Sprint plans to temporarily replace mail-in rebates with instant savings, Sprint spokeswoman Caroline Semerdjian told CNET this evening. The promotion will begin March 27 and continue “for an unspecified time,” Semerdjian said. If the AT&T and T-Mobile merger goes through, Sprint will be pushed into third place, and will probably need to come up with …

CNET has confirmed with AT&T that it will enable the HSUPA radios on the Motorola Atrix 4G and HTC Inspire 4G via a software update in April. HSUPA, which stands for High-Speed Uplink Packet Access, is the protocol that enables faster upload speeds (up to 5.76Mbps) on your mobile phone. However, it recently came to light that the technology was …

One of the unsung strengths of the iPad 2, compared to its competitors, is its epic battery life. Apple promises the new version of its tablet will have the same battery abilities as its predecessor, and be able to put out up to 10 hours of surfing the Web on Wi-Fi, watching video or listening to music. We can vouch …

Sights from CTIA 2011 (photos) +10 more See all photos After a hectic fall CTIA show, CES, and Mobile World Congress, we assumed that the spring CTIA show would be a quieter affair. It might have been, too, were it not for AT&T’s bombshell, dropped two days before the show kicked off. News of the proposed merger was followed on …

Apple According to sources from music news site The Music Void, Apple is pushing hard for labels to get on board with Apple’s new MobileMe service for music storage and streaming called “Locker.” The service, the site reports, will cost $20/year and be ready for launch sometime in April. Informed sources say that Apple has sealed its deal with Warner …

If the AT&T-T-Mobile merger gains approval, that de facto bumps MetroPCS, the nation’s fifth largest carrier (8 million subscribers), into the No. 4 slot that T-Mobile currently holds (33 million subscribers). I sat down at CTIA 2011 with Tony Lau, director of handset product management for MetroPCS to chat about the carrier’s plans going forward. LTE Android phones are top …

The U.S. International Trade Commission has decided that it will review Eastman Kodak’s patent infringement complaint against Apple and Research in Motion. The move, which was reported by Reuters this afternoon, marks the latest step in Kodak’s mission to get Apple and RIM to pay royalties for allegedly illegally using its intellectual property. The patent in question deals with an …

A couple of months ago I posted a query in my 411 column about prepaid GSM Android phones and the lack thereof. What I failed to mention was that you can of course use any GSM phone as a prepaid handset, as long as you’re willing to pay full price for the phone up front. All you have to do …

Synchronise watches: the Apple iPad 2 goes on sale at 5pm today. You’ve weighed the pros and cons and decided which iPad 2 to go for. But with Apple’s online store offering a lamentable 3-4 week wait (!), what’s the best way to get your hands on an iPad 2 this very day? The obvious choice is the Apple Store. …

Get your game in with the Echo’s larger player view Bonnie Cha/CNET ORLANDO, Fla.–In addition to delivering lots of new phones, trade shows like CTIA 2011 offer an opportunity to see any recent models that haven’t yet to passed through your hands. This year, CTIA was my first chance to handle the Kyocera Echo, the dual-screen Android handset for Sprint. …