Category: Sprint

Good news this morning for those of you who have the LG V20 on Sprint.  The carrier has released the Android Oreo update for the 2016 flagship phone and it is making its way out to customers now.  The new build is OPR1.170623.032 for those keeping score at home.

The update brings all the standard goodness of Android Oreo 8.0 to the phone along with the July Android Security Update.  As you would expect, it is a hefty update at just over 1.5GB so you will certainly want to download this update via WiFi and to install, you will need at least 80% battery life.

Following the release of Android Oreo on AT&T and Verizon, Sprint has now begun rolling out the update to the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge on their network.  The updated build is R16NW.G93xPVPU6CRE7 and it comes in at a 1.7GB on the download.  The update has been released by Sprint so you should see it at any point if not already.

Essentially, the update is the same that was pushed out to AT&T and Verizon customers.  It brings the April Android Security Update Patch and all of the goodness that comes with Android Oreo.  It also brings the new Samsung Experience 9 user interface and experience to the 2016 flagship.

After a year and a bit of talking, not talking, talking again, not talking again, and finally talking, Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to merge as one company known as T-Mobile.  The $26.5 billion all stock transaction still has to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) here in the United States but it is likely to happen.  The new merged company will put serious pressure on the two biggest mobile carriers here in the US, AT&T and Verizon, as the new company will be focused on delivering 5G.

“This combination will create a fierce competitor with the network scale to deliver more for consumers and businesses in the form of lower prices, more innovation, and a second-to-none network experience – and do it all so much faster than either company could on its own,” said John Legere. “As industry lines blur and we enter the 5G era, consumers and businesses need a company with the disruptive culture and capabilities to force positive change on their behalf.”

The merged company is expected to be a boon for consumers too.  It is likely that plans will drop for existing Sprint customers as the companies come together over the course of 2018.

A few days after the unlocked variant of the Essential Phone began receiving its latest update, now too is the Sprint enabled version of the PH-1.   The update is the same as it was for the unlocked version of the phone, bringing the same updates and improvements to the only carrier locked version of the Essential Phone.

The update brings the April Android Security Update patch to the phone which, despite being a few days behind the unlocked variant, still makes it one of the first to get updated to the latest security patches.  Also, the software to enabled Bluetooth 5.0 is in this update.  The radios for 5.0 have been in the PH-1 all along but were not enabled via the software on the device.  That now changes with this update.

Following Verizon and T-Mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S8 on Sprint is now getting updated to Android Oreo.  The update began rolling out yesterday and should be landing on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ on the network over the course of the next few days.

For those of you who have the Galaxy S8, you are looking for build G950USQU2CRB9 while those of you who have the S8+, you are getting build G955USQU2CRB9.  Both updates come in at just over 1.5GB in size so you will certainly want to download them via WiFi when you get the notification of it being available.

Following in the footsteps of AT&T, Sprint has announced their first six cities in the United States where they will be deploying their Massive MIMO technology include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C..  The Massive MIMO technology serves as a bridge to get customers a 5G experience while the actual 5G deployment goes on behind the scenes.

“The race to 5G is heating up, and let me be clear, today’s announcement is a huge step toward Sprint being first to offer a 5G mobile network,” said Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO. “Our deep spectrum position gives us an incredible advantage no other carrier has in the U.S. We’re making significant investments using state-of-the-art technology, and working with leading chip and handset partners to deliver an incredible Next-Gen Network for our customers.”

Deployment of the fifth generation mobile network from Sprint is slated to roll out in 2019.