Right on cue, Sprint has officially announced the carrier’s first 4G LTE super smartphone for this year, aptly named the HTC EVO 4G LTE, which is probably an homage to the HTC EVO 4G, but still kind of confusing.
The impressive specs of the HTC EVO 4G LTE are worth mentioning for the umpteenth time, with Sprint CEO Dan Hesse saying that they set a new “gold standard” for other phones in the network. The EVO 4G LTE’s 4.7-inch HD display is the perfect medium to show off pictures taken with the phone’s 8MP rear camera, fitted with a f/2.0 lens and ImageSense technology. You can snap pictures within a fraction of a second. The camera also allows you to capture still images while recording HD video.
The HTC EVO 4G LTE uses one the fastest processors around, yet power efficient – the 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor. The phone’s 2000 mAh battery capacity doesn’t exactly meet earlier expectations, but at least it’s bigger than the AT&T counterpart.
In addition to the inclusion of a red metallic kickstand on the back of the phone, the HTC EVO 4G LTE comes with a microSD slot, making it an even more attractive purchase than the HTC One XL on AT&T. Sprint also added a new HD Voice feature, which uses the phone’s dual-mic system to improve the sound quality when you’re in a call, background noise be gone and all that. Beats Audio, a staple of HTC’s mid to high-end devices, can also be found on the HTC EVO 4G LTE. But don’t expect Beats earbuds to come as part of the package.
Sprint will let you pre-order the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone starting on May 7, though it won’t be out until the beginning of summer, to coincide with the rollout of the Sprint’s fresh 4G LTE network. The phone is expected to retail for $200 with the usual 2-year contract.
