Handsets

Sprint To Launch The HTC EVO 4G LTE On May 18th? [Rumor]

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There’s almost no disputing that the HTC EVO 4G LTE is one of the greatest devices Android has to offer, and one Sprint is no doubt banking on. You may remember back when Sprint officially announced the availability of the HTC EVO 4G LTE on their network, but failed to give a solid launch date other than “Q2” of this year. After the HTC EVO 3D, and the HTC EVO 4G before it both releasing during the month of June, most of us were expecting Sprint to stick with that traditional release date.

Well, we’re now hearing that Sprint may be pushing up that date, launching the device a month early — May 18th to be exact — if sources over at PhoneDog are to be believed. This release date doesn’t sound too far fetched although you would think Sprint would want this device to launch a little closer to the release date of the original EVO, seeing how those customers will be due for an upgrade by then.

Friday, May 18th, also happens to be the very same day the LG Optimus Elite will arrive in Sprint retails stores. Looks like Sprint is planning for a big summer with the Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper all launching within weeks of each other. Which will you guys pick?

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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79 Comments

  1. Hmmmm….. Seems nice however I’m looking for the phone to follow AKA the “Note” 

  2. I am going with galaxy nexus. Better cummunity and developer support over next 2 years and I dislike skins like sense.

    1.  I rather go with hardware than software… Galaxy Nexus’ processor isn’t the best out there, and although I adore the stock Google experience, I can get the same experience with CM9 .. ;)

      1. I have been using cm7 for awhile. I tried some different roms, but kept going back. It took awhile to workout most of the kinks. The camera and the kickstand may possibly sway me. Both processors are fast enough for me and the evo’s 16 gb memory w/ expand and the nexus’s 32 gd are plenty.

      2. Galaxy Nexus’s processor isn’t the WORST either ;D

      3.  There hasn’t been a solid CM9/AOSP build on the Evo 3D yet. Me personally, I’m going for the Galaxy Nexus. The Evo LTE is nice but I’m taking a break from Sense.

        1.  The evo3d unfortunately turned out to be a joke development wise. Everything you see on xda for their roms is sense based (until most recently when they started getting a few aosp roms)
          But the thing that’s keeping me from going to the Galaxy Nexus right away is the battery life/screen on time on Verizon’s Gnex. Its not that great imo – I get better life out of my NS4G than I see on their battery posts.

        2. Interesting thought man. I was thinking the same thing about Sense. I dont hate it but prefer a pure android experience. I might be swayed by the camera and kickstand though.  5mp’s doesnt really cut it these days.

    2. The OG EVO has great support still, I’m rocking a pretty stable ICS AOKP build on my EVO. 
      The reason why the EVO 3D doesn’t have a lot of support in the community is because it wasn’t the greatest seller, so not as many people have one. Where as, the LTE EVO is the true successor to the EVO 4G and will have good support of the next couple of years. 

      1. Actually its because of the 3D proprietary drivers that are hampering development. They need a leak or source from HTC in order to get camera and stuff working but aside from that there are some great ROMs for the EVO 3D. Will even be better (On par with OG dev) for the EVO LTE. Many of the greatest dev’s on XDA have already stated they are getting the EVO 4G LTE.

  3. Sounds about the right time for it to come out with pre-orders a week before that rumored date.
    I mean, if they were going to release it around June, then why would they give a months time for pre-orders? That’s too much time to be waiting…
    I’ll be having this baby in my hands soon enough..

  4. Yes Yes Yes!!! The sooner, the better. I’m counting the days before I put my current Evo Old-G to rest.

  5. Until I get Sprint LTE in my area, I don’t see the need for me to upgrade.  I got burned with the OG Evo 4G so I’m not doing that again.

    Anyone else think it makes absolutely NO sense to release an LTE phone when there is no LTE to speak of when Sprint is concerned??

    1. Um… I don’t think so. 4G LTE is what Sprint will be rolling out from now on. You don’t have to worry about LTE becoming outdated. I’d upgrade to have a nice phone, and use 4G where 4G is…

      1. No thanks.  I [edit: got WiMax so 3G is a downgrade], I will not be getting this phone until I believe I can use it to its fullest.

        It would be like getting a gaming PC and simply surfing the web, or getting an F1 race-car and only driving it to work and back. 

        The thought of owning something that is potentially better but it’s gimped is not a good buy for me.  And like I said, I went through that with the original Evo 4G.

        1. so uhhh what phone will you get since all their good phones are going to have 4g radios?

          1. I’ve got WiMax so I’d be downgrading to 3G unitl Sprint gets its sh!t together.  I’m good right now… k thnx

        2. “I will not be getting this phone until I believe I can use it to its fullest.” Well then, depending on your area, you’ll probably be waiting quite awhile as Sprint isn’t likely to roll out LTE to any “small” areas or locations with Wimax. Have fun waiting. I’ll be enjoying my next phone (Galaxy Nexus or Evo 4G LTE) even without LTE while you’re sitting there all “doom-and-gloom”.

          1. You really think they won’t roll out LTE to major cities that already have WiMax?

          2.  Not for quite a while – targets suggest 2014

          3. I’m not sitting here all “doom-and-gloom” – just being realistic.  Enjoy that extra fee for LTE phones as well http://www.androidcentral.com/sprint-tep-going-11-lte-devices-come-june-16-could-be-day-lte-goes-live

          4. The increased feee you are referring to is for Total Equipment Protection (TEP) on all phones with LTE and a SRP of $549.00 or more. Read the article before you give missinformation. TEP is a choice, not a requirement.

      2. Unless you don’t get LTE until Sprint starts deploying on the 800 band. 

    2. no…. it’s an upgrade either way not JUST the radio… would you buy this phone if it were 3g only and just flat out had no 4g to speak of? I still would, its one hell of a phone

      1. The real draw for me is the 4G speeds.  All other things are marginal (if any) increases to my 4G, Nvidia Tegra 2 powered Moto Photon 4G.  I’ve got WiMax so I’m good – it’d be an actual downgrade for me to go back down to 3G while I wait for LTE…

    3. The camera, display, speed boost, and promise of WAY better battery life should be enough of anyone to upgrade; the promise of 4g is just icing on the cake.  If you do not have access to the wimax network now, upgrading to this phone should not stop you from upgrading.  I personally have 4g coverage here in Denver at my apartment, and I plan on pre-ordering the phone myself.

      1. Increases in camera, display, speed boost, and battery life are all marginal really (if any). And an extra charge for LTE phones isn’t helping my decision either http://www.androidcentral.com/sprint-tep-going-11-lte-devices-come-june-16-could-be-day-lte-goes-live

        1. As @facebook-1260096357:disqus pointed out, TEP is OPTIONAL. Not required, needed, or even remotely necessary to own the phone. You’d know that if you A) are/were a Sprint customer, B) did a simple Google search taking all of 1 minute to find the info, C) read just a few of the comments in that article you linked to. Or did you just read the headline and mindlessly think “Oh noess!”?

  6. Niether, Sprint sucks. Big Red all the way

    1. Was asking Sprint customers -_-

      1. LTEVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        1. EVOLT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          1. no, that is not its name :P

          2. HTCEVO4GLTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    2. sprint has a lot going for it. Fully unlimited, way cheaper than big red or at&t and a promising lte network. Unfortunately they have awful data speeds (wich may be fixed by the updated network)

    3. you sprint to suck big red what? that sounds nasty.

    4.  I’ve looked into VZW and they can’t match the price that i’m paying for Sprint. And that’s even with taking hits like lowering minutes, a 2gig cap on data, only unlimited VZW to VZW instead of unlimited Mobile to Mobile any Carrier, and Nights & Wknds starting at 9pm instead of 7pm. VZW does one nice feature that sprint does not have and that is the unlimited calling to 10 specific numbers (as long as they’re in the US of A).

      1.  But sprint has anytime any mobile. So you can call any mobile on any other carrier and its considered a mobile to mobile.

        Any Mobile, Anytime: Unlimited domestic
        calls from the Sprint network to and from ANY U.S. mobile phone
        regardless of carrier. Any network, any time. Applies when directly
        dialing/receiving standard voice calls between domestic wireless numbers
        as determined when the call is placed using indep. 3rd party and Sprint
        databases. Stnd. roaming rates/restrictions apply. Only available with
        select Sprint Plans and while on the Nationwide Sprint or Nextel
        National Networks (excludes calls to voicemail, 411, and other indirect
        methods).

        So who would want to be limted to 10 numbers only?

  7. @Chris Chavez    OG EVO owners have been eligible since april 1st… 22 month cycle so we are all just waiting now, anytime would be a good release date :)

    1. Holy crap. That makes sense then! That’s why my contract was up a full 2 months early. It all makes sense now… 

      1. yup, i think they have even more recently bumped the upgrade cycle up to 18 months but not sure if it’s for everybody or just some special “gold” customer or something

        the contracts themselves still last a 24 months though

        1. i think gold customers get a 12 month cycle. 

          1. not since last year, (they still have their last anual upgrade till the end of 2012 but NO MORE after that)

            i think sprint has a gold / silver tiering system now where gold gets 18 month upgrade and silver gets 22 months, i’d have to look more into it though, all i know is i’m eligible for an upgrade as of April 1st

          2. oh i see. I knew about the whole gold silver thing but i swear that it said gold members get a new upgrade every year

          3. Actually its every 20 months. (Sprint rep)

      2. Haven’t been payin attention to those emails, have u? Lol

  8. God i hope so im not sure how much longer i can keep using my samsung moment
    3hrs of battery life SMH

    1. Uhh… you’re doing something wrong if you’ve got only 3 hours of battery life. I don’t even have the best battery life and I get about 10 or so hours. If you haven’t already, go to SDX ( http://forum.sdx-developers.com/ ), root your phone, slap 2.2.2 on there, and get some better battery life!  :)

      1. Not sure if youve ever used a moment but even from the day i got it i had trouble making it through 6 hours. I think that there is a problem with the standby because i literally lose the same battery if its in standby as i do when im actually using it. I have thought about rooting it before but i wasnt sure if it was worth doing it on my 3 year old phone

        1. I currently have a Moment as my day to day phone and have never had such dismal battery life. Seriously, root it. You’ll get much more usability out of the phone than the crap 2.1 that Sprint/Samsung left us with. Data lockups, random airplane mode glitches, and the like were all common problems even with the latest 2.1 update that Sprint released to us. That’s been a thing of the past since devs ported several 2.2 ROMs from other phones. Although I’ve never achieved it, there have been people that reached 18+ hours with the Moment under “normal” usage.

          1. that sounds good because i can make it from about 7:00 to around 11:30 without using it at all and it will be at 30-15%

  9. Launch early, launch often. Those of us still with the EVO 4G can wait until June.. meanwhile, others that are due early can jump on it.. why not if it’s possible?

    I can wait until Juneish.

  10. You guys always get your Sprint facts wrong. Sprint customers are on a 22-month upgrade schedule, so anyone who bought the EVO 4G at launch is already eligible for their upgrade.

    1. True, but just keep in mind that Sprint is now on a 20 month upgrade cycle, at least from last October on. 
      https://manage.sprintpcs.com/specialoffers/RebateWelcome.do 

      1. Yeah, I though it strange that my contract was up like 3 months before my 2 year anniversary date. 

        1.  I don’t think your Contract was up. It’s your eligibility for a full 2ry renewal discount. It’s Sprints way of attempting to snag subscribers back before they’re able to leave without a scrape.

    2. Correct. I got my evo like a month after the launch and I have been eligible for a couple of months now. 

  11. Wish my contract was up! Would love to trade my Evo3D for one of these.

    1.  You can buy up or out your contract I forgot what they called it. I paid $45 to get an upgrade now So I can get the G Nex and my upgrade wasnt originally due until august 10.

  12. I get my upgrade on the 1st of next month and am preordering my Evo LTE the first chance I get (5/7) lol. Can not wait for my new beast device! 

  13. i will wait for the samsung gs3 to be release and then i’ll make a decision between these two .

    1. lol yea you will be able to get it around christmas in the US.

      1. Or MLK Jr Day in 2013 Lol

  14. I had a Evo 4G and loved CM7 now that I have the Evo 3D and rooting is a pain and there is no fully supposed CM7 or CM9.

    I will wait a few months to see if this one gets better support from the CM team.

  15. I want the GSIII.

    1. If rumors are true, the S3 will be a “minor upgrade” from the S2 — Supposedly it will be the equivalent of the iPhone 4 to iPhone 4s upgrade.  I’m about 90% sure that I will be going with the new evo!

  16. I still want this. I’ll probably wait a few weeks after it’s released to get it though. Just received a fresh OG EVO last month, so it can hold me over for awhile actually. Hoping this launches with little to no bugs. 

    1. You prob wont find this device weeks after. might be a wait like the OG Evo.

      1. I had to live through that, lol seems like it was only yesterday. I still like my Evo.

  17. Makes sense (pun intended) Sprint would push the next evo out this fast
    so they can launch the sgslll when Samsung finally releases that device.

    Its too bad they had to wait so long to launch gnex on Sprint, its going to get lost in the mix of new phones with better specs.

  18. Definitely upgrading from 3VO to LTEVO. The design has grown on me to the point that I really do like it. The 1280 IPS screen will be better than any screen to date. The pixel density and IPS technology is the same as the iPhone ultra sharp retina display and from tests the camera is even better. I’ll be first in line to preorder on May 7th.

  19. if this is true, this 3d is going on ebay/CL asap! lol

  20. Very cool, however, Sprint needs to get their speeds up to par. My speed has decreased so much that my phone (Evo 4g) is nearly worthless anymore. My wife works for Sprint and apparently they are addressing that issue by adding more data towers, so I hope that fixes it. 

  21. I hope they let me early upgrade!!!!

  22. Any chance this phone is International

    1. Not from what’s been published

    2. get the HTC One X if you want the international version. No kickstand but a quad core proc.

  23. Unless you are smoking crack, the EVO LTE all the way!!!

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