Samsung Intercept for Sprint now totally official: July 11 for $100
By Chris Ziegler 
posted July 7th 2010 5:28PM
posted July 7th 2010 5:28PM
Combining the Power of Android with Sprint Value, Samsung Intercept(TM) Packs in the Features for Just $99.99
Full QWERTY keyboard, large touch-screen display and a premium social networking experience combine with the customization of Android to make Samsung Intercept a great value for businesses and consumers
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Jul 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Sprint (NYSE: S) and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States1, today introduced a stylish addition to its growing portfolio of Android devices with Samsung Intercept. In addition to the 3.2-inch, touch-screen display, 3.2 MP camera and video, and full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Samsung Intercept comes preloaded with social apps and one-touch picture posting to the top social sites.
Customers can purchase Samsung Intercept starting July 11 through all Sprint channels, including Web (www.sprint.com), Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and select national retail partners. Retail pricing will be just $99.99 (excluding taxes) after a $100 mail-in-rebate with a two-year service agreement on a new line activation or eligible upgrade on an Everything Plan with data. It will be available in two attractive colors - Gray Steel and Satin Pink.
Loaded with Android 2.1, Samsung Intercept provides access to popular Google(TM) mobile services, including Google Search(TM), Google Maps(TM), Gmail(TM) and YouTube(TM), and more than 50,000 applications available in Android Market(TM) today. It also features a powerful processor to make it a snap to maneuver within the device.
"Samsung Intercept is a valuable addition to our growing portfolio of Android phones with a rich Internet browsing experience, visual voicemail and practically all of the latest must-have features," said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product development for Sprint. "Best of all, at this price, we are able to bring the Android experience to a broader audience that will appreciate the versatility that comes with access to thousands of apps on Android Market. This is a great device for those who use their wireless device to manage a business or socialize with family and friends."
"The Intercept is a perfect example of Samsung's commitment to bring the latest Google mobile services, social applications and popular features to smart phones for the mass market," said Omar Khan, chief strategy officer for Samsung Mobile. "Users will enjoy the Intercept's stylish design, full QWERTY keyboard and access to full web browsing and Google services for a full-featured smart phone experience."
Great Price Without Sacrifice
Samsung Intercept makes menu and display navigation easy with a highly responsive optical joystick that virtually zips from item to item. It operates on the Sprint 3G network (EVDO-Rev. 0) and features Wi-Fi capability, integrated GPS navigation and accelerometer. Additional features include:
* Home screen that scrolls right to left for more space to organize widgets and apps
* 3.2 Megapixel camera and video camcorder
* MP3 Player with MicroSD card slot (supports up to 32 GB)
* Stereo Bluetooth(R) wireless technology
* Visual voicemail
* Sprint TV(R), Sprint Football Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup MobileSM
* Access to social networking sites Facebook(R), Flickr(R) and TwitterTM
* Access to personal and corporate e-mail
* Easily view Word, Excel, PowerPoint on-the-go to maximize productivity
Samsung Intercept requires Sprint's industry-leading Everything Data plans with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM that include unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from every mobile in America while on the Sprint network. Everything Data plans start at $69.99 per month - the same price Verizon and AT&T charge for unlimited talk only. (All price plans exclude surcharges and taxes.)
Sprint is the only wireless carrier to offer Ready Now service with trained retail associates to work one-on-one with customers to personalize their Samsung Intercept, set up features and demonstrate how it works before the customer leaves the store. Customers have the choice of sitting down with a Sprint retail associate at the time of purchase or they can schedule an appointment for a later time at www.sprint.com/storelocator.
More Satisfied Than Ever
Offering affordable plans to such feature-rich smartphones like Samsung Intercept is one of many reasons Sprint has excelled in customer satisfaction. Sprint is the most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, over the last two years, according to results from the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Sprint's improvement was driven in part by substantial gains in two aspects of the survey. In the area of customers' perceptions of value, Sprint now leads both AT&T and Verizon. The company also achieved an impressive improvement in the area of customer loyalty. With these gains, the company's overall ACSI score jumped 14 points during the last two years. In the last six years of the ACSI survey, no other company has improved its satisfaction score by that many points in a two-year period.
The improvements in the ACSI survey come as Sprint has seen nine consecutive quarters of improved customer satisfaction and first call resolution. The company's improvements have also been recognized by other independent third-parties, including Sprint winning the #1 spot for both overall satisfaction for wireless voice service providers and wireless data service providers in a Yankee Group and Mobile Enterprise magazine survey of large business decision makers. Sprint also ranked high in small and medium business customer satisfaction. Also noteworthy was Sprint's two-year Reputation Pulse(TM) score increase in Reputation Institute's 2010 U.S. Most Reputable Companies Study (published annually in Forbes). Sprint's 18.22 percent gain puts its improvement in the top 10 percent of the 150 largest U.S. companies, ahead of both AT&T and Verizon.
Sprint is also the first national wireless carrier to test, launch and market 4G technology, offering wireless 4G service today for select devices in 36 markets. In 2010, Sprint expects to launch 4G service in multiple markets, including Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For information, visit www.sprint.com/4G.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, and is the first and only wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless and instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. With its customer-focused strategy, you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2009 consolidated sales of (US)$116.8 billion. Employing approximately 188,000 people in 185 offices across 65 countries, the company consists of eight independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Semiconductor and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
Visit www.sprint.com/newsroom or www.sprint.com/presskits for more information and images.
1 Based upon reported shipment data for Q1 2010, 2009, and 2008, Strategy Analytics' U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Reports.
What about AT&T, we need good android phones
@Cainhunpi
CDMA Rev. O?
LOLWUT?
@r34p3r WTH sprint, you fail!
@Cainhunpi
You mean you need phones that can function like phones.
@manifest3r
How is this Sprint's fault? Samsung is the one who decided to put Rev. O instead of Rev. A in the phone, aren't they?
@r34p3r My flippin' Moto Q9c did Rev A. Why would they want to go back to 2007?? I guess it's one way to limit bandwidth...
@Cainhunpi
Sprint and Samsung should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this phone with a EvDO Rev. 0 radio. That is unconscionable.
@r34p3r
This phone is NOT for the power user. This phone will be more for the teenage kids that want a cheaper plan but still have Android, the new "cool" OS to have. I say, good move Sprint.
@r34p3r No. This is also Sprint's fault. Every telecom carrier has what's called "equipment acceptance testing" where they test a piece of equipment to see if it is compatible and correctly interoperates with their network. When this device came in with a previous, outdated data standard, it should have been rejected by the test engineers.
@angelusp you mean you need phones that suck ?
What are you talking about? They already have the iphone don't they? That one sucks enough doesn't it?!?!?!?!?!
@benthe1
I agree. The pink color kind of shows that Sprint is targeting the non-power user.
@Cainhunpi Yeah, I waited for ATT to bring a decent Android phone too. Good luck with that. I wised up and got an EVO on Sprint for $79/mo.
@The Dark Knight it also comes in "slate grey".
@Cainhunpi - that is one nasty slant where the KB meets the bottom of the screen.
Hey your name is Chris and the guy in the text message name is chris that's so ironic
@ashleythehottiest
You should perhaps find a dictionary and look up the word irony.
@webby7 Don't get sucked into an argument about irony on here (even though you are of course correct). Virtually no one knows what it actually is.
@ashleythehottiest
where's the irony?
are you sure you haven't mixed up the words 'ironic' and 'coincidence' together?
@ashleythehottiest that, sir, is called a CO-INS-AHH-DINS.
Only in pink?? :(
@Eric77lv
Too manly for ya?
:O
@Eric77lv Read the PR- also in silver
@Eric77lv pink and silver
@Eric77lv Pinks a summer colour, buy a case for the winter.
The top half of the phone is crooked.
@MRCUR
Good, I thought I was the only other one who noticed that the second I looked at the picture...
@r34p3r - That's literally the first thing I noticed. Then I noticed it's pink.
@MRCUR
Actually, it looks more like the arrangement of the keyboard is crooked...look at the bottom row along the edge
@MRCUR
It looks like the keyboard is crooked. Weird.
You guys are right - that's even worse.
@MRCUR
It is an optical illusion due to the phone tapering from top to bottom.
Love that keyboard lol
@dimsum05
Speaking of keyboards, I'm really itching to know more about the Samsung Epic -- most notably when it's going to be released! Now there's a phone with a keyboard that is full of win.
After the disaster that was the Moment, this should be a real "winner"
@nutbunnies I thought that the Intercept has the same hardware as the Moment (just different packaging and color) except the Intercept is slower (Touchwiz skin vs Moment's vanilla android) and also has slower data (EVDO rev 0 vs the Moment's rev A).
This phone is for those that thought the Moment was slightly too high end for them. Although the Intercept is slower, the Touchwiz interface is easier to use. Think of the Intercept as the Moment's baby brother.
EVDO Rev 0? The hell? Even cheap flip phones support Rev A now-a-days.
@ydoucare
And on top of that they require an Everything Data plan on Sprint's "3G" network? That's odd.
@ydoucare
Makes me wonder how this can be considered the moment 2. There is no word on the inner details, but speculation is that it is still running at 800 MHz. Also, they took away flash. So, lets tally features add vs features lost:
Added:
Android 2.2 upgrade (Eventually... Samsung is known for requiring that you buy their new hardware in order to get their software updates even if the hardware is very similar, look at the Instinct series).
Better Screen
Lost:
Flash
EVDO Rev. A
The rest is rumored to be exactly the same, so remind me why you would pay exactly the same as a Moment is currently for a phone that IMO is slightly worse.
maybe the epic and evo are sucking up so much data lol
How long is it going to take carriers to realize that these price differences don't mean crap when you have to pay 30$/mo for 2 years. Why would anyone get this over the evo or epic?
@supraped69
Some people have gone crazy and just plain refuse to pay the $10 fee with the EVO and Epic 4G.
That's why they would choose this.
I am not one of those people!!
EVO rules!!
@supraped69
Like SCB pointed out of the EVO and Epic both cost $240 more over a 2 year contract plus are $100 more up front. A $340 difference is nothing to scoff at, extra especially if you are on a family plan and just want to add a cheap sort of capable phone for mom or a child.
That said I own an EVO.
Why is the M key below the directional keys?
@XCZHD34
good question!
I'm not sure how well Google Navigation will work. I don't think GPS and Data can work at the exact same with with EVDO Rev. 0. It has to download, then grab GPS coordinates, then download again.
@SkinnyDude That's why all of Sprint's other phones with navigation are are EVDO rev A.
@Narutogrey Maybe it's a press release F-up? I mean, can they even find this hardware?
Wait what WHOA there! All of Sprint's smartphones have been Rev. A for the past year or two and now THIS? Hopefully the issue gets fixed in a firmware update...which is possible; my HTC Mogul (since retired) got GPS and Rev. A as firmware updates in spring 2008 or so. That said, hopefully someone just screwed up when writing the phone's specs 'cuz Rev. 0 is a pretty big downgrade for a smartphone in this day and age.
Heck, I'm pretty sure that the Moment (the predecessor to this phone) has rA, but I'd have to check with my Moment-toting friend to confirm this.
@iansltx It's gotta be an error, I mean, what kind fool would actually select a very outdated standard for even an entry level phone.
I was under the impression that they didn't even bother to make Rev. 0 only chipsets anymore, it's been years since I've seen a phone without Rev. A on Sprint. That's fishy fishy. And that interface doesn't look like Android, is it a featurephone?