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Samsung Moment, Latest Android Smartphone, Comes to Sprint
By: Michelle Maisto
2009-11-03
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The Samsung Moment smartphone, now available on the Sprint network, is the struggling carrier’s second new smartphone to feature Google’s Android operating system.
The Samsung Moment is now available on the Sprint Nextel network,making it the carrier’s second to feature Google’s Android operatingsystem, the two companies officially announced on Nov. 3.
Sprintfirst announced the Moment on Oct. 7, even before the arrival of itsfirst Android smartphone, the HTC Hero, which arrived on Oct. 11.
The Moment features Sprint’s first 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, which,according to Samsung, “creates crisper colors and wider viewing anglesthan other display screens.” The screen is paired with a slide-outqwerty keyboard and, as an additional device-navigation option, a tinytouchpad — or “optical joystick” — just below the screen.
There’s an 800MHz processor, built-in Google mobile services, such asGoogle Search, Maps, Gmail and YouTube, as well as access to theAndroid Market, which now features more than 10,000 applications.
In addition to the Sprint network — which is the first to launch 4Gtechnology in markets including Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland — theMoment includes WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0, integrated GPS and anaccelerometer. There’s also a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash andvideo, Sprint TV with live and on-demand programming, quick access tosocial-networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, visualvoicemail, support for personal and corporate email accounts, andexpandable memory up to 32GB.
The Moment, and particularly its Android OS, is among the devicesSprint is putting its faith in to stop the defection of customers toother carriers, such as AT&T, which exclusively offers Apple’siPhone. OnOct. 29, Sprint announced that during the third fiscal quarter of 2009,it lost 801,000 post-paid subscribers — which was actually animprovement from the 991,000 subscribers it lost during the previousquarter.
The Palm Pre is credited with initiating the turnaround, which Sprinthopes to continue through its support of popular Android devices, aswell as the Palm Pixi, a downscaled, smaller-screen version of the PalmPre, which will arrive on the Sprint network on Nov. 15 for $99.99,versus the Pre’s newly lowered asking price of $149.99, along with a two-year contract.
The Moment is priced at $179.99, before taxes, after a $50 instantrebate and a $100 mail-in rebate, and with a two-year service contract.
“What’s truly special abut the Samsung Moment is the way this deviceand the Android platform take advantage of the power of the Sprint NowNetwork to deliver ‘surfing the net’ like never before,” remarked KevinPackingham, Sprint’s senior vice president of product development, in astatement first announcing the Moment on Oct. 7. “Its dynamic screenand qwerty keyboard make texting, e-mail and accessing thousands ofAndroid applications a breeze.”
© 2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise, Inc.
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