EVO Shift 4G (aka HTC Knight / Speedy) shows up in accessory pics, exhibits dubious dress Sense

Can’t have enough Androids in your life? Well, here’s another one! Alternately known as the Knight or the Speedy, HTC’s upcoming Android device has made a couple of premature photo appearances in an effort to help sell some cases for its future self. The guys at HTCPedia report they have all the cases in their imagery in stock and confidently identify the Speedy Knight as a 3.7-inch QWERTY slider, while the phone’s UI and rear inscription leave no doubt about it running HTC’s Sense skin for Android. The likeliest scenario for this phone’s retail future is that it’ll be dubbed the EVO Shift 4G and exploit Sprint’s WiMAX airwaves, leaving the only unresolved issue as a one-word query: when?

Continue reading EVO Shift 4G (aka HTC Knight / Speedy) shows up in accessory pics, exhibits dubious dress Sense

EVO Shift 4G (aka HTC Knight / Speedy) shows up in accessory pics, exhibits dubious dress Sense originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 03:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceHTCPedia  | Email this | Comments

Sprint phasing out Nextel’s iDEN network, selects vendors for $5b network upgrade project

Looks like the Motorola i1 Android set (not pictured above) will stand as the highest-end Nextel phone ever — Sprint just announced that it’s phasing out the iDEN network sometime in 2013 as it begins a new four to five billion dollar network enhancement project called “Network Vision.” We’ve expected this for a while — the Sprint / Nextel merger has been beset by subscriber losses and rumors of a breakup for years now — but this is the first time we’ve gotten a date. Sprint’s rolling out push-to-talk on its own network to support its 10.6 million Nextel customers, but we don’t have a schedule for that yet. Sprint’s also announcing vendors for Network Vision: Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung, and Ericsson will each handle a region and be tasked with expanding and fortifying Sprint’s existing 1900MHz 3G network while buying 800MHz, 1900MHz, and 2.5GHz spectrum for future use. Interestingly, Sprint’s definitely hedging its WiMAX bets a little — it can upgrade its new gear to LTE with swapping in a baseband card and issuing a software patch, which certainly gives the company some 4G flexibility should Clearwire not pull things together. We’ll see what happens — the underdog’s making some moves.

Sprint phasing out Nextel’s iDEN network, selects vendors for $5b network upgrade project originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceUSA Today, Fierce Wireless  | Email this | Comments

Official Android 2.2 (Froyo) update emerges for Sprint’s Epic 4G

Samsung may have missed its promised September (and November) ship dates for Froyo on the Galaxy S range, but at this point, we’re just pleased to see any progress at all. Sprint’s Epic 4G has just become the first US Galaxy S phone to nab an official Android 2.2 (v2.2.1, in fact) build, with the requisite files populating Google’s servers this evening. If you’ll recall, a near-final build actually leaked out around three weeks ago, but the DK28 version making the rounds at xda-developers looks to be the real deal. Head on over to get your update going, and be sure to let us know how everything turns out in comments below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Official Android 2.2 (Froyo) update emerges for Sprint’s Epic 4G originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink BriefMobile  |  sourcexda-developers (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

Verizon LTE Speed Test: Insanely Fast [4G]

Verizon’s first LTE dongle is startlingly large. But not as startling as the speed. More »

Sprint wouldn’t mind if T-Mobile bought 4G spectrum from Clearwire

Considering Sprint’s heavy investment in Clearwire — and the fact that it shares its WiMAX network with the company — you can understand why it might be a little weary of letting other carriers in on the spectrum. That said, a Goldman Sachs analyst that apparently met with Sprint execs this week has said that they “have encouraged” a wholesale spectrum deal that would bring cash in from T-Mobile USA — a company that has yet to settle on a next-gen network strategy beyond HSPA+ — though it would ultimately depend on the price. Considering Clearwire’s somewhat bleak financial picture, it seems likely that Sprint’s looking at this as a do-or-die situation — it isn’t necessarily interested in dumping cash into the company by itself ad nauseam, but if it allows the company to falter, that could have unsavory consequences on Sprint’s own 4G ambitions. Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sprint wouldn’t mind if T-Mobile bought 4G spectrum from Clearwire originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Phone Scoop  |  sourceBusinessWeek  | Email this | Comments

Do You Really Need a 4G Phone Right Now? [4G]

4G is here! More Gs means more faster, right? And who doesn’t want their phone to be faster? Except—maybe you don’t need 4G today. More »

Laptop data plans: comparing LTE, WiMAX, and HSPA+ by speed, price, and value

Now that Verizon’s gone official with its LTE pricing for an initial launch in some 38 markets this Sunday, we wanted to take a quick look at how it compares to the other players in the laptop data market — after all, how much you’re paying month to month can be just as big of a determining factor (if not a bigger one) in choosing a carrier than the speeds you’re seeing. So how do Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, Clear, and Rover stack up? Let’s break it down.

Continue reading Laptop data plans: comparing LTE, WiMAX, and HSPA+ by speed, price, and value

Laptop data plans: comparing LTE, WiMAX, and HSPA+ by speed, price, and value originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th

Seems like Sprint wants to get every last lick of 4G coverage in before Verizon flips the switch on LTE — today, its joint venture with Clearwire is launching WiMAX in the City of Angels a day ahead of schedule. Lest you think Los Angeles is getting special treatment, five other cellular markets can now also get a taste of 5Mbps to 7Mbps download speeds, including Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and our nation’s capitol, Washington D.C. That brings the total number of regions where you’ll get some mileage out of that $10 surcharge up to 68, in case you’re keeping track. What’s next? If the press release after the break is correct, San Francisco will finally satisfy its need for speed on December 28th. Not that any of these locales haven’t been secretly enjoying 4G already, of course.

Continue reading Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th

Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The Engadget Show – 015: Sprint’s Fared Adib, Google TV creator Salahuddin Choudhary, Galaxy Tab, Nook Color, and more!

Get ready humans, because we have an all new, amazing Engadget Show fresh out of the box. First up, Josh and Paul sit down with Sprint product chief Fared Adib to talk about the birth of the EVO 4G, what exactly defines “4G,” where Sprint sees itself in relation to Verizon and AT&T, and why skinning Android devices might be a necessary evil. Next, Nilay goes hands on with the fully-automated house of the future at the Savant Experience Center in an exclusive new Engadget Show segment, then joins Josh on stage for a in-depth chat with Salahuddin Choudhary, a Google TV product manager who helped create Google TV in his 20-percent time. Then, Paul, Nilay, and Josh discuss all things tablets in a raucous roundtable featuring the iPad, Galaxy Tab, and Nook Color. To round it all out, exileFaker rocks the house with some killer chiptunes music with visuals by HN_i_C. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! Hit up the video stream after the break or download the show in HD below!

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Special guests: Fared Adib, Salahuddin Choudhary
Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm
Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger
Edited by: Danny Madden
Music by: exileFaker
Visuals by: HN_i_C
Savant segment music by: Kris Keyser and exileFaker
Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec

Taped live at The Times Center

Download the Show: The Engadget Show – 015 (HD) / The Engadget Show – 015 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show – 015 (Small)

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (MP4).
[RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
[HD RSS] Get the Engadget Show delivered automatically in HD.
[iPad RSS] Get the Engadget Show in iPad-friendly adaptive format.

Continue reading The Engadget Show – 015: Sprint’s Fared Adib, Google TV creator Salahuddin Choudhary, Galaxy Tab, Nook Color, and more!

The Engadget Show – 015: Sprint’s Fared Adib, Google TV creator Salahuddin Choudhary, Galaxy Tab, Nook Color, and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The Best Free Phone on Every Major Carrier [Free Phones]

Amazon will gladly sell you awesome phones for a penny. But what if you need that penny? Here’s the best free phones on every carrier. More »