Thanks to a mistake by Sprint’s social media department, if they even have such a thing, a video briefly appeared on YouTube showing off a device called the “Sprint Express”. Luckily for us the folks from The Verge were able to snap a screenshot before the video was made private, but to be honest there’s not much to see here. What you’re looking at below is a rebranded version of the Huawei U8350, which also goes by the name “Boulder” (pictured above). It packs a QWERTY keyboard, 2.6 inch 320 x 240 pixel resolution screen, 3.2 megapixel camera, and a 600 MHz processor. According to AndroidGuys, who first spotted the unintentionally leaked video, the Sprint Express will be offered for just $20 with a 2 year contract. Frankly, this thing should be free, but forget the cost for a second, why on earth would you buy something that’s this old school when you get a much better device for not that much more money?
Let’s start with the obvious candidate, the iPhone 3GS. It’s free with a 2 year contract, and it’s an iPhone. Do we really need to say anymore? OK, so you really want a QWERTY keyboard, then why not pick up the Samsung Stratosphere 4G from Amazon Wireless? It’s selling for $0.01 with a 2 year contract and it comes with a 1 GHz processor, 4 inch screen, LTE connectivity, and a 5 megapixel camera. Plus it’s on Verizon, so you know you’re going to have awesome reception regardless of where you are. Make sure you do your research folks, because no one deserves such a low end device in the United States. Huawei’s handsets are more common in countries like India and China where operators don’t subsidize devices, so people have to pay an obscene amount of money to keep up with the latest technology trends.
You’re in America, so you don’t have to, at least at the start. America’s got some of the most expensive wireless services in the world, but that’s a whole other topic of discussion.
[Image of the Huawei Boulder is a screenshot from this YouTube video.]