Hasta La Gadget!

Jumpin’ Jehosaphat! Just when you thought America’s first 4G phone couldn’t get any hotter, along comes this: a striking white version of the HTC EVO 4G (so much for that unavailable white iPhone 4, eh?). We’ve received confirmation that this here handset will be sold exclusively through Best Buy (as in, don’t even bother heading to your local Sprint store), with the official launch date set for July 11th. We’re told that Sprint will eventually gain access on August 8th, with other retailers snapping it up in September. If you somehow managed to hold off on snagging the existing black EVO 4G, you can get your pre-order in starting on June 18th — yeah, today, Junior! We’re assuming the price will remain at $199.99 on a 2-year contract, but be sure to drop us a line if you wander in and find out otherwise.

Update: And it’s official; the presser is after the break confirming the same $199.99-on-a-2-year-contract price as well as the dates mentioned already.

Update 2: Turns out this thing was around way back at Google I/O! Head on past the break and mash play — that’s definitely a white-backed EVO 4G on stage. Thanks, Omar!

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Continue reading White HTC EVO 4G coming exclusively to Best Buy on July 11th, pre-orders start today

White HTC EVO 4G coming exclusively to Best Buy on July 11th, pre-orders start today originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With root obtained for the EVO 4G, it was just a matter of time before the overclocking hilarity ensued — and as it turns out, that Snapdragon core was ready and waiting to fulfill your wildest desires. The root-only SetCPU app is in full effect on the EVO, churning out speeds of well over 1.2GHz — apparently with no effect on stability, though it’ll require a bump in voltage. The change results in a linpack improvement of over 25 percent, over 8.8 MFLOPS all told, which means your processor is finally worthy of the speedy 4G radio. Now let’s get cracking on that 3,000mAh battery, alright? Follow the break for video.

[Thanks, Mike]

Continue reading HTC EVO 4G safely overclocked past 1.2GHz, battery begs for mercy

HTC EVO 4G safely overclocked past 1.2GHz, battery begs for mercy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know the backstory by now: Sprint boasted that the EVO 4G was its fastest selling phone ever a couple of days after hitting the American market, before abruptly correcting itself and admitting that the EVO’s sales were in fact in line with those achieved by the Pre last summer. What you, and we, didn’t know till now, however, is that Sprint’s self-correction was sparked off by an employee with a curious mind and posting privileges over on the xda-developers forum. On June 6, according to MobileCrunch, this unnamed hero of truthiness browsed Sprint’s internal inventory system and nailed down a figure of 65,500 sold units from Sprint’s own stores — a stat far south from what Sprint would announce a day later. That number ultimately found its way onto the message board, and though it obviously shouldn’t be taken as authoritative (or exhaustive), it was enough to get Sprint to hit the auto-correct button and part ways with the activist member of staff. Harsh.

[Thanks, Carol]

Sprint fires employee who leaked weak EVO 4G sales numbers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh yes, an HTC EVO has been modded with the inductive charging coil ripped from the still beating heart of a Palm Pre. The 30 minute soldering project does have the side effect of rendering compass apps useless while creating a slight bulge in the battery cover. Other than that, it just works — or so says the creator. See the modded EVO get busy with a Palm Touchstone and do what yours can’t in the video after the break.

[Thanks, Brody White]

Continue reading EVO 4G receives a Palm Pre inductive charging transplant (video)

EVO 4G receives a Palm Pre inductive charging transplant (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might imagine that we’re getting a pretty wild variety of EVO 4G-related tips today, seeing how it’s launch day and all — but a couple really stood out for us:

• Sprint’s activation system is apparently buckling under the pressure, an issue that’s giving us nightmarish flashbacks to iPhone launches of days gone by. We’ve even heard reports of poor shoppers being “turned away” when reps are stymied by the situation. A wildly successful product is both a blessing and curse, is it not?
• One corporate store clerk says Sprint’s system is now entirely down, and employees are being forced to write receipts by hand. “We have sold out (and pretty fast at that), but can’t do anything at this point, not even a bill pay,” he adds.
• We’ve gotten multiple tips saying that Radio Shack now lists a $400 early termination fee in its contract for the iPhone on Verizon and Sprint. Our guess is that this is just some generic verbiage, not a sign of an impending CDMA launch, but you never know.
• One tipster said his EVO came with a Samsung microSD card, rather than a SanDisk. We don’t know what to make of that, as it was far too late for HTC to head off storage bugs at the pass.

Keep us updated with your launch day travails, folks!

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]

EVO 4G launch day antics: Sprint’s computers overwhelmed, Radio Shack listing CDMA iPhones? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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