Sprint UpStage EVDO
I’m a member of the Sprint Ambassador program, which means they’ve supplied me with test equipment in the past. A few weeks ago, I received an UpStage in the mail - and couldn’t wait to give ‘er a whirl. I have yet to try downloading any kind of content with the device, although that’s a huge selling point for users who appreciate convenience.
I’ve been too busy futzing with the damn Cingular Blackjack and its lack of charging-by-USB to busy myself with other phones on other mobile networks. The UpStage does not charge by USB, either - which is a tremendous shortcoming and engineering oversight (in my very humble opinion). To add insult to injury, neither one has a mini-USB port.
With the last Ambassador lease, I tethered the Samsung SPH-a920 to my Thinkpad and used it (largely) as a modem, which allowed me to get online without draining the battery for my old “normal” cell phone (the Cingular 2125).
Here’s the message the team just sent to me the other day, regarding connectivity via Bluetooth in OS X:
The Sprint Ambassador Team wants to reach out to you for solutions. Since launching Phase III, we’ve received multiple requests on how to connect your Phone-As-A-Modem with a Mac via Bluetooth. In Phase I, an Ambassador posted a great work-around way of doing this with the Samsung A920.
A few of you have tried this same solution, but have reported to us that you’re unable to make it work with the new Samsung phone. We understand that the Phone-As-Modem feature has been one of the most popular among Ambassadors. Unfortunately, Sprint currently doesn’t have official instructions for how to do this on a Mac, but we greatly valued the publicly shared instructions provided by NoDRM, so we wanted to open this up to you all for help.
If you have a successful solution to pairing your Samsung phone-as-a-modem with a Mac, please email us back your instructions and we’ll be sure to try it out. If it works, we’ll send it out to all the Sprint Ambassadors (of course, crediting you) so that we can build a shared knowledge.
I’m happy thrilled to report that I had no problems getting the UpStage to act as a Bluetooth modem on OS X. Astounded, actually, at how simple it was to set up (per nodrm’s instructions). I didn’t even dare try it in Windows, given the painful Bluetooth experiences I’ve had with XP and Vista in the past. Moreover, I’m starting to take the Macbook with me on trips more and more. Why? It just works (especially power management)!
As a side note, the UpStage’s EVDO is much faster than my ClearWire connection - palpably. ClearWire makes for a great backup Internet service, but I don’t know if I could necessarily recommend ‘em as a primary ISP (no matter how much you may hate the phone or cable company). Still waiting for someone to get back to me on Gnomedex sponsorship, although I’m not holding my breath.
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14 Comments
Charlie Kindel
May 10th, 2007
at 10:14pm
“I’ve been too busy futzing with the damn Cingular Blackjack and its lack of charging-by-USB to busy myself with other phones on other mobile networks. ”
Huh? There must be something wrong with either your PC, your cable, or your Blackjack because *my* Blackjack charges very well via USB. So does every other one I’ve seen. I did have one USB cable go bad; perhaps this has happened to you?
Chris Pirillo
May 11th, 2007
at 7:39am
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Sean Scott
May 11th, 2007
at 10:59am
How would one get on the Sprint Ambassadorship program? Is there an open period?
Inquiring minds would love to know. I would send a joost invite if that sweetens the pot any…
William Ward
May 12th, 2007
at 9:29am
Hey Chris, the Upstage works great as a Bluetooth modem with both OS X and the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet.
One IMPORTANT point about Bluetooth versus USB: When using Bluetooth, I typically see about 300kbit/sec downstream - but when using USB, I get about 800kbit/sec downstream. In both cases, the upstream tops out around 100kbit/sec (I’ve seen it peak at 120, but your mileage may vary.)
So for the best performance, use the USB cable with your Mac.
One other note - the Upstage does not include the higher speed EVDO Rev A, apparently - so if you’re looking for even more speed, you’ll need to buy a different device, one of the Novatel modems, for example. I’m not an expert on this (and don’t have much time to look,) but so far it seems that A> EVDO Rev A will get you 500-600kbit upstreams and 1mbit or better down. and B> There don’t seem to be any Rev A. bluetooth devices, making it useless for the N800 and other non-USB host devices.
Personally, I think the actual software on the Upstage was rushed and the overall user experience is kludgey, and I spent some time writing about those opinions on my blog but with the extended battery wallet, and the convenient size, I think it will do fine. I still carry a Nokia e62 for my voice, SMS and mobile email - and the price of the upstage was not terribly high ($100 after rebate) so I can live with it.
Bill
YouFlux.org
May 13th, 2007
at 9:50pm
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theory.isthereason
May 14th, 2007
at 4:35am
a uniquely designed cellphone which is ultra-slim and yet has displays on both faces (i.e. no real front nor back). Since it was marketing it as a package, we got six-months of free phone and data services. I heard that this phone maintains a solid EVDO connection, which I could use for virtual presence projects. Back to the real deal here: Having chatted with local bloggers here, there’s something different about the way companies market their goods through bloggers. In the case of Singapore, LG sent out
Singapore Blogs :: sgBlogs - Singapore's Blogosphere
May 14th, 2007
at 8:59am
a uniquely designed cellphone which is ultra-slim and yet has displays on both faces (i.e. no real front nor back). Since Sprint was marketing it as a package, we got six-months of free phone and data services. I heard that this phone maintains a solid EVDO connection, which I could use for virtual presence projects. Back to the real deal: Having chatted with local bloggers here, there’s something different about the way companies market their goods through bloggers. In the case of Singapore, LG sent out these
Josh Hallett
May 14th, 2007
at 7:54pm
I’ve followed the same instructions and can’t get the UpStage to connect with my PowerBook.
Cassie
May 15th, 2007
at 7:29pm
I got the Upstage on Saturday 5-11. Love the features. Dowloading is easy. The sound quality of the mp3, and picture quality is great. Haven’t gotten into the GPS, but next trip I am all over it.
My problem is the reception!! It doesn’t seem to handle a phone call any where that is inside a building. Anyone else having this problem, or did I just get the bad one?
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May 17th, 2007
at 8:21am
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Frugal Coder Blog
May 17th, 2007
at 11:35pm
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dave
July 10th, 2007
at 8:31am
hey i have the new upstage, and i like it. but I just cant figure out how to take my mp3’s and set them as a caller ringtone. It only makes sense that you should be able to do this.
Clint B
July 16th, 2007
at 9:58pm
About the Upstage - did I miss something or a page in their manual?
I cannot locate how to directly download photos to my PC… I did figure out how to send photos directly to my printer. Plus they do have a subscription website for $5.00 a month where I can upload photos.
Too bad and correct too about the software which is definitely not intuitive.
aycan
August 21st, 2007
at 10:29pm
i still can’t believe anyone would buy the upstage.
odd ui, that stupid flippy switch that changes the sides of the phone…
a tiny screen, absolutely no way to coherently send text messages, no camera…. ? why?