Sprint. Simultaneous voice and data. Two things that, until now, have never gone together. But with the HTC Evo 4G (we've mentioned you can get it June 4 for $199, right?), it's finally a reality, bringing it in line with AT&T and T-Mobile. (If you're wondering what the holdup's been, it's a technical thing.) There is a caveat, however: Simultaneous voice and data only works over 4G and WiFi. So if you're in a 3G-only city, you're out of luck unless you're on WiFi. But it's better than nothing, and it's long overdue, and it's demoed after the break.
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Very nice...Pre-ordering today!
I want to be able to feel the phone in my hand first before I pre-order it. Then again if I wait til release day then I might not get it for another month. I guess I should just pre order it now since I've already messed with the HD2 and they're the same size. I guess it's just a matter of if I want to give up my Palm Pre or not. To be honest I love WebOS but the Pre is too small, too slow, and too glitchy. Well I guess I will just pre order the EVO then because that phone is too awesome.
Sprint just announced there will be an additional $15 per month fee for the privlidge of simultaneous voice and data.
They have also added the following fees to their EVO plan:
$5.00 monthly battery usage and recharging
$10.00 monthly access to the HDMI out port
$10.00 monthly sense UI overlay
$15.00 monthly ability to disable sense
$25.00 administrative billing fee for extra ink to print all of the additional fees
Oh and I am charging a $10.00 fee for you reading this post. Please send me cash immediately.
Bitter much... The new fee is roughly 33 cents a day thats less than your daily cup of coffee (I know infomercial got stuck in my head) and your getting something that is by far the most incredible device out to date. I do understand they have given there competitors some fodder but i think in the end those who really want this phone will get there $10 or 33 cents a day
Sprint's competitors wouldn't dare compare prices and packages, even after this $10 increase. Why do think AT&T and VZ don't offer all inclusive unlimited packages? Because it is more profitable to offer talk, then text, then data, then navigation separately. Any dumbass can see that Sprint still offers the most service (and 4G) for $79/mo when VZ and ATT are charging $89+/mo for similar, but less service.
You are the biggest loser in history! Even with Sprint charging $69.99+10 a month, it is still significantly cheaper than comparable VZ and AT&T plans. Considering the amount of data-intensive features and apps on this device, I don't blame Sprint for charging market-prices for a package of unlimited data, talk, text, and navigation, all things that VZ and AT&T charge separately for!
Instead of reacting thoughtfully, I want to be the first to be "outraged" about an extra $10/month when Sprint's competitors are charging $89-$119 for less than unlimited services! You are cool.
If you dont like it then stay on your 3g device....and enjoy that. As for me, I am pre-ordering today! $10 extra a month for 4g sounds like a great deal considering all it can do...plus it is still way cheaper than AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon...you get the point....but if cheap is what you like, I heard Cricket Wireless is available in all 50 states now...go and enjoy
So you can do voice and data over 4G without using wifi?
YES, YOU CAN. How many times does it need to be stated?
I think more people are upset that they have to pay this even though they are not in a 4G area. For me I am not in a 4G area and won't be for along time. Probably not until 2012 at the earliest. Our complaints is that we shouldn't be charged for something we are not even offered. So if you are telling us that the extra $10 is for the right to own the EVO and great hardware, that is different, but they are talking about data and 4G. And $120 extra a year on a bill is a lot to some people who are trying to cut down on their spending.
The $10 is not because of 4G connectivity. Has nothing to do with it. Sprint for years has charged $69/mo for services that it's competitors have charged $89+ for! Take into account how data intensive device the Evo is (free TV, radio, Skype, t-b-t navigation, Adobe Flash, Google Goggles, YouTube HQ, Quik, Video Chat, etc), apart from 4G speed and considering the processing power and ability to run endless background apps on this device, Sprint would be giving away a ridiculous amount more data per month than ATT and VZ would be at their higher price! It makes sense to charge $10 more, even without 4G. You are still getting more than your money's worth without 4G, just not as fast. Has nothing to do with 4G, has everything to do with the Evo.
If you don't live in 4G city now, you probably will before 2011! "Later this year, Sprint expects to launch service in multiple markets, including Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. Today, Sprint 4G covers nearly 40 million people and expects to have up to 120 million people covered by the end of 2010. View 4G coverage for all Sprint 4G markets at www.sprint.com/4G. "
People who are trying to cut down on their spending should not buy brand new expensive phones... This is like the never-ending complaints about having to pay a few dollars for an app. How do people afford a phone worth a couple hundred dollars if 10$ more on the bill is too much?!?
If you are trying to cut down on your spending, don't you dare go look for comparable plans on AT&T or VZ, because you guaranteed to pay MORE than just $10 over $69/mo, with no 4G!
It is not about the $10 a month. $10 a month for 4G service ok... $10 price increase for all plans ok... but $10 for the right to have an EVO. Thats crap. Dont tell me the phone is $199 + $10 a month and try and hide the cost. Make the phone $240 more and admit the phone
is $439.
And I dont but the data usage crap. I can suck up just as much data with another phone or I could be on wifi most of the time adn use little data.
It feels like I am dealing with a used car salesman rather than a phone company.
What can I do to get you into this phone today... let me check with my manager... I can spread the payments out over 2 years to make it look cheaper.
I am in a 4G city (Austin, Tx) and I will be getting this phone. But the $10 dollar data fee does kind of irritate me, but not enough to not get this phone. What does irritate me more is the $29.99 wifi hot spot access fee. I think if sprint wasn't so short sighted and eager to ge money they'd realize if they dropped the data access fee and made the WiFi fee go away they could draw in a lot more customers and make more money in the end with this phone and it's awesome features.
Give it about a week or two after release and I guarantee you some like-minded developer will provide the world with an answer.
Or you can always just root and use wireless tether once its optimized to work with the Evo.
I agree. I was a bit annoyed once I heard about the $10 fee for 4G...
But $29.99 for Wifi Hotspot...are you freaking kidding me Sprint?
EDIT: Wait a minute...the $10 4G fee ISN'T OPTIONAL? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME
I am in San Antonio, TX - the issue is not the $10 charge on 4G but charging people who are not even in a 4G city is ridiculous.
To say it's because "..Evo users will use a lot of data" is bologna. Pre, Pixi, Hero and Moment users i'm sure all use a lot of data, doesn't matter the phone. ON TOP of that, I do the vast majority of my data over Wi-Fi to save battery so what am I paying $10 for??
You must realize that Sprint has been pushing WiMax (4G) as this is the only thing that only they offer at this time. It is what separates them from their competition. They have been expanding at pretty good speed and it is imperative that they continue this. The $10 fee will help Sprint fund that rollout. I have no doubt they will do that as they need to. Seeing as how this is still cheaper than 3G plans on Verizon and AT&T, I can't see it being a bad thing or a bad business practice. It is like an investment, so to speak. Remember that the first iPhone plans were crazy expensive without much 3G coverage from AT&T.
yea this is a pile of bull*****t on sprint part, charging for the right to have the evo, then just give us the option to get the n1 instead, but no the would make them a customer friendly company and they do not want that...
Just got back from BB and pre-ordered mine and the sales rep said he already done 18 other pre-orders before mine. The store opened @ 9am and I was there at 9:30am so it seems to be really popular so far. I am in Houston and fortunately for me there is 4G coverage but I would have bought this phone any way. Right now I have a release date Pre which has been a great phone but I could not pass this up.
1 - The $10 charge for the privilege of using this phone on a 3G network is bogus. Paying $10 for 4G isn't (but that is not their reasoning). No one is going to go data nuts over 3G lol. And costing it out over the 2 year contract, that is a lot of money.
2 - People have various priorities in life and buying a $199 phone is one thing, but buying one that costs $199 + 240 is completely different.
3 - I am not sold on all the plan comparisons, because those can be manipulated in some respects. Such as, I don't car about Sprint TV, Nascar stuff, and GPS Navigation. Yes, I get those for free, but I didn't ask for them. Oh, and the reality is nothing is free per se, so technically everyone is paying for those 'free services :)
All Sprint had to do was say $10 for 4G and none of us would be talking about this. The charge for hotspots is high to me, and I may have added it to my plan if it was 10-15 bucks (for the plan, not per line).
Wait Wait this post doesn't seem to make sense?
Simultaneous voice and data. Two things that, until now, have never gone together. But with the HTC Evo 4G (we've mentioned you can get it June 4 for $199, right?), it's finally a reality, bringing it in line with AT&T and T-Mobile. (If you're wondering what the holdup's been, it's a technical thing.)
>>> There is a caveat, however: Simultaneous voice and data only works over 4G and WiFi.
>>> So if you're in a 3G-only city, you're out of luck unless you're on WiFi.
These two statements just contradicted each other. You can be on 3G and Wifi and do data and voice same time but the first statement says the same thing? You have to be on 4G and Wifi unless there's punctuation missing? And I'm missing something?
I believe the 4G and Wifi comment is a punctuation problem, otherwise, as you pointed out, there is ZERO difference from their situation on 3G :)
What it is saying is that you can do simultaneous voice and data with 4G, you can do it with WIFI, you cannot do it with 3G.
Just to clear things up, Voice on a Sprint (or CDMA) phone while using Wifi has been around for quite a while. I could do it on my Pre, can do it on my Hero, and will be able to do it on the Evo.
The big thing here is cellular data while using voice. Wifi has been around for years.
I think the real problem with the "$10 extra premium" fee is the fact that ever since the rumors for this phone began, the disscusions were about whether or not Sprint would charge for 4G coverage and whether those outside of 4G coverage would be exempt. What's happening now is Sprint, after answering questions regarding this issue for months, finally stumbled on a way to charge everyone, by claiming the added fee as a premium use issue. Now it just looks like they are adding the fee to mask the real price of the phone,or in the alternative,people outside 4G are being charged for something they can't use.
Of course, I'll still be buying this phone :)
Hold on one second...
How could they demo 4G in New York if there is no 4G in New York?
Temporary tower...? It wasn't really 4G, it was wifi?
I'm 100% on board with the tech, but they were demonstrating 4g in a city that even their own website acknowledges as having service "in the near future"
Am I the only one that caught that?
They installed a tower in the building for the event... do you really think a company as big as Sprint will lie to all the media... PLEASE!!!
First off WiMax is already sort of Wifi, but that aside speed test at the event gave them a pretty close (about 4.5Mb down / 1Mb up) representation of a real world WiMax network, even though they said it was "throttled down" for the event.
I think the real problem with the "$10 extra premium" fee is the fact that ever since the rumors for this phone began, the disscusions were about whether or not Sprint would charge for 4G coverage and whether those outside of 4G coverage would be exempt. What's happening now is Sprint, after answering questions regarding this issue for months, finally stumbled on a way to charge everyone, by claiming the added fee as a premium use issue. Now it just looks like they are adding the fee to mask the real price of the phone,or in the alternative,people outside 4G are being charged for something they can't use.
Of course, I'll still be buying this phone :)
can't you do simultaneous voice and data with wi-fi already with some devices? i know i can with my pre at home on my wi-fi network...so if you're not in a 4g area, its not really that big of a deal. still getting the evo though will have 4g coverage this summer.
how does sprint's coverage compare to verizon? Better? On par? I'm looking at getting this phone but a phone, no matter how spiffy, is useless if my coverage sucks. should be fine in northern california right?
Check out the coverage maps on sprint.com http://coverage.sprint.com/
Shows 4g in the legend, but don't know that its updated on the maps. Surprising, this is pretty accurate!
just compared the sprint coverage with verizon coverage. no contest verizon wins. ah well. guess i'll just wait until something like this comes to verizon. probably in a few months by how trends are going.
The problem with the $10 fee is that it makes me want to wait till I have WiMax in my area to buy the thing. I live in Los Angeles, so maybe WiMax is 6 months away, so that's $60 bucks I'll save. Which I hope by then they: 1. Implimented Froyo and 2. Fixed all the intitial bugs (pre and post Froyo).
I have a feeling they wanted to make connecting to WiMax seamless so there's no login, thus you can't control users and you have to just assume if you have a WiMax capable device you will use it. So just charge everyone who has a device eligible for the service no matter what.
I'm in the LA area too and am contemplating this as well. Although $60 may be an afterthought if I saw the thing in person.