Carrier IQ Disabled on All Sprint Devices

If you own a Sprint smartphone, you may be interested in this news. Rumors have started floating around that the carrier has asked manufacturers to remove Carrier IQ's software from every single device that it carries. Naturally, Sprint doesn't comment on rumors, though the company has confirmed that it is indeed shutting down Carrier IQ software on all of its mobile phones and will no longer be collecting data from it.

The first to stumble across the news was Geek.com, who reported that "Sprint has ordered that all of their hardware partners remove the Carrier IQ software from Sprint devices as soon as possible." What isn't clear is whether or not Carrier IQ software will be removed completely or just partially. However, Sprint is doing its part to stop the Carrier IQ software from ever functioning again.

According to an email from Sprint to website Mobile Burn, "We have weighed customer concerns and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected. We are further evaluating options regarding the diagnostic software as well as Sprint's diagnostic needs." Sprint claims that it was not using the software to spy on its customers, like going through text messages and things of that nature. In addition to that, Sprint also stated that Carrier IQ was not used for any advertisement spamming or customer profiling.

Sprint has told the public that the data was purely used for reporting network deficiencies and to allow the carrier to improve its network and service it for existing customers. Sprint has completely stopped collecting the data obtained by the software and has also reported that it disabled it on devices on the carrier's network. However, it is still hazy as to whether or not the software will be removed by future software updates for existing phones or if it will be installed on new devices going forward.

Source: Geek.com - Sprint orders all OEMs to strip Carrier IQ from their hardware
Mobile Burn - Sprint: Carrier IQ has been disabled on our devices

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Sprint CEO Nervous About the Wireless Industry's Future

It seems as though the CEO of Sprint, Dan Hesse, is worried about the future of the mobile phone industry. At a reporter’s roundtable discussion at the Sprint headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas, Hesse revealed his worries and concerns about many things surrounding the U.S. wireless industry. He also expressed his extreme opposition to the proposal of merging AT&T and T-Mobile.

Hesse and Farid Adib, the product development chief at Sprint, claim that Sprint has been the carrier to drive innovation among the mobile phone companies. Hesse went on to say that if Sprint had not introduced 4G WiMAX back in 2008, Verizon would have not been as quick to turn on LTE and AT&T would "just have called its 3G network 4G."

Hesse and Adib went on to discuss possible phones for the future and service plans. A reporter questioned the two about why Sprint is not carrying the Palm Pre 3, and Adib responded, "HP ... has been a lifelong partner of Sprint" and that "we still have open dialogues, and work together ... a lot of our OEMS have had ups and downs, but we never count any of them out."

Hesse added that Sprint's strength as the "only unlimited carrier" is not necessarily going to continue or be dismissed by the company. It all depends on "how much capacity do we have," Hesse said. "Every few months we take a look, we take a look at tonnage, and we take a look at all the things we're doing to offload tonnage ... we'll just continue to monitor it. Nothing is forever ... [but] we think it's a terrific opportunity to differentiate ourselves in the market."

Hesse continued discussing concerns about all the patent lawsuits that have been going on between Microsoft, Apple and various different Android phone manufacturers. He said that all of these issues could result in more expensive phones. The rise in costs would then be borne by carriers and customers. "I wouldn't say don't worry about it," Hesse said. "We collectively, the industry, are the customers and potential victims in this. There's no upside to us and I hope it gets sorted out."

Hesse said that by far his biggest fear is the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. He claims that it could be "the end of the U.S. wireless industry." He believes that although Sprint has been the company to push the industry forward in the past, he feels that innovation would be dramatically slowed with AT&T and Verizon dominating the market. Hesse explains that Sprint has a contingency if it looks like the merger is going to happen. "I don't spend any time on it," Hesse said, instead spending "all my time on making sure the decision is the right one."

"If this thing goes through, I hope you like 4G, because it's going to be the last generation America ever gets," Hesse said.

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Top 10 Touch Screen Smartphones

It’s taken a little while, but finally, touch screen interface has become a pretty mainstream thing. In the past it would have been difficult to comprise a list of the top 10 touch screen phones, but with all of the options available to-date, it now isn't an issue at all.

The whole touch screen phenomena began back in 2007 with the release of the original Apple iPhone. I can still remember all of the hype. People pre-ordered their iPhones months in advance. At the time, I couldn’t justify the price tag, but with the beautiful 3.5-inch Multi Touch screen with pinch and zoom features, a sleek, gorgeous design, finger-friendly interface and an incredible Web experience, I understood why so many people were counting down the days until the iPhone’s release.

The iPhone displayed all of the potential that the mobile carrier market could tap into concerning keyboard-free phones. After the iPhone was released, every major mobile phone manufacturer decided to take a chance on designing their own versions of touch screen smartphones. Some were obviously very successful, but others…not so much. There are some smartphones that have users begging to have a physical keyboard back, but there are others who have users saying they’ll never go back to a keyboard again. There are some smartphones that offer the best of both worlds, by having a touch screen and a slide out keyboard, but the top 10 touch screen phones listed below are strictly touch screen with no keyboard. If you’re willing to sacrifice physical keys and go completely touch, then here are some phones to consider.

AT&T

Apple iPhone 4
The original touch screen smartphone is still going strong four years later. The iPhone 4 is sleek, gorgeous and offers so many different features. It has an incredibly fast processor, tons of apps, one of the best media experiences and a great camera. On AT&T it does have some reception issues and limited FaceTime video calling, but overall it is an awesome phone.

HTC Inspire 4G
Touch screen smartphones can be pretty expensive most of the time, but the Inspire is a very inexpensive exception. It is extremely powerful and features a vast amount of built-in apps and features. There are some issues with the Inspire’s “4G” speeds though. It just seems a little underwhelming.

Motorola Atrix 4G
The Atrix is an incredibly fast and powerful phone. It has a beautiful screen and incredible design. Different optional docks can even easily turn the Atrix into a desktop or laptop PC; however, despite these cool features, the smartphone can be a little buggy and the laptop dock for the Atrix is way overpriced.

Sprint

HTC EVO 4G
The EVO was the first WiMAX phone and is perfect for someone who is always on the Internet. It features excellent Web browsers with some Flash. It also has as great touch screen, two different cameras and Wi-Fi hotspot mode. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the best voice quality and the 4G coverage is pretty limited, but other than that it is a fantastic phone.

LG Optimus S
The Optimus S has tons of great features including Android 2.2, very valuable Sprint ID interface enhancements, mobile hotspot and really good battery life. The issues with this phone are that it doesn’t have the best screen resolution, CPU or camera, and the screen is just a bit small. Overall, the Optimus is a pretty good budget Android phone.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile myTouch 4G
The myTouch is incredibly well constructed and has incredible features including: the latest processor, Wi-Fi calling, hotspot mode and voice commands. The only issues with this smartphone are that it has some problems with bloatware and the fact that not everyone may like the UI skin.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G
The Galaxy S is absolutely gorgeous. It also is really fast with 4G HSPA+ data speeds, excellent music and video and a great battery life. The only real issue with this smartphone is that its TV app is a little buggy, but otherwise it’s a fantastic phone.

Verizon Wireless

HTC Thunderbolt
Verizon has been heavily promoting the Thunderbolt, and why not? This smartphone has lightning fast Internet speeds, a gorgeous design, simply elegant interface and lots of storage. The phone is incredible besides the fact that it is a little on the heavy side, occasional bugs and a pretty poor battery life when users are surfing or streaming on 4G.

Motorola Droid X
Droids hit the market as the iPhone’s competition, and they have done a pretty good job of stepping up to the plate. The Droid X features an incredibly fast processor, Wi-Fi hotspot mode, Bluetooth voice dialing, fantastic reception and noise cancellation. For some the Droid is just a little too big and bulky. There also is no way to turn off Blur and it won’t play HD content over an HDMI cable. These really aren’t huge issues though. The Droid X is the most powerful Android smartphone aside from the HTC Droid Incredible.

Apple iPhone 4
So, a short time ago, Verizon broke the barriers and began offering the Apple iPhone 4 right alongside AT&T. Verizon’s version has all of the same incredible features that AT&T’s iPhone offers, except for the lack of 4G on Verizon’s phone. Overall, it functions just as well as AT&T’s iPhone, so I guess it just depends on which service carrier you prefer and whether or not you really want 4G.

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