Rather than write only about Apple’s iPhone 4 launch that set records by selling out 600,000 pre-orders well in advance of launch day, the Geeks have decided to tell a tale of two mobile phone releases: Sprint’s release of the HTC EVO 4G and AT&T’s pre-order release of Apple’s iPhone 4.
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Tale of Two Mobile Phones: HTC EVO 4G and iPhone 4Read More »
Sprint’s activation system took a dirt nap on Sunday as the launch of the HTC EVO 4G looked to be a success. There were not really any reported long lines at stores which fulfilled pre-orders of the HTC EVO 4G, but Sprint has a different strategy than Apple’s funneling of customers through one building as Sprint sold the device at some of the 22,000 sales locations across the United States, including Sprint retail stores, national retail partners including RadioShack, Best Buy and Walmart, and indirect dealers.
Friday sales of the device marked the largest quantity of any single phone in Sprint’s history (previously held by Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre). What’s more impressive is that the total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was three times the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined.
“HTC EVO 4G has more than lived up to our expectations that it would be one of the most anticipated technology products of the year,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president – Product Development for Sprint. “We are working closely with our partners at HTC to increase the supply and get EVO 4G into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible.”
Source: UberGizmo, MarketWatch
The 1st WiMAX (802.16e 4G) Android device, the HTC Evo, goes on sale today on the Sprint Nextel network for $199 with a 2-yr contract. You can also purchase it from retailers Best Buy and Radio Shack.
The Evo has had a very positive reception since its unveiling in late March of this year. While the speed advantages are significant over current 3G networks (see video below), there is an additional cost of $10/month. There is one additional benefit which AT&T and Apple have touted with their network and iPhones and that’s the ability to talk and use data services simultaneously. Expect this distinction to quickly fall away for Verizon and Sprint on their newer devices.
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The CradlePoint MBR1200 will make the uber-geek squeal with delight as the 802.11n router includes 3G/4G failover capabilities. In addition to the providing failover capability, the MBR1200 switches automatically to a secondary connection when primary service is interrupted. When restored the device will failback to the primary connection.
If you’re craving higher bandwidth, the device also provides active load balancing between all internet sources. As a geek, I’m salivating!
Buy now!
Price: $259.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
This has to be the story of the week so far – a new prototype Apple iPhone model (let’s say the 4G) was accidentally left in a pub, picked up by a random stranger, who tried to return it to Apple and then eventually sold it to Gizmodo for $5000.
Gizmodo has run a number of stories including: how the phone was lost, details and photos, and even a dissection of the device.
Here are some of the stats on what’s new in this iPhone:
We normally try to feature gadgets that are available right now, but this upcoming gizmo, a doozy of a smartphone is sure to make a huge impression this summer. It also helps makes the case for a Sprint that is not dead yet.
Sprint recently announced (at CTIA) its latest Android smartphone, the HTC EVO which also happens to be the world’s first 3G/4G phne. The EVO matches up really well with other Android stars – the Google-branded HTC Nexus One (on T-Mobile & others) and the Motorola Droid (on Verizon). Here’s a nice comparison of the 3.
Apart from its 4G cred, the EVO sports a 800×480 touchscreen with the Sense UI, 1GB of internal storage, an 8MP camera with video recording up to 1280×720, and get this, a front-facing camera. So now you can do some real video conferencing right from the palm of your hand.
The other noteworthy feature is the HDMI out connector. The EVO 4G is really being pushed as a video-savvy phone.
No word yet on pricing or exact availability, but you can be sure it’ll make a big splash. Pre-register for more info at http://www.sprint.com/evo.
You may already be immune to those Sprint commercials that keep using the term “4G”, but the reality is that they may have a 4G WiMax network in a lot of cities, but no phones! Well that’s about to change this summer with the introduction of a new 4G smartphone.
There’s a good chance too that it’ll be an HTC running Android. Sweet! [Well, if you’re a Sprint customer] Here’s hoping that it’s a Pre/Droid/iPhone-class gadget.
One analyst (Peter Misek) has some bold predictions on what Steve Jobs will announce next week (in addition to the much anticipated Apple Tablet, supposedly called the iTablet – no surprise there).
Rumor #1: he’ll announce and show off the latest version of the iPhone OS: v4.0.
Rumor #2: he’ll announce that Verizon will start selling the iPhone 4G in summer. This will be big news as it will suddenly expose the iPhone to the largest single carrier market, and it may also impact Palm’s latest decision to launch their Pre and Pixi on Verizon.
Thank you Apple for bringing the iPod nano back in its very cool, tall, thin, original incarnation. Not only that, but for adding some bright, rad colors (9 total). Oh yes, it now comes in 8 and 16GB versions. So what else is new? For starters, it has a feature called Genius which auto-creates playlists based on what songs ‘go together’. It’s an algorithm developed by Apple. The other notable feature is the built-in accelerometer which allows you to shuffle the songs when you shake it!
The screen on this new nano is a bit larger and you can view your cover art in landscape mode (yes, automatically), as well as in Cover Flow (the moving album covers feature). And back to the accelerometer: this means that you can now play games based on tilting and rotation. To that ends, one of the built-in games is Maze; I’ll let you guess what that’s about.
Apple is also touting this as the ‘greenest’ nano as they’ve stripped most of the hazardous chemicals and plastics out of it. Kudos on that move Apple.
Price: $149 for 8GB, $199 for 16GB model.
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
