Sprint Launches Two Samsung Mobile DevicesSprint Launches Two Samsung Mobile Devices

Sprint this week refreshed its smartphone and mobile phone offerings with two new devices: the Samsung Ace for business travelers and the Samsung M520 for multimedia-hungry consumers.

The Ace is a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone with quad-band capabilities for global use. It works overseas on CDMA and GSM/GPRS networks where Sprint has international roaming agreements with other carriers, according to the company.

Sprint is providing subscribers with different pricing options for global roaming. For example, wireless calls made in Canada cost 59 cents per minute, while in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam, the per-minute prices are the same as in the continental United States. Sprint also has international mobile broadband plans for those who travel to Canada and Mexico, as well as special business pricing and a service for unlocking phones to work with outside SIM cards for voice and data.

In the United States, the Ace uses Sprint's Mobile Broadband Network and provides access to Sprint services such as live television, on-demand video, on-demand audio, and customizable sports, weather, and news alerts.

The Ace's navigation controls and form factor are similar to the Samsung BlackJack, which is sold by AT&T. The smartphone has a QWERTY keyboard, expandable memory with a 2-GB MicroSD card slot, and a 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder. Additionally, it syncs up contacts and schedules through Outlook Mobile, offers Web browsing through Internet Explorer Mobile, and allows the viewing of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files using File Viewer.

The Ace is available through Sprint's business sales channels for $200 with a two-year service subscription and a $100 mail-in rebate. The smartphone will become available at Sprint's retail stores in March.

Also this week, Sprint began offering the M520, a slider phone with built-in GPS, search, mobile music, and mobile TV capabilities. The phone's navigation application is powered by Telenav, which provides turn-by-turn driving directions and traffic rerouting.

It's the first Power Vision phone to come in a slim form factor with a slide-out keypad, according to Sprint. The M520 can be used for multitasking, which means users can listen to music while text messaging or surfing the Internet.

Other features include the option to use the phone as a modem, picture caller ID, wireless backup for safeguarding the address book, a 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder, Bluetooth, and expandable memory with a 4-GB MicroSD card slot.

Considering its rich feature set, the M520 is reasonably priced at $50, after a $50 mail-in rebate, with a two-year subscription.