CES 2012
The grand-daddy of consumer electronics shows takes place the week of January 9th. A lot of cell phone news is expected, from LG, Samsung, Nokia, AT&T, Sprint, and more. We'll be reporting all week from Las Vegas, with liveblogs, hands-on reports, and other news . Our CES page collects all of our CES news in one place.
Lenovo Hopes to Crack U.S. Smartphone Market
Lenovo today indicated that it wants to sell smartphones in the U.S., according to an interview with Reuters. David Schmoock, Lenovo's North American chief, said, "I will spend time over the next couple of years building out the relationship with the mobile providers — AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc. You have to build out that network first, then that allows you to put products on the shelf." Schmook doesn't see Lenovo hitting U.S. retail stores imminently, but he is working to make it happen. Lenovo recently announced a new Android-based smartphone called LePhone 2 that will be sold in its home market of China.
Sprint's LTE to Launch On 1900MHz Only
All of the Long Term Evolution 4G devices released by Sprint this year will use only its 1900MHz spectrum, said Sprint spokesperson David Owen in an interview with Phone Scoop. Right now, Sprint doesn't have access to Clearwire's spectrum nor LightSquared's spectrum for LTE services, so it will repurpose its 1900MHz spectrum assets to handle both its current CDMA voice/data network and future LTE data network. Sprint plans to launch the LTE network, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and LG Viper at approximately the same time, but couldn't commit to a specific date. Sprint believes its LTE roll-out will be complete by the end of 2013, though Owen wouldn't say how Clearwire and LightSquared's spectrum and LTE networks will play a role in that final 4G picture. Clearwire will not, however, expand its WiMax network beyond what it already covers and will eventually transition to LTE. Owen said that Sprint's goal is to offer smartphones and mobile hotspots that provide good battery life and fast internet speeds, no matter what network technology is being used. The new tri-network (CDMA, WiMAX, LTE) mobile hotspot offers that for data-hungry customers. Owen said that tri-network phones are cost prohibitive, so it will offer CDMA/WiMax and CDMA/LTE devices at the same time as it completes its transition from WiMax to LTE 4G networking technologies.
Hands-On: LG Viper for Sprint
Sprint showed off one of its first LTE 4G smartphones at CES, the LG Viper. We took a quick look at it and here are our thoughts.
Sprint Announces LG Viper with LTE
Sprint today provided a few details about the LG Viper, an upcoming Android smartphone that will be one of the first to use Sprint's forthcoming Long Term Evolution network. The LG Viper has Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 4.0-inch WVGA touchscreen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a primary 5.0-megapixel camera and front-facing VGA camera, and Near Field Communication and Google Wallet. Sprint didn't say when the phone would launch, but its LTE network is set to go live before the middle of 2012.
Sprint Officially Reveals Galaxy Nexus
Sprint has published a web site talking up its forthcoming Long Term Evolution 4G network. As part of the site, it revealed that it will sell the Samsung Galaxy Nexus device with LTE support. Sprint's LTE network is expected to go live in a handful of markets before the middle of 2012.
Ad Suggests LTE-Packing Galaxy Nexus Bound for Sprint
An advertisement briefly appeared on CNet's web site today announcing a version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with LTE for Sprint's network. The ad, which has since been pulled, revealed that the Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus has a 1.5GHz processor, rather than the 1.2GHz processor on the global and Verizon variants. Other specs appear to be the same across versions. The mistakenly run ad showed up shortly after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced the company's first LTE markets, which will go live by June.
