Samsung Epic 4G Coming to (U.S) Sprint August 31

Mobile operator Sprint has announced that it will start selling the Samsung Epic 4G smartphone beginning August 31 through its Web sites, stores, and retail partners like Walmart, Best Buy, and Radio Shack for $249.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate along with a two-year service agreement. And customers who need to get their hands on an Epic 4G right away can make a reservation for the phone starting August 13, picking up their reserved units at a Sprint store.

The Samsung Epic 4G is one of a spate of Android-based Samsung Galaxy S smartphones that will be landing at all major U.S. carriers—each carrier will be offering Galaxy S devices under different names. However, Sprint’s Epic 4G differs from the rest of the Galaxy S pack in two main areas: it sports a slide-out QWERTY keypad for messaging, mail, and text entry, and it sports a WiMax radio so it can tap into Sprint’s high-performance WiMax network. In areas WiMax isn’t available, the Epic 4G drops back down to 3G service.

“With its beautiful display and slide-out keyboard, Samsung Epic 4G is a powerful tool for our customers, and it extends Sprint’s 4G leadership with a second strong smartphone option,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, in a statement.

The Samsung Epic 4G will ship with Android 2.1—Sprint says an over-the-air update to Android 2.2 will be along “in the coming months.” The Epic 4G sports dual cameras (a five megapixel video-capable camera as well as a front-facing VGA camera for video chat), 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 1 GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor to drive graphics and applications. The device also features a 4-inch AMOLED display that can handle high-definition video content (720p at 30fps), a six-axis motion sensor for gaming, and a microSD slot for up to 32 GB of removable storage. The Samsung Epic will also be usable as a 3G/4G mobile hotspot for up to five Wi-Fi devices—hotspot capability will cost an additional $29.99 per month on top of regular service plans.

Sprint is touting the Epic 4G is a good fit for everyone from businesspeople to folks who look to their phones as sources of entertainment and gaming. Although Sprint’s WiMax network is only available in a growing handful of markets, the company plans to light up some major areas in 2010, including Boston, New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.…which will make WiMax devices an option to a much larger number of mobile power users.

Mobile Number Portability Starting October 31? TRAI makes a smart move to ensure MNP

If there are two things that we Indian mobile users have been waiting for since ages, its 3G and Mobile Number Portability - and while both have dodged us for the past few excruciating months - looks like there would be a final decision on the MNP saga bit at least by October 31, 2010.

The TRAI, in a recent announcement has directed mobile operator in the country to implement MNP by October 31 this year or be ready to face the consequences. If that wasn't all, the Department of Telecom (DoT) made it clear to operators yesterday that the infrastructure for and tests for porting numbers from one service provider to another are to be completed before September 1. If they fail to do that, the service providers would be barred from launching new commercial services in any area - starting September 1.

Mobile number portability, a technology using which users can retain their numbers whilst migrating to a different service provider, has been in the works for quite some time now. Mobile operators have been dilly dallying over it for multiple reasons due to which the last deadline of June 30 was missed. State owned cell-cos have confirmed that they have already deployed all technical infrastructure required to support MNP which leaves the private players to act.

Do you think this time the companies would stick to the October 31 deadline? Leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts.