way to Verizon Wireless. As you’ll notice, the device is very similar to the Epic 4G on Sprint. It is not clear yet as to whether this device will have 4G capabilities like the Epic 4G, but we are hopeful.  More importantly, we’re wondering if Verizon is going to saddle this thing with Bing like it has its other Samsung (save the Droid Charge) and LG Android devices.  If so…pass!

The device has the model number SCH-i405, following Samsung Continuum’s of SCH-i400, reports AndroidSpin. The device has already earned Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certifications, but has not made its way past the FCC. There isn’t any other information as to what’s actually inside the device. For those of you who can’t wait to get your slide on, this device should be hitting stores in a month or two.
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There is a lot on the line with Sprint’s new EVO 3D launch today.  The EVO brand has now become the flagship Sprint Android device moniker and for more than a year, the EVO has been just about the most burly Android device you could get on the WiMAX 4G network.

Background:

The original EVO was a milestone in Smartphone development.  When it was released, the Nexus One and Droid were the top of the Android heap and Apple was still selling the iPhone 3GS.  The EVO was the first Android device with front camera, 8MP back camera, 4.3-inch display, 4G network access and a kickstand!  Even the Apple guys’ heads were turning.  I got an EVO 4G at Google I/O last year and have used it off and on since.  Among other things, it has one of the best GPSes of any phone I’ve used, it is always first or one of the first carrier phones to get an Android OS update and it pioneered (sorry HD2) HTC’s line of 4.3 inch devices which are now on every carrier in the US in multiple forms (Incredible 2 and Thunderbolt on Verizon, Inspire 4G on AT&T, Sensation on T-Mobile).

So how does the EVO 3D stack up to the original as well as the top of the other flagship phones out there?  Read on to find out:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A]

Excellent commercial but not enough Galaxy S2.

Related articles

• Samsung Galaxy 2 to land on Sprint with NFC as the Samsung ‘Within’ (9to5google.com)

The first thing that strikes me is that the US is running out of names for Smartphones quicker than even IP addresses.

‘Within’?

Whatever.

The short of it is that the Samsung Galaxy S2, pretty much the most bad ass phone available today, is coming to Sprint, one of the most Android -friendly carriers and will be called the ‘Within’.   They could call it the ‘Edsel’ and this would still be a sweet phone.

Top shelf specs include: 32GB internal storage with SD option. Dual Core processor, 4.27-inch display, 1GB RAM, Gingerbread and of course NFC which should make Google and its Wallet efforts pretty happy.  Engadget said of this device:

It’s the best Android smartphone yet, but more importantly, it might well be the best smartphone, period.

No timetable for launch exists but we know S2s are already running around Europe and Sprint users want to get their hands on this thing.  It would surprise me if this wasn’t out by the end of Summer.

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