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Sprint hosted a press event in Chicago June 23 to—like T-Mobile did the week before in Seattle—talk up major improvements to its network and announce an offer to let consumers try it out for free.
Sprint has undergone a “complete rip-and-replace overhaul” of its 3G network and has deployed 4G LTE in 471 markets, CEO Dan Hesse said at the event and in a statement. Further, Sprint HD Voice is now available nationwide, Sprint Spark is now in 27 networks, and International WiFi calling and texting will be available in the coming weeks.
“We believe customers will be delighted with the Sprint retail experience, our customer service and the performance of America’s newest network, so we’re guaranteeing it,” said Hesse, announcing a 30-day, risk-free trial offer. If you’re not happy with the service, Sprint will refund the cost of the device and waive all service and activation charges.
For two reasons, it’s easy to think the offer isn’t a response to T-Mobile’s Test Drive—a seven-day free trial offer that became available June 22. First because Sprint sent out invitations to its event long before T-Mobile’s announcement, and second because it seems to lack the ease and appeal of the T-Mobile offer.
Getting a new phone can sound about as fun as moving. For some of us, there’s the stress of wanting to first clean out some old junk (old emails, not-great photos) instead of moving with it. There’s also the time suck of setting up a new phone—installing the applications you like, signing into accounts; the setting-up that comes with any move.
T-Mobile eliminates any stress from its network test by sending you a phone (an Apple iPhone 5S; there are no other options) to use alongside your personal phone. CEO John Legere joked about wanting to sit at a bar with two phones (and two drinks) and speed test between networks. When T-Mobile’s Test Drive is over, one returns the phone to a T-Mobile store and that’s that. (Or, that’s the promise, anyway.)
Sprint’s 30-day money-back guarantee is like saying that if you don’t like your new apartment, you can move out. Which, even with a rent refund, doesn’t sound like much fun.
Sprint disagrees.
“We think our 30-day guarantee is superior to T-Mobile’s short trial period in many ways,” Adrienne Norton, with Sprint’s Corporate Communications team, told eWEEK.
First, she said, customers will have plenty of time to test the device in all the locations they’re likely to use the phone. Second, a Sprint representative can set up a customer’s contacts, apps, favorites and more, as well as port over the customer’s phone number. Third, customers who are happy to keep the Sprint service don’t have to do anything, while T-Mobile’s offer insists they head to a store whether they want it or not.
Additionally, “Sprint customers don’t have a ‘gotcha’ like T-Mobile’s $700 charge,” Norton added. “Sprint’s longer trial period with a full satisfaction guarantee is evidence of our greater confidence that customers will be happy with Sprint.”
It’s a Framily Affair
If you’re already a Sprint subscriber on a Framily Plan—which by now you likely know is a “family” plan for friends and/or any makeshift versions of family—Sprint has introduced Sprint Family Wall, a free social-media-style app for members of a Framily.
Sprint Offers a 30-Day Trial ‘Superior’ to T-Mobile Test Drive
They can share photos, messages, video and audio files, calendars, contacts, lists and even location information. Multiple Walls can be created, and each is separate and private; the Wall’s “administrator” decides who is invited to add to it.
Samsung Galaxy 5S Sport
At its event, Sprint also introduced the Samsung Galaxy S5 Sport, a phone exclusive to Sprint and yet another example of Samsung’s savvy ability to make a good thing keep working for it. (AT&T exclusively offers the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active.)
The GS5 Sport includes all the promised features of the GS5, as well as three hard keys that make the phone easier to operate while you’re active and a textured body that makes it easier to grip (especially when hands are warm and sweaty).
The GS5 Sport will also be the first phone to feature Sprint Fit Live, a “complete mobile health and fitness package giving customers instant access to their favorite fitness applications and activities,” Sprint said in a statement.
Fit Live enables users to track, monitor and share their workout activities; it integrates with MapMyFitness (which is included free for 12 months); it can access Spotify Workout playlists (and Spotify Premium free for six months); and it offers a roundup of healthy lifestyle articles and other content.
Basically, it can “educate, motivate, track, monitor, measure and analyze overall fitness,” Todd Durkin, a well-known performance-enhancement coach on hand at the event, said in a statement, adding that nothing works better to help people reach their fitness goals than “instant feedback.”
Beginning July 25, and for a limited time, Sprint will offer $50 off a Samsung Gear Fit—a device that complements the health and fitness features on the GS5 Sport.
The GS5 Sport will begin shipping July 25 and will be available for 24 payments of $27.09, and in Electric Blue or Cherry Red.
Follow Michelle Maisto on Twitter.