Sprint plans to launch CDMA push-to-talk as Android app

According to a statement we received from Sprint Nextel today, the wireless carrier's nationwide network upgrade will bring instant "walkie talkie" communications to its regular Android phones as a downloadable app. Previously, this feature was exclusive to phones that had the appropriate iDEN radio installed.

Friday, national wireless network operator Sprint Nextel laid out its most current plans for transitioning its 4G network from WiMAX to LTE and rolling its multi-protocol Network Vision platform.

The company today said it will begin a "rapid national rollout" of 1900MHz LTE about halfway through 2012, which will be completed in late 2013. In conjunction, it will launch CDMA(3G)/LTE(4G) devices by mid-2012, with approximately 15 devices coming throughout the year.

As a part of this transition, Sprint Nextel's long-running push-to-talk iDEN network will be retired and replaced with a new CDMA-based push-to-talk service developed by Qualcomm called Sprint Direct Connect.

Just over a week ago, Sprint officially launched Direct Connect with the first handset to support the push-to-talk technology, the Kyocera DuraMax, and announced two more phones supporting the technology for the fourth quarter of this year, the Kyocera DuraCore, and another yet-unnamed Motorola device ("It will feature an Android operating system, three inch touch screen and QWERTY keyboard.")

But since Sprint's "Network Vision" tends more toward unification of spectrum and protocol, and Direct Connect works on CDMA, we asked the company today if other devices would be able to add push-to-talk as an optional service, or if compatibility issues would be the same as they were back with the iDEN network.

The company responded, "First, we will launch SDC phones as announced. Sometime next year, a downloadable app will be available on Android phones."

This is the first we've heard of this.