The Blackberry has a great visual voicemail system. I was wondering whether Blackberry had caught up in this arena to the IPhone. To my pleasant surprise, it has to a great extent.

The Blackberry App World is delivering “VALUE.”

YouMail is a great application for visual voicemail. What it provides is a great way screen and go thru your voicemail outside of the traditional IVR (interactive voice response) system. This makes the phone more usable and faster for the user to check messages and address the most urgent messages first without wading thru unimportant messages to get the critical one. Best of all, the application is FREE.

There is a paid transcription service that will convert the audio voicemail into text for your viewing. This is the hook so to speak of the application. Now you can easily view your audio voicemails and respond via text or thru audio, (go even faster).

I could not find the feature to replay certain parts of the audio voicemail, but the transcription process can eliminate a key step in the world of voice mail…finding pen and paper to write down a number. It’s done for you in much more elegant way, and you can easily share this electronically without typing it in again. There are also automated responses on the menu so you can quickly respond to the message.

Is it as elegant as the IPhone interface, no. Does it get the job done at $500 per year less, yes. I mean, you can have a Blackberry and a flat screen TV for the price of 1 IPhone. What’s the value equation here?

Anyway, Blackberry App World is real and producing real useful apps. Although the number of applications are not as wild as the Apple or Android communities, the quality is definitely there for applications you will use more than once or twice.

Sprint currently has a promotion for Blackberries that we are offering. $300 in credits for businesses that decide to activate 3+ or more Blackberry devices with us. Yes, you get $300 in credits for signing up for a 2 year contract, must port in numbers from other carriers. Write or more importantly, call us if you are interested.

The Samsung Moment is a much overlooked Android phone, but recently it’s been on a hot streak. With Sprint lowering the price of the unit to $99.00 and people discovering it’s greater speed and usability, it’s becoming a best seller for us.

However, it does have some software glitches we have seen. These are very minor but do make you visit your local Sprint service center.

1. The CL14 update works very easily; however, it will erase the phone and the apps you loaded on it. You will need to reset everything, but at least the GPS will work properly and it will be a more stable phone.

2. We’ve found that if you download too much at the same time that the phone may freeze and then go into a repeating boot loop. This is confirmed by other blog posts. We needed to get to the Android recovery utility and force and clean wipe of the device. After this, it worked fine.

3. Once we downloaded CL14 and did the clean wipe, the device appeared to work fine.

You can brick the phone if you don’t follow the directions in the CL14 upgrade process carefully. You have to enter in some esoteric codes and plug and unplug the device at various stages to get the upgrade software to work right (and we are the Service Center).

Outside of these minor points, this is a great device. The only complaint I personally have with the phone is that the space bar key is to small, but outside of that, customer satisfaction with Android is solid. Sprint’s network delivers on it’s data promise. Lastly, of course, being the best value in wireless, Sprint delivers on the pocket book as well.

Just got back from my Honeymoon. If you have a chance to go to Australia and/or New Zealand, I would take the opportunity. The newest thing in Australia and New Zealand is the roll out of 3G, so it makes you feel a little technologically superior from a USA standpoint, but you quickly are in aw at the Cockutoos around Sydney and wish the same “life” was in the USA.

Lots changed at Sprint over the last few months.
1. HTC is in, Google is really in. Relatively bug free launches. No device is perfect, but they are not fatal in their flaws.
2. PRE is out. Getting to be our largest headache for servicing. Palm is a recalcitrant by not allowing Sprint and our team to repair the phones in the field. Whatever…
3. 4G is hot.
4. Business is steady and slightly growing overall.

Be back with more substantial updates.

The greatest handset launch for the simple phones is the Sanyo 3810. Elegantly simple. Big screen and buttons and is a traditional updated basic FREE phone. Sleek design and it’s great and easy to use. It’s a winner phone for a neglected market of simple phone users.

We have recently seen the rare occurrance of the Sprint HTC Hero going into digital roaming and not coming out of roaming. This is a big problem because all the standard trouble shooting with the network requires the phone to have good communication with the Sprint network. Alas, it doesn’t in roaming mode.

The solution to this problem is fortunately, easy. Bring the phone to your local Sprint Service Center or here to us in Mountain View, CA, and instruct them you need a PRL update. A PRL Update will update the preferred roaming list for the phone and get you reset in the correct area.

If this alone does not work, once the new PRL is installed, you may want to reset the phone completely with a ##RTN#. Again, you local service center can do this for you.

After one or both of these activities you should be able to have your phone back in operation.

Happy Halloween Everyone.  I wanted to dedicate this blog to all the businesses out there losing money by not using Sprint.

Sprint has the best plans for the bottom line and the best network for the money.  Verizon and ATT customers are spending on average about 20% more per month and per year for wireless communications.  For an iPhone using company, spending is about 30-40% more for similar services.

There are several unique features that Sprint has for businesses.

1.  Any Mobile, Any Time.  This provides businesses with unlimited mobile phone calling to any mobile phone in the USA (prepaid customers as well).  This makes the amount of minutes needed by the businesses reduced for the most active cell phone users (those with advanced data plans generally).

2.  Nights begin at 7pm.  For every other person in a company not on a data plan, Nights still begin at 7pm.  60 hours of extra calling time per month = 3600 minutes per month, versus standard ATT & Verizon plans.

3.  Get the Best Smartphones.  CNET editors have rated Sprint handsets 2 out of the best 5 handsets.  Sprint has a program for businesses that allows each customer to receive a low cost upgrade every year.  With Smartphone technology advancing rapidly, Sprint lowers the cost of giving you the latest handset every year rather than every two years.  This is a savings of $200 per year for the greatest handsets.  For plans at $69.99/month or higher, this is a clear advantage.  This benefit can also help you eliminate your insurance if you can replace your Smartphone every year for less (why pay extra?).

Great handsets with the Android devices HTC Hero and Samsung Moment phones and the Palm PRE.  Each of these phones offers a very competitive solution set at a price that is 20%-40% less than iPhones per month.  For a company, you could literally save $600 per phone per year with PRE users fully loaded at ($100/month)  versus iPhone fully loaded user ($150/month).  $600 per year X 10 phones in your company = $6,000 per year = real money.

If companies want to cut cost, this is a simple way to do it without losing critical business functions.  In fact, as Android is projected to be the 2nd largest mobile OS behind Symbian by 2012 (Forrester), the company will be making a wise decision to adopt Android for the long haul.

4.  The best 3G network and the only national carrier rolling out 4G.  As Verizon points out, it’s the network…really…Sprint has the fastest and maintains the edge here for phones as well as mobile broadband.  With Sprint, you are future proofing your technology purchase for the next 2 years (at least).  PC Magazine rates Sprint #1 in broadband aircards.

5.   Local service center support.  There is no carrier that has local service centers to repair phones for their customers.  Where can you go on site to get a repair or replacement easily?

6.  A very established ecosystem of software providers to provide application level support.  Sprint has the deepest bed of applications available for business customers.  The leader in GPS based applications still is going strong.

7.  The best line up of rugged devices.  Sprint is the only carrier that can provide rugged phones for the rough parts of your business.  There is no other carrier with such an extensive handset line up for rugged devices.

8.  Femtocells.  Sprint has the Airave to allow you to eliminate any dead spots (requires high speed Internet).  This mini cell tower is a miracle to customers with fringe coverage in their building.  There is no more argument for coverage…anywhere…anymore.

9.  All business plans include Direct Connect for free now.

10.   Great volume discounts.

Status symbols aside, Sprint is the choice for businesses looking for practical solutions to get wireless communications.  Providing a great overall solution to helping business, Sprint delivers to the bottom line.

If you are interested in seeing how Sprint can help your business, feel free to give us a call or email, 650-331-7244 x3.

Clearwire continues to meet it’s roll out targets with the latest aggressive push for Q4.  This time we are in some major city markets and this should drive subscriptions significantly upwards.

Things are finally looking up for Sprint.  4G, Google, Pre, better customer service, best value in wireless rate plans, and a more consistent marketing message.  Things are getting cooking and should yield much better results in 2010 as subscriber growth kicks into positive territory.

Clearwire Plans Major 4Q Launches

Posted In: Clearwire | FirstNews

We’ve been playing with out pre-release HERO and it’s a great product.  The ability to customize and the App store are the true differentiating factors for the device.

Between this and the PRE, there are plenty of things going for Sprint here.

First impressions:

1.  The app store is a phenomenal.  There are widgets and apps for so many things.  As Google has been at this for 2+ years, the range of apps for the platform is rather rich out the gate.  12,000+ apps by some counts.

2. The scene and layer capability is beyond any phone.  You can have 49  screens to customize…again phenomenal.  It’s the phone with the most multiple personalities.  For example, imagine you were preparing for an outdoor trip.  You could create a scene for this and then populate the 7 layers of the scene with all the apps or stuff you might need.  Compass app, maps app, footprints app, metal detector app, medical/first aid app, weather app, emergency numbers notes, notes for equipment purchases, check list of items to pack, Facebook sharing app, clock app, etc…

Then when you start your journey, you have everything you need separated from your other professional or family life.  The phone is now your appliance for outdoor adventure with the most relevant information at your finger tips.  Unlike it’s other smart phone competitors, it has the most capability to customize this range as of yet.

3.  Very stable OS.  I’m certain it will crash if we really push it.

4.  Great camera 5.0MP.  I was able to take a picture of a business card and be able to read it.  I could probably attach that picture to a contacts profile if I had the time to figure it out.  For people with children, this camera is a great step forward in getting better shots.  Not as good a camera as the new Samsung HD, also releasing, but much more well rounded device for other functions.

5.  Expandable SD Micro Memory ~32GB Max.

6.  Google integration superb with Android.

Other reviews…

The downside:

1.  The app store is great, but as Google is much more of an open market place for apps, it is much less regulated or “secure.”   There are no guarantees (outside of user reviews) that the apps will do something strange or unwanted to your phone.  We managed to download apps that were a bit malicious.  Not great…so user beware and just use some common sense before downloading things.

2.  Despite a larger battery, it’s still falls into the smartphone battery dilemma.  The better the phone…the more you use it…the more the battery drains…the faster the phone becomes a useless paper weight or annoys you to charge it.

Cool App Recommendation:

1.  Shazam…the music listening and tell you the artist and stuff about the song.

1. In preparation for e-commerce on the PRE, 1.2 is released and 1.2.1, allowing you to store credit card information in the Palm Profile for transacting.

2. Downloading MP3 from Amazon directly on the Sprint network is now available.

3. Searching emails is now easy. Sharing images as attachments now available.

4. PRE photos apps can now view JPG, BMP, or PNG formats.

5. Exchange updated for synchronizing.

6. IM statuses now appear.

7. Ringtone volumes increased.

8. Sprint Navigation now pulls from Google contacts from the phone.

9. Zoom text defaults for the browser are a big plus.

10. Copying and cutting from websites a lot easier…press CAP key and touch screen as to section you want to copy/highlight. Then press the gesture area so the button lights up and then press the letter C. Notification of section copied appears. Great stuff.

More…

This is a great phone for the price. Where else can you get unlimited calls to any mobile phone, unlimited text, email, web, and navigation for $69.99/month. Top quality phone at value prices is hard to beat.

Being a yellow and black guy myself, I have to hand it to Apple for their bar none marketing of the IPhone.  It’s a good device on a crappy network, but it’s sold as a god send to mankind.  Apple, I have to admit, is the quintessential example of branding and how people are willing to pay for a social phenomena.

Going forward, my theory is that ATT will lose it’s exclusivity for the IPhone.  It just doesn’t make sense for Apple to continue with them without entertaining other carriers to carry the unit.  The market is starting to get saturated and ATT is only 1/3 of the wireless market in the USA.  All the people who are going to buy an Iphone in the USA with ATT have mostly already have decided to get them.  Given the #1 complaint about the IPhone is ATT, it’s clear Apple will need to address this with its customers.  So, with just a basic numerical and service arguments, to continue it’s huge market capitalization, Apple must pursue the other 2/3 of the market place in the USA.  Sorry, social phenomena needs more than ATT customer base.

Verizon is the logical choice, provided they have a great network and great service and charge higher prices overall.  However, Verizon may not appreciate Apple’s high profit model at their expense.  I’m willing to put a good wager that Verizon will launch with the IPhone next year, ending the monopoly.  Sprint may ride the coat tails of this offer as the development of a CDMA version will suite both carriers easily.

This presents a real problem for ATT, as the IPhone is essentially the core of ATTs growth.  Strip out the IPhone and you have tepid wireless growth and a declining wireless business.  ATT stock over the last 2 years can tell this tale.

As all the carriers are considering LTE, yet nothing is in the ground and running (unlike Sprint’s 4G Wi-Max service), Apple may be waiting to launch the new phone under this standard, but that is about 2-3 years away at the earliest (despite ever aggressive LTE claims by Verizon).  Verizon has been a giant flip flop of launching this year with LTE, to many cities in 2010, now the entire country at end of 2010…please call me when you have at least 1 city up and running properly with paying customers and hardware.  So, Apple can’t wait 2-3 years here, the gargantuan market capitalization needs to be fed now…sure global growth can take it far but the USA is still a big and very rich market for wireless.

Lastly, there’s this Google company.  Since Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board, it’s clear that the company’s are now facing each other in the market place as competitors.  The “Google” phones are now coming out on Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon and these have a brand cache as well and a real threat to providing very “cool” products with very deep pockets.  HTC HERO by Sprint has definitely improved the cool design.  Competition for other carrier mind share is disappearing the longer Apple stays with ATT.  The Hero has a 5.0MP camera!!!! OMG.

So, that’s my theory of why Apple will end the happy monogamy and be a polygamist.  I don’t think it can afford to maintain it’s corporate growth and profits without more coals in the fire and this is an obvious and easy one.  It will create more management headache to deal with other carriers, but the pay-off will be much more handsome.