Sprint (News - Alert) has announced that the LX400 by LG, Z400 by Samsung, and PRO-200 and PRO-700 by Sanyo will now be available in 14 additional cities and states across the country beginning July 13. The four new Nextel Direct Connect phones are presently available in 46 markets.

The phones will now be available in Phoenix, Ariz., Upper Central Valley, Calif., East Kentucky, Maine,
Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Buffalo, N.Y., Rochester, N.Y., Central Upstate New York, East Upstate New York, Utah, Norfolk, Va. and Vermont with additional markets and channels being added throughout 2008.

The se push to talk phones have the Direct Connect feature offering call connection times of less than one second to existing Nextel Direct Connect subscribers nationwide.

The Direct Connect phones are based on Qualcomm’s (News - Alert) QChat technology. Customers with these new phones can choose to have one phone number for voice and push-to-talk calls.

Another feature is Call Alert where subscribers can send a repeating alert to let another Nextel Direct Connect subscriber to let them know they are trying to reach them.

Also offered by these phones is the Group Connect feature which allows a user to connect with up to 20 other Nextel Direct Connect users all at the same time.

Also similar to the Group Connect feature is the TeamDC feature which allows up to 35 Nextel Direct Connect subscribers to communicate via push to talk at the same time. Officials stated that once a TeamDC group list is set up, each member of the group will be notified on their phone, and can choose to accept or decline the invitation.

The new phones also have Sprint Mobile Sync, an online tool to manage contact information online, including setting up groups. The tool synchronizes with the phone so that contacts automatically transfer if the customer moves to another Sprint Mobile Sync-capable phone.

"Sprint customers value the ability to connect instantly, and we're excited to offer these new phones to customers in more cities and states across the country," said Danny Bowman, president of Nextel Direct Connect for Sprint. "In addition to delivering instant push-to-talk connectivity, these new phones also add the speed of Sprint Mobile Broadband and Sprint's largest voice calling area so customers can do even more, faster."