Shane Conder's Whateveritis of Nothing

So, I recently heard that Sprint's earnings had dropped significantly last quarter.  I'm thinking this was due to the acquisition costs of Nextel, but I haven't looked it up yet.  If it's not, then Sprint is doing so hot competing against Number 1 Cingular and Number 2 Verizon.

However, I recently had a reason to go look at Sprint's offerings.  I've been in the Verizon Wireless camp since it was GTE Wireless and digital phones were still a new thing that analog fans griped about.  I do end up seeing a lot of wireless news, so I knew the basics of what Sprint offered.  They've got some TV stuff they've had for a while (mobitv) and their new music download service.  They have video clips, games, and GPS.  They have J2ME phones that should be easier to load up user content than Verizon's BREW phones.

Verizon, of course, only has video clips -- no true, round the clock TV, as Sprint seems to have.  They do have their new music download service, too, and it's even cheaper than Sprints.  (Both of which combine it with a desktop music license, as well, so you get both -- which is nice.)

But is Sprint's stuff any good?  The feature set seems very compelling.  Why aren't more people raving about it?  Or are they and I just miss it?  Why do I want to know?

Actually, that last is the key question.  As it turns out, I've been picked for the Sprint Ambassador program.  I should be getting a Samsung MM-A920 Power Vision phone next week.  Consider this the disclaimer.  Although I'm not being paid to write anything, or even being asked to write anything, it is being prompted by Sprint giving me free stuff.  Who am I to complain, though?  Not only do I love gadgets, free gadgets are even more fun! :)

Of course, as I've told people this, the same comment comes back loud and clear:  "Enjoy the crappy Sprint coverage and service!"  Especially with the coverage, this statement is surprisingly universal.  I know a few people with Sprint service and who have had Sprint service for a long time, so it can't be that bad, can it?  I'll definitely be writing about it here, though, regardless of how good or bad it is. 

The nice thing is that I'll be traveling a bit during the 6 month time I'll haave the service.  If plans go well, this should include Hawaii. ;)  It won't cover our Africa trip, but I doubt it'll work in Africa.  In fact, that's a completely different topic I have to research some.  But that's for a different blog post.

I have had phones from different carriers in the past few years.  These have included a Boost Mobile (Nextel's youth brand -- I wonder if they're still around?) J2ME phone (The Motorola i730, IIRC) with GPS and a color screen and the Nokia NGage QD on T-Mobile (not that the carrier mattered here).  Neither I used much with voice or even data, especially the NGage (which I actually sitll have with no service and just to play the cool games that stillcome out on  it). 

However, I have never had a Sprint phone.  This will be a great opportunity to review both the phone and it's service.  I'm used to just paying for whatever (well, at least within reason) so the lack of service charges won't really affect the review much.   I've also had plenty of Verizon phones with work plans on them, too. 

I actually don't usually like reviews that knock things for price, anyway, since prices often go down with time.  For instance, a gadget that is perfect but gets a bad score because it's expensive may end up being truly great after a year when the price drops to 25% of what it was.  But no one will do a new review, of course, because it's already been out for a year.  It's old hat, if you will.

But anyone, clearly I'm off and rambling. I'll post more here when I get the kit from Sprint -- assuming I actually do (they said I would with 5-7 business days, which should put it Friday through the following Monday).

Other links:

HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - Sprint Ambassador Program-I'm IN!!!! FREE EVERYTHING!!!!!!! - Of course there is a thread on HoFo
SPRINT PCS - MM-A920 by Samsung - about the phone (I'm not sure if this will directly work)
BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Smart Sprint’s unadvertisement - Got in much earlier, but on an MM-A900 (thin, but less features)
hyalineskies 6.0 » A Sprint Ambassador - Sounds similar to my experience
bookofjoe: I'm a Sprint Ambassador! - An interestingly different experience
The Pondering Primate: Sprint Ambassador Program - Someone else who already got their MM-A920
TADSpot Sprint Ambassador Phone » Sprint Ambassador Phone at TADSpot - Another person with their phone already -- and a poor CS experience
pearsonified » I'm a Sprint Ambassador - Also got a phone already, with some more good insight into the program.
Wireless Muse: Reiter's Wireless Internet Weblog: Sprint's Ambassador program: Testing the Samsung A920 - No surprise that Alan Reiter got a phone, too.  Yet another person who checked it for phishing, first. ;)
Jaffe Juice: I am now a Sprint Ambassador - Another one with a phone already.

There are many more, of course.

It's interesting how many people have phones already -- and how many

Posted by Shane on February 26, 2006 10:33 PM | Permalink