Sprint's holiday smartphone bonanza drops on November 23

Motorola Q9c

(Credit: Sprint)

Hold the gravy! Check it out--it looks like you can add the Sprint store to your list of places to shop on Black Friday, as the carrier announced today that the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130, Motorola Q9c, and Motorola i335 will all be available starting November 23, though you'll only be able to purchase the Moto Q9c online for the time-being.

The RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 will run $199.99 with a two-year contract and has built-in GPS and EV-DO with support for the Sprint Power Vision services, including Sprint Music Store, Sprint TV, and Sprint Navigation--a pretty robust offering for a BlackBerry. Remember, this is also the first device from RIM to offer video-recording capabilities with its 2-megapixel camera. Additional goodies include Bluetooth 2.0 (yes on A2DP and dial-up networking), a microSD expansion slot, and support for up to 10 e-mail accounts with push technology.

Meanwhile, the Motorola Q9c offers a refresh to Sprint's aging Motorola Q by bringing Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition, a revamped design with a better keyboard, and GPS. Like the Motorola Q9h for AT&T, this model features Documents to Go for creating, viewing, and editing Office documents and features popular instant-messaging clients as well as various push e-mail solutions, including Microsoft Direct Push and Good Mobile Messaging. The Moto Q9c is $149.99 with a two-year service agreement and after rebates.

Motorola i335 for Nextel

(Credit: Sprint)

Finally, for Nextel customers, we have the Motorola i335. Though it's not a smartphone, the i335 works with the Nextel Direct Connect service to give you instant access to other Nextel users. The slim but rugged candy-bar-style handset meets military standards for standing up to dust, shock, and exposure to vibration. It also offers Bluetooth 1.2, integrated GPS, a speakerphone, VibraCall alert, and text and multimedia messaging. The i335 will cost $50 with a two-year contract and after rebates.

[howboutthemnoles]

Motorola Q9c does NOT run Good Mobile Messaging

Notwithstanding the hype, the Motorola Q9c does NOT support Good Mobile Messaging.<br /><br />I just bought a Motorola Q9c to replace my Treo. One reason I picked this phone is because Sprint advertises it as compatible with Good Mobile Messaging, which is used by my company. Review sites (like the above) state that compatibility exists, probably because they?ve regurgitated a Sprint press release.<br /><br />The device itself includes a pre-loaded icon for the Good system and links for downloading, and the owner?s manual includes a couple of pages re downloading and using Good. I returned to a Sprint location today and complained that you simply can?t get through the links ? you download the software and then when you try to open the program you get a Motorola error prompt that says the device is not compatible with Good. The Sprint rep told me that notwithstanding that the Sprint website says the Q9c supports Good, and notwithstanding the icons on the device, and notwithstanding the existence of a section in the Sprint owner?s manual, Good Mobile Messaging ?just doesn?t work? on the Q9c. Each of the reps at the location I visited said they?ve been trying to get the new Qs to run Good since they came out, and ?just can?t?. They also said that no 3rd party apps exist to force it either.

[johngarger]

Can someone give me an idea whether or not I should go for a smart phone or just use a more stylish phone and wait for some better technology? I am on the Sprint network, and was referred to <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.sanyowireless.com," target="_newWindow">http://www.sanyowireless.com,</a> but I'm not seeing any options that look like smart phones. I don't need an MP3 player or a camera, I'd rather have a phone that is lighter and easier to carry. Any recommendations would be welcome.