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Sprint on Tuesday announced that it plans to cease service on its iDEN Nextel network as early as June 30th, 2013. The nation’s third largest wireless provider is looking to migrate business and government customers from the old push-to-talk technology onto Sprint Direct Connect, which operates on the carrier’s 3G CDMA network and offers improved in-building coverage, and increased voice and data capacity. Sprint will begin sending written notices to iDEN customers beginning June 1st, 2012. The dated Nextel spectrum will be reassigned for the carrier’s upcoming LTE network. Sprint’s press release follows below.

Apple’s next iPhone, which is reported to launch in the fall, seems to have leaked. It’s entirely possible these parts are for a non-final version of the handset, but they do perfectly match up with what has been reported about the new iPhone — mainly a metal and glass rear case, and a new dock connector. Smartphone repair company uBreakiFix has sent us in these photos of the new case, and there’s a lot of differences compared to the current iPhone 4S. Among a redesigned rear case, the camera module cutout looks to be larger, there is a redone speaker and microphone configuration at the bottom, new dock connector, and it looks like Apple has moved the 3.5mm headset jack to the bottom of the device like the iPod touch. Read on for more photos.

UPDATE: 9to5Mac has high resolution photos of the parts.

Apple has been working on an in-house mapping solution for a few years, and it appears as if the company is finally ready to release a new Maps app for iOS, sidestepping Google’s mapping data for its own. BGR has obtained exclusive information and photos of parts of Apple’s new Maps app from a trusted source, and the app features a refreshed user interface including a brand new navigation bar. This bar, we’re told, is silver instead of blue. Since the current Maps app follows the standard blue iOS color scheme, we think it’s possible Apple might shift toward a silver color theme in iOS 6 like on the iPad.

The iPhone version of Maps has a floating locate me button (it sounds very similar to Android’s Google Maps app) in the bottom left corner. To access 3D mode, which will make use of Apple’s C3 Technologies acquisition, you have to peel back the lower right corner of Maps just like the current version and enable 3D mode. Once enabled, you can switch in and out of 3D mode by tapping a 3D icon in the lower left corner. A photo of this feature can be seen in our gallery.

Apple is now putting the finishing touches on its 3D mapping functionality, and it is currently being tested in build 10A3XX of iOS 6.

Samsung’s flagship smartphone for 2012 is now available in 28 countries around the world but unfortunately, the United States is not one of them. The Galaxy S III Android smartphone saw record demand ahead of its launch, and now the handset is available in more than two dozen markets globally. First announced at a press conference in London earlier this month, the Galaxy S III features an ultra-thin design that was inspired by nature. Spec highlights include a quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor, a 4.7-inch 720p HD display, an 8-megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM, 4G LTE connectivity, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and a case that is just 8.6 millimeters thick. The international version of the Galaxy S III is currently available for preorder in the U.S., however carrier-branded versions not expected to launch until some time this summer.

Worldwide sales of 4G LTE smartphones from LG have surpassed three million units, the company announced over the weekend. The South Korean manufacturer released its first 4G LTE smartphone in the United States on Verizon Wireless last year, the Revolution, and has since expanded its market to Europe and Asia. LG is currently selling LTE smartphones in 10 countries and plans double its reach by the end of 2012. The company’s Optimus LTE handset recently surpassed one million units sold in Korea, becoming LG’s first smartphone to achieve the feat.

LG Display on Monday announced the world’s first full HD LCD smartphone display. The 5-inch panel features the highest resolution to date and is based on AH-IPS technology. The screen has a whopping 440 pixels-per-inch and a 1920 x 1080 HD resolution. For comparison, Apple’s 3.5-inch class-leading Retina Display features a pixel density of 326 ppi. “As smartphones become increasingly valued for how well they do multimedia and with the rapid growth of LTE enabling faster large file transfers, our new 5″ Full HD LCD panel is certain to prove a significant asset to the mobile market,” said Sang-Deok Yeo, CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display. “With the world’s highest resolution smartphone display, LG Display continues to remain a step ahead in developing the most innovative in display technology products.” LG’s 5-inch full HD LCD panel will be available to manufacturers during the second half of this year. The company’s press release follows below.

Absinthe 2.0, the untethered jailbreak solution for iOS 5.1.1, has already been downloaded almost one million times. According to the Chronic Dev Team, 973,086 devices had been jailbroken as of Sunday evening, 211,401 of which were Apple’s newest iPad. The program, which was released to the public on Friday and runs on a computer connected to an iOS device, is compatible with A4 devices like the iPhone 4 and iPad as well as A5 and A5X-powered devices such as the iPhone 4S and the new iPad. It is not compatible, however, with iPad 2 models powered by Apple’s newer 32-nanometer chipset, though this updated iPad 2 only became quietly available a few months ago.

Facebook has reportedly hired more than half a dozen former Apple engineers as part of renewed efforts to build an own-brand smartphone. According to a recent report from The New York Times, the hires are comprised of former hardware and software engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one engineer who worked on the iPad. Why the renewed interest in a Facebook phone? “Mark is worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms,” an anonymous Facebook employee reportedly told the Times. Rumors of the “Facebook phone” resurfaced last month after the rumor mill had been silent on the matter for some time. The previous round of rumors suggesting Facebook was working with HTC on an own-brand phone were off base; HTC ended up launching a pair of low-end smartphones with dedicated Facebook sharing buttons rather than a Facebook-branded device. It may have been for the best, however — a study conducted earlier this year found that most consumers wouldn’t be interested in a smartphone offering from Facebook.

Sony Mobile on Friday confirmed that it no longer plans to update its Xperia Play smartphone to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich due to compatibility issues with the device’s gaming features, Phone Scoop reported. “Ice Cream Sandwich demands more from the phone hardware than Gingerbread,” a Sony spokesperson said. “Android 4.0 is a more powerful OS and thus, more resource intensive – applications require more RAM, CPU power, and network bandwidth. From internal testing and feedback from the developer community on the beta ROM software release, we have seen a significant decline in user experience when running high performance games, as they are more demanding on the hardware. As gaming content is so integral to the core Xperia Play proposition, we cannot recommend an upgrade.” Sony’s decision will affect both the AT&T and Verizon Wireless models, as well as models sold overseas. The Xperia Play launched on Verizon last May and AT&T this past September.

PayPal earlier this year announced a partnership with The Home Depot that allowed customers to make point-of-sale transactions with their smartphones in more than 2,000 locations. The e-commerce company on Thursday announced that 15 new national retailers have signed on for PayPal’s in-store mobile payment service. These include, Abercrombie & Fitch, Advance Auto Parts, Aeropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, Guitar Center, Jamba Juice, JC Penney, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Nine West, Office Depot, Rooms To Go, Tiger Direct and Toys“R”Us. “We can’t wait to launch with these great retailers, and help them serve their customers better through PayPal,” PayPal president David Marcus said. “Consumers are relying on technology now more than ever to simplify their lives when it comes to shopping and paying, and retailers must adapt to this shift or risk becoming irrelevant.” PayPal plans to sign up as many as 20 national retailers this year.

According to a new report from online advertising network Chitika, smartphones and tablets now account for 20% of all Web traffic in the U.S. and Canada. Traditional PCs accounted for 80% of Web traffic, with smartphone traffic totaling 14.6% and tablets making up 5.6%, AllThingD reported. Chitika found that a whopping 95% of tablet Web traffic came from a version of Apple’s iPad, mainly the newest iPad, and 72% of smartphone traffic also belongs to Apple, compared to 26% for Android devices. The Cupertino-based company didn’t fare as well on the desktop side, which saw 85% of Web traffic from Windows machines compared to 13% from Macs. The report also noted that Windows Phone now accounts for a third as much traffic as BlackBerry phones, and while Microsoft’s mobile platform owns a smaller share of the market, the handsets’ larger displays may be responsible for the proportionally large share of Web browsing.

HP’s open source webOS team, known as Enyo, will reportedly be leaving the company and joining Google, according to The Verge. The computer giant in December announced its failed webOS mobile operating system would move to an open-source model under the name Enyo, with version 1.0 slated for release in September 2012. The website’s sources claim the entire Enyo team will not be headed for Google, but Matt McNulty, the head of the project, will be among those departing. This wouldn’t be the first time the Internet giant has hired former webOS workers; Android’s current design chief Matias Duarte oversaw the creation of the user interface for the operating system while working at Palm. It is unclear if the Enyo team members will be joining the Android group or another Google project.

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users running the latest version of Apple’s iOS software now have access to full-featured untethered jailbreak software courtesy of iOS hackers Chronic Dev Team and pod2g. The software needed to perform the jailbreak, Greenpis0n Absinthe 2.0, is now available for download and is compatible with A4-powered devices like the original iPad and the iPhone 4, as well as newer A5-powered devices like the new iPad and iPhone 4S, JailbreakUntethered reports. The updated software allows users to jailbreak their newer A5-powered iOS devices without having to connect to a computer while booting, though it is not compatible with iPad 2 models powered by Apple’s newer 32-nanometer chipset. Download links for Greenpois0n Absinthe 2.0 and a how-to guide details each step of the jailbreaking process can be found through the read link below.

UPDATE: A large number of users are reporting problems with the new software and as such, users may want to wait for a subsequent release before attempting to jailbreak their devices.