sprint

There is enough indirect evidence that Sprint will soon be releasing the HTC Hero, but how soon remains unclear. While October is the most favorable period, according to Engadget "Best Buy Mobile locations will be taking $50 deposits for the phone starting on September 13 with an SKU of 9510013".

With the instinctQ on the horizon, we're not really interested in this presale.

SprintUsers has recently posted some off-screen photos showing release dates and pricing for some low-eng handsets scheduled to be released soon on Sprint. Let's get to the most interesting part, shall we?  The long-awaited HTC Touch Pro2 is in the list and ready to be launched on September 8 at an unsubsidized, rebate-free price of $599.99.

There's also a link to a PDF file, the internal "Quick Reference Brief" for the Touch Pro2, part of which includes a comparison chart where the Touch Pro2 meets face to face with the yet unreleased AT&T's LG Monaco and HTC Warhawk, as well as Verizon's Omnia II.

A picture of the upcoming Samsung InstinctQ has surfaced recently, and confirmed our expectations: it's an Android-powered landscape QWERTY slider for Sprint. We definitely like the touch-sensitive Home, Menu and Back buttons, and the keyboard looks pretty solid. The screen doesn't look bright and clear, but maybe it's just the photo. Final judgements will be made upon a hands-on review.

PhoneArena has managed to get some new info regarding the Instinct HD. The handset will be dubbed the S50, like it was called initially, and is expected to be hit the shelves sometime around mid-September, which is about half a month away.

Additionally, we also found out that the Android-powered Samsung Instinct Q could appear in stores sometime in November, but that's pure speculation.

According to documents seen  on the FCC site, there's a new version of the Samsung Instinct headed for Sprint, model number SPH-M850. The handset features EVDO, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a "full touch" display and HDTV out, as well as a "5M AF camera", according to the Bluetooth SIG, which has also approved the device. Neither Sprint nor Samsung has announced this device.

PhoneArena have obtained some shots of the upcoming Sprint has Samsung M560 Reclaim. It appears to be a wide portrait QWERTY slider with a landscape QVGA display, 2Mpix camera, GPS, fast access to popular social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and... it uses the same corn-based shell as the E200 Eco, which mean's it's "green". Literally, since there's a green color option.

It's definitely not an official launch confirmation, but an official Sprint portal for the outfit's NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile application currently lists the HTC Rhodium as a "compatible phone" supporting full audio and video content. In case you didn't know, "Rhodium" is basically the same "Touch Pro2." But don't get excited just yet, just wait for the phone's official announcement.

Wow, we would never expect such a turn... Sprint has officially announced that it intends to acquire Virgin Mobile and according to the release, the deal is done. The CDMA carrier is ready to cough up $483 million in total for the acquisition, and will also cover VM’s $250 million in debt at closing.

It is yet unknown whether Virgin Mobile will function as a separate company or it will be folded into Boost Mobile.

Palm has released a new update for its megapopular Pre. The new webOS 1.1.0. build "resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (8.2.1)", and adds a number of new features. Here are soe of them, according to the source:

• Added NFL Mobile Live application for watching games and audio from the handset;
• Scrolling through long lists (like contacts) seems improved;
• Push email now seems to actively delete (and represent the count properly) in the background;
• Folder orders for IMAP Gmail accounts are now correct;
• The email alert sound is softer;
• App load times seem a bit snappier;
• There seems to be a new animation for the drop-down menus

In addition, PreCentral has an extensive list of undocumented features.

Just in case you've missed this, Sprint's Palm Pre smartphone is now available online for $199.99 after a 2-year contract and mail-in rebate.