CDMA Based Sprint Direct Connect Launching October 2nd. Final Nail In iDen’s Coffin.

Let’s be honest with each other for a minute. The only — yes, the only — reason anyone still cares about iDen is because of Push-to-Talk. And even then, the number of people, nationally speaking, that use the feature is relatively tiny all things considered. Unsurprisingly Sprint has been looking to get away from the grossly outdated 2G network for a couple of years now, though had to make sure the transition for legacy PTT users was as seamless as possible.

That day of new beginnings starts October 2nd. On this day Sprint will officially launch their CDMA-based Push-to-Talk service. Widespread coverage (reportedly 3x the square mile coverage of the current iDen-based Push-to-Talk network) is expected by 2012.

Making use of the new CDMA service will be three new phones, two of which are the Kyocera DuraMax and DuraCore. The third device is likely the as of now unannounced Motorola Admiral rugged Android phone.

We’re pretty sure a few corporate entities will be tickled to hear their vocal text messaging — because that’s what it essentially is — is finally entering into the world of 2008.