When the Photon 4G was announced, Sprint said its first 4G Android device from Motorola would be coming “this summer.” Pretty unspecific. But now it looks like it’s been bumped up to “coming soon.” Still pretty unspecific, but better than nothing we guess.

Some specs of the Photon 4G from Motorola include a 4.3″ qHD display, a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 1GB RAM, a GSM-capable radio and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. We’ll let you know more when we know.

Here’s some good news for Sprint customers who are waiting for the HTC Evo 3D. The carrier has confirmed that you can reserve the WiMAX handset by visiting a Sprint-owned retail store and buying a $50 gift card. We still don’t know when you’ll be able to get the device in-hand though. Same goes for pricing.

Sprint is also taking names for the Evo View 4G tablet and, like the 3D, that $50 deposit can be used. We just wish we knew when we might expect it if we are going to pre-order a phone.

Technocel has unveiled a new charging solution that carries the Sprint brand called the Technocel Battery Boost. The device has an internal battery along with a microSD card slot to act as flash storage.

The internal battery is a 600mAh unit good for an extra hour of runtime according to the maker. It will work with any device that uses a microUSB connector.

Check this out. An FCC filing has signaled a unique Sprint plan to capture Apple device users. A ZTE device called the Peel would serve as an iPod touch case but would hold a full 3G-to-Wi-Fi mobile hotspot in its back. This would give the iPod and other nearby devices, an always-on 3G connection without needing a separate MiFi.

The Peel’s capabilities aren’t fully known, but it would obviously have its own battery; there’s no Dock Connector or similar attachment to whatever device it would hold. A mini USB port on one side will let owners charge from a computer or the wall power adapter.

How do we know? Simple. We know this because the phone has appeared on the Samsung TV site schedule with that date. No psychic powers here. History has shown us that Samsung did the same thing with AT&T’s version (the Captivate), and T-Mobile’s Vibrant, so it isn’t hard to figure out.

This phone should arrive on or around August 20 if you are interested.

It’s been a long time since Sprint had a handset that most people actually wanted. The Evo 4G that landed on the Sprint network back in May was popular from the start and shortages quickly ensued.

The Evo 4G is the first smartphone to support 4G service with Sprint, which is WiMax. The WSJ reports that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has stated that the shortage of the Evo 4G is hurting the lead Sprint has in 4G service.

One of the things that has bothered me about pretty much all the wireless plans out there is that they round minutes up. If you go into the next minute even for a second most plans charge you for the whole minute.

Sprint and Walmart have announced a new plan called the Common Cents plan that is a prepaid wireless plan that does the opposite of most calling plans. It rounds down to the lowest minute. That means a call lasting 1:45 seconds will only cost you the price of a minute.

Sprint and Clearwire are the only two companies that are using WiMax as their 4G service right now. There are a number of people around the country in larger cities that can get WiMax 4G service.

So far, these users have only been able to get WiMax on computers with modems, but a new 4G handsetfrom Sprint called the HTC Evo is set to go up for pre-order this month according to a leaked screen shot. The screen shot came from an employee computer system at The Shack.

Yes you read that correctly. Just in the last year alone, Sprint turned over users GPS data to authorities 8 million times. Now maybe that number turns out to be grossly inflated. Maybe it’s really 4 million times, or 1 million. Even if it’s under a thousand users, this news is scary.

There are legitimate reasons for law enforcement agencies to have access to location data. We could all understand the need when it comes to missing person cases, kidnappings and wanted fugitives. We all want lives to be saved. But there must be some guidelines, because this is truly scary stuff below:

One of the things that has many iPhone users angered is that while the iPhone has tethering capability, AT&T has blocked the feature. I can only imagine how angry the users would be if they had been able to tether the iPhone for years and the feature was cancelled without notice. Sprint has done just that for some of its customers.

A poster going by kevinapg has posted at the Sprint Blogs that the ability to tether his Blackberry handset has been blocked. The poster states that for years tethering has been supported through the Sprint Smartview software.

This is just plain weird. As much as I get tired of hearing whatever the person standing in line at the checkout counter next to me has as their ringtone, a chirping bird would be worse than some crappy country song. Sprint has announced that it has teamed up with the Audubon to release bird call ringtones.

There will be 28 different bird ringtones offered including the Field Sparrow, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and the Black-capped Chickadee. The ringtones can be downloaded by texting BIRD to 1111 or downloaded from the Sprint Digital Lounge.

The first Palm device to hit the market running the firms new webOS was the Pre that is still a Sprint exclusive handset. Palm has today announced its second webOS device called the Palm Pixi.

The Pixi is a thin phone with a full QWERTY keyboard on the front of the device in Blackberry fashion. Palm is mum on the exact launch date but says that the Pixi will hit Sprint (sigh) in time for the holidays. The handset will operate on dual-band CDMA2000 networks and supports 3G EVDO Rev A.

The HTC Touch Pro2 handset is coming to Sprint locations on September 8. The device runs Windows Mobile 6.1 with HTC’s exclusive touchFLO user Interface and a variety of applications pre-installed.

Among the pre-installed applications are Sprint’s NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile. The new HTC handset will sell for a whopping $349.99 after a 2-year contract and a $100 mail-in rebate. That makes the handset cost $449.99 upfront.

The Blackberry Tour is the latest smartphone form RIM and so far has hit Alltel and Verizon Wireless. The device is a world phone and business types who travel internationally frequently will appreciate the fact that it works on 3G networks at home and abroad.

Sprint has announced that it is now getting the Tour as well. The device will run on the Sprint 3G network and works on international 3G networks. The device has all the features that the Tour models on other networks offer.

Sprint is working hard to get its 4G WiMax service into more areas of the country and it has quite a few cities that are set to come online this year. The most recent two cities to get 4G with Sprint are Portland and Las Vegas.

Sprint has offered pricing on the 4G service in these two areas. The 4G/3G data plans will sell for $69.99 per month, $10 more than comparable 3G plans. The plan includes “unlimited” data which we all know has limits; Sprint just doesn’t specify what they are at this point.