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Sanyo SCP-3810

(Credit: Sanyo)

In case you're tired of all the smartphone news lately, here's an entry-level phone from Sprint that won't cost you anything at all. The Sanyo SCP-3810 is a basic camera phone with a 1.3-megapixel camera, a "hidden" external LCD, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, mobile e-mail, and threaded text messaging. And yes, the SCP-3810 is free after rebates and a new two-year service agreement. The SCP-3810 is available now in both Black Onyx and Regal Red.

(Via PhoneScoop)

Motorola Debut

(Credit: Motorola)

Motorola first debuted the, uh, Debut i856 for Boost Mobile early last month, and now it has brought the handset to Sprint Nextel as well.

Touted as the first slider phone to feature Nextel's push-to-talk technology, the Debut also has multimedia features like a 1.3-megapixel camera and a music player. You can also switch from a push-to-talk call to a regular voice call. Aside from the carrier difference, the Nextel Debut is the same as the one for Boost.

Since the Nextel version is subsidized, it will be available for $99.99 with a two-year service agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate (compare to the non-contract Boost price of $170).

The Palm Pre may not be coming to Verizon Wireless after all.

According to a report from TheStreet.com, Verizon Wireless execs are reconsidering whether to begin offering Palm's touch screen smartphone in January as many have anticipated.

Palm Pre

(Credit: Sprint Nextel)

The Pre was announced at CES in January amid much fanfare. And after months of anticipation, Palm launched the device in June exclusively on Sprint Nextel's network. Shortly before the device was launched on Sprint's network, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said it would offer the Pre on the Verizon Wireless network within six months.

Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse said the device was exclusive to Sprint through 2009, which left many market watchers expecting a Verizon version to land sometime in January 2010. Hopes for a Verizon version of the Pre were bolstered recently when Palm's new CEO Jon Rubinstein said he expects the device to be offered on other networks very soon.

But now it looks like Verizon is having a change of heart. The Street.com said its sources have cited several reasons why Verizon execs may be getting cold feet. For one, the Palm Pre has had modest sales compared to sales of competing devices such as Apple's iPhone or Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices. According to story, Sprint has not sold more than a million Pre phones so far, which has spooked the Verizon execs.

Another issue is that Verizon supposedly wants its VCast application and download store to be featured on the phone. But this will compete directly with Palm's own app store. ... Read more

If you thought a $99 Netbook was a bargain, Sprint Nextel's plan to sell Netbooks for a buck is a real steal.

Sprint has teamed up with mega-retailer Best Buy to sell the Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX Netbook for 99 cents with a two-year service contract. The offer is good at participating Best Buy stores.

Best Buy plans to sell the same Netbook for Verizon Wireless and AT&T for $199.99 with a two-year contract. Without any service contract, the Netbook costs $389.99, according to Best Buy's Web site.

Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX Netbook

(Credit: Compaq)

The Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX Netbook features a 1.6GHz processor and 160GB hard drive.

Sprint's 3G wireless service is $60 a month for 5GB of data monthly, making the true cost of the Netbook with two years of service $1,440.

Verizon offers two tiers of data service. The $40 a month plan offers 250MB of data monthly. And the $60 a month plan offers a maximum of 5GB of data. With the current pricing, Verizon Netbook users can expect to spend $1,160 to $1,640 during the life of the contract for the service and Netbook, depending on which plan they choose.

AT&T offers similar pricing for its data service. For up to 5GB of data per month, the service is $60 a month, plus it offers free access to AT&T's 20,000 nationwide Wi-Fi hot spots. A service that offers 200MB of data per month costs $40 a month. In addition to the current offering for the Compaq Mini, AT&T also offers other Netbook deals. The subsidy price on a variety of Netbooks, including the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, and LG Xenia, ranges from $50 to $250.

Netbooks are becoming a hot business for carriers that are looking to get consumers using their wireless data services. The wireless operators are taking a page out of their old playbooks by subsidizing the devices to spur adoption.

But it's unclear so far if the plan will work. Already consumers are being asked to pay more per month for regular cell phone service. And the expensive data plans could deter some consumers who do the math and realize they don't actually need to be spending over a $1,000 for one of these mini-laptops when these devices and laptops can be used for a very low cost or even free when using Wi-Fi hot spots.

Sprint Nextel executives said Monday that the launch of the much anticipated Palm Pre on Saturday hit a new sales record for the company.

Neither Sprint nor Palm is discussing specific sales figures, but Tim Donahue, vice president of business marketing for Sprint, said that the launch exceeded the company's expectations.

(Credit: CNET )

"We experienced our best one day of sales and single weekend sales for any phone we've launched in our history," he said. "We sold out of the device over the weekend in most of our store locations. And it happened at a much faster rate than we had planned on. "

While the crowds that showed up on Saturday morning to buy the Pre at Sprint stores and other retail locations where the phone was offered were small in number compared to the crowds that have gathered for the past two iPhone launches, analysts are calling the launch of the Pre a success. A J.P. Morgan report estimated that more than 50,000 phones were sold in the first two days the phone was available. The Wall Street Journal cited analysts who said that between 50,000 and 100,000 Pres had been sold.

Now Sprint and Palm must wait to see if the momentum will continue. ... Read more

NEW YORK--The much-anticipated Palm Pre may have gotten almost as much hype as the Apple iPhone over the past six months, but its opening day fell short of the attention iPhones grabbed on their first days.

The Sprint store in the Flatiron building on Manhattan's Fifth Ave. received nearly 200 Palm Pres for the launch.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET)

Unlike the huge crowds of people that formed long lines and camped out in front of Apple and AT&T stores days in advance of the iPhone's launch, crowds for the Palm Pre were much smaller and tended to arrive in the morning just before stores opened.

Neither Sprint nor Palm have released official figures about how many devices they hoped to sell on the Pre's first day. But Sprint representatives had been trying to downplay expectations for iPhone-like crowds ahead of the launch. Sprint spokesman Mark Elliott told The New York Times earlier this week that the company not only didn't expect long lines for the Pre at its 1,100 stores, but that it didn't want them.

And it looks like the company got its wish. Salespeople at Sprint stores in New York City said a handful of people gathered outside their locations early Saturday morning. But most lines didn't even come close to the madness experienced on iPhone launch days.

Crowds tended to be bigger at Best Buy stores, which were offering the device for the $199 price without the $100 mail-in rebate. Customers buying a Pre from Sprint, the exclusive carrier of the device, pay $299 at the time of purchase and can get $100 back with a mail-in rebate. According to Rich Pesce, a Sprint spokesman, most new phones offered through the carrier have the mail-in rebate offer.

Many Best Buy locations sold out of the Pre almost immediately. ... Read more

Wilson breaks some Sprint and Palm Pre information, based on an interview he did with CNET News reporter Maggie Reardon and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. This makes Jeff infinitely jealous, because Wilson got to hold a Palm Pre before Jeff did.

(Credit: Jitterbug)

Dan Hesse denied that Verizon and AT&T would be getting the Palm Pre in six months time, saying that the reports had the facts wrong. Wilson thinks that Sprint probably has the option to extend its exclusivity in six months. Wilson also thinks that the Palm Pre is a little too small and a little too thick. Reminds us of something we'd rather not say or write.

In more phone news, Jitterbug has released a new version of its Jitterbug cell phone. Remember the one last week that couldn't even dial 911 in some cases? Well, Jitterbug has added text messaging to this new model. Yeah, we don't really think that grandma is going to be really into T9 text messaging.

Plus, we think Jitterbug is opening up itself to the worst deluge of tech support calls on the planet by having direct tech support access built-in to the cell phone. Our grandparents drive us crazy enough when they ask us to set up their VCRs. Imagine if that was your job!

Grandpa:
Why doesn't my son call me any more?

In more puzzling economic recession news, we find it pretty interesting that the tattoo removal business is booming. Apparently, that face tattoo was a great idea when the economy was booming. Now, you'll be hard pressed to find a job doing much of anything that doesn't require a face mask if you've got one.

Finally, in the big news of the day, we let the world know that musician and inspirational speaker, Andrew W.K., will be coming to guest on The 404 on June 18. Be sure to get your iPods, Zunes, iTunes, and RSS readers all fired up to check out this interview. For those of you who don't know, check out any party scene in a movie released in the last decade for his hit "Party Hard." He'll be on to promote his new show on the Cartoon Network, and Justin will be dedicating his life to the man. We're serious. We think Andrew W.K. should bring bodyguards. Take care and have a great weekend everybody!

The Palm Pre will be in consumers' hands starting Saturday.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

Update 7:55 a.m. PDT: Comments from Dan Hesse's presentation at the press event here have been added to this story.

NEW YORK--Verizon Wireless's claims that it will be offering the Palm Pre within six months are not accurate, says Sprint Nextel's CEO Dan Hesse.

"They need to check their facts," Hesse said in an interview at a press event here to launch the Palm Pre. "That just is not the case. Both Palm and Sprint have agreed not to discuss the length of the exclusivity deal. But I can tell you it's not six months."

Last week, Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Wireless was quoted by Reuters as saying that over the next six months consumers could expect to see devices "like the Palm Pre and a second-generation Storm" on its network.

AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson also said last week that he hoped to have the Palm Pre on the AT&T network when the exclusivity deal with Sprint ended.

The Pre, which was announced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is expected to be Sprint's flagship smartphone. And the company has high hopes that the device, which will be sold only on Sprint's network starting Saturday, would help the troubled carrier improve its image and retain customers who might be tempted to defect to AT&T for the iPhone. Early reviews of the product have been positive with many reviewers, including CNET's own Bonnie Cha, calling the phone a good alternative to iPhone.

But claims that the Pre exclusivity deal with Sprint would only last six months had undermined expectations about what the Pre could do for Sprint.

Indeed , there is a lot riding on the success of the much-hyped Palm Pre for Sprint. The company has struggled over the last year to repair its badly damaged reputation as a wireless provider that offers poor customer support and unreliable network performance. But Hesse said during his presentation here at the launch event that the company has improved on all fronts over the past year. And he called the Pre launch the debut of a transformed Sprint.

"We are very different company than we were 12 months ago," he said. "And the Pre is the coming-out party for the new Sprint that shows off our fantastic data network and rate plans."

Hesse told the audience of customers and press that for 15 consecutive months consumers' satisfaction with Sprint's customer service has gone up. And he added that the company has refocused attention on improving its network and has actually been cited by independent consumer surveys as the most reliable 3G network on the market.

Hesse also emphasized Sprint as a value player in the market. Specifically, he said that subscribers signing up for Sprint's $100 Simply Everything Plan could save up to $1,200 over competing plans for smartphones offered by AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

But he also acknowledged that Sprint has a long way to go to convince the public that it has turned a corner. He cited an internal survey that found that subscribers who used the company's service within the past year rated the service very positively. But subscribers who hadn't used the service within the past year had a somewhat negative perception of the service.

"We have this gap," he admitted. "(But) if you look at the changes in what we provide to customers in terms of the quality of the network and the customer experience, as well as, the rate plans we offer, this is a very different company than it was a year ago."

See also:
• Poll: Will you buy the Palm Pre?
• CNET Review: Palm Pre

The Palm Pre's slick new software and cool design may make it the first true iPhone challenger on the market, but the competitively priced service plans from Sprint Nextel make the device an even more compelling alternative for frugal cellphone subscribers.

Palm Pre

(Credit: CNET)

In terms of features, the Pre matches the iPhone on most bells and whistles . And it even has a few new capabilities not seen on the iPhone, such as an actual QWERTY keypad and the ability to have multiple applications open at once.

But for financially savvy shoppers, the Pre on Sprint's 3G network offers a value proposition that may just be enough to tip the scale when deciding between smartphones.

In terms of the upfront cost of the devices, the iPhone and the Pre are the same. The 8GB iPhone 3G costs $200, and so does the Pre with a $100 mail-in rebate. But it's really the service contract from Sprint that sets the Pre apart from the iPhone from a cost perspective.

"Feature for feature these phones are very comparable," said Peter Pham, CEO of Billshrink.com, a Web site that helps consumers cut waste out of their monthly bills. "But when you look at the total cost of ownership, the Pre on Sprint's network offers better value for many consumers."

Here's a breakdown comparing the two service plans: