The HTC EVO 4G LTE: Sprint’s Newest LTE Phone Makes Its Debut In NYC

Yesterday afternoon in New York City, HTC & Sprint invited a number of media outlets to a special event to unveil a new device that will revitalize its EVO line of smart phones. We knew it was coming-  the launch of the HTC EVO 4G LTE.

More sleekness, style, and functionality.

The handset will be available sometime in Q2 for $199. One of the first things that customers will notice is that HTC has replaced the polycarbonate shell of its One X brethren with a sleeker aluminum case with a matte black metal finish. The vast majority of the front of the device is monopolized by a huge, bright 4.7-inch 720p HD display, flanked by 3 capacitive-touch soft keys and a very thin speaker grill, along with a 1.3MP front-facing camera on the top.

The back of the device is a superb blend of fashion and function. The bottom two-thirds of the back is made out of black aluminum, while the top portion, which includes an 8MP camera, is protected by a removable polycarbonate plastic back. Slip that off to reveal a number of antennae, including an NFC (compatible with the pre-loaded Google Wallet app, among others). There, you will also find a microSD slot, which allows you to expand the phone’s built-in 16GB of storage to 32GB- a welcome feature for the multimedia fanatics. According to HTC, the dual-material rear was put in place to make it easier for users to position their hands while taking photos, because you can feel the difference on the back without looking.

More battery life and a kick (stand)

Paying homage to the original EVO 4G, the materials are split by a strikingly bright red, spring-loaded kickstand. HTC corrected an EVO4G design flaw by placing the kickstand so that the phone can be positioned on either side. This enables the user to charge the device while consuming  media hands-free. The EVO 4G LTE should also impress users with its extensive battery life, courtesy of a 2,000mAh battery. This is a huge improvement of EVO 3D’s 1750mAh battery.

Say cheese!

HTC has put a lot of emphasis on the EVO 4G LTE’s picture-taking ability in many ways. It boasts an 8MP camera with an f/2.0 lens that lets in 44% more light than other leading smart phone cameras.  It also takes pictures amazingly fast thanks to zero-lag HTC ImageSense technology. By pressing and holding down the device’s dedicated camera button, you can snap up to 4 photos per second with blast image capture. Also nice is the phone’s ability to capture still images while recording a video. Additionally, the flash on the rear automatically adjusts based on distance and light level, so that your photos don’t white themselves out.

To sum it up, it’s a mean machine.

All in all, with a lightning fast 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, Beats by Dre HD audio technology, a high quality camera and svelte design features, it looks like The Now Network appears to have a real winner on their hands, and a very worthy successor to the EVO 4G name. Again, the HTC EVO 4G LTE will be available for $199 at an unspecified time in Q2 of 2012. If you need something to mark in your calendar, however, the May 7th pre-sale date seems like a pretty darn good place to start.

War Never Changes

“There is no problem that can’t be solved by the use of High Explosives”
-Anonymous Bumper Sticker

As asinine as that comment sounds, it rings so true when discussing the ongoing conflict between smart phone Juggernauts Apple and Google (and others), the creators of the Linux-based Android operating system, and the manufacturers that use it.

In the beginning of heavy competition between smart phone producers (and all through his career), late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was known to steal/”appropriate” current and emerging technologies and “Innovate” – a favorite term of Jobs’ – on said tech, usually adding Apple flair here and there, giving it the semblance of something never-before-seen. Palm/Handspring, Samsung, and other manufacturers were not exempt from this plan of attack.

Cut to the birth of the first iPhone

– truly a revolution in cellphone design (If you don’t count that whole, pesky Palm Treo/Windows Mobile phones/phones that functioned and looked like the iPhone that debuted before… just saying). According to Jobs, it would change the world for business and personal users the world over – and to a large extent, it did not fail in that regard.

What the launch of that first device REALLY did, was to lay the groundwork for future battles on the emerging smartphone front lines. What isn’t widely known is though, the battles WOULD NOT be fought by software developers, or graphic designers, or model makers attempting a revolution in design, but by patent lawyers.

THERMONUCLEAR, Mr. Jobs? Really?

Later in his career, Mr. Jobs was quoted saying, “Google, you (insert expletive here) ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off. Grand theft.” Jobs swore he would “spend my last dying breath” and “every penny” in Apple’s coffers “to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this.”

The problem with the state of nuclear proliferation is that you’re not the only one with the weapons. Handset makers Samsung and Motorola, just to name a few, would launch their own attacks, stating that Apple isn’t as tech-forward and innovative as they say they are.

Seven BILLION??

If it proven in court (so far, to the tune of over Seven Billion Dollars – yes, Billion with a “B”) that Apple has launched these patent attacks while simultaneously basing said attacks on patent arguments that are shaky at best, according to most analysts, Apple stands to suffer incredible reputation damage, and worse for the shareholders, a huge erosion in its market share.

Someone with some sense had to take control.

Since taking over as Apple CEO 5 months ago, Tim Cook has begun to cultivate a new vision for the future. Reports are starting to trickle in that the Cupertino-based tech giant is looking to settle with their biggest opponent, Samsung, in federal court.

The strangest bit about all of this legal maneuvering and blustering is the oddly symbiotic relationship that Apple and Samsung share. Apple is blaming the Korean tech company for essentially stealing their designs, while Apple is Samsung’s largest customer, relying on Sammy for components for their wildly popular iPad and iPhone (most importantly, the screens for said devices).

Recently, Apple had been dealt a blow to their legal campaign that has pretty much insured that they will not win in any courtroom for years to come. In 1994, a newspaper company by the name of Knight Ridder, had a vision of the future in the “Fiddler/Knight Ridder tablet” – which, not-so-ironically enough, wins in the “obviousness” category, when compared to Apple’s later patent D’889 for the iPad, according to judge Lucy Koh.

According to ZDNet’s Jason Perlow:

“The North Korea vs. South Korea situation will resolve itself quicker.”

From an outsider’s point of view, it just looks like one big “My Dad can whoop your Dad!” “Nuh-uh!”. Actually, it’s more like “My closed source software was first before anything else and it can whoop your open-source software that you didn’t steal from us, but more people like!” “Pfft, Nuh-uh!”

In closing, Apple’s new CEO is looking to bring all this madness to a halt, and get down to actually innovating new devices and ideas, instead of just appropriating something that a person brought out before, as their own. Google, on the other hand, is going to just keep doing what they do, licensing their incredibly open software to multiple manufacturers, to keep chipping away at that Apple market share.

The sad part is, they’ll see each other in patent court again, we just don’t know when…

“War never changes…”
-actor Ron Perlman, narrating the intro to Fallout 3

Sources:
ZDNet.com

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-29/apple-s-war-on-android

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-vs-android-courtroom-war-174654091.html

http://www.androidauthority.com/iphone-vs-android-battle-67674/

 

Can your Phone Smoke a Windows Phone?

Microsoft competes in the world of smart phones, but it doesn’t seem like they have had as much luck with the Windows OS as Google (Android) and Apple (IOS).

That doesn’t mean they’re not going to try.

Last weekend Microsoft held a “Smoked by a Windows Phone Challenge” in all 14 of their stores.

The challenge: if your smart phone is faster than their Windows phone they will give you a limited edition Hunger Games PC worth $1000. If your phone happens to get “Smoked by a Windows Phone” then they will let you trade in your smart phone for a windows phone for free. They asked people who attended to sign on the dotted line to appear in an upcoming commercial in order to get the phone.

Microsoft seems pretty confident. Last year they held an “I’ve got $100 that says your phone isn’t as fast as a Windows phone.” challenge. In many cases the iPhone 4S beat it. Microsoft is trying again, determined that the new lineup of Windows phones will make them a top competitor in the world of smart phones.

Watch the video from that campaign.

What do you think? Will Microsoft stores be full of discarded Smart Phones or will they be giving out more Hunger Games PC’s than they can handle? Would you choose a Windows phone or an iPhone? We will all find out when (or if) Microsoft post the results of this challenge.

Regardless, my educated guess is that many Smart Phone users responded to the “Smoked by Windows Phone Challenge” with two simple words…”Challenge Accepted”.

Will Google Wallet Share Revenues To Get More Carriers On Board?

It’s not a done deal just yet, but Bloomberg is reporting that Google is seriously looking into implementing several changes to Google Wallet after garnering very little support from the major US carriers, according to leaked information disclosed on Wednesday. Having only ever earned support from Sprint, Google was said by Bloomberg to be looking into a revenue sharing system in order to get AT&T or Verizon offering support. The proposal would give the carriers a cut of the profits earned from Google Offers, coupons and various other deals.

According to the source, this was prompted in part due to the loss of Google Wallet co-creator Jonathan Wall and product manager Mark Freed-Finnegan who left to focus on their own mobile payment start up venture, Tappmo.

According to Bloomberg, Google was still optimistic and would “continue to work hard” on building up Google Wallet, company representative Nate Tyler stated, without confirming or denying the performance.

The Google Wallet project was intentionally modest from inception, starting with support solely on the Samsung Nexus S 4G on Sprint, but it has had little to no growth since. Outside of unlocked version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on AT&T, Sprint’s Google-branded phone is the only model currently cleared to use Wallet. Verizon, despite denials, blocks Google Wallet in what’s been widely seen as an attempt to shelter its preferred fledgling NFC payment system, Isis, from any competition on the network.

Isis may eventually see more overall success if it focuses on gaining the support of the three other top US carriers and the major financial institutions. Platform support might be another issue, since Google’s preferences for and current dependence on Android for Google Wallet severely limits its reach. Aside from the Nexus line, there are several devices available that support NFC, but no others can officially handle Google Wallet.

Some have expected that NFC might only gain widespread adoption if the Apple iPhone uses it, as it would be the first widely adopted smart phone to use the short-range wireless technology.

The Verdict is Still out on ATT’s Unlimited Plan

These days, it seems like it just doesn’t pay to have an unlimited mobile plan anymore.  Take an example given to us by AT&T Wireless:
In an ongoing legal case, our friends at AT&T Wireless just settled with a customer by the name of Mark Spaccarelli for $850, because his Unlimited Data plan (which was an older plan that he had been grandfathered in) was throttled down to a snail’s pace.
This has become the headache for numerous AT&T customers, who wanted to keep their supposed “unlimited” data plans from the time before all these tiered/throttled shenanigans.  It starts with the top 5% of a “Local Market’s” data users, being throttled down as soon as they hit a paltry 2.5gb in data usage.  In response to this issue, AT&T has issued a “Hard Cap” of 3gb – 3gb being the mark where data speed throttling starts – which is riling up their customer base further.

It just goes to show you… Don’t show your customers one thing, and give them another without their knowledge.
In the case of AT&T vs Spaccarelli, there has been an additional development:  Mr. Spaccarelli has not yet agreed to sit down with AT&T and finalize the settlement.  AT&T is taking action, threatening to cancel Mr. Spaccarelli’s service if an agreement cannot be reached.?This has to potential to become a complete PR nightmare for the wireless giant, whose customer satisfaction scores are trailing behind Verizon and Sprint – who has recently reclaimed the #1 spot, per JD Power and Associates – A complete resolution is (hopefully) forthcoming
It just goes to show you… Don’t show your customers one thing, and give them another without their knowledge.

Source: http://phonearena.com