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.

Sprint has released the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 portable EV-DO router for use on its network. The battery-powered EV-DO router will allow users to connect up to five WiFi-enabled devices to Sprint’s EV-DO Rev. A network.

It will be marketed in stores as the Sprint Mobile Hotspot. According to Sprint, this device is the first in the US to support MiFi’s GPS capabilities, allowing users to take advantage of select location and mapping applications. The up front cost is $99 after a $50 mail-in rebate (on a two-year agreement), though there’s only two options for getting it connected.

Samsung has announced an updated instinct handset called the instinct s30. The device offers full touch screen functionality and 3G connectivity. The device offers a default web browser and Opera Mini 4.2 to browse the web. Samsung and Sprint also preload the device with Guitar Hero World Tour and Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader games.

The s30 is thinner than the original Instinct and will come in two colors — cobalt metal of touch of copper. The device offers quick access to Microsoft Outlook and utilizes Sprint Mobile Email Work to access corporate email, contacts, and calendar from Exchange Server or Lotus at no additional charge.

On March 15 Sprint will be rolling out the new Treo Pro device. It will be the first Palm smartphone to come with Internet Explorer Mobile 6 for a more robust mobile browsing experience. Some other business-class features include Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS navigation, full keyboard for fast email and texting and touchscreen availability.

The Sprint Treo Pro will retail for $199 after you take into account rebates and contract agreement.

I don’t talk on my mobile phone all that much. We have a basic plan and thanks to AT&T’s roll over I never run out of minutes. I have been hit with a few bills with significant text messaging overages though. Sprint and the other mobile providers rolled out plans last year for heavy mobile phone users that offer everything for one price.

The catch for those like me is that the plans are expensive. Sprint has announced a new Simply Everything Plan + Mobile Broadband that rolls all the talk, text, and phone Internet access you want in with mobile broadband for your laptop.

Sprint just rolled out the Sierra Wireless Mobile Broadband USB Modem 598U complete with Sprint logo, offering users a compact and reliable mobile solution to connect to the Internet from anywhere. This is a EV-DO Rev. A-compatible device that boasts average download speeds of between 600 kbps and 1.4 Mbps, while upload speeds average 350 to 500 kbps.

The 598U is also compatible with EV-DO Rev. 0 and 1XRTT technology just in case you’re in an area where EV-DO Rev. A is unavailable. Some other features include an integrated GPS receiver and a microSDHC memory card slot (up to 32GB) for expansion. How much does it cost?

Sprint isn’t in a good place right now. It’s losing customers as its service quality drops and other providers improve and Sprint’s is in a bad financial situation to boot. The cellular arm of the phone giant bet big on WiMAX and repeatedly had to scale the service back.

Sprint has introduced its first 4G/3G modem that can operate both on its 4G WiMAX network and on its nationwide 3G broadband network. The modem connects to a PC via USB and on Sprint’s 4G network provides download speeds of up to 4 Mbps.

With the iPhone 3G coming many handset makers and wireless service providers are trying to launch competitive products to try and steal some of the iPhone thunder from Apple and AT&T. One of the most interesting devices to take aim at the iPhone is the Samsung Instinct.

Sprint has announced that the Instinct has become its fastest-selling EVDO handset ever in only a week of availability. The Instinct is exclusive to Sprint and went on sale June 20. Sprint says that the record setting sales of the device has caused a few problems though.

Many mobile pros and road warriors have used USB broadband modems before. Typically they are large, ugly devices that hang from your sleek notebook’s USB port like a giant tumor. A tumor you can’t treat so long as you want to have Internet access.

Sprint and Sierra Wireless announced the nation’s smallest USB broadband modem called the Compass 597 USB modem. How small is the modem you cry; how about 1.2” x 2.4” x 0.4” or about 70% smaller than the AirCard 595U. Those dimensions make the modem roughly the size of a typical flash drive.

[UPDATE: Turns out this phone has actually been out for awhile. Shame to Sanyo for dating the press release for this week!]

Sanyo and Sprint together have announced from CES the availability of an upgraded model of the popular Katana cell phone. The new one is known as the Sanyo Katana DLX and it’s priced at around $130 with mail in rebate and two year contract.

The Sanyo Katana DLX is optimized for broadband related Sprint multimedia content. It is available in several body colors and offers features like phone as a modem, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera built in and support for microSDHC memory cards.