Sprint PCS Video Phone Shootout
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Looking for a new cell phone? Cameras, video, color screens -- wow. It used to be that a phone was something used to speak to others over long distances. Now, the name of the game is interaction. Today, we look at three of the latest Sprint PCS phones, the Samsung VM-A680, Toshiba's VM4050, and Sanyo's VM4500. See how the did in side by side tests.
Introduction
Looking at the latest cell phones? Ever go to a cellular retailer to look around, and realize just how far you are behind times? (Especially when one of the salespeople starts making fun of the phone that you purchased a year ago, and you were thinking you wouldn’t have to upgrade your handset for a while yet.)
Things thought impossible just a few years ago are becoming widespread at such speeds that it’s becoming harder than ever to keep up with the times. If you are one of those people who just have to have the latest and the greatest technology out there, we are going to make life a little bit easier today. Take a look at our comparison between a few of the latest handsets by Sprint PCS that offer some of the coolest features out there. This time we are going to focus on a certain group of phones that feature video capturing/video mail, since this seems to be one of the most popular features of today’s handsets.
Background
Today we will focus mainly on the handsets offered by Sprint PCS, since they seem to have the widest selection of video phones today as a carrier. First, a little mention about where it all started for Sprint. This company emerged in 1997 as an “all-digital, all PCS network built from the ground up”. Back then the whole cellular market was slowly going away from the “old” analog type service to a newer and improved digital service on most major networks. Since Sprint never had a cellular network prior to their nationwide launch, it was quite a struggle for them to attract new customers. The coverage was an issue for some time, since they had no AMPS backbone system; all they were relying on was the CDMA 1900 network and analog roaming capability on other carriers (which the customer would have to pay dearly for).
After a couple of years of struggle, the network began to improve and the company started to target specific customers for their service -- the younger crowd as well as people concerned about technology and style of cellular handset that they own. Since then Sprint strived to offer some of the latest technologies incorporated into their handsets and have a wider selection of innovative phones than most of the carriers out there. A few years ago the US market started seeing less and less new technology from companies like Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and Qualcomm. New companies have taken the market by storm with cool design, new features, ease of use and price point. Companies like LG, Samsung, Sanyo have capitalized on that the most.
Next: Line-up of Phones >>
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