HTC Goes Supersonic With Their Sprint WiMAX EVO 4G

Sprint has been taking heat for a long time. Mediocre phones, decent coverage, but great prices. They've been all over the place. But now it looks like they've finally gotten their act together. A few days ago, Sprint teased that something big would be coming this week. Speculation was that is would be the rumored HTC Supersonic that has been making the blurrycam rounds. Well, not only did we get the Supersonic, now dubbed the EVO, we got the world's very first 4G (WiMAX) consumer handset.

The EVO 4G is everything great about HTC's HD2 without all the garbage of Windows Mobile 6.5. The brilliant screen vibrance and size remain, while WinMo is replaced with a spankin' new Android 2.1 skinned head to toe in HTC's gorgeous Sense UI. The guts are comparable to those of the Nexus One, with a few changes including a tad more battery life, and of course the addition of a 4G receiver. The 4G (or WiMAX) is the next generation of wireless standards, which means faster download speeds, between 2 and 5 Mbp/s. For a mobile device, that's incredible.

The EVO 4G is also sporting an 8MP camera capable of HD video and an HDMI output for viewing on an HD TV. It's got a kickstand for photo or video viewing, and it's got that cherry red coat on the insides that we've seen in the HTC Incredible shots. Most notably, the device comes built in with the ability to serve up to 8 users with a 4G mobile hotspot. 4G coverage only hits about 30m people today, but Sprint promises closer to 120m by the end of 2010.

This little, or should I say big, guy is sure to make some waves. Given that I've been very happy with my Droid since November, and just seeing the EVO 4G makes me want to jump to Sprint, it's looking like this might be the phone to beat for now. Unless Apple has something around the corner, but I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Press release below, photos here, and let us know what you think of the EVO 4G in the comments!

Click to read more ...

First Ever Push-To-Talk, Android Smartphone: i1

Motorola has just announced that it will be bringing the first ever push-to-talk, Android smartphone to market, exclusive to Sprint.  The phone is called the i1.  Here are the specs that have been announced:

• 3.1-inch HVGA (320 x 480) touchscren
• 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 4x zoom
• WiFi
• MicroSD expansion
• Android OS 1.5
• No mention of the processor

The phone will use Opera Mini 5 and as the teaser posters with Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe would suggest, the phone is designed to take a beating.  Additionally, Motorola has said that despite the presence of the green call button and blue contacts button in official screen shots, the i1 does not have Motoblur.  This raises questions about what Motoblur actually is and what skin the i1 will be running.  Look to see this guy released this summer.

Palm Incites Verizon Customers; Enrages Sprint Users

Last week at CES, Palm managed to simultaneously stir up one community while alienating another. With the announcement of Palm's Pre and Pixi Plus models came a slew of backlash from Sprint users who were feeling slighted by the Verizon-exclusive Plus models they were being deprived of.

The Palm Pre Plus maintains the same form factor as its older brother on Sprint, with a few notable changes. The standard back panel is now the touchstone inductive charging cover, meaning you won't have to shell out to purchase it separately. The keyboard has also undergone a slight makeover, dropping the funky orange twangs, and improving spacing making it more like its smaller sibling the Palm Pixi, and the 'home' button on the front is now gone. On the inside, the Palm Pre plus is now rocking 16GB of internal storage as opposed to 8. All this is heading directly to a Verizon store near you on January 25th.

The Palm Pixi Plus also saw a few upgrades, however minor. The most notable of these are the inclusion of 802.11b/g and the swanky looking swappable back covers for the device.

The problem is, Sprint users are feeling taken advantage of. Sprint will not be seeing these two new Palm entries for some time. Not to mention, early adopters are feeling the same kind of betrayal iPhone early adopters felt when Apple slashed the price of the $600 device by $200. The new Palm devices are the buck, with more bang, yet totally unavailable to the first generation of Pre users (without an ETF and new contract anyway). Here's hoping this is one of the last times we see consumers suffer at the mobile industry's current model of Carrier then Device, not the other way around.