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Sprint's $199 HTC EVO 4G Gets Release Date of June 4
Chameleon Man writes "The first 4G phone ever to be released, the HTC EVO 4G, announced back in March, has finally been given a release date of June 4. Along with the release date, Sprint has provided information on phone plans and pricing. From Engadget: 'Unfortunately, there's a downside to all this: customers will be paying a mandatory (as confirmed to us by Sprint reps) $10 per month "Premium Data add-on" on top of their plan — ostensibly for the privilege of enjoying WiMAX when they're in a Sprint 4G market — and the 8-device Wi-Fi hotspot feature runs an extra $29.99 a month, which Sprint is quick to point out is half what you'd pay for a dedicated mobile broadband account.' In 4G areas, it might be a formidable option for anyone who hates their ISP *ehem* Comcast *ehem.*"
In 4G areas, it might be a formidable option for anyone who hates their ISP *ehem* Comcast *ehem.*"
While paying for 4G might allow you to get rid of Comcast for "ordinary" browsing, mobile phone providers are going to be a lot more strict about caps and such than Comcast most likely because bandwidth is more limited.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
They only think they're charging for the wifi hotspot functionality. You can already do this with current Android phones with a little work, and someone will hack the Evo to do it natively for free within a reasonably short period.
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A Sprint "Everything" data plan, even with a $10 tariff for 4G, is still ridiculously cheaper than the crazy high prices that AT&T gouges from its Apple-dazed captive masses.
If you decide to swing an employee referral plan for the Evo then you are really coming out ahead.
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When will someone get the Evo rooted and able to have custom ROMs. This is my biggest decision maker on what phone I select. If the phone has hidden obstacles (partitions that can't be mounted rw even with root, fastboot issues, etc.), or have other gotchas (such as the radio ROM upgrade on the Cliq), then I'll pass, even if it has a fast Internet connection.
I can think of a lot of very useful things that could be useful with a device offering a fast connection and with a custom ROM. A quick and dirty failover connection on a LAN, to plugging into a server and running some firewall/VPN software on the Android level for a fast remote access ability, to load balancing (if someone has a slow, but low latency DSL connection, the packets for games go through that, while the video streaming and such will go through the high bandwidth, high latency 4g connection).
Of course, I wonder how well this will perform if not on a Clear/4G network. How well will it failover to 3G gracefully if I'm in the sticks and able to get a "generic" CDMA signal?
The summary states it's $199. Not really true.
Not just the $10/mo fee for data.. but..
A) $100 Mail-In Rebate (so $299). And remember how much fun trying to claim a Mail-In Rebate is (and the lengths that they'll go to deny such claims?)
B) You have to be able to switch phones.. for those of you who still have an agreement length date.. if you really want it.. throw in an early termination fee.. ($449)
C) Plus you're locked in for two years.
People Talking in Movie shows.. people smoking in bed.. people voting republican.. GIVE THEM A BOOT TO THE HEAD!
30 dollars just to turn on a feature of the mobile phone? Who are they kidding? Will anybody pay that price? And how long until somebody hacks the device to turn it on? Or maybe they are just relying on some businesses and rich people that don't care about 30 dollars a month?
Personally I think it's a ridiculous amount - and I do think they simply disable it because they are afraid of large downloads. Ultimately, I do think that is ungrounded, it will be some time before wireless beats wired internet for continuous downloads.
That said, at least there is the option. I am happily using my android phone as 3G modem while on the road. I've got only 128kbit, but for browsing while I'm in a train, it's just perfect. But there's no way I'm going to pay 30 dollars for that kind of infrequent use.
(in June there will be Android 2.1 for the Hero, I'm looking forward to using bluetooth instead of the USB cable, although that will drain the phones battery instead of charging it)
SERO usually doesn't get any of the good phones.
Let me fix this for you...
"Why is it every time I'm really excited about a telecom device, companies IN THE UNITED STATES find a way to make me completely lose interest? Why is it that telecom companies IN THE UNITED STATES in particular try so hard to make sure you can't get excited about anything they do HERE?"
My friends in the UK and other countries have told me they don't pull any of this shit over there. Buying the handset and the service are completely separate, and once you have them you can use any feature you wish on the handset. The only restriction is staying under a monthly data limit (which tends to be higher than what they offer here).
We here in the US get a raw deal when it comes to communications. Regional monopolies and poor choice in providers make that a fact.
ClearWire is $40 per month here, with a USB stick for your laptop... Or $30 per month with a netbook-sized modem and a lantern battery in a fanny pack.
Your friends would be liars, as we've noticed with all the iPhone buzz more of the time it turns out that you get the same contract style offers there OR the option to buy the phone outright for a lot more money.
Ok, so they aren't really lying, but you certainly aren't presenting the full story.
Go ask them how many buy $600 smart phones without a contract rather than $100 phones with a contract.
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Hardly. I just just checked prices (because I'm out of contract with AT&T and thinking of upgrading to a smart phone), and AT&T will charge me $130/mo for two iPhones while Sprint will charge me $128/mo for two Droid phones - and that's without the 4G tariff.
I wonder how "3.5G" networks such as T-Mobile's HSPA+ will compare to this. T-Mobile is supposed to have this rolled out at the end of this year, and because it isn't as big a hardware change, towers can be converted faster as compared to a completely new wireless technology.
I've heard people in Philadelphia say that T-Mobile has the edge compared to Clear WiMax, but it has been stated that T-Mobile has a 5 GB limit per month, so that makes it useless for a primary Internet connection.
"In 4G areas, it might be a formidable option for anyone who hates their ISP *ehem* Comcast *ehem.*"
Not really... I tried a 4G service out last week and the latency was so horrible that it wouldn't matter if it had a 100Mbit transport, it'd still be slow as all hell and basically useless.
Latency to the gateway was between 75 and 125ms. That's horrible every day of the week.
Go ask them how many buy $600 smart phones without a contract rather than $100 phones with a contract.
At least in Finland, most of the people. Why would you want to buy a more expensive (in the end) locked down phone than cheaper phone and freedom to go with any operator? (or change operator after 6 months or change phone whenever you want). I've seen a few friends buy a phone with contract but that's usually a combination of poorness and lower education.
ok, but that's apples and oranges
that price with AT&T is for 550 minutes of talk, sprint gives 1500
sprint also gives all mobile class (to any carrier) free and nights/weekend from 7pm
you'd also need to add $30 to AT&T for unlimited texting and $10 a month per phone
for navigation. Then if you have more than 2 lines AT&T charges $10
for the extra line but then would still need the $30 data and $10 nav fees
where Sprint just charges $20 with all data/text/nav/any other feature included