Sprint and HTC have leaped ahead in the race for 4G, with today’s unveiling of HTC’s new, Sprint-powered EVO 4G smartphone, likely to be the first smartphone in the U.S. able to run on a 4G network when it hits stores this summer.
It looks to be a brute of a phone — big, and armed with an array of impressive specs: an iPhone-dwarfing 4.3-inch screen that’s even larger than the HTC Nexus One’s 3.7-inch display, two cameras (the rear-facing has an 8-megapixel sensor that’ll shoot HD video, the front a 1.3-megapixel for videochat), a 1GHz Snapdragon processor borrowed from the Nexus One, an HDMI jack that’ll output in 720p, and even a “kickstand” that’ll prop the phone up. And as in the Nexus One, the EVO ditches the physical keyboard.
But the thing seems massive, and will likely be one of those “or are you just happy to see me” gadgets when stuffed in a pocket. Also, Sprint’s 4G network is hardly extensive, apparently even absent from such data-thirsty cities like San Francisco, says Wired, though there are plans for network expansion.
So, where does this leave the iPhone? Combine the imminent release of the next-gen iPhone with the Jobsian characteristic of never letting his company get left in the dust, and perhaps we have the recipe for a summer 4G iPhone-EVO cage match? Maybe. The key ingredient missing here would be the iPhone’s access to a 4G network, as it looks like AT&T’s won’t be up till 2011 — but Verizon says it’ll have a 4G network up this summer.
[via Wired, and thanks to reader Brian F.]
