Sprint Unveils HTC Evo 4G Super Phone

adeelarshad82 writes "Sprint dropped a bombshell on the CTIA Wireless trade show by unveiling the most powerful Google Android smartphone ever seen in the USA, the WiMAX-powered Evo 4G. The phone runs Android 2.1 on a 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8650 chipset along with a helpful 1GB of built-in memory and 512MB of RAM, which is assisted by a MicroSD slot supporting up to 32GB cards. It swaps between EVDO Rev. A, WiMAX and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g on demand. The phone is dominated by a 4.3-inch, 800-by-480 65,000-color TFT LCD capacitive touch screen. There's an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 1.3-megapixel unit on the front. The camera also records 720p, high-def video, which it can play through an HDMI out jack on the bottom. The Evo 4G weighs 170g and measures 120.5 mm by 67 mm by 13 mm. It's expected to hit the market in the summer."

Comments

YAY!

[Em Emalb]

More advertising on slashdot! Wohoo!

-1 Troll, +1 Truth.

Re:YAY!

[Zapotek]

This is not some lame phone being advertised...This is actual *news*.
Freaking great news...

*drool* I don't usually get carried away by these things but I WANT ONE! *drool*

Re:YAY!

[Em Emalb]

Sorry, this is an advertisement. You may like said advertisement, but that doesn't mean it isn't one.

Re:YAY!

[spun]

In many confidence games, the 'con man' will use 'shills' or assistants who pretend to be independently interested in the swindle or scam. In modern marketing, it is fairly common for companies to identify natural leaders and people with influence, and offer to pay them to fake spontaneous endorsement of the product. Given those facts, any news or commentary relating to commercially available products must be viewed with a healthy amount of skepticism.

Re:YAY!

[YouWantFriesWithThat]

and conversely, just because you don't like the news article about a gadget doesn't make it an advertisement.

Re:YAY!

[amicusNYCL]

That's true, but regardless of whether or not this is meant as advertising, the introduction of a phone like this into the US market is also certainly newsworthy. The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

Re:YAY!

[NeutronCowboy]

Let me clarify the situation for you: every single story on slashdot can be qualified as advertisement. Every. Single. One. That story about WoW reaching 10M+ players? Advertisement for Blizzard. That story about some guy building a bender robot? Advertising for said guy. That story about a fork in the Linux kernel? Advertising for Linux.

Pointing out that something getting front-page billing on Slashdot is good advertisement for said something is like pointing out the Sun is shining on the Earth: true, but not really useful information. Now, if you would have evidence that Sprint paid CmdrTaco to run this story, this would be an entirely different proposition. However, until you do, you're little more than a blowhard who likes playing Captain Obvious.

Re:YAY!

[Hadlock]

Yes, someone at Sprint finally woke up and realized they have a range full of boring-ass phones, and even the Palm Pre couldn't save them. Glad to see Sprint has finally joined the 21st century with this phone. I'll still never switch back to them though :P

Re:YAY!

[cheesybagel]

Who cares? This is awesome hardware! I mean large high resolution screen while still pocketeable, WiMAX, HDMI video out, microUSB, MicroSD, two cameras and Android! It's fantastic. This is IMO more major news than the iPad. No wonder Apple is suing HTC. Their current hardware cannot compete!

Re:YAY!

[spun]

And I never said it wasn't newsworthy in it's own right. Personally, I couldn't care less about this phone or mobile connectivity in general. But I understand this new phone will give some geeks a stiffy, and that's fine too. If you enjoy that sort of thing you and your fellow enthusiasts can circle-jerk over this techno-fetish item all you like. But the fellow next to you, bubbling and gushing his hot man-phone love all over your ears, may in fact be a paid professional. Which may make it all the hotter for you, I'm not really sure how these things work.

Re:YAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

If you don't care about mobile connectivity, fine. No problem. However, there are those of us who are very interested in the topic. As Slashdot is a site promoting "News For Nerds," chances are that there are quite a number of people who are interested in many different types of technology, including mobile and micro technologies.

Just because you don't enjoy it, or appreciate it, doesn't mean you need to come in here just to troll.

I can't fathom what must be going through your head that would even cause you to post something like this. Seriously.

Re:YAY!

[organgtool]

"All you read and wear or see and hear on [the internet] is a product begging for your fatass dirty dollar" -- Tool

Re:YAY!

[ubermiester]

every single story on slashdot can be qualified as advertisement. Every. Single. One.

So by that logic, a story about a congressional hearing is an advertisement for that hearing? A story about someone's rights being violated or a major patent lawsuit is an advertisement? Wiktionary says that an advertisement is "A commercial solicitation designed to sell some commodity, service or similar." That sounds a lot like this story, but nothing at all like a quote from Torvalds or a move by the FCC, which is the kind of info /. made it's name on.

That said, you are actually more and more right every day, in the sense that slashdot has become a big target for viral marketing, which is probably how this story got posted. If one thinks of slashdot as a bulletin board, one forgets that there are editors. If one looks at it as a news aggregator, one gets a little closer to the truth, but since news in general becomes more and more viral every day, it's even hard to say that much. Basically its a sounding board for whatever the editors think is cool. Apparently they think this phone is cool. I think they are spending too much time on this kind of crap and ignoring other, more important stories. But that's just my opinion...

Re:YAY!

[NeutronCowboy]

So by that logic, a story about a congressional hearing is an advertisement for that hearing?

Of course.

A story about someone's rights being violated or a major patent lawsuit is an advertisement?

It's an ad for the person who claims their rights were violated, or an ad for a specific side of the lawsuit, or for whatever news site first broke the story.

Everything can be interpreted as an ad. Which is why I requested some information as for the commercial aspect of the transaction, which is of course missing. Which means that this "advertisement" scream is nothing but conjecture, and utterly pointless.

That sounds a lot like this story, but nothing at all like a quote from Torvalds or a move by the FCC, which is the kind of info /. made it's name on.

Really? You must be new here. Slashdot built its reputation on being a news aggregator focused on nerdy interests - lego, 3D accelerators, game releases, weird mods, linux releases... notice a trend here? Yeah, it's all advertising a product, a service, or something cool. If cool 4G phones would have been out 10 years ago, you could bet your ass it would have been on slashdot at some point (maybe even twice).

Re:YAY!

[BobMcD]

There is money connected to everything, and your comments apply to everything that has ever interested anyone.

Re:YAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe you would be very directly referring to The Submarine. Always a good article to read when this subject comes up.

Re:YAY!

[spun]

Absolutely, and so skepticism is advised in everything. Zapotec's response to Em Emalb's original comment indicates a lack of familiarity with this concept.

Honestly, it sounds like a nice phone with some amazing features, but sometimes, I just can't resist trolling techno-fetishists.

Oh, and your favorite band sucks, too.

Re:YAY!

[twidarkling]

Oh, and your favorite band sucks, too.

Everything I like sucks, that's why I like it. And that's why I use Microsoft Office (TM)!

*goes looking for his paycheque*

Re:YAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

You've got to remember that not all advertising is bad.

There is a hypothetical space for advertising to teach us about a decent product we would already have bought, had we known about it.

Not that that's normally the case. I'm just saying, it's a possibility.

Re:YAY!

[mdwh2]

At least it's an actual product announcement, and not based on rumour or a blog post, like we get for one particular company.

And one article isn't an advertisement. It's advertising when we get stories every blimmin day about it - like a certain phone...

Re:YAY!

[EspressoFreak]

are you also implying PCmag features nothing but advertisements?

Re:YAY!

[Rog7]

I wish there were a way to mod parent up to some sort of sticky / FAQ status.

Yes, of course any sort of geek news is going to be filled with notices of high tech product releases, etc.. It shouldn't need to be said, but apparently it did.

Re:YAY!

[Anonymous Coward]

Geez, have a chip on your shoulder much? Just because you're the janitor at some high tech place and can't afford any gadgets, doesn't mean that those of us with disposable income can't have a wide range of interests. Considering we're on /. it's hardly surprising that many people are interested in this phone. Personally, I am not right now, but I do think that it looks like a great device for someone that needs a portable computer with phone capabilities. I'm not going to get all whiny and accuse everyone else of sexual fetishism just because I'm jealous.

Re:YAY!

[spun]

Trolled, days later. Awesome.

Wow.

[andrea.sartori]

Also, their marketing director said "philosophically, we've been very aggressive about mobile broadband." Besides being "philosophically aggressive"... will it be able to make coffee as well?

Re:Wow.

[Lumpy]

And yet you still cant install apps to the sd card. Come on Android, stop being paranoid and let us install the damn apps on the sd card

Re:Wow.

[Zach978]

Why would you want to install apps to the SD card? This thing has 1 GB of ROM!!

Re:Wow.

[Lumpy]

ROM = READ ONLY MEMORY.

Please tell me how to Write to Read Only Memory.

Plus if android apps are anything like iPhone apps, I already have over 1 gig of apps on my iPhone.

Re:Wow.

[PGillingwater]

Coffee? Clearly you want the Pomegranate.

Re:Wow.

[Aranykai]

Its called Flashing. I would link you to the wikipedia site about it, but their DNS is fubar.

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

No that's writing to FLASH RAM, it's still not ROM.

you need to learn electronics, as it seems you know nothing about electronics or computers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read-only_memory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory

They are Completely different things. This is stuff from Computer and electronics basics 90 remedial classes. Lumpy is correct, although playing on the GP's lack of education as to what Flash and ROM is. But this is Slashdot and not facebook so posters are expected to actually have some education.

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

All true. However unless you're talking actual chip design and electrical engineering, ROM and firmware have been used as interchangeable terms for over two decades, even long after the firmware stopped being shipped on ROMs.

"ROM" firmware has been shipped on flash RAM on computer motherboards for over a decade. Nowadays, flash has dropped so much in price that only cheap disposable electronic goods still use actual ROM chips.

Things like this don't exactly help keep the distinction in the mainstream either. ROM is easy to say and remember compared to firmware. The fact is that the acronym/word's meaning mutated when it transitioned to the mainstream from its original EE jargon roots.

Re:Wow.

[hydroponx]

It's still called ROM because the new chips are EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) Basically, there is a pin that either get's grounded or hot (voltage applied) that allows the writing of the chip, if this doesn't happen it's not writable. If I remember correctly, I haven't been in electronics school for over 10 years now....

Voice?

[ArhcAngel]

"It swaps between EVDO Rev. A, WiMAX and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g on demand"

Does this apply to calls as well as data? If so it is even more awesome than I originally thought.

Re:Voice?

[ircmaxell]

Well, yes and no. Voice still goes out over CDMA. What this means to you though, is that when voice is using CDMA, EVDO can't operate (since it uses the same radio). However, it can still use WiMAX and 802.11... So you can use voice and data at the same time, but only if you're in the range of either WiMAX or 802.11... Cool, but not groundbreaking (yet).

Re:Voice?

[Anonymous Coward]

It would be even better if you were on a VOIP call over WiMAX and traveled out of range, into range of a WiFi hot-spot that your phone had the key for, and dynamically rerouted the VOIP call.

Re:Voice?

[slimjim8094]

Voice and data at the same time is nothing new. All flavors of GSM 3G can do it, and even EDGE can pause data transfers (while retaining connections) when on a voice call.

Simultaneous voice and data on cell networks has been around for 8 years. Does Sprint/Verizon not have this?

Re:Voice?

[amicusNYCL]

Well, yes and no.

So then the answer is no. No, EVDO, WiMAX, and Wi-Fi do not apply to voice, since voice goes over CDMA. EVDO, WiMAX, and Wi-Fi are for transferring data, and EVDO will not run if you're using CDMA.

Re:Voice?

[NonUniqueNickname]

Does this apply to calls as well as data?

From TFA: "it will make all voice calls over Sprint's CDMA 1X network". So no.
Probably no simultaneous voice and data either, as is generally the case with Sprint.
Probably won't work as a phone outside the USA because it's not GSM.

Re:Voice?

[jollespm]

The CDMA technology that Sprint/Verizon use do not allow simultaneous voice and data connections, hence the latest AT&T/iPhone commercials.

Re:Voice?

[rm999]

"So you can use voice and data at the same time"

According to http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/htc-evo-4g-is-sprints-android-powered-knight-in-superphone-armo/, Sprint says it is "still in the testing phase". Not sure what this means, but it sounds like they haven't proven it is possible in their current design (or just bad PR).

My guess is it will end up being a pretty high priority.

Re:Voice?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can do evdo data transfers while talking on the phone using Verizon.

Re:Voice?

[tsa]

I am so happy I live in Europe.

Re:Voice?

[BobMcD]

So then the answer is no. No, EVDO, WiMAX, and Wi-Fi do not apply to voice, since voice goes over CDMA. EVDO, WiMAX, and Wi-Fi are for transferring data, and EVDO will not run if you're using CDMA.

I'm pretty sure only Apple is barring VoIP on these kinds of devices. I know for a fact that Tmobile had a concept that switched seamlessly between VoIP and Voice when you came within range of a hotspot.

I don't think that it is impossible for calls to go Voice without using CDMA. Why do you think this is so?

Re:Voice?

[hydroponx]

That's odd, I do this with my hero (Sprint) all the time.... I thought it was odd when I saw the commercials saying no other carrier could do it since i was doing just that when it came on :)

Re:Voice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when do we consider EVDO Rev A or WiMAX '4G'... I thought LTE was to be Sprint's 4G network.

Re:Voice?

[amicusNYCL]

I was just assuming that what ircmaxwell said was true, that voice still goes over CDMA.

Re:Voice?

[slimjim8094]

Hmm. That seems ... primitive. I had a RAZR v3m back in 2006 where I could download at HSDPA speeds while on speaker or something, no problem. It would suspend my web browser if I was on EDGE.

Does CDMA even have a suspend-on-call feature?

Re:Voice?

[jollespm]

You can use the WiFi connection for data while on the phone, but as far as I know, it isn't possible using only the EV-DO connection. SVDO has been announced and is supposed to allow it.

I've got a Hero as well, when I have wireless off and am in a phone call and try to launch the web browser, it gives an error and says page will load when the network connection comes back.

Re:Voice?

[jollespm]

I believe 3G phones will allow both voice and data because the HSDPA and EDGE work on different radios. The CDMA/EVDO phones use the same radio for the different speeds, so it's data or vice, not both. According to some, EVDO Rev A is supposed to allow both, but for whatever reason, it hasn't been implemented.

With Sprint phones there is a DDTM setting which allows one to decide it incoming calls can interrupt/suspend an active data connection, or send calls to voice mail.

Re:Voice?

[Facegarden]

"It swaps between EVDO Rev. A, WiMAX and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g on demand"

Does this apply to calls as well as data? If so it is even more awesome than I originally thought.

Well, android 2.1 and on (maybe earlier too?) does have the built-in capability to make calls with google voice, which would then be able to use the data connection.

I've got my Nexus One to use google voice only for voicemail and international calls. With the voicemail, it records the message, transcribes the voice to text, and can text or email you the text, or you can use the free google voice app to both see the text, click any phone numbers as links, and listen to the message a-la Visual Voicemail (by just clicking play, rather than having to dial voicemail).

The fact that it transcribes messages to text, and the fact that its all built-in to the OS (something like Settings>Call Settings> Voicemail) literally blew my mind.

Android is seriously getting amazing.
-Taylor

Re:Voice?

[slimjim8094]

All HSDPA phones I've ever seen do have EDGE radios. But I'm pretty sure the UMTS/HSDPA traffic is multiplexed and not sent simultaneously, not least because it would seem that a phone can only maintain one connection to a tower (due to having only one SIM)

And that DDTM setting is also a feature of EDGE, which is 7 years old and essentially deprecated.

I don't mean to flame, but Sprint/Verizon should get on the ball. GSM is superior technology, and my GSM phone will work literally anywhere else in the world. *Everybody* uses GSM, so I can pick up a prepaid SIM when I go to Europe and not pay outrageous charges. HSDPA at a real-world 20+ MBPS is faster than anything Verizon has, and Sprint's "4G" is cheating a bit. Why stick with a dying standard? Hopefully we'll all converge back on LTE.

Re:Voice?

[jollespm]

I completely agree with you about Sprint/Verizon getting on the ball. Verizon is planning to switch to LTE for their 4G platform, which will leave Sprint as the only cell company in the USA with long term plans for WiMax.

Luckily for Sprint, should they decide to jump to LTE, the infrastructure they are rolling out is supposed to be compatible so they wouldn't have to scrap everything.

Re:Voice?

[pcx]

You're correct. Some t-mobile phones have UMA which allows calls to route over wi-fi and do not count against your minutes. I have no idea why there's a big push to femto-cells (sp) when this technology is available -- it guarantees perfect calls in the home regardless of your distance from the towers and it's a win/win for the customer and carrier since they're not burning limited air-time to handle the calls.

HDMI jack?

[Anonymusing]

A phone that records 720p video and plays it out via an HDMI jack? WHY?

Re:HDMI jack?

[Tumbleweed]

A phone that records 720p video and plays it out via an HDMI jack? WHY?

You seem to be complaining about the HDMI port. If your phone can record HD video, why WOULDN'T you want to be able to play that on a big display?

Re:HDMI jack?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Dracos]

This was my first thought also. Why bother keeping the analog hole closed on video that the user owns? HDMI is no person's friend.

Re:HDMI jack?

[0100010001010011]

1) Porn & Sexting.
2) Policing the police state. How many photos/videos have we seen released in recent years of police abusing their power? Stuff that would have just been your word vs his in the past. Shoving kids off skate boards, body checking bicyclists, etc.

I was the last person that wanted a camera on my phone. I just wanted a (*&3@ phone. That camera phone saved my ass from insurance when someone ran a red light and made up a whole lot of false claims.

Even if 99.99% of the stuff generated on the phone is useless, It's that extra 0.01% that shows a major disaster unfolding (9/11), gets the word out about what is happening (Iran Elections), etc that I'm interested in.

Re:HDMI jack?

[TheKidWho]

Sorry, I guess they should have included an Apple proprietary jack 2.0 to make it seem more cool!

Re:HDMI jack?

[Kotoku]

For America!

Re:HDMI jack?

[game kid]

I know, right? They should've went the extra inch, and make it record 1080p and play it out via 75-ohm coax, DisplayPort, and twitter. Wimps.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Impsyn]

A phone that records 720p video and plays it out via an HDMI jack? WHY?

Presumably one could playback not only the videos they personally record using the built in camera but also videos that they have loaded into the phone. For travelers that means if you can find something with HDMI-in (television, monitor or projector) you can watch your videos/movies on something a little more accommodating than the 4.3 inch screen. Combo a unit like this with a lightweight projector and I can see a lot of value for those who do business presentations.

Re:HDMI jack?

[DragonWriter]

A phone that records 720p video and plays it out via an HDMI jack? WHY?

Because its a handheld computer/digital camcorder/phone combination unit for people who want to do lots of things, but don't want to carry lots of gadgets.

If the question is "why HDMI?", my guess is the reason is "because HDMI is what you can most count on being supported on HDTVs, which are the most likely thing people are going to want to plug in their phone to play their 720p videos on" (for computers, presumably, they'll just download the video to the computer.)

Re:HDMI jack?

[Andy Dodd]

I almost never use the camera in my phone. Maybe 2-3 times a year - the quality is just not even remotely close to my standards.

However, sometimes you just have an "oh shit" situation where you REALLY wish you had a camera, even a shitty one.

(I'm lucky in that my company now permits cameraphones as long as you take an online training course from the company intranet, which basically says "don't use the camera function on company grounds")

Re:HDMI jack?

[Z34107]

Using an HDMI jack doesn't mean all the video you take on your phone is automagically DRM'd. I'm not sure why you're objecting.

Do you suggest to fit a component jack onto a 4"x2" phone and then match it with an RCA stereo jack?

Re:HDMI jack?

[h4rr4r]

HDMI does not have to use HDCP. I am typing this on my media center PC running ubuntu 9.10 connected to my HDTV via HDMI. Having 1 less cable and not having to worry about ground loops on the audio is a real benefit.

HDMI is nothing more than DVI and digital audio in the same cable.

Re:HDMI jack?

[h4rr4r]

Actually I am running 10.04, forgot I updated that last week.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Isaac-Lew]

I have a Samsung Instinct HD on Sprint. You can copy videos to/from the phone & play them (on the phone or on an HD display) without any restrictions that I can see.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Anonymous Coward]

Er. HDMI is just a more robust connector for DVI bundled with digital audio. It's just a way to connect digital video sources to screens. You're thinking of the abomination that is HDCP.

You know what? A built in HDMI socket sure beats Apple's proprietary docking connector and eye wateringly expensive component video leads.

Besides, I expect that if you want to get your videos off this device you could use USB or Bluetooth, or memory card reader or even run an FTP server and pull them over WiFi.

Re:HDMI jack?

[red_dragon]

Do you suggest to fit a component jack onto a 4"x2" phone and then match it with an RCA stereo jack?

What d'you mean, like on an iPhone? That's crazy talk!

Re:HDMI jack?

[jollespm]

Apparently there are still a few features that haven't been announced yet. One speculation is a possible deal bundling Nextflix (or similar) functionality where one would presumably use the WiMAX connection to stream movies on demand to the phone. It would only make sense that you could then output to your HDTV.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Z34107]

I would much rather have a small, standard connector than a larger, proprietary connector.

Still not sure why that's a better solution than putting an HDMI connector.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Zach978]

I'm sure the video file will be sitting on your device's SD card...not that hard to plug in your phone via usb and download it.

Re:HDMI jack?

[QuantumRiff]

Along with the fact that if you can download at over 8Mb/s (I've seen 4G sprint wimax equipment do that) then why the heck not watch hulu on your big tv, using your phone...

Re:HDMI jack?

[Tumbleweed]

Along with the fact that if you can download at over 8Mb/s (I've seen 4G sprint wimax equipment do that) then why the heck not watch hulu on your big tv, using your phone...

During the demo at the announcement yesterday, they used it as a Roku box. Crazy times we live in. I just wish the thing was shipping NOW. *sigh* 'summer'? Lame.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, but a mini DisplayPort connector would be nice.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Z34107]

It would be nifty if any devices actually had display port of any type. The biggest advantage over HDMI/DVI is that it supports higher resolutions, except that the phone is only outputting 720p.

Re:HDMI jack?

[shoehornjob]

Exactly. I'm always skeptical when they pack stuff like this into phones etc. You figure they have to cut corners somewhere right. Personally I think the engineers should tell the marketing department to stfu.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Nadaka]

also because the hdmi jack is smaller than all all other high def video connectors. a lot of cortex A8 development boards have hdmi jacks just because it fits better than a dvi or analog output.

Re:HDMI jack?

[raju1kabir]

Thanks for that correction; having recently poked around your house and checked all your software versions while everyone was asleep, I could have sworn it was running 10.04.

Re:HDMI jack?

[jsepeta]

underskirt videos, ya big dummy!

Re:HDMI jack?

[w0mprat]

Two words: iPhone phanboys

Watch them turn green.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Anonymous Coward]

Use Apple Jacks?

But wouldn't that violate trademark? That's a registered trademark of Kellog's, fyi.

Re:HDMI jack?

[toadlife]

Do you suggest to fit a component jack onto a 4"x2" phone and then match it with an RCA stereo jack?

My Touch Pro 2 supports video using a mini-usb to RCA adapter.

HDMI *would* be better though, as Digital > Analog.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Gunstick]

you can actually run audi and video over DVI. At least that's what my dreambox does over the DVI to HDMI cable. Seems the box simply puts the HDMI signal onto the DVI plug. Probably to not have to pay HDMI licensing costs.

Re:HDMI jack?

[Anonymous Coward]

uhm dude, you don't have to use hdcp
and it is trivial to hack around.
this is like complaining about dvi having too many pins

Re:HDMI jack?

[rdnetto]

The best part is that there is no way you are going to get 720p video quality from a phone camera.

Re:HDMI jack?

[YourExperiment]

The iPhone has video out through a component jack? That's the first I've heard of it.

Battery life?

[WiiVault]

Looks really cool and feature packed, but I wonder if it will last a resonable amount of time on a single charge? If you ask me only in the last year or so have 3G radios become efficient enough to be usefull daylong in something like a phone. If WiMax/"4G" is like early 3G headsets it will likely last an unreasonably short amount of time on a charge. But hey if I'm wrong sign me up!

Re:Battery life?

[MrEricSir]

Don't worry, it's powered by Orbo.

Re:Battery life?

[jwietelmann]

I read somewhere (sorry, no source link) that WiMax radios should theoretically require less power than current 3G technologies. If this thing takes a hit in battery life, it's probably because it uses both 3G and 4G radios (unless the software's really smart about turning one off when the other has good signal). Of course, if your new 4G speeds cause you to go nuts and start downloading huge torrents on-the-go, then the energy consumption of the radio is probably the least of your battery-draining concerns.

Re:Battery life?

[e2d2]

Slow down Tex. We'll need a credit check and a sample of your DNA first.

Re:Battery life?

[dwhitman]

Don't worry, it's powered by Orbo.

And that just great until we run out of witches. Doesn't anyone think these things through? It's not scalable.

Re:Battery life?

[owlstead]

All the current phones use current if you use them continuously like a computer. But that goes for all battery powered devices - if you have an LCD color screen and a reasonably fast CPU, then the power requirements will be high.

If I use my android sparingly it will last a few days, which is - imho - ample, unless I am on vacation. And when I am on vacation I just connect the phone to my laptop or any other USB enabled device. In emergencies I could even bring my charger :)

Since I am a bit of a nerd in the sense that I am behind a computer a long time of the day, the idea that you only require a mini or micro USB cable to charge your phone is simply brilliant - the phone will be right where I want it while it is charging (*and* providing an internet connection / data sync to boot).

Re:Battery life?

[rdnetto]

Its specs sound like the N900, minus the HDMI output & 4G. So I'm guessing ~1 day if you use it for browsing, etc. Not sure if Android is more efficient than Maemo in terms of power consumption.

4G only

[Anonymous Coward]

4G only means it will not work at all on the majority of the existing network.
Still neat if you are on a part of the network that will support the video calls/wave of the future.

Re:4G only

[MrEricSir]

Actually the "4G" refers to the price. I hope they have a payment plan.

Re:4G only

[Kotoku]

No, it drops back to existing standards. If you understand the tech specs in the article it is pretty obvious. Do you think when 3G came out that phones ONLY worked on the few towers that supported that specific standard? No way!

Re:4G only

[bcong]

per TFA, ..."swapping between EVDO Rev. A, WiMAX and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g on demand." and "The Evo 4G will swap between 3G and WiMAX for data depending on what's available" It works just fine on the marketing networks such as 3g and 4g, and on the networks everyone else knows and loves, ev-do rev. A and wimax

Re:4G only

[Chris Mattern]

That it would be true if it was 4G only. Apparently the words "switchable on demand to EVDO Rev. A" did not penetrate for you.

Re:4G only

[flabordec]

Actually the "4G" refers to the price. I hope they have a payment plan.

Yes! Just a couple days of grinding in WoW!

Re:4G only

[bhtooefr]

EVDO is Sprint's 3G network tech.

One flaw...

[Nov Voc]

Estimated battery life: The amount of time it takes YouTube to load that shiny new HDMI video for you.

Re:One flaw...

[Kotoku]

What? That doesn't even..I can't...you...

HDMI is a plug. Youtube has a matter replicator in my house now?

Re:One flaw...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not YouTube, silly. Google does. They've been busy.

Re:One flaw...

[dancingmilk]

It would appear that an idiot /. troll has made your brain explode with raw stupidity. Its OK, this happens a lot around here, we can fix it. Just go outside and get some fresh air (and perspective). Your brain will recover in time.

Re:One flaw...

[Nov Voc]

I think you're confusing buzzwords with technical terms. Buzzwords can be used to enhance the intelligence of a statement regardless of grammatical context or intended meaning! HDMI! EVDO! Capacitive touch screen! Snapdragon!

Also: Two hours sleep. Your pick.

Re:One flaw...

[owlstead]

Just plug it into the USB plug provided by your television.

Re:One flaw...

[WillDraven]

Why do you think it ran the battery out so quick?

Re:One flaw...

[korean.ian]

Youtube has a matter replicator in my house now?

Forget YouTube, when does PornoTube install the matter replicator? I'll take mine en suite.

Re:One flaw...

[Nov Voc]

I apologize for "trolling" by trying to explain a typo, but since it seems like I get interpreted harshly otherwise: I originally intended "HD", rather than "HDMI", and just mixed up the terms I was using, in part due to the cloud of buzzwords.

I realize nobody is going to read this; I just wanted to clear it up for the record, instead of silently accepting two karma hits and several accusations of trolling as a result of two extra letters.

important features?

[bl8n8r]

How bout battery life? It's great having all that power, but if it only stays running 6 hours between charges it's just a desk brick. No mention of multi-touch/tasking? itards will be whining for that if you're trying to horn into the apple market.

Re:important features?

[SkinnyKid63]

It's Android, it has multitasking like all other Android phones. The hardware also has multi-touch capability so multi-touch apps will work. Battery issue is a valid concern, although Sprint claims it will be competitive.

Re:important features?

[Anonymous Coward]

its running android, so yes to both multi questions

Re:important features?

[someSnarkyBastard]

Android 2.1 has both -- proud user of a hacked HTC Magic running OpenEclair (the open-source version of Android 2.1 for the unassimilated, ps resistance is futile :-P)

Memory or storage?

[clang_jangle]

a helpful 1GB of built-in memory and 512MB of RAM

That should read "1 GB of storage built-in and 512MB of RAM", shouldn't it?

Re:Memory or storage?

[mcgrew]

That should make you question the accuracy of the rest of the entire article.

Re:Memory or storage?

[Singularity42]

Memory and storage are synonyms. I'm not sure what your TLA (three letter acronym) means though.

Re:Memory or storage?

[shutdown -p now]

It's very common to say just "memory" when speaking of internal storage of handheld devices. I've no idea where that comes from, as it's obviously incorrect, and when they only advertise "memory" (but not "RAM") in quick specs, bordering on fraud... but there you go.

Re:Memory or storage?

[clang_jangle]

That sound you hear is all the geeks on /. turning at once to point at you and screaming like Donald Sutherland at the end of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. Just like this.

Re:Memory or storage?

[Anonymous Coward]

He is NOT of the body!

Re:Memory or storage?

[markdavis]

If I had mod points, I would have +1'ed you. I can't stand it when lame spec sheets say "Memory" when what they really mean is "Storage" or "Flash". Memory = RAM. The phone has 1GB of flash/storage and 512MB of memory/RAM. Ug

Amazing

[Kotoku]

I, for one, welcome our new HD Video Recording, 720p over HDMI, kick stand in the back, 4+" screen, snapdragon processor having, 4G blazing, media center staple overlords.

Re:Amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

At any point during the typing of that lengthy post, did you pause to reflect on whether it was the slightest bit funny?

Re:Amazing

[natehoy]

No, he's running one of these phones. If he stopped to think, he'd be out of battery by the time he hit [SUBMIT].

Wrong - Re:4G only

[RocketJeff]

From the article - "The Evo 4G will swap between 3G and WiMAX for data depending on what's available; it will make all voice calls over Sprint's CDMA 1X network."

Also..

[AnotherShep]

The expected battery life is 20 minutes of standby or 5 minutes of talk. A replacement high-capacity battery adds 104g to the weight of the unit, 20mm to the depth, and extends standby time to 68 minutes and talk time to over 10 minutes.

Re:Also..

[John Hasler]

> ...talk time to over 10 minutes.

Or two hours if you add a whip antenna, but no smartphoney would ever do that.

Re:Also..

[confused one]

Or you could do what we did 20 years ago to make our HAM gear portable -- drag around a couple lead-acid gel-cell batteries in a backpack. That'll get you a couple hours talk time!

Re:Also..

[__aamnbm3774]

here is a picture with the extended battery installed.

Re:Also..

[Voltageaav]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/htc-evo-4g-nexus-one-and-droid-face-off-on-the-charted-field-o/ It has multitouch and a bigger battery than Droid & Nexus one, but that doesn't tell how long the actual life will be.

Re:Also..

[Aranykai]

Are you aware that virtually all of the extending antennas on digital cellphones are fake? Ever since the analog to digital swap of several years ago, they were simply added because focus groups felt users would put more faith in a device that looked like it had an external antenna.

Most of them are simply plastic made to slide in and out of the phone.

Re:Also..

[IorDMUX]

As a member of Qualcomm's power-management IC engineering team, (and hoping I do not sound like a total shill,) I'd like to point out that battery life and power efficiency is one of the big selling points of the Snapdragon. As opposed to the Intel Atom, which was designed by a desktop/server CPU company, at Qualcomm we're is coming from a background of years of low-power mobile device design.

Hopefully (though I can't say for certain as full specs have not yet been released), HTC also used our power management platform this time, rather than the third-party, battery-gulping solution they installed on their G1's. That was an embarrassment.

Re:Also..

[owlstead]

Why aren't there phones where you can change the battery without loosing the connections/OS? With the current battery prices I would love to take a few charged batteries on holidays.

At least my HTC Hero will accept the bigger battery. It seems that the HTC legent uses a battery "slot" instead. That design choice will probably limit the choice of battery to use - it certainly won't fit the 3000 AH battery I just bought.

(I was about to write 3K mAH, but that's just weird)

Re:Also..

[Anonymous Coward]

Suddenly I'm picturing the old 1980s bricks and bag phones. My dad had both since he worked as a doctor. Ahhh, memories...

Re:Also..

[Buelldozer]

I didn't realize that this was a Motorola product!

Re:Also..

[John Hasler]

I'm referring to a real antenna, of course. The shortened antennas used in most (if not all) cellphones are extremely inefficient compared to dipoles.

Re:Also..

[GreenCha]

The expected battery life is 20 minutes of standby or 5 minutes of talk. A replacement high-capacity battery adds 104g to the weight of the unit, 20mm to the depth, and extends standby time to 68 minutes and talk time to over 10 minutes.

Are you serious?! Is this what HTC or Sprint released numbers or it's your estimate? I assume these values are measured when WiMax modem is on?

Re:Also..

[AnotherShep]

If you would RTFA, you'd know.

Game Changer!

[suraj.sun]

to put it simply, it's a game changer for Sprint.

Re:Game Changer!

[characterZer0]

Only if you live in a large city and never want coverage when you are traveling.

Re:Game Changer!

[UnknowingFool]

It could be a game changer for Sprint. The reviewer only commented on all the geek technical specs. The reviewer didn't review it for actual usability. Most consumers care about usability first, app availability, coverage, etc. Technical specifications are at the bottom of that list. The only thing the reviewer did say was that it was fast but the network connection wasn't on.

Re:Game Changer!

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is the vast majority of people in the US.

Re:Game Changer!

[wolrahnaes]

Yea, because dropping back to 3G coverage with a 100% roaming agreement with Verizon/Alltel and US Cellular is such a pain....

This device really makes the Nexus One on the Sprint network all but irrelevant, since it seems it will be available around the same time and has all the specs either equal or better.

Re:Game Changer!

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting away from CDMA like the majority of the world and their competition would be a game changer.

Re:Game Changer!

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it also an iPhone killer?

Re:Game Changer!

[DrgnDancer]

As an iPhone user and an AT&T customer (Cingular at the time) for over a decade... I'm bloody tempted. This thing looks like the bomb. I'll want to play with it first, but if it does half of what it appears to do, I'll drop AT&T for it.

Re:Game Changer!

[Aranykai]

I personally know about 10 people using the Hero with sprint and everyone loves it. After seeing mine, my sister, my father and two of my friends moved to sprint just for that phone.

If HTC's track record is any indication, this device will be amazing.

Re:Game Changer!

[Steve Max]

They are getting away from CDMA. Ok, WiMax is also not the global standard and they will be as isolated in terms of roaming and compatible devices as before, but at least they didn't go for UMB.

Re:Game Changer!

[hydroponx]

I have no coverage problems with Sprint and I travel regularly for work... What are you basing your opinion on exactly? I'm not saying that I never roam (and really, since most plans include free roaming, do you track when you roam ?) , just that I rarely have no service and when I am in a spot with no service, I can move 20 ft either direction and have service.

Re:Game Changer!

[teknopurge]

This device really makes the iPhone on the Sprint network all but irrelevant, since it seems it will be available around the same time and has all the specs either equal or better.

Fixed that for you. Bring-it fanbois.

Re:Game Changer!

[228e2]

Isnt it amazing that the phone alone was their reason for switching?

I was with AT&T for 6+ years but for my first smart phone I gladly switched over to Sprint. Their unlimited everything plan defecates on anything Verizon/AT&T offers pricewise, and the blackberry isnt bad at all.

Not made by Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

FAIL.

Two very important points missing:

[jandrese]

1. What is the battery life.
2. What is the price.

I'm slightly concerned that this will be like those Japanese or European phones that have a huge laundry list of features, but skimp out on basic usability and essentials like good radio paths and battery life; plus half of the features don't work properly (camera has a lot of pixels, but a worthless lens; screen is dim or difficult to read; interface requires 15 button presses to do anything; front camera can't be used for teleconferencing because the carrier disabled that feature, etc...). There's a definite concern that this will be priced at the "enthusiast" level as well, meaning almost nobody can afford it or the plan required to drive it.

The ball is in your court Sprint. What are you going to do with it?

Re:Two very important points missing:

[Threni]

These smartphones all seem to have similar (ie circa 1 day) battery lifes, and that includes the iPhone which is neither Japanese nor European. This phone looks a little like (what is in the UK name) Desire (same resolution but slightly higher screen; same cpu as far as I can tell), and that sells for £440 sim-free here. Online comparisons say the Desire has a brighter, clearer screen - I've seen no phones where the screen is too dim.

Re:Two very important points missing:

[Anonymous Coward]

Car analogy (you know you wanted one): That's like walking into the Ferrari dealership expecting to figure out if you can afford the Ferrari 599 GTB after you ask "how much does it cost?" and then asking "and how's the fuel economy?"

Hmmm.... And I wouldn't condone looking up your local Ferrari dealer just so you could go in the store and do exactly that. That would be childish. Don't. No, really.

Re:Two very important points missing:

[jandrese]

So this phone is only for European A-holes? Is that what you're saying?

Re:Two very important points missing:

[toadlife]

I think a better comparison (hardware wise) than the Desire would be the HTC HD2, which T-Mobile released today in the U.S.

Re:Two very important points missing:

[Anonymous Coward]

Android with the sense ui is already a proven interface design that is very popular. The Nexus one, a very comparable phone, is priced at $200 subsidized by t-mobile, a reasonable price for a premium smartphone that can only go down.

Re:Two very important points missing:

[Threni]

Yeah, I compared it with the Desire because they're both Android phones (HD2 is windows and I'm not following that, because I already have a Windows mobile phone and there's nothing going on there development wise).

Re:Two very important points missing:

[Anonymous Coward]

Does either of those 2 things matter?

iPhone set the standard that devices can be, a. expensive, and b. have a battery life of less than 6hrs in order to be innovative. And they have not "improved" on those 2 things since the gen 1 iPhone day one.
iPad confirms that notion and I doubt we'll see anything over 8 hours on that brick. As for this device, I see about 8hrs as well. iPhone set the standard for those 2 criteria, and the consumer accepted--though pricing has gotten better (Android devices for $49, iPhone 3G at $99) we are now stuck for at least 2 more generations of phones before battery life gets extended.

Re:Two very important points missing:

[jdgeorge]

I don't think there's any requirement that they must be European.

Re:Two very important points missing:

[alexo]

1. What is the battery life.
2. What is the price.

3. Where can I get one with a physical keyboard.

It's a TELEPHONE

[LtGordon]

1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8650 chipset ... 1GB of built-in memory ... 512MB of RAM ... 8-megapixel camera on the back ... 1.3-megapixel unit on the front ... also records 720p, high-def video, which it can play through an HDMI out jack on the bottom.

Sounds like every geeks wet dream. And yet I can't help but think to myself ... this is a telephone. This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate verbal communication.

Oblig: "What if I want something more than the pale facsilime of fulfillment brought by a paradise of ever-fancier toys?"

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Deosyne]

Perhaps you'll find more utility in the tools that you purchase if you stop thinking about them in terms of what a marketer told you and what its potential actually is.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Anonymous Coward]

Plenty of geeks have no interest in gadgets or uninteresting webcomics.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[bcong]

No it's not. If you'd like a mobile telephone I suggest a less capable model such as any of the cheaper motorola models, such as the i776. If you are looking for a PDA or mobile media center which happens to also have cellphone capabilities then this is probably for you.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[alen]

silly, no one talks on the phone anymore. you use a telephone to read email, twitter, facebook and the rest of the internets

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[CohibaVancouver]

this is a telephone. This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate verbal communication

Not any more. These devices are largely small(ish) wireless computers with touch-screen interfaces. I don't have an iLeash, but my friends who do appear to use them as 'computers' much more than they use them for verbal communications. Sure, they allow for verbal comms, but it's only one of many features.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[oodaloop]

Its ancestors were phones. This thing is more evolved.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[D Ninja]

Sounds like every geeks wet dream. And yet I can't help but think to myself ... this is a telephone. This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate verbal communication.

That's where you're wrong. None of these smart phones are telephones anymore. They are computers (handheld and less powerful computers than our desktops, but computers nonetheless) that HAPPEN to make telephone calls. Honestly, phone calls are the thing I do the least on my Droid. I'm on travel quite a bit and being able to get to my e-mails, have a GPS to help me find the locations of my hotels and meetings, and also be able to enjoy some entertainment on flights has been awesome.

So, my advice (not that you asked for it) is to think about the phone as another integration into an "always on, always connected" world. Things are going to keep moving in that direction. For example, I am looking forward to my refrigerator being connected to the internet, being able to look at a list of items that I want to keep in stock, noticing when I'm running out of those items, and then sending a message to my local grocery store which will bring by the groceries for me and then bill it automatically. Years down the road, but that type of convenience would be awesome.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[ColdWetDog]

silly, no one talks on the phone anymore. you use a telephone to read email, twitter, facebook and the rest of the internets

Then, exactly, just what are those people doing driving around with the phones plastered to their ears? Using their earlobes to keyboard? Taking pictures of their ear rings for some twisted facebook site? Twittering the voices inside their skulls?

It's pretty scary in my universe. God help me to stay away from yours....

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[The Dancing Panda]

Sir, that hasn't been the primary purpose of these machines for years.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[mcgrew]

This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate verbal communication.

Which reminds me -- why don't we have picturephones yet? We were supposed to have them in 2001, weren't we? Every sci-fi flic from the original Star Trek to Blade Runner to Total Recall has them. The technology is here; you can use a computer as a picture phone, but you can't use a phone as a picture phone, even though a phone has a vidio screen and a camera. Why?

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[natehoy]

Sorry, but it's not. At least not to a lot of us. Maybe it is to you, but then why would you even care about this device enough to post your derision at the enhanced features?

I carry a Blackberry. I do use it for phone calls. Very, very rarely. I probably make about 3-4 calls a week on it, and it's my only telephone.

I also use it for emails, Gmail, calendar, text messaging, instant messenger, contact manager, surfing the web, reading news on RSS, listening to music, taking photos and videos, Geocaching, driving directions, checking traffic, making small edits to Word and Excel documents, tethering my laptop to it for production support issues, recording voice notes, a flashlight, and probably a few other things that aren't coming to mind at the moment. If it had a pair of pliers and a good blade, I could consolidate to one thing on my belt.

It's not a telephone, it's a smartphone. It's primary purpose is no longer verbal communication. That is one of its functions. For me, frankly, voice is not one of the more important features on my smartphone. But it is useful to have a phone from time to time.

I do understand that there is a significant segment of the population that just wants a phone without all the gadgets. Great! Buy one.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried that, but then Apple said I could only use it the way they marketed it and I wasn't allowed to consider the potential.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps you'll find more utility in the tools that you purchase if you stop thinking about them in terms of what a marketer told you and what its potential actually is.

Says the twit who's never even seen the object in person. But then you're probably just the kind of clueless fanboi who'd carry a backpack with a car battery in it to power this thing!

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[DrgnDancer]

Install a video messaging app on this thing and it is a picture phone. It's got a front facing camera specifically for that.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[talz13]

Because, usually, the camera is on the opposite side of the phone from the screen. This is one of the few devices we'll have gotten over here that has both regular camera and front facing camera. I remember one old phone that had a camera that you could rotate back and forth (maybe some old samsung?), and then there was the unlocked GSM Touch Pro that had a front facing camera, but it's definitely not a COMMON feature over here yet.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[TimTheFoolMan]

Sounds like every geeks wet dream. And yet I can't help but think to myself ... this is a <i>telephone</i>. This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate <i>verbal communication</i>.</p></quote>

You must be new here. - Tim

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[TimTheFoolMan]

Unlike me, who can't even edit the quote tags correctly. - Tim

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[osgeek]

I'd assume that the extra low-res camera on the front of the phone is intended to make this sort of use possible. Why else have it?

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[TheRaven64]

Uh, we do? My last two phones have supported video calling. It costs the same as a voice call on the same network, but 50p/minute for other networks. I've never actually used it, because it's a terrible idea. It removes the portable aspect of your phone, by forcing you to look at the phone while you use it. That's not a problem while you're at home, but in that case just use any of the videoconferencing apps that are available; most modern IM platforms support it out of the box.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Steve Max]

Almost every 3G phone has a front-facing camera. At least Nokia and Sony-Ericsson seem to do that. In fact it's hard to think of a phone that doesn't have video call capabilities over the past 3-4 years, except for phones made by or for Americans.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Buelldozer]

Bandwidth, form factory, and battery life.

This phone has 4G AND a front facing camera. That has solved two of the three challanges. Depending on the efficiency of the 4G chipset they may have solved all three. We won't know until this summer.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[isorox]

Sounds like every geeks wet dream. And yet I can't help but think to myself ... this is a telephone. This is device whose primary purpose is to facilitate verbal communication.

today I had a 50 minute journey home. The first 20 involve standing on a train.

The mobile device I carry allowed me to listen to music, read two emails, send one, then play a little game.

I then got a seat, continued listening to music, checked a new email, updated my calendar, then started to read /.

After 40 minutes, the music paused, and the screen I was looking at told me my wife was ringing. I answered the phone, no need to remove headphones, then went back to slashdot to write this reply.

Smart phones, with a decent sized screen, and a real webbrowser, are first and formost ultra portable computers. The phone is an addon. Most mornings I break out the laptop and vim or eclipse to do some serious work, but to combine an mp3 player, phone, and javascript capable web browser, takes the device way beyond phone. I hardly use a phone, email and web though...

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Anonymous Coward]

You took him serious when he said no one uses a phone for talking?

I am fairly certain he was being humorous. It is called a joke :)

Your universe does indeed sound scary.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[sonicmerlin]

They've had front-facing cameras and video conferencing technology in Japan for years, but it just never took off like the wireless companies thought it would. Instead, to their complete surprise, texting became the next big thing.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, nobody wants to talk to a live streaming video of their friend's ear wax.

Re:It's a TELEPHONE

[Deosyne]

Same here, which is why I returned it within 30 days and waited for the Droid to come out. Been perfectly happy with that since.

Well...

[CSHARP123]

Everybody questioning about its battery life in here, listen, we have provided a mobile battery charger just keep shaking it will charge.

The *best* feature:

[ThreeGigs]

FTA:

"It works as a Wi-Fi hotspot, supporting up to 8 devices;"

Wow! That's insane, considering that laptop wireless sharing is only now just becoming mainstream.

How many people will buy this phone, and ditch dsl, cable, etc? Smaller than any dsl or cable box, uses less power too I'd bet.

Re:The *best* feature:

[amicusNYCL]

Smaller than any dsl or cable box, uses less power too I'd bet.

And probably only costs about 8x as much. You expect people to replace their internet connection with a phone? I'll just point out that won't work for anyone who lives in a household containing more than one person and doesn't want to buy a dedicated phone to act as their gateway. For anyone living alone, maybe that would be an option, but it sort of sucks that if you lose your phone you also lose your internet connectivity at home.

Re:The *best* feature:

[D Ninja]

How many people will buy this phone, and ditch dsl, cable, etc? Smaller than any dsl or cable box, uses less power too I'd bet.

Might not be a bad idea. Data speeds of 4G (according to Wikipedia) should be somewhere in the range of 275 Mbit/s downstream and over 75 Mbit/s upstream. Of course, it also depends if companies are going to allow for "unlimited" data plans.

Re:The *best* feature:

[Jeng]

And with an HDMI port to boot. Could be the lowest power and smallest home theater device.

Re:The *best* feature:

[dingen]

How many people will buy this phone, and ditch dsl, cable, etc?

Even the best mobile connections are godawfully slow and have insanely high latencies compared with even modest wired broadband connections. You'll only switch if you absolutely don't care about the speed of your internet connection.

Re:The *best* feature:

[myfreelunch]

It is NOT true that WiMax has a “godawfully slow and insanely high latencies”. We have the Clear service in Portland (uses WiMax just like Sprint) and routinely get >3M download and low enough pings to play WoW and other online games. Very pleased with the service so far

Re:The *best* feature:

[Anonymous Coward]

Enjoy your 5GB monthly invisible cap that you'll hit in an hour with 4 teens surfing mytubebook and listening to lasdoralip.fm.

Re:The *best* feature:

[D Ninja]

I'm not sure how latency would compare, but 4G is supposed to be achieve speeds of 275 Mbit/s downstream and over 75 Mbit/s upstream. That should be more than enough for just browsing the web. Probably wouldn't want to do any "heavy internetting" with it. (Of course, that may be different in practice...)

Re:The *best* feature:

[Snarkalicious]

Screw it. Give it unlimited data, and leave it at home plugged in. Want it to be portable? Get another one to take with you. Based on current pricing at Sprint, that's $140/month (sans taxes and whatnot, so call it $170) for personal unlimited wireless everything, home internet (8 wi-fi connections is plenty for most households, at leaqst outside of this site's readership), TV (if you're willing to give up first run shows and whatnot), and a dedicated home phone. A bit pricey on the front end with equipment costs, but It'd pay itself off in a hurry if you spend a lot of time jacked in.

Re:The *best* feature:

[hhawk]

The phone plus my netbook, when traveling will be great, I don't have to worry about bad broadband in hotels or hotels that want to charge $10 a night for Broadband.

Then at home, like last week when we lost power for 55 hours.. I could have some shot at some net-access during the outage.. I usually keep a few extra batteries around.. I know I wouldn't get 55 hour of access but with 2 extra batteries if I could get 3+ hours that would be great.

I could also use it out in the yard the same way and not worry about where WIFI reaches and doesn't reach..

Re:The *best* feature:

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm on Sprint with the HTC Hero. Great android device, but Sprint saw fit to disable the ability to tether, leaving us with the choice of 1) use 3rd party solution (pdanet) or 2) root the phone.

Wonder how they'll cripple this one? I doubt sincerely they'll let you use the phone to do wifi tether to 3g, given their current reluctance to even allow 1 device to tether currently.

Re:The *best* feature:

[raju1kabir]

"It works as a Wi-Fi hotspot, supporting up to 8 devices;" Wow!

My 3-year-old Nokia phone (and really any Symbian S60 phone with wifi) does that, using a cheap program called JoikuSpot. I don't know how many client devices it supports simultaneously, but I've used it several times to provide connectivity for a conference room full of people.

Sucks batteries like you wouldn't believe, though. I can only run it for about an hour if it's not plugged in to the charger.

Re:The *best* feature:

[raju1kabir]

I trialled a local WiMAX service for about 6 months. The latency from my desktop to their network was something like 40ms. I got fairly steady 5mbps transfer speeds (though they advertised "up to 10mbps"). That's not terrible.

Re:The *best* feature:

[owlstead]

Tethering on the HTC Hero is completely painless if you could get rid of the limitation. It's funny, I just bought the device and my ADSL went down. Enabled tethering in the settings menu and coupled it to my Linux host using USB, expecting a few hours of fun. Literally seconds later my internet connection was established.

Now for Bluetooth tethering in 2.1, my ThinkPad is BT 2.1 enabled, so that would be great during trips - although it will drain the battery just a tad more.

The thing that *is* really painful is that my XS4ALL provider also provides WiFi hotspots, which the android phone can use without any trouble. The problem with that is that KPN, the provider of the hotspots, requires a login through HTTP redirects. This means that if I use WiFi autoconnect, all the applications stop or even crash since their packets are routed into a black hole.

Re:The *best* feature:

[raju1kabir]

I know I wouldn't get 55 hour of access but with 2 extra batteries if I could get 3+ hours that would be great.

As I mentioned above, I've been using my phone as a wifi hotspot for a long time.

However, I never use it that way when it's just me and my netbook. I use the USB cable. Using the phone as a wifi hotspot drains the battery in a fraction of the time it lasts when using the cable.

The appeal of the hotspot feature is for group situations, or when using a device that can't support USB connections (e.g., when my friend wants to get online with his iPod Touch while we're at a restaurant).

Re:The *best* feature:

[hydroponx]

When did they do that ? Tethering worked the last time I tried it but they don't provide an application for it, I use tetherbot when I need to. It's free and works fine for browsing http, but it wouldn't work to well for vpn or other services unless you can configure a proxy for it.

Re:The *best* feature:

[hhawk]

Interesting.. so you know if the Sprint phone being discussed has a data cable capability? I know it has a micro USB port.

Re:The *best* feature:

[dingen]

Yeah, that's way better than what I expected.

To be honest, I've only experienced 3G myself, but I figured WiMax couldn't be that much of an upgrade.

Re:The *best* feature:

[DragonWriter]

"It works as a Wi-Fi hotspot, supporting up to 8 devices;"

Wow! That's insane, considering that laptop wireless sharing is only now just becoming mainstream.

How many people will buy this phone, and ditch dsl, cable, etc? Smaller than any dsl or cable box, uses less power too I'd bet.

Yeah, but its more expensive in up front cost, and almost certainly more expensive for the ongoing cost as well if you use it significantly (data plans typically have caps on the order of 5-10GB/mo where additional charges kick in), so its probably not a good choice for a replacement for an always-on home connection.

OTOH, it sounds like it would be nice as a mobile "personal access point" if you've got other WiFi-enabled gadgets -- like the many other devices that do the same, but with the advantage that WiMax is faster than 3G.

Re:The *best* feature:

[Areyoukiddingme]

Damn. I feel old. I can pick last.fm and Pandora out of that, but where does the "lip" come from?

Re:The *best* feature:

[AncientPC]

I can't reproduce your results. I have a rooted Sprint Hero and after enabling USB tethering and connecting it to my Linux laptop I get an authorization error. This was the same result with stock rom.

I have to use Proxoid with Linux, or the wireless hotspot app.

Re:The *best* feature:

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like simple tethering, which you could do with the G1. I did cancel cable/internet because they kept jacking up the price, and used a WAP w/dd-wrt to connect to my G1 - but 3G just really wasn't great at streaming video or playing games online. I now have internet without cable which is fairly cheap, but can pickup some HD ClearQAM channels and OTA with a HDHomeRun, or stream online if the mood strikes. 4G would be awesome, and I could finally eliminate that internet bill. :)

Re:The *best* feature:

[owlstead]

Well, I would post a howto here, were it not for the fact that I did not really do anything. It might be that you are suffering from a little to few credentials to add a USB network interface or modem driver (I don't even know which one, although I could find out) in your Linux distro.

Re:The *best* feature:

[Anonymous Coward]

Been using my HTC Windows Mobile on Sprint with WMWiFiMobile for the last three years or so. You can freakin' torrent with these and get around 1 Mb/s download to a laptop when the network is not so congested. Used to use it to tether over wifi to G1 iPhones to let them browse the web properly without that EDGEy molasses feeling.

No hardware keyboard...

[Rew190]

Too bad there's no hardware keyboard on this beast. I can't stand using touchscreen keyboards. Hopefully this isn't becoming the norm.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[confused one]

Then buy a blue tooth keyboard and bring it along.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[Anonymous Coward]

Except... Isn't bluetooth crippled on android to not recognize a HID like a BT keyboard?

And, are there any reasonably sized bluetooth keyboards out there anyway? I'd hate to have to carry a backpack with a keyboard in it just to send a random text or two from work to people. :B

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[sudden.zero]

I am a cellphone application developer and I actually got to see this phone before most people. Let me tell you this keyboard for being an on screen is very responsive. With exception of the fact that you can't feel the keys (ofcourse) I don't think I missed a key the whole time I worked with it.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[cheesybagel]

There are plenty of foldable bluetooth keyboards like the MSI BK100. They are about the same size as a phone when folded usually.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[confused one]

That's the one I was thinking of. There are also cloth or silicone keyboards that fold up and a virtual keyboard

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[owlstead]

I've got a HTC Hero with capacitive screen (as this one will have) and it is very nice to type short messages on, especially when the automatic correction can be used (e.g. internet URL's, mail addresses and CLI are a bit harder). I imagine that with a much larger screen the keyboard will be even better. You can use the trackball to precisely position the cursor. The only thing is that there is only a single, expensive stylus you can buy, and I don't see how you can use that for pixel precise input.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[owlstead]

With the HTC Hero you can use the vibrate function to see if you hit a key. It's very useful, even though it lags just ever so slightly - I think they fix that in Android 2.1. The good thing about the touch screen input it that it is VERY easy to use with a single hand, holding it with the other. It's amazing how much more sense that makes - I did not expect it to matter at all when I bought the device. Basically I think the touch screen input is better, even though it is somewhat slower. The fact that you can adapt the keyboard for different inputs is a brilliant idea as well - never having to look for the @ key while typing email addresses helps tremendously.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[RightSaidFred99]

It is becoming the norm. I bought a Samsung Moment intentionally because it has an awesome physical keyboard. But I find myself using it less and less and if the screen was a little bigger and the onscreen keyboard just a little better I'd probably prefer a thinner phone with no keyboard. Most people think similarly so I think the number of phones with a keyboard will not hit 0, but it will generally be less and less common.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[Tumbleweed]

Too bad there's no hardware keyboard on this beast. I can't stand using touchscreen keyboards. Hopefully this isn't becoming the norm.

If you look at the Android phones that have been released and shown, this is definitely becoming the norm. This particular phone has a big friggin' screen, though, and if used with something like Swype, should produce better results than most cellphone keyboards, because almost all cellphone keyboards are UTTER CRAP (hello Droid). The new texting speed record was just set by someone using Swype the other day, I think.

Re:No hardware keyboard...

[sudden.zero]

Yes, I agree. Not only does the touch keyboard allow for better functionality but unlike a hardware keyboard it will not wear out nearly as quickly. Oh and I should mention I currently own a G1 so I am not hardware keyboard bashing by any means! I just think that they both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Eh

[teknopurge]

Slower than a Cray. Less storage than a ZFS SAN. Lame.

Re:Eh

[e2d2]

Oh come on mods. Even I, the Lord of Curmudgeon and Admiral of the Irascible and Cantankerous, laughed at that one.

Yup, i'm going for a word score.

Re:Eh

[NekSnappa]

Sorry I burned all my mod points yesterday. Then I could undo that -1 Troll that was laid on you.
Obviously someone who doesn't understand the meme has mod points today.

Re:Eh

[teknopurge]

Thanks for the kind thoughts. Looks like some mods that "got it" came along.

Re:Eh

[Tumbleweed]

Slower than a Cray. Less storage than a ZFS SAN. Lame.

But it's got a kickstand! (seriously, it has a kickstand)

can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[alen]

there is more to a smart phone than email and constant searches on Google. Iphone ships with local storage and a nice SDK. Android would be a lot better if Google hadn't crippled the app capability so you are forced to do everything online

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got a Nexus One that has half the app ram size of this phone and I've installed dozens of apps and only used a fraction of the available space. Yes, the iPhone ships with "local storage" but then you are limited to only that storage. Want more space? GET A NEW PHONE! Fuck that. As for their "nice SDK", it's only "nice" if you own a Mac and are happy with their arbitrary and unfair approval process. Come up with an app that even remotely threatens Apple's bottom line in any way, and you are out on your ass. Fuck Apple, and fuck the iPhone.

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[edmicman]

How are Android apps crippled?

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[Anonymous Coward]

He is a known iphone fanboi. Just ignore.

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Android would be a lot better if Google hadn't crippled the app capability so you are forced to do everything online

How are Android apps crippled?

The previous poster is talking about the inability of Android to run apps stored anywhere but the internal memory, significantly limiting devices like this one, with significant storage capacity, because that capacity cannot be easily used to store applications, just data. Some game makers, for example, have said they cannot port to most android phones because their games are larger than the internal storage.

Hopefully Google will be able to resolve this issue going forward and some app developers are already working around it by installing data packages for their apps to Flash and referencing them from within their application. It's not a good solution, but it helps some.

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[mjwx]

The previous poster is talking about the inability of Android to run apps stored anywhere but the internal memory, significantly limiting devices like this one, with significant storage capacity, because that capacity cannot be easily used to store applications, just data. Some game makers, for example, have said they cannot port to most android phones because their games are larger than the internal storage.

Actually the OP was talking about Google services not Android, if you want to use Google services you need to have most things online as only a few Google programs have an off-line cache (Gmail). You have a choice on whether you want to use Google services or not on Android, the same as you have a choice about everything on Android (Don't like Browser, there's Dolphin and Opera, don't like the standard email client, get a new one, don't like the telco/manufacturer OS, use a community ROM).

Now internal storage is only required for the executable, libraries, data files, art assets and many other things can all be stored on the SD card, NESoid and other emulators run ROM's from the SD card. There is no problem with porting games to Android, you just have to do it properly rather then balling everything up and putting a "supports Android" sticker on the box. This IMHO is a good thing as it helps to prevent the Marketplace being flooded by bad ports of barely functional Iphone software.

Besides this, give it time 1) Android phones are steadily increasing internal Flash (my Dream had 256M, my Milestone has 512M, this phone has 1GB) and 2) Apps to SD programs are available for rooted phones and are integrated into many community ROM's so it's only a matter of time before this functionality is stable enough to make it into the official AOSP code.

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Actually the OP was talking about Google services not Android...

They may have alluded to that, but the title was about only having 5 apps, a common oversimplification of the complaint with regard to the memory issue.

There is no problem with porting games to Android, you just have to do it properly rather then balling everything up and putting a "supports Android" sticker on the box.

I think you're making excuses for an engineering problem. As I said, the issue is not insurmountable, but it's piss poor engineering to scatter bits of your application across multiple volumes and being forced to do so truly sucks. Applications as single bundles have many advantages including simplicity for the sake of security.

Note, I'm impartial here, I don't own either or really care. I was just trying to help people understand the topic.

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[mjwx]

I think you're making excuses for an engineering problem.

Odd, I could say the same thing about your comment.

but it's piss poor engineering to scatter bits of your application across multiple volumes and being forced to do so truly sucks.

So enforcing uniform standards is a bad thing? Every OS and it's dog has a recommended way of doing things which always scatters things across the file system. Windows recommends most files go into %SystemDrive%\Program Files\ while user files go into %userProfiles%\Dcuments\my but certain types of files (.dll comes to mind) must be stored in certain locations like %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32. Whilst MS don't enforce most of this outside any MS sponsored development program (Games For Windows (not GFW Live), MS ISV partners) it is highly recommended. Linux and OSX have similar systems.

Remember that Android is based on Linux, from the programs perspective /SDCard/ /etc/ are on the same drive despite being different physical volumes, it's the OS that handles that. With Android, they've built a minimum specification, if you expect your program to work on any android phone you develop for this specification. If anything, this seems like good engineering for a highly scalable solution, a program could work on any phone from the HTC Dream to the Nexus One or Samsung Galaxy (8 GB of internal storage). You aren't forced to follow the Android specification or use /SDCard/ to store your large datasets but it will affect the popularity and usability of your program.

Applications as single bundles have many advantages including simplicity for the sake of security.

This I think is where you misunderstood me. You can distribute as a single package but what you should be doing is creating a proper install for Android rather then just dumping it wherever (I.E. putting your large art assets into /SDCard/YourGame). This has several critical advantages as it prevents crud from gathering in odd places in the OS taking up room when the application is uninstalled, making it easier for the OS to manage application files and stopping bad applications from replacing important file or interfering with another applications files.

Re:can you install more than 5 apps to it?

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

I think you're making excuses for an engineering problem.

Odd, I could say the same thing about your comment.

You seem emotionally invested in this discussion. Your comment doesn't even make any sense. I didn't make excuses for any engineering flaw in anything because I was not defending any engineering, just pointing out a well known problem.

So enforcing uniform standards is a bad thing?

This is a straw man argument.

Every OS and it's dog has a recommended way of doing things which always scatters things across the file system.

That is the case with legacy OS's and versions of some OS's but it is not good engineering. OS X, for example, stores entire apps in a single, special folder. The only thing outside that folder are shared frameworks and config files (which are cascading and needed for upgrading and remote applications. One of the hardest parts of using SE Linux is that Linux application in general don't have a simple location all the time, so allowing them to modify their own files but not anything else can take significant expertise.

What Google has done in this case is introduce a limitation that exacerbates that problem even more.

Linux and OSX have similar systems.

You clearly aren't familiar with OS X and some Linux variants that have been more recently engineered to have more sane practices.

Applications as single bundles have many advantages including simplicity for the sake of security.

This I think is where you misunderstood me. You can distribute as a single package but what you should be doing is creating a proper install for Android rather then just dumping it wherever (I.E. putting your large art assets into /SDCard/YourGame).

Applications should be distributed as single bundles and stored as single bundles. This makes it much much easier to transfer applications, run applications remotely, install and uninstall applications cleanly, upgrade applications cleanly, restrict applications for security purposes, and backup applications. Android not only did not provide a cleaner and more compact installation that the average Linux distro, but actually made the install messier with limitations on where apps can be run from, resulting in applications being spread out more. Now you can have applications fail to run if either of two storage types fails.

It's a flaw and Google knows it's a flaw and people are working on fixing the flaw. I don't see how anyone can rationally conclude otherwise.

Super Phone? Aw, come on.

[dingen]

We aren't calling Dell's latest machines "super computers" either, so there's really no need to name new phones with up-to-date specs "super phones". It's technology. New devices with faster hardware and more features are going to come out. Every new phone will be a "super phone", because that's how the market works. This phone will be deprecated in a year or so, just like every other IT toy.

Re:Super Phone? Aw, come on.

[imgod2u]

The difference is Dell's more powerful computers today does the exact same function as Dell's less powerful computers years ago. They still run word processing, spreadsheets, games, a task manager, etc.

The "superphone" is more an indication that it's taken on far more functionality, not just getting better at what it previously did.

Re:Super Phone? Aw, come on.

[kimvette]

Agreed. Today's supercomputer is tomorrow's soft drink can.

Re:Super Phone? Aw, come on.

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you jealous your favorite toy (iphone) is not so super after all?

Re:Super Phone? Aw, come on.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea but.. there are many reasons why we aren't calling Dell's latest machines "super computers"....

Re:Super Phone? Aw, come on.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll have whatever you're drinking.

And in related news no one here cares about...

[toadlife]

T-Mobile released the HTC HD2 today.

Here is a superficial comparison of the Evo to the HD2.

For Windows Mobile fans like me who are not happy with the the direction Microsoft is going with WF7, the HD2 seems to be the last Hurrah for Windows Mobile 6.x series before we are forced to walk the plank and jump to another platform.

Re:And in related news no one here cares about...

[confused one]

Damn, I didn't get the email. Thanks for reminding me... *grabs credit card*

Re:And in related news no one here cares about...

[Anonymous Coward]

For Windows Mobile fans like me

Windows Mobile fans, do they really exist?

Re:And in related news no one here cares about...

[Arthur Grumbine]

For Windows Mobile fans...

Fascinating! You seem to be implying that there is more than one!! And I had always thought they were just a myth. What truly amazing times we live in, where such people live right alongside the rest of us, and we don't even know they're there!

Tell me, is it true that you all have fingertips as pointed as sharpened pencils, which allow you to actual use the OS? Or is it, like my friend believes, that you are all atoning for some great, and unspeakable crime? Perhaps you were AOL developers in your past life?
:-P

Re:And in related news no one here cares about...

[toadlife]

Hehe.

Yes, we do keep a low profile. We usually hang out at sites like xda-developers where we share the latest reg fixes for our operators' crappy crap-ware infested ROMs. Some of us go even further and learn how to cook our own ROMs.

As for our fingers, it's quite amazing what one can adapt themselves to. There seem to be two groups who have taken two distinct evolutionary paths. The first, the "touch friendly app seeker" group, trolls around the forums seeking finger friendly third-party apps to replace every part of the OS that they commonly use. These people find varying amounts of success. Some claim to have no problems, while others constantly find fault with the solutions they've found and are in never-ending quest for touch friendly nirvana. The other group, the one I fall into, have developed the ability to accurately hit areas the size of a few millimeters with our fingers, using the exact amount of pressure needed. We still appreciate touch friendly replacements - as long as they work perfectly. If they don't, we are content to interact with the built-in OS. Our girlfriends and wives would probably benefit from our uber "touching" skills - if we weren't all constantly trying to fix our god damned phones.

Re:And in related news no one here cares about...

[mjwx]

For Windows Mobile fans like me who are not happy with the the direction Microsoft is going with WF7,

For you there is Android. It's like WinMo but without the bugs and horrible interface.

Re:And in related news no one here cares about...

[toadlife]

My first experience with Android doesn't jive - at least in terms of bugs. My wife got the Motorola Cliq and it was the most unstable piece of shit phone I've ever used. We mailed it back to T-Mobile, and my wife got the HD2 today.

I have to say I did like the Android interface though.

As for Wino 6.1/6.5, while the native interface is dated, it's not buggy or unstable for me.

When it's time for me to get a new phone, hopefully I will be able to find a suitable Android phone.

This is what the Instinct HD should have been

[Isaac-Lew]

At the least, the Instinct HD should have been Android-based. Thankfully, I'm eligible for a new phone in October, the HTC Evo is at the top of my list.

what about the battery?

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard that many of the new android based phones last less than couple hours. I am curious how much time you can use/keep it in stand by keeping in mind that has a nicer cpu/screen.

+1 for the tag of 'holy shit'

[carlcmc]

I chuckled when I saw someone had added that tag. That was my reaction too.

This. Is. Wrong.

[MonsterTrimble]

The phone runs Android 2.1 on a 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8650 chipset along with a helpful 1GB of built-in memory and 512MB of RAM, which is assisted by a MicroSD slot supporting up to 32GB cards.

OK, so this phone has more jam then my wife's and I's two celeron laptops, and is just about as powerful as my Sempron desktop. Why have a computer?

Re:This. Is. Wrong.

[Arthur Grumbine]

...and is just about as powerful as my Sempron desktop.

This. Is. Wrong.

Please make your way to NewEgg or Fry's immediately to renew your geek card. Seriously, man, it's all of $130 for a 2.8 GHz quad-core processor with a motherboard. It's time to move into this century...

Re:This. Is. Wrong.

[owlstead]

"OK, so this phone has more jam then my wife's and I's two celeron laptops, and is just about as powerful as my Sempron desktop. Why have a computer?"

Full sized keyboard and monitor? 3D graphics card? The idea that you can receive messages while doing something different with your computer?

If it supports 1920x1080 of course, you could simply buy a HDTV, a BlueTooth keyboard and use Google docs (for mundane tasks). So you could do a lot of things without buying a PC.

Flash probably won't work correctly because it never does, unless you use Windows XP or higher.

What the summary DOESN'T tell you

[kimvette]

What the summary DOESN'T tell you is that on the internal battery talk time is 12 minutes. There is an optional extended battery available from the third parties, such as Optima, Diehard, EverStart, Autolite, etc. ;)

Front Camera nice

[Nukenbar]

It is nice to see phones that are adding front cameras. Asian phones have had this for years allowing for video chatting with the handset.

Re:Front Camera nice

[Nerdfest]

HTC phones, and a few others have had these features in North America for at least 3 years.

Fuck Everything, We're Doing 5G

[gabebillings]

Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of wireless in this country. The iPhone 3G was the phone to own. Then the other guy came out with the HTC Hero. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the iPhone 3Gs. That's 3G speeds and a fucking compass. For orienteering. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happened--the bastards went to 4G. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling the 3G and a fucking compass. Orienteering or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to 5G.

Re:Fuck Everything, We're Doing 5G

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG that was classic Onion! My kingdom for a mod point! :)

Re:Fuck Everything, We're Doing 5G

[cortesoft]

5G! That's like, 25% more G!

You don't have 4G in the US!

[Anonymous Coward]

They talk about up to 12 Mb/sec download?!? That is not 4G speed, it's 3G. Here is a test of a real 4G network in Stockholm. They get download speeds of 90 Mb/sec. And yes you can buy your 4G modem today.

More info: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.idg.se%2F2.1085%2F1.305135%2Fforsta-testet-telia-4g

Re:You don't have 4G in the US!

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

Telia's also WiMAX. Just tuned differently from Sprint's 4G service.

In essence, yes, but no.

but...

[i_ate_god]

Will it support 3G bands or just 4G?

Re:but...

[natehoy]

I know reading the article is a pain sometimes, but in this case it's in the summary:

It swaps between EVDO Rev. A, WiMAX and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g on demand.

It would be nice if Sprint dropped prices now

[gelfling]

The prices that is, on other phones. But they are typically very very very slow to do that. I doubt the Google phones they have now will come down in price for a year.

The important coverage info

[DiademBedfordshire]

Here is the coverage info for their 4G service.

http://www.nextel.com/en/stores/popups/4G_coverage_popup.shtml

Thankfully I live near Baltimore.

Re:The important coverage info

[Skadet]

I noticed you linked to a Nextel page for that info. When I last visited sprint.com I couldn't find any info about 4g, despite the constant bombardment by Sprint's marketing department about it. Turns out it's available mostly in Texas with some random areas thrown in. Sorry, but if you advertise the availability of a high-tech product and skip the silicon valley completely, you're retarded.

Re:The important coverage info

[DiademBedfordshire]

Nextel was headquartered in Reston, VA and as far as I know it was Nextel who was pushing the 4G network Before the merger. That would explain why the test cities are more focused on the east coast.

You can find the 4G coverage on the sprint site, it just requires a bit more digging.

http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?language=EN

From there open "Data, Email and Multimedia" then click on Sprint Devices with 4G.

720p what?

[TheSync]

720p30 or 720p60?

(or 720p 30/1.001 720p 60/1.001 ? :)

does it blend?

[solsang]

i still get headache from using any mobile phone, news would be when a phone can use light instead of radiowaves!!

Re:does it blend?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you get headaches cause you're stupid. (Well technically, you get headaches because shit happens, and you attribute them to cell phones because you're stupid.)

Perfect companion to this

[Anonymous Coward]

is a laser pico projector http://microvision.com/

Can you...

[skudenfaugen]

... imagine a Beowulf cluster of these?

Bait has been taken.

[Singularity42]

Phew, been awhile since a reply.

So...

[wandazulu]

...any reason to get a Pre anymore?

Re:So...

[mantis2009]

3 good reasons to get a Pre: hardware keyboard webOS cheapest unlimited data and texting plan 1 good reason to not get a Pre: The Pre has a mirror on the back

Mother F*(ker

[WillDraven]

I just went through the whole compare carriers, phones, coverage, plans, etc. and ended up buying a Moment. Now you have to come out with this, when I'm 2 years away from being eligible for a new contract (and a subsidized phone).

Unless I win the lottery (or sell a few houses to somebody who did) there's no way I'm going to be able to afford paying cash for this sucker.

Cynical Slashdot crowd..

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it's just a phone..
But it is a very capable one, that could offer a LOT of households (especially by end of year) a way to reduce their bills for internet (via the mifi) if they are already a Sprint consumer in a large market.
Beyond that it really is a nice piece of tech worthy of some praise.. not only does it take the antiquated sprint market to the forefront for current us phone tech (for now), but it is running Android, offers a front facing cam (first for a flagship mainstream phone in our market), and HD every which way..

This is supposed to be a geek site, this is a geek's dream... when the hell did you all get so damn jaded?