Wireless Wednesday: Samsung Goes Wild, A Death in the Family, and the Definition of iNsanity

Long title, I know. Whatever. You know what this is!



So Samsung has unveiled a total of 5 new high-end Android devices in the last week. They are coming out with the Galaxy S series of phones on every major US carrier, and a little rural one. AT&T is getting the Captivate, T-Mobile's is the Vibrant, Sprint's is a little different with the Epic 4G, Verizon has the Fascinate, and the little carrier that could (for now) US Cellular is getting an otherwise unnamed Galaxy S. Specwise, the phones are mostly identical. All are 4" SUPER AMOLED screens (I'm not excited about them, they're really all caps), have a 1GHz "Hummingbird" processor, 5mp cameras with 720p video recording, and run Android 2.1 for now, but Froyo has been promised. Sprint's model is the only one that features a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 4G capability, and of course the front-facing VGA camera. The T-Mobile rendition will ship with The Sims 3 and James Cameron's Avatar, and it's the only model with a release date and price (July 15th for $200 with a contract). As a bit on insider info (see my post on Corporate Social Media Policies), I can tell you that RadioShacks, and I hear Best Buys, won't be replenished on the HTC Hero starting some time next month, so we will probably see the Epic hit Sprint very soon.



Next up, let's have a brief moment of silence for Microsoft's Kin. We done? The Kins, which launched in May, saw very little success. Like really nobody bought one. I have yet to see one in the wild, and strangely, earlier today was the first time anyone asked me about it by name. About an hour ago, Microsoft announced that it would no longer be focusing on the project, and the majority of its resources would be reallocated to the upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS, which ships later this year. So what did we learn? Either that kids aren't stupid, and if they're going to get a phone with internet, they want a true smartphone (or an iPhone), OR parents just don't want to get their kids $30 data plans. Either way, I'm sure you will be missed, Kin, by someone out there. Somewhere.



And finally, yes, more iPhone stuff. In addition to all the prelaunch issues, and the AT&T issues, and the whole being biased against left handed users, more rumors are surfacing about the possibility (or inevitability) of an iPhone on Verizon. Now, I've gotta tell you, I am so damn sick of these rumors, and it's not because I don't like the iPhone. I'm just so sick of hearing about it's possible migration to ANY other carrier. Someone is always quoting "people familiar with the plan", or some guy has some friend who has an uncle who cuts the lawn of the guy who saw an Apple employee walk past a Verizon store. It's to the point that yesterday, Bloomberg posted an article saying that 2 "people who are familiar with the plan" are saying that the mystical CDMA iPhone will launch in January. Ignoring how far journalism is willing to stoop to create buzz, anyone who seriously believes this is an idiot! Since 2008 we've heard these same exact rumors. And 100% of the time they've been wrong! Who could possibly not have learned from the past 800 times this came about? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Which is why I was texted this, along with the rest of my district, from my boss, who's boss heard it on a LOCAL FOX STATION. Yep. I wish I was making this up. Hopefully I'll see you next Wednesday, if I don't die from over-exposure to idiocy.