Sprint News: LightSquared Deal Officially Announced; Q2 Financials Loss Reported

Today is a good news/bad news day for Sprint. We'll share the good news first because it is really great news, and the bad news isn't really that awful. First, Sprint officially announced today that the deal with LightSquared will go through. This is something that wasn't really a well kept secret in the industry and had been reported on for quite some time now, but it's still really great news to see if officially confirmed and that everything is good for the deal to move forward.

Interestingly, it looks like this deal is very "forward-thinking", in that Sprint doesn't plan to offer LTE immediately. Primarily, this deal allows LightSquared to begin building their LTE network on top of Sprint's infrastructure, and eventually begin offering LTE to customers in the future. This means that Sprint will continue to offer WiMAX to customers and continue to support it for the foreseeable future. For the interim, this deal basically allows LightSquared to grow their company while renting spectrum from Sprint. This will ultimately boost Sprint's operating capital, and eventually allow them to leave the eventual dead-end of WiMAX for future LightSquared powered LTE service.

The bad news for Sprint right now was their second quarter financials. Sprint actually added an additional 1.1 million subscribers (prepaid and wholesale) to their base. Unfortunately, they lost 101,000 in their postpaid contract customer sector, which is their primary "bread and butter" for revenue. Because of this, they were not able to post a profit this quarter, and actually posted a loss of $847 million on revenues of $8.3 Million.

In the long run, this won't be terrible news, as Sprint has been rapidly gaining an improved image in the community. They have the best deals on smartphones & data plans, they offer the most incentives for new and existing customers, and they were recently rated a tie for number one with Verizon for excellent customer service. As the saying goes, "sometimes it's darkest, just before the dawn." Perhaps, we are simply seeing the dawn of a new decade of success for the Now Network.

Samsung Galaxy S II U.S. Sign-Up Page is Now Live

The Samsung Galaxy S II U.S. sign up page is now LIVE!
Head on over to Samsung’s site now then and register to receive word on when this beast of a phone will be landing on our shores

Be sure to check out Tech News Blog - covering Samsung Galaxy Family of phones.

Android Gmail App Updated to Version 2.3.5; Improves Performance and Battery Life

The geniuses at Google recently updated the Gmail app for Android to version 2.3.5, and it is available now on the Android Market. Amazingly, this newest version of the Gmail sync app actually claims to be able to improve your battery life, amongst several other performance enhancements and tweaks. One of its newest features allows you to only sync your priority emails, which will allow your phone to use less bandwidth and less power from the battery. Also, the new update includes a slew of additional new features like the ability to set “Show Pictures” for specific senders and a new option that allows you to set custom alert tones for the various labels. Furthermore, you can also now turn off sticky message actions, and the app also has better TalkBalk support for accessibility.

Toshiba Promises a Fix for the Thrive Tablet's 'Sleep Problems' Next Week

Apparently, Toshiba has already developed a fix for their Thrive Tablet's penchant for "snoozing" too long, and that fix is scheduled to arrive next week after further testing. Apparently, they are also throwing an additional performance enhancement into this update that will improve multimedia playback capabilities. How's that for a "two-for-one"? Of course, you could argue they should have caught this issue in testing before they released the device, but at least they are getting it fixed fairly quickly. Any of you guys experiencing this problem with your Thrive tablet?

5 Million Galaxy S II sold in 85 Days

Samsung announced that they sold 5 million Galaxy S II phones in just 85 days (on July 22nd). That's a lot faster than the Galaxy S which took 125 days to sell 5 million. The Galaxy S took 7 months to reach 10 million units and Samsung says that the S II is expected to reach that amount sooner too. And it's not even on US soil yet.

The SII sold 3 million units in 55 days, they sold 2 million in just 30 days, so sales are actually accelerating as Samsung introduces the phone into more and more markets. In this rate the will cross the 10 million mark soon, beating Samsung's own original expectations.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Major Update to be Unveiled in New York Aug 3rd

At first glance, this seems like an odd story. Samsung is holding a press event in New York on the 3rd of August, just to announce a software update for the Galaxy Tab 10.1. This begs the questions as to why a software update would need such melodramatic fanfare. Looking more closely at the plethora of feature addons and changes that are scheduled to be demonstrated, it starts to make more sense. Apparently, this is a pretty big deal to Samsung, and they wanted to use this as an excuse to drum up more attention for their product. Here's a breakdown of some of what we will see with this "major update":

• Fully Customizable Samsung TouchWiz UX with Live Panel and Mini Apps Services
• Re-designed Samsung Media Hub User Interface
• Amazon Music Cloud Player, Amazon Kindle and Words with Friends Applications
• Enterprise Mobile Solutions

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HTC Puccini 10.1 Inch Android Tablet Further Revealed in Leaked Images

The above and below images are of the HTC Puccini. Although further details regarding this tablet are sketchy at best, the pic definitely shows that the tablet will utilize a stylus just like it's smaller cousin the HTC Flyer. The pics also reveal that the device will have an 8-megapixel camera with what appears to be a dual-LED flash, as well as stereo speakers and a microphone. As soon as more details emerge regarding a full feature-set and potential launch dates, we will share them with you.

New Android App Lets you Control Your Onkyo AV Equipment Remotely.

The HiFi Audio manufacturer, Onkyo, is set to release their first Android app that lets you operate a smattering of their home-theater systems using your Android smartphone. As well as using your Android as a remote, the Onkyo Remote App also lets you browse content and stream audio from your Android. It is designed to work with the TX-8050 and all Onkyo A/V network receivers released this year. The app is scheduled to be launched in August. Here's the full press release:

Onkyo Announces Remote App for Android

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ (7/25/11) -- Home audio specialist, Onkyo, demonstrates its ongoing commitment to greater convergence in home entertainment with the announcement of its first application for the Android mobile platform. Onkyo's Remote App for Android will allow owners to integrate wireless audio from an Android-based device into their Onkyo home theater system, and provides a range of remote control functions.

Operating over a wireless local network, the application will allow Onkyo owners to stream music stored on an Android device to an Onkyo network audio system. Music played through an Onkyo system gains far greater power and fidelity.

Users will be able to browse networked content without needing to view on-screen menus on a connected display. Instead, they will use the touch-screen GUI on their Android device to navigate menus and control a variety of functions, such as selecting the input source or adjusting the volume and tone. Furthermore, users will be able to control output in individual zones in a multi-room distributed audio set-up.

Available in August as a free download from the Android market, the Remote App for Android will be compatible with all of Onkyo's network A/V receivers released in 2011, as well as with the TX-8050 stereo network receiver.

HTC EVO 3D Now FREE at WireFly for a New Contract; Only $50 for Renewal

WireFly always has great deals on Android smartphones, but this one is downright silly. The barely a month old HTC flagship phone the EVO 3D can now be had for the low-low price of "FREE" on a new Sprint Contract over at Wirefly. Also, if you want to renew your individual account, you can get still get the phone for a paltry $50 bucks! Plus, Wirefly is still shipping for free as well, so it's hard to beat this deal. No telling how long it will last, so hit the link below to snap it up.

Chromebooks Now Available Starting at Only $349 dollars!

Despite earlier reports that suggested Google may release Chromebooks at a higher price-point, instead they are launching starting at just $349 dollars. The cloud-based net device from Google could eventually become the next evolution of technology for the computing world. It heralds another step toward Google's vision of information easily and quickly available to everyone. Here are the details on the launch:

Chromebooks now available.

You asked to be notified when Chromebooks became available. We're pleased to inform you that they're available starting at $349.

Built for the web.
Listen to music. Play games. Edit photos. Thanks to the Chrome Web Store, you can find apps to do anything.

Stay connected.
With a long-lasting battery and built in WiFi and 3G, it's easy to stay connected anytime, anywhere.

Boots in 8 seconds. Resumes instantly.
Chromebooks are fast — and are designed to get faster over time as they get automatically updated.

Samsung May Have Sold More Phones than Nokia and Apple in Q2; Sold 6Million Galaxy S2

Even though the Samsung Galaxy SII phone hasn't even hit the States yet, there are reports that over 6 Million of them have been sold world-wide already. This has apparently greatly bolstered Samsung's global phone sales in general to a very high degree. According to a recent Strategy Analytics report, Samsung may have sold as many as 21 Million cell phones world-wide during the second quarter, which would put them ahead of both Nokia and Apple. Nokia sold 16.7 Million during Q2, and Apple sold 20.3 Million iPhones. If these numbers turn out to be accurate, that would make Samsung the world's number one cell phone manufacturer. Even if the real numbers end up being smaller than these, at this rate, Samsung will eventually reach that point anyway, if their products can survive the legal battles with Apple. It'll be interesting to see how much these numbers are further affected when Samsung finally releases the Galaxy SII in the United States.

Motorola Atrix 4G Now Getting Gingerbread 2.3.4 via OTA Update

If you are the proud owner of a Motorola Atrix 4G, you will be happy to know that a new OTA update is coming your way that includes Gingerbread 2.3.4, a new version of MOTOBLUR, and a host of improvements and bug fixes. Here's a partial list of the update goodies:

• Better app performance
• UI refinements
• Android 2.3.4
• New version of MOTOBLUR
• Faster webtop browsing
• Improved Gallery and Music apps
• Full 1080p playback
• App sideloading
• And various other performance enhancements & bug fixes.

All you need to do is go into your Settings menu, then go to About Phone, then System Updates, and the update should be available. Or, you can just wait a few days and the OTA will take care of its own "rollout" process.