Sprint outlines plans for more IDEN to CDMA Migration (US)
Sprint has outlined plans for its migration of its Push-to-Talk services over to its CDMA network. The Sprint Direct Connect will launch with an initial portfolio of rugged devices from Motorola Mobility and Kyocera. The devices will feature most of the capabilities available on current Sprint Nextel iDEN based phones. The planned portfolio will include an ultra-rugged camera flip phone and an Android Smartphone with a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard.
Sprint expects to deepen its push-to-talk portfolio by 2012, adding more devices with new form factors and features.
The devices are expected to enable group push-to-talk for up to 200 participants, Land Mobile Radio (LMR) interoperability, and availability notification. In early 2012, Sprint Direct Connect is expected to add more capabilities, including international push-to-talk.
In addition, the Push-to-talk coverage footprint is planned to increase to nearly 2.7 million square miles and is expected to cover a population of 309 million (with the addition of 1xrtt and roaming coverage) – an increase from the iDEN network’s 908,370 square miles covering a population 278 million.
During the nationwide implementation of Network Vision, Sprint expects to continue operating the iDEN network at current performance levels. As the customer base shifts to more broadband-centric push-to-talk applications on the CDMA network and Sprint launches Sprint Direct Connect, iDEN cell sites are expected to be phased out in 2013.
According to Paget Alves, President-Sprint Business, their customers are asking for broadband push-to-talk now. They’ve seen steadily increasing demand for faster data speeds, better and broader coverage, and more applications on push-to-talk devices. Sprint Direct Connect is designed to solve for all three, and is expected to come with sub-second push-to-talk call set-up time initially in Sprint CDMA RevA coverage areas. Sub-second call set up is expected to expand across the U.S. with the implementation of Network Vision.
Alves added, they believe the new push-to-talk service powered by a broadband network and featuring competitively priced rugged handsets and smart phones will represent an unmatched offering in the market.
ZTE to launch first smartphone in Japan
ZTE Corp, china’s second-largest telecom equipment provider, and SoftBank, Japan’s third-largest telecommunications operator, have announced that their jointly developed Android smartphone, Libero, will be launched in the Japanese market later this month. 
The handset is ZTE’s first smartphone to be launched in Japan, and the second handset developed in collaboration with SoftBank. The first handset “SoftBank 840Z” was launched in October this year.
Libero, customized for the Japanese local market, is the lightest and thinnest smartphone among SoftBank’s newest products and is running the latest Android 2.2 operating system. The product has been launched in several European countries, including France, Germany, and the U.K.
ZTE and SoftBank jointly announced on the product release conference that they will launch eight models of terminal products in the Japanese market by next March.
Motorola launches Defy in Korea
Motorola has launched its rugged Android smartphone in Korea. It is the fifth smartphone model that Motorola has introduced in Korea since January when it launched the Motoroi.
The handset features high resistance to water, dust and scratches and comes with the famous Gorilla Glass. Motorola Defy will be available with SK Telecom.
Motorola DEFY features: the latest version of Advanced MOTOBLUR 1.5, loaded with Android 2.1, Swype as the default keyboard of choice, a 3.7-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen, a 5 megapixel camera powered by the 800 MHz OMAP 3610 processor with an LED flash. The phone holds in-build memory of 1.25GB. The handset also features Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS.
Motorola Milestone Xt720: Smart Phone with great deals
Motorola’s Milestone XT720 is a high end Android smartphone with a quirky physical design and one feature that is an Android first.
The phone feature an 8-megapixel camera with all the latest features which are provided in the handset like geo-tagging, image stabilization, face detection, auto focus etc will give better than the best quality pictures. The phone has a Xenon flash, along with 720p video recording and HDMI out for showing the results on a big screen, makes the Milestone XT720 sound like a photographer’s dream device. The phone has 8GB microSD memory card which can be extended up to 32 GB with a memory card.
The handset comes with powerful battery that doesn’t require recharging every now and then. Motorola Milestone XT720 deals are the real beneficial deals which are the user friendly deals. They are the attractive deals that can be afforded by people of all incomes.
There are contract deals available with number of free gifts which will give maximum benefits to the users. Free gifts include LCD, laptop, mobile accessories, TV, play station, gaming consoles, video games and much more. Other offers, incentives and discounts can also be availed.
Lenovo plans to launch CDMA LePhone with China Telecom
China Telecom in collaboration with the Lenovo Group has recently declared their plans to launch a CDMA2000 LePhone. Lenovo had earlier launched WCDMA LePhone with China Unicom on May 17 at a price of US$429.92 per unit.
The LePhone is Lenovo’s stylish smartphone which adopts Google’s Android operation system. Lenovo recently confirmed that sale of 100,000 Units of its first Android smartphone in China, this data is till June end only; company might have sold many more units till now. Lenovo expects to sell one million LePhones within a year.
