HTC's One series of Androids are currently generating some of the most buzz of any smartphones around; based on our experiences with them, we can certainly understand why. The most recent model to be announced is the EVO 4G LTE for Sprint's new LTE network, featuring some upgraded One XL hardware. Sprint revealed the EVO 4G LTE just a couple weeks ago, and while it announced that pre-orders for the phone would open on May 7, it didn't have an actual retail launch date to share. A new rumor suggests that there will only be a short delay between the start pre-orders and retail sales, with the EVO 4G LTE arriving on May 18.
Back when the EVO 4G LTE still looked like it might be launched as the EVO One, we heard a rumor that said the phone wouldn't see its release until sometime in early June, with both June 6 and June 10 floated as possibilities.
Without knowing more about the source behind this new rumor, and how close he or she may be to the release plans, it's difficult to weigh its validity. Certainly, there's nothing about the idea of a May 18 release that sounds particularly unreasonable, but we can say the same about those June dates, as well. For the moment, it's just one more to consider as we wait for official confirmation.
We recently learned that Virgin Mobile would soon be offering the HTC EVO 3D (as the HTC EVO V 4G), and now a reliable source has revealed that sister brand Boost Mobile will begin carrying yet another Sprint handset, the HTC EVO Design 4G. This pair of smartphones will be the most premium devices ever offered by the two prepaid carriers, which have only recently begun to sell Android smartphones -- and have only very recently started stocking mid- to high-end phones like the LG Marquee (Boost) and Motorola Triumph (Virgin). Virgin has also been tipped to add the HTC One V to its lineup.
As for the EVO Design 4G -- long known by its codename, Kingdom -- consumers can expect the same 1.2GHz processor and 768MB of RAM pushing a four-inch, 960x540 qHD display as found on the Sprintversion of the handset. However, this WiMax-capable phone, with dual five-megapixel and 1.3-megapixel cameras, will apparently run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and not 2.3 Gingerbread as with Sprint's Design 4G. Hotspot capabilities should also be available.
Look for Boost's EVO Design 4G to launch before the end of this quarter.
With everyone else showing-off their latest quad-core gear at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year, LG wasn't about to be left out, and revealed its Optimus 4X HD running an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip. With specs like a 720p 4.7-inch screen and gigabyte of RAM, the 4X sounds a lot like HTC's One X, but the LG model gets the benefit of a bulkier 2150mAh battery. We've already seen the Ice Cream Sandwich handset go up for pre-order, on the understanding that the model would see its release sometime around June. So far, though, we've been looking at the 4X HD in black; some new imagery has arrived that shows a previously unseen white version of the handset.
Your feelings on the new white 4X will be a matter of personal taste, but the color change does seem to have the effect of making the phone's already-thin bezel seem even less conspicuous than it did in the original black.
We haven't heard anything about the potential availability of this new version of the phone, and if we'll be seeing it land alongside the black 4X this June or of it will trickle-out somewhere later down the line. For the moment, we've yet to see retailers expand pre-order options to include this edition.
A couple days ago, we took a look at a video interview featuring Microsoft evangelist Nuno Silva, in which he responded to a question about the move to Windows Phone 8 Apollo by explaining that Microsoft had confirmed that all existing Windows Phone 7 handsets would be seeing software updates to WP8. That was interesting to hear, especially since it hadn't been seeming like that would be the case. It wasn't long though, before other sourcesstarted speaking out in denial of Silva's claims. Just how did the story get so tangled-up? Silva's now setting the record straight, hoping to correct his statement.
In a new blog post, Silva takes responsibility for the confusion, and says that he was thinking aboutWindows Phone 8 app compatibility when he made that comment about phone hardware. Considering just how Silva originally broke the "news", that makes a lot of sense; he casually spoke then of what Microsoft had said regarding the matter as if it were already a matter of public record.
If anything, Silva's embarrassing little incident is a reminder to all of us to carefully consider just how we're getting our news. Comments from a company affiliate, no matter how confident they may seem in their statements, aren't necessarily gospel. They may make for good rumors, but we need to remember to treat them with the appropriate weight.
The Ascend P1 is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and packs a dual-core 1.5GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 Cortex-A9 processor, 4.3-inch super AMOLED display with 960x540 resolution eight-megapixel main camera, and Dolby Mobile 3.0 + 5.1 surround sound technology. It is 7.69mm thin and "will be available in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia through operators and retailers by May 2012, in Latin America from June 2012 and in Europe from summer, with availability in other markets to follow".
