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Sprint's Samsung Epic 4G and Sanyo Zio signed up for Froyo next week?
We've been tipped with a document today that seems to suggest that the age of Android 2.2 is nigh for owners of Sprint's Samsung Epic 4G and Sanyo Zio. The Epic's looking like a four-day phased rollout to build EB13, while the Zio push spans five days (strangely, it says you'll end up on Eclair build DF05, which clearly isn't accurate, so we're hoping this is just a miss by whomever created it). Both are said to kick off next Monday, the 21st -- and for Epic owners in particular, it's a long time coming. Best of luck, folks. [Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Sprint guns for mid-range Android: $149 Samsung Transform, $99 Sanyo Zio, and $49 LG Optimus S include 'Sprint ID'
The rumors were dead-on -- the Samsung Transform and Sanyo Zio are headed to Sprint this week, and by the end of the month the carrier will play host to an LG Optimus smartphone as well. Priced at $150, $100 and $50 (after $100 mail-in rebates) respectively, they're definitely not high-end phones, but if you're looking for a capable QWERTY messenger (with video chat!) the Samsung Transform just might fill the bill. In many ways it's a scaled down Epic 4G, with the same look and feel, though a somewhat slower 800MHz processor, a 3.5-inch screen, and no 4G support, obviously. We weren't terribly impressed with the Sanyo Zio the last time we saw it, but we're happy to hear it's now sporting Android 2.1 and hopefully some bugfixes, and we're eager to try the LG Optimus S simply because it's got Froyo at the $50 price point. Hardware's only half the story here, however, because these three phones will ship with something completely new -- a settings / apps / widgets / themes packaging solution the company's calling Sprint ID. Rather than fill the device with bloatware apps or overlay a custom UI, Sprint's installed a software button that takes you to a store exclusively designed for Sprint's new Android devices. You pick a package -- say, Business Pro -- and it downloads a specific set of apps, widgets and a custom wallpaper targeted at business owners, though if you'd rather decline you can use a package that's pretty much stock Android. The carrier's launching Sprint ID today with 17 partners and 13 free content packs, with more on the way. There's a Sprint exec waiting to walk you through Sprint ID in a video after the break!
Samsung Transform pictured in Sprint document, alongside Kyocera... err, Sanyo Zio?
Well, dear reader, we've got a pair of minor revelations for you, assuming this picture is real. First, that mid-range Android slatephone the Kyocera Zio is headed to Sprint, with the familiar Sanyo branding. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the elusive Samsung Transform has finally shown its face. Since that mug looks just like the Epic 4G, however, you can color us a bit confused -- Sprint's the only carrier without a keyboard-less Galaxy S, so that might make sense, but then why would they call it the Transform? As far as we can tell, it hasn't been tested for WiMAX, so perhaps it's an Epic without the 4G, plus a new form factor of some sort? Odds are we'll find out soon, given the company it's keeping: that BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 got shipped off to Sprint just this last week.
Cricket starts offering Android-powered Zio for $230
As we discovered back at its CTIA intro earlier this year, Kyocera's (and Sanyo's) Zio isn't the neatest Android phone you've ever seen -- nor the most technically impressive -- but at $230 without a contract after $20 discount, it's pretty hard to argue that you're not getting what you pay for. Regional carrier Cricket had been promising the Zio for some time, and now it's here, just the latest in the company's newfound push into the smartphone space -- a space it's traditionally avoided in the past -- with the recent launch of the Curve 8530 (for the same price as the Zio, coincidentally). Trackballs are officially passé at this point, but considering the budget monthly outlay that Cricket offers, we've no doubt they'll find some takers.
Cricket launches BlackBerry Curve 8530, says Kyocera Zio is in the cards
We'd wondered what had happened to Kyocera's low-end Zio with Android after its March announce at CTIA... and lo, here it is. Cricket announced today that the phone is indeed in the pipe for 2010 -- a little later than earlier rumors that we'd see it in July -- marking just their second smartphone after their branded version of the BlackBerry Curve 8530, which ships later this week. Pricing for the Zio hasn't been announced, but the Curve 8530 will run $279.99 after discount -- pricey, yes, until you consider that you're getting that devoid of a pesky contract. Cricket's excited to trumpet that its unlimited BlackBerry plan runs just $60 a month in total, which means that voice, text, and data are all off the meter. Not bad -- but considering Cricket's positioning as a regional value brand, we'd expect no less.
Kyocera Zio coming to Cricket in July for $300?
Kyocera's North American offerings are decidedly lower-end, so we were a bit surprised to see 'em bring a full touchscreen Android device to the party at CTIA this year -- until we touched it, at which point we instantly realized that the so-called Zio still well inside low-end territory. It makes sense then that the Zio would be coming to some of Kyocera's traditional carrier partners like Cricket, and indeed, PhoneArena appears to have scored an internal slide deck showing a projected 2010 lineup that includes the Zio front and center. Cricket apparently likes July as a launch target, and they're looking to retail it for $299.99 -- pricey, yes, until you remember that these guys don't do contracts. We certainly wouldn't take this sucker over, say, a Nexus One -- but as a contract-free offering on a value carrier, you might just have a deal.
Kyocera Zio M6000 hands-on: you get what pay for
It's totally unfair to Kyocera that we played with its new Zio M6000 mid-tier Android smartphone mere hours after our first look at the HTC EVO 4G, but while we were excited to see a cheaper phone with an 800 x 480 screen, the end result is pretty disappointing. The device crams that resolution into a 3.5-inch screen, which wouldn't be so bad if the capacitive touchscreen element wasn't so low-end. It seemed both unresponsive and lacking in accuracy -- at times we had trouble even dragging open the notification tray. We were told that we were looking at a prototype of the device, but the crumminess seemed pretty uniform across multiple Zios we tested. The device also seemed just generally sluggish -- we'd think the 600MHz Qualcomm processor could handle Android 1.6 just fine, but perhaps there's some optimization left to do. Kyocera told us that the phone is easily upgraded to 2.0 or 2.1, based on carrier wishes, and that they don't have any plans for skinning it. Ironically, running 1.6 on this high res display actually ends up looking worse than a regular low-res screen, due to the blurry icons and UI elements. The cheap looking capacitive touch buttons aren't much out of the norm for Android, but interesting the phone doesn't have any haptics to let you know if you've clicked one. Meanwhile, the haptic feedback for touchscreen typing is cranked to 11 and significantly unhelpful. In one final negative note, the phone takes one of the worst pages out of the Palm book and put plastic doors over not only the USB plug but the microSD slot and side-mounted headphone jack as well. On the plus side: this is an incredibly thin and light phone, and we doubt the price (less than $200 or so unsubsidized) probably will be beat in the US for a while. Expect to see it on a low-end CDMA carrier (like Virgin Mobile or Cricket) near the middle of the year. Check out a video after the break! %Gallery-88858%
Kyocera Zio M6000 joins burgeoning Android ranks with high-res affordability
You know your mobile OS is going places when people start resurrecting their smartphone divisions just to throw out their own spin on it. Kyocera's approach with the new Zio M6000 has been to marry an 800 x 480 display to some rather middle of the road components and to sell that package at a significantly lower price point (between $169 and $216 unsubsidized) than most Android-infused communicators on the market. You know, for the people that like to have a handsome high-res phone, but don't need it to have the firepower to run Quake. It's still not a terrible slouch, coming with a 600MHz MSM7227 CPU from Qualcomm, 512MB of onboard app memory, and 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Look out for its US arrival in the second quarter of this year. %Gallery-88799%
ZIO intros LOOK LK7200 GPS unit
There are few more crowded markets than the GPS business in Korea, but ZIO looks to be taking a crack at it nonetheless, with it recently introducing its LOOK LK7200 GPS unit. Apart from its obvious redness, however, there appears to be little to distinguish it from the vast array of similar units competing for Korean drivers' attention. Of course, that doesn't mean it's lacking either, with it boasting the standard 7-inch widescreen display, SiRFStar III GPS chipset, and integrated T-DMB TV tuner, along with the usual line-up of PMP functions. Look for it to set you back 319,000 won, or about $345, with a slightly less colorful version also available for the same price.
