Stores open early June 4th for EVO 4G with mobile hotspot loophole

When you've got the world's most desired** handset, you don't keep people waiting. As such, Sprint is recommending that its "preferred retailers" open extra early on June 4th. That should give you a bit of time to grab the new EVO 4G on the way to the office for some good ol' fashioned bragging rights in the cubicle farm. At least until you remember that one-third of your life is spent working inside of a beige box. Oh and here's a pro tip: according to the official EVO 4G Launch Guide we're staring at, the mobile hotspot functionality that turns your EVO into a WiMax hotspot for up to 8 devices will initially work without paying the $29.99 monthly fee if you're happy with using it on 4G only (no 3G). Sprint expects to correct this sometime in July after which the Sprint Mobile Hotspot add-on will require activation. Read the details for yourself after the break.

** assuming you have WiMax coverage

[sfox8 Posted May 28th 2010 11:41AM]

@Socalfrank technically its still free. Sprint is just trying to take advantage of all the people that will buy this phone who are not in the know about these things. Just download a tethering app and you're good to go.

[Socalfrank Posted May 28th 2010 11:49AM]

@sfox8
The only one I know of is "Wireless Tether for Rooted Phones". Are there others? for non-rooted?

[trunksy Posted May 28th 2010 12:34PM]

@Socalfrank PDANet and EasyTether Lite which doesn't allow https

[trunksy Posted May 28th 2010 12:37PM]

@Socalfrank Oops, those don't aren't wireless. They are wired or Bluetooth.

[rhomaion Posted May 28th 2010 10:04AM]

This is complete bs. Never gonna happen.

[SteveyAyo Posted May 28th 2010 10:08AM]

@rhomaion ? what you think the Evo wont be released on the 4th? whats never going to happen?

[Tony Montana Posted May 28th 2010 10:16AM]

Ok then, go get the Palm Pre from VZW and pay $30 extra for their "unlimited" plan per month, or sign up for TMO/ATT for their ass sucking 3G.........stop bitching about Sprint.

[sonicwind Posted May 28th 2010 10:51AM]

"but they don't come bullet proofed like Sprint's connection", ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh man that's classic. $30 A MONTH for something that you get the same thing for in a $10 (or free) app.

[shizbgby Posted May 28th 2010 11:06AM]

Wait, so you will be able to use the hotspot functionality for FREE until they implement the fix in July...am I reading that right?

....I am REALLY TRYING to NOT jump ship, but living in a 4G city (Philadelphia), off contract with T-Mobile, and got 200 bones to spare I am just about to jump ship!

Oh my faithfulness to T-Mobile is deep....but is finding the bottom!

[Xenoterranos Posted May 28th 2010 11:22AM]

@shizbgby
The tipping point for a friend on mine was when hey told him getting a Nexus one on Tmobile would cost 400$ ( he has a family plan).

[cdf74dc9 Posted May 28th 2010 6:24PM]

@shizbgby

Not to mention how ridiculous their taxes are. $79.99/m mean $90+/m. Don't know how Sprint operate though.

Anyone know how much they actually charge total per month for a phone like $vo?

[jerbear Posted May 28th 2010 11:19AM]

The idea that this is only a desirable phone if you have Wimax is silly. That's like saying the iPhone is only desirable if you have Wifi around (although with ATT's coverage maybe that would be more accurate). Wimax is an addon. It's a city-wide hotspot. This phone is excellent with or without Wimax.

[lyrik08 Posted May 28th 2010 12:14PM]

So glad I got my Evo lastweek at the Google io event and I don't have to wait and did I say all Google io get I think 20% off there bill each month anyways no iPhone 4g will touch the Evo IMO unless it had a 4inch screen Snapdragon HDMI 8mp cam 720p So forth no way......and yes I have tried the 3gs on 4.0 along with every Other OS out EVO FTWW

[lyrik08 Posted May 28th 2010 12:18PM]

I have my EVO for a week now from Google io best Handset hands down but battery on this thing really sucks...just to let you pre Evo owners know.

[Geaux Posted May 28th 2010 12:35PM]

@lyrik08 How bad are we talking. I'm sure it'll be bad during the honeymoon, playing with it and doing EVERYTHING on it. But once that wears off and you only use certain things, it can't be any worse than the iphone. (btw, I have an iphone and have to charge it every night)

[zsmorr Posted May 28th 2010 1:54PM]

@Geaux
From what I have heard from reviewers, it gets at least a day of battery life (which is all I ever expect of a high end smartphone anyways). Of course if you don't know how to manage the battery and have like every app running in the backround, plus 4G, 3G and GPS you could probably run the battery down pretty fast.

[HustleHard101 Posted May 28th 2010 1:59PM]

@lyrik08, if the battery life sucks just get a Seidio Innocell 1750mAh slim battery. It wont give the phone any bulk, it fits right in like the original. Plus you can get em on Amazon for like $40.

[cdf74dc9 Posted May 28th 2010 6:34PM]

@HustleHard101

There are article somewhere around the net saids that some third party extended battery are a scam. People don't really get the rated battery life in facts they get less. I'm a Seidio Innocell victim myself (battery lasted around 25% less when it was suppose to have around 15% more). It's always a good idea to go with manufacture battery (just don't buy them straight from manufacture though because it tend to be expensive).

[InnocentEd Posted May 28th 2010 2:15PM]

While I think the EVO 4G will be successful...Sprint needs to step the F up and put some marketing behind this damn phone. You don't need to do it every time but get with the program.
Once Sprint has established a great user base through the EVO 4G it can relax it's advertising, but I have nar seen a single EVO 4G commercial yet. I have definitely heard A LOT of people talking about the device, but still.

[Ops Posted May 28th 2010 2:16PM]

one of our stores is not taking pre orders , first come, and threy open at 8 i hope its not a big line

[Foo Bar Posted May 28th 2010 3:12PM]

My local Sprint store is opening at 7am, maybe earlier. They expect a line, and I am not in a huge city. They have a list of preorders who are guaranteed phones on launch day (I made an educated guess they are getting 20 phones when the guy was finding my name on the list), everyone else is going to have to wait until Monday the 7th. They said the interest in the phone has been nuts. Best Buy and Radio Shack stopped taking preorders a week ago. Go Sprint!

[End of days Posted May 28th 2010 3:33PM]

I had to go get another Plantronics Pro yesterday at Best Buy, where I got on pre order for the EVO 2 weeks ago. They said they only got 37 on their initial order, (store in the north part of no 4G San Diego) and are having to call people back to postpone them for up to a month. What happened? If Sprint, (whom I've been with for 13+ years) had any insight would have been watching the exchange of information here and other tech sites and realized that this was their best shot in the last 2 years to kick Apple in the seeds. It's all about risk taking. No Evo advertising in the run up is plain business suicide. They have a buzz right now and they are not using it. It'll have passed, and they be standing there wondering what happened.

[ernicoats Posted May 28th 2010 4:53PM]

Just ordered a 32GB Micro SDHC for $60. To bad thats the biggest they make for this phone let alone right now.

[netsql Posted May 28th 2010 4:55PM]

android 2.2?

[MAAD0320 Posted May 28th 2010 8:34PM]

What a buzzkill. Fees out the ass for this phone. Its not even worth it anymore. Guess I'm sticking with my Pre.

[Johnny Rockets Posted May 28th 2010 9:00PM]

"Some third party Android developers can and will open up other hotspot routing options"

Haha! So it looks like Sprint won't be making any attempts to block PDANet or Rooting + WifiTether?

Or possibly even the FroYo built-in tethering? It will be interesting to see what happens when 2.2 gets on the Evo; if it ever does that is.

It's funny to see them acknowledge the "hacks" anyway. Maybe they don't even have the power to prevent people from tethering, one way or another.