Sprint promises its first WiMAX handset by this summer, could be the Supersonic

The life of a gadget lover tends to involve a lot of waiting, so it's always nice to be surprised by a roadmap getting shorter rather than longer. Sprint has told Forbes that its very first WiMAX phone will be arriving in the first half of this year, which will be somewhat earlier than many had expected. We're likely talking about that A9292 "bar handset" from HTC that was spotted in January, as Forbes goes on to note that it's likely to be a HTC-built Android device. The aptly-titled Supersonic seems like the obvious, albeit unconfirmed, prime candidate here. Further word from Paget Alves, Sprint's president of Business Markets, indicates that businesses and government agencies might be the first adopters, which must mean whatever handset's being discussed will be at least somewhat business-friendly. Finally, CEO Dan Hesse himself is cited as saying Sprint will be bringing out "dozens of devices" with embedded WiMAX this year, so even if you don't like the first one, there should be plenty of options come the holidays.

[Thanks, Douglas]

[young hov 718 Posted Feb 19th 2010 8:38AM]

the palm c40 better be a wimax device. Sprint will have a years lead with 4g phones and maybe steal some customers from the big boys or beatup on tmobile. Tmobile last quarter results were bad.

[krische Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:40AM]

@young hov 718

Yeah Sprint needs to step on it. Verizon will catch up fast with their LTE network. Verizon has MUCH deeper pockets, so they can throw more money at rolling out 4G.

[obobo Posted Feb 19th 2010 8:59AM]

ITS ABOUT FREAKIN TIME !!!

[MetroKnight Posted Feb 19th 2010 1:22PM]

@obobo
I know, I've been waiting for freaking ever to have something decent to upgrade to. I'm so tired of looking at my Touch Pro! (even with the XDA-tweaks, which seem to have a time limit before they start acting weird!)

Bring on the Android! I hope "by mid year" doesn't mean June 30th! I'm really trying to resist the urge to migrate to TMO for the HD2.

Sprint, let's do this in about 2 months! It's about as much time as I can promise to wait!

[liquidmonkey Posted Feb 19th 2010 9:20AM]

sprint? at&t? wimax?
WHO CARES.

just release the SUPERSONIC before may please!
in europe i might add :)

[Tenny Posted Feb 19th 2010 9:57AM]

Do want!!!! I've said it before, and will say it again. The supersonic is one of very few devices I will ditch SERO for. Sadly for Google/Android, if WP7S (wow.. what a lame acronym) is just around the corner I will probably wait and grab one of those bad boys.

[WhiteNoise Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:14AM]

My Sprint contract is up. So do I get a Hero now or wait for the illusive Supersonic? Cant we just get a solid release date Sprint??

[CallDon Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:58AM]

@WhiteNoise
I was up in December and I am waiting for this one.

[FlashFreeze Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:27AM]

Shockingly, I'm looking forward to a Supersonic-style phone on Sprint with Phone 7. Or, you know, a big battleship Palm WebOS handset. That would be even better.

[compScisFun Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:28AM]

This works great for Sprint premiere customers that can upgrade every year. Correct me if I'm wrong (and please provide a link), but isn't LTE going to be using SIM cards? Can't WiMax and LTE be fit on the same radio chip? I'm waiting for the day I can buy a WiMax/LTE device from the manufacturer and not worry about 3G bands and CDMA vs GSM

[krische Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:43AM]

@compScisFun

Yep, a company called Beceem announced a chip that will be able to support both WiMax and LTE seamlessly

http://gizmodo.com/5474820/beceem-putting-wimax-and-and-lte-on-same-super-4g-chip.

[senormatt Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:46AM]

Hopefully no later than June. I wonder if it'll take any of the light away from the new iPhone. Or maybe it IS the new iPhone. lol...

[gtownie Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:52AM]

I'll be upping my plan to be a premier customer exactly 3 months before my contract would be 1 year old...if I do that, I'll be able to get this phone with 2 yr. pricing, right?

[applejax63 Posted Feb 19th 2010 1:26PM]

@gtownie

No, you have to be on the 69.99 plan or up for 6 months before you become a premier customer. This prevent people from staying on cheap plans and switch only to reap the benefits. So I would plan your switch accordingly and maybe do it earlier than you thought.

[dhamp2g Posted Feb 19th 2010 11:33AM]

I love sprint but they can't market worth a crap they have this best data network period & nobody knows it but sprint bring on the wimax pre

[HurricaneDC Posted Feb 19th 2010 1:30PM]

@dhamp2g as long as they make enough to keep their current plan prices and network performance, I'm fine with Sprint being the hole-in-the-wall of the big four carriers :P

[Smurf Posted Feb 19th 2010 11:43AM]

WiMAX equipped Garmin-Asus Windows Mobile 7 phone with LBS, 720p60 video capture and Tegra 2 (or even Tegra 1) for Christmas? I'd hit that for $500. Micro HDMI / 1080p out, exhaustive codec support, glass screen, user changeable battery, and flash support? Ohhh... I'm making myself nauseous. Having that on-screen keyboard that doesn't make you lift your finger off the screen, instead swiping your finger to the keys to make the words? Okay, this is way too much win for one phone. The dream is over.

[willowtwf Posted Feb 19th 2010 1:20PM]

thumbs up for a fast android phone on a much cheaper network. my VZW contract is up in november and i'll gladly make the switch to Sprint

[HurricaneDC Posted Feb 19th 2010 1:31PM]

An HD2 or Touch Pro2-style handset, with Android or webOS and WiMAX would be the shit.

[Patriot Posted Feb 19th 2010 2:43PM]

If the data network is now going to be that fast, can't carriers just eliminate the older CDMA/GSM and have the data network carry the call traffic as well as data? It seems like it's getting to the point where maintaining separate networks doesn't make much sense anymore.

What are your thoughts? Be nice, I'm just brainstorming.

[JebusChrist Posted Feb 19th 2010 3:11PM]

@Patriot

They will eventually. They just have to wait for the new systems to at least cover all the areas where their old systems were.

[Patriot Posted Feb 19th 2010 3:21PM]

@JebusChrist

Sweet, I was hoping I wasn't alone in thinking that it made sense. Now if we can just get Cable TV to do the same. Imagine having one network (Internet) for all video, voice, data, etc. traffic.

[tobyrare Posted Feb 19th 2010 4:17PM]

♫ you see the S is for super
and the U is for unique
the P is for perfection
and you know that we are freaks
the E is for exotic
and the R is for raps
so tell those noisy people just to stay the HELL BACK!

Supersonic,
Supersonic. ♫

[keithwwalker Posted Feb 19th 2010 6:21PM]

What I have been waiting for, a WiMax handset that can be tethered to a PC at home, or a laptop, actually you won't need the laptop anymore. Just wish it was on Clear and not Sprint, but Clear will probably do the same.

[sctwinslow Posted Feb 20th 2010 5:08AM]

@keithwwalker Sprint owns Clear. Same network.

[keyron27 Posted Feb 20th 2010 12:55AM]

Sprint making things happen.

[SiRMuP Posted Feb 20th 2010 2:15AM]

My contract with AT&T ends in July so im praying this baby will be out by then =P

[jayemem Posted Feb 20th 2010 12:50PM]

According to Cnet, Sprint is denying this story. http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-10456832-85.html?tag=mncol;title

[blahblahboobah Posted Mar 23rd 2010 6:02PM]

htc evo