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HTC EVO 4G earns FCC's blessing, WiMAX and all
Looking at hundreds of FCC documents each and every week, it's pretty difficult for us to get too excited about any particular filing, but there are two words that do it for us each and every time: "LTE" and "WiMAX." In this case, the latter word caught our eye all throughout the filing for HTC model PC36100, which runs WiMAX on Sprint's (and Clearwire's) 2500MHz band alongside the standard suite of CDMA bands with EV-DO. In other words, folks, yes -- it's true -- you're looking at the frickin' EVO 4G for Sprint. There's not much to see here, really; it's still under confidentiality for the external photos, but at least they've cleared that all-important FCC hurdle on the way to retail, which will be... soon, Sprint? Right? Please?%Gallery-92549%
Sprint HTC EVO pre-orders start this month at The Shack
HTC's EVO 4G super-speced handset seems to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. That situation looks set to change soon based on the pic above nabbed off The Shack's internal website showing a big "coming soon" exclamation that translates to pre-orders starting "later this month." Remember, in addition to Android 2.1, an 8 megapixel camera, and 4.3-inch 480 x 800 display backed by fierce Snapdragon silicon, the Evo also comes packing WiMAX with built-in hotspot capability. We're still not sure if Sprint will charge for that or make it a freebie a la Verizon's Palm Pre and Pixi offering, but we can hope. [Thanks, Erin and David]
Celebrity Nerds: Oprah has an EVO 4G and you don't
Celebrity Nerds confirms what you always knew, deep in your heart of hearts: that stars are nerds like us. Send in your own confirmations of this fact right here. We wish we could tell you that Oprah caused a small riot in Chicago by handing out HTC EVO 4Gs to everyone in her audience but, alas, she seems to have just kept this one for herself. More specifically, she used the "fancy new" phone to show "those of you who actually know how to text" how easy it is to sign her "No Phone Zone" pledge. No discounts, no Bono, just a fleeting glimpse of one of the most anticipated phones of the year. Head on past the break for the video evidence of this momentous event. [Thanks, Luis]
HTC EVO 4G found loitering in Sprint store
It's not the biggest of pictures -- the PPCGeeks forum poster says he shot this with his Touch Pro 2 -- but what we're looking at is allegedly the HTC EVO 4G. Wish we could have a better look, but who knows, maybe some lucky contest winner in the next few weeks will have a decent DSLR handy. [Thanks, Rigo]
Sprint contest promises ten lucky jerks HTC EVO 4Gs before everyone else
You know what they say about Sprint Premier, the carrier's VIP program for loyal customers: membership has its privileges. Actually, that's the tagline for something completely unrelated, but we think it certainly applies here -- especially now that we've learned that Premier peeps have been invited to apply to win an EVO 4G before the superphone's general release. It's not as simple as dropping your name in a hat, though: you've got to tell Sprint in at least 150 words what you can do "really fast," presumably with the goal of making the judges laugh, cry, and generally love you. Ten winners will be notified on May 18 that they've been selected, at which point you'll get a phone, a year of free service, and a job as a blogger on an official Sprint site about your experiences with the handset through August 31 (hopefully using a contest management system that's compatible with Eclair's not-always-awesome browser). What's more, four of those ten will get "long summer weekend" trips to a Sprint 4G-enabled city; it's not Venice by any stretch, but hey, the EVO's the important thing here, right? [Thanks, nickb]
HTC EVO 4G shows up in Sprint inventory, shots of the accessories surface
Need something to wash that Kin marketing out of your mouth? How about some new tidbits on the superphone to end all superphones? For whatever reason, the HTC EVO 4G has showed up in Sprint's inventory, a couple months early by all accounts. It's carrying a completely reasonable $5,555 pricetag, and the appropriate HTC A9292 model number. If that doesn't quite satiate your EVO 4G thirst, LeakDroid has managed to get shots of those EVO 4G accessories we've been hearing about, including a home dock, extended battery case, colored silicon sleeves, and a car dock. Hit up the source link for the shots. [Thanks to an anonymous tipster for the inventory screen]
HTC EVO 4G to get boatload of accessories in Sprint stores
So we just got handed some sort of Sprint "overview deck" going over some of the HTC EVO 4G's finer points -- and rest assured, there are many fine points -- but all told, there's not a lot new here; there's no release date that we can see, and we're already well acquainted with its 4G hotspot capability and the major features of Android 2.1 integrated with Sense. That said, our attention was drawn to the last couple slides, which reveal a bunch of accessories that'll be available just in case the phone itself isn't enough to max out the plastic. Specifically, there's a dock with HDMI out ("likely" available after launch), a car mount, screen protectors, several kind of cases and gels in every color of the rainbow, and a couple different kinds of replacement shells -- one multi-color kit with a handful of snazzy shades, and a custom design option that sounds similar to what T-Mobile has done in the past with some of its devices. Oh, and there's another gem in here: a battery charging holster -- something along the lines of a Case-Mate Fuel, from what we can tell -- that'll come after the initial launch. That's about it as accessories go, but we'd like to call your attention to the second slide in the deck, which calls out a mysterious "Segment 1" as Sprint's primary target market for the EVO 4G, with "Segment 6" gaining importance after the phone drops in price -- possibly around the holidays this year. From what it sounds, Sprint actually has all of its target demographics grouped into numbered buckets; we'd love to know what they all are, but needless to say, you can count us (and probably most of you) in this fun-loving, awesome Segment 1. You know, the cool kids.%Gallery-90242% [Thanks, Crimmage]
HTC EVO 4G landing on Sprint mid-June, 4G hotspot to be a $10-20 add-on?
We're getting some intel today that says that "a lot of upper management" inside Sprint has been discussing Sunday, June 13 as the mighty EVO 4G's date with destiny, just a smidge over two months from now. That certainly lines up with the company's stance of a Summer release -- and while our contact at Sprint says that the date hasn't been set in stone (how could it be this far in advance?), June 6 and June 13 are said to be the front runners at the moment, with the 13th getting more attention. We're also hearing that 4G will be a $10-20 plan add-on, a price that would almost certainly include access to the EVO's 8-device WiFi hotspot capability. We're definitely buying that 4G won't be included with the base Simply Everything plans since we encountered an EVO at CTIA that hadn't had WiMAX access "enabled" on its account even though EV-DO worked just fine; the services are being treated separately. Verizon's recent announcement about free hotspot access on its Palms certainly puts some price pressure on Sprint here, but charging a premium specifically for 4G probably isn't an issue as long as they're clearly able to demonstrate its speed advantages in the markets that have it live. Update: We've been written by several folks insisting that the add-on fee will be for the 4G hotspot service alone, not 4G access from the EVO itself. Let's hope. Thanks, everyone!
HTC posts EVO 4G video, has great taste in news sources
There's really nothing in HTC's recently-posted video about the magnificent EVO 4G that we didn't already know from our time with it at CTIA, but we couldn't help but notice something very, very important: they're following yours truly using the phone's News widget. We might recommend that they refresh considering they're looking at news that's nearly a year old, but we think the old mantra applies here -- old Engadget news is better than no Engadget news at all. Follow the break for the video. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HTC EVO 4G dev guide released: it's really boring, but the phone is still cool
See that picture right there? That's a photo of the HTC EVO 4G, the universe's first Android-based 4G phone for the Sprint WiMAX network, plugged into a TV over HDMI. Sure, you could hit up this source link, a Google Doc guide for developers looking to sling together EVO 4G-compatible Android applications before the best-specced phone on the planet is released this summer, but you might get bored with the abundance of code and shortage of amazing photos like this one depicting the greatest piece of technology known to man. It's 720p out, just in case you were curious or lacking in faith. [Thanks, Mika]
HTC EVO 4G vs. HD2 and Desire... fight!
Now that the excitement of the EVO 4G announce has finally worn off, it's time to get down to more practical matters -- in a street fight, would the WiMAX-powered beast hold its own against an HD2 and a Desire, for example? We had all three in a room just now, and here's what we've got to say: It feels significantly beefier than the HD2, but in reality, it's not -- it's just a single millimeter thicker. The brushed metal back of the HD2 is a little sexier, but just by the tiniest of margins; it's hard to argue with soft touch and a kickstand, obviously. We would've never noticed this without the Desire next to it, but the EVO's text is pretty huge, a side effect of the fact that it's running the same resolution on a screen 0.6 inches larger. It's not annoying, really, but it struck us that they could've comfortably fit quite a bit more information on the screen without getting cramped. The Desire's display is more vibrant, too, but that makes sense -- we're indoors under artificial lighting and the Desire has AMOLED on board. The EVO's got touch-sensitive buttons below the display that function much like the Nexus One's, but no worries: they work quite a bit better. We think this might be because there's more touch-sensitive bezel real estate below the keys; on the Nexus One, you've got to be far too accurate for comfort. Interestingly, this is the first EVO we've seen today with a silver earpiece grill -- Sprint's have been red. We've confirmed with HTC that production devices will be silver. Want to draw some of your own conclusions? See the shots for yourself in the gallery below. %Gallery-88852%
HTC EVO 4G, Nexus One, and Droid face off on the charted field of battle
HTC EVO 4G Google Nexus One Motorola Droid Android OS 2.1 with Sense UI 2.1 2.01 Carrier Sprint All2 Verizon Wireless Network technology 1x / EV-DO Rev. A / WiMAX Various (including 3G) 1x / EV-DO Rev. A Processor 1GHz Snapdragon 1GHz Snapdragon 550MHz TI OMAP 3430 RAM 512MB 512MB 256MB Screen size 4.3-inch 3.7-inch 3.7-inch Resolution 800 x 480 800 x 480 854 x 480 Touch Capacitive multitouch Capacitive multitouch Capacitive multitouch Physical keyboard -- -- Slide-out landscape QWERTY Internal storage 1GB 512MB 512MB Expandable storage microSD microSD microSD Rear camera 8MP w/ LED flash 5MP w/ LED flash 5MP w/ LED flash Video recording 1280 x 720 720 x 480 720 x 480 Front camera 1.3MP -- -- Battery 1500mAh 1400mAh 1400mAh WiFi 802.11b/g 802.11b/g 802.11b/g HDMI out Yes -- -- Kickstand Yes -- -- As you've probably noticed, we have something of a propensity for charts -- hey, organization is key to a well-balanced life, right? Since we last tackled an Android device faceoff, the sheer number of competitors has branched out far and wide, but despite the propagation / fragmentation, including today's unveiling of the HTC EVO 4G, three clear frontrunners have taken most of the spotlight for being the pinnacle of the Android experience: the aforementioned, HTC / Google's Nexus One, and the Motorola Droid. Here, the latter device is looking a bit long in the tooth, but that physical QWERTY keyboard and its volcanic rise to prominence gives it some strong staying power. Cold, hard data isn't going to tell the full story, but until you can get to try each of these yourself -- all at the same time, if you're lucky -- it's a great place to start. Notes: 1 A purported 2.1 upgrade has been promised and delayed more times than we care to count anymore. 2 The Nexus One is currently available unlocked for T-Mobile's and AT&T's 3G networks, separately, and on track to hit Verizon, Sprint in the near future.
HTC EVO 4G is Sprint's Android-powered knight in superphone armor, we go hands-on
We've been rumoring a WiMAX "HTC Supersonic" for a while now, and Sprint just dropped the hard news: the phone will be dubbed the HTC EVO 4G, will be released this Summer and it's easily the best specced phone we've ever witnessed. The hardware is of quite obvious HD2 descent, but with Android onboard and some nice aesthetic tweaks, the EVO 4G takes on a life of its own. The handset is centered around a 480 x 800 4.3-inch TFT LCD, with a Snapdragon QSD8650 1GHz processor under the hood (the CDMA version of the QSD8250 in the HD2 and Nexus One), and even a helpful 1GB of built-in memory and 512MB of RAM -- hello app storage! Even the battery is bigger than the HD2, and the camera is an 8 megapixel monstrosity with flash, that's capable of 720p video, and is augmented by a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for good measure. The phone features HDMI out (though you'll need an adapter for turning it into a TV-familiar HDMI plug), 802.11b/g WiFi, and an 8GB microSD card. There's that still-rare Android 2.1 underneath an updated version of HTC's Sense UI. But... despite all these wild features, what actually sets the EVO 4G apart is the fact that it's Sprint's first 4G phone. The handset runs a combo of EV-DO Rev. A and WiMAX, with calls still being made over CDMA and the EV-DO / WiMAX options for data. Interestingly, it sounds like concurrent data and voice use might be possible for the first time on CDMA carrier in this way (killing AT&T's well-advertised differentiator), though Sprint says that's still in the testing phase. One other new feature is the Sprint hotspot app, another MiFi-style connection sharing number, which is obviously aided greatly by the WiMAX on board and can support up to eight concurrent users. Follow after the break for our hands-on impressions and videos of the phone in action, including an up-close-and-personal test of the touchscreen keyboard. Below you'll find galleries of the phone by its lonesome and up against the Nexus One and iPhone 3G. Update: We've got a graph comparing the Nexus One and Droid with the EVO spec for spec, and there's also a pictorial shootout with the Desire and HD2. Pick your comparo poison! %Gallery-88840% %Gallery-88836% %Gallery-88834%
