With the bitter legal dispute between Apple and HTC still brewing, the latest casualty of the battle is the HTC EVO 4G LTE. The handset was added on to Sprint’s lineup of Android-powered devices back in April and was supposed to hit the shelves of the wireless carrier last May 18 but the handset sadly got held up at the US Customs while the International Trade Commission did a review and investigation of the handset. This was carried out because of the exclusion order put in place after Apple claimed that the HTC handset infringed on some of Apple’s patents.
To cut a long story short, the HTC EVO 4G LTE still managed to continue on its journey towards the shelves of Sprint after the International Trade Commission gave it the green light to do so. The nod of approval was only given to the handset after HTC was able to prove that the firmware of the HTC EVO 4G LTE has already been revisited and the offending code has already been removed.
And to appease the Sprint subscribers who had to wait longer than necessary for the HTC EVO 4G LTE to get to them, HTC and Sprint threw in a TPU case in the retail package of the handset when it initially became available off of the shelves.
As of the moment, the HTC EVO 4G LTE is the current flagship device of Sprint, well until the Samsung Galaxy S III becomes available, that is. The handset is included in the devices being offered by the carrier that are LTE-capable and would give Sprint subscribers ready access to the LTE network of the carrier once it gets lit up later this year.
Sprint launched the HTC EVO 4G LTE with a $199.99 price tag but now, it has become more affordable to get your hands on the handset. Sprint already gave the go-signal to slash the price point of the handset and the HTC EVO 4G LTE can now be had at Sprint-authorized retailers for only $129.99 provided that you sign a new two-year contract with the carrier. If you already have Sprint for your wireless provider of choice and want to upgrade to the HTC EVO 4G LTE, you still have the option to do so albeit at a slightly higher $149.99 price point.
As for the HTC EVO 4G LTE, the handset is one of the better performing smartphones in the Android ecosystem today and there are rumors that Sprint is getting ready to release a version of the handset with a white paint job. Under the hood, the circuitry of the handset is built around a QualComm MSM8960 SnapDragon chipset with a dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor and 1GB of RAM. The storage capacity of the handset comes up to 16GB with the option to have it expanded using the device’s dedicated microSD card slot. Its display on the other hand is a 4.7-inch SuperIPS lCD2 panel with a 720 x 1280 resolution while its camera department brings to the table a rear-facing 8MP shooter and a fornt-facing 1.3MPM video call cam. You can buy the HTC Evo 4G LTE starting at $129.
June 25, 2012 at 12:13 am
Which sprint facilities actually recognize the discount?
June 25, 2012 at 5:44 am
1.3? Pathetic. Really. I have the old Evo and love it’s overlay, hate it’s battery. And never use the front camera anymore because it sucks. So why should I get this new Evo if it’s got the same cam AND battery still ain’t as good as the Maxx? Because both the new Evo and the S3 remove the magnifying glass, I can’t quickly access all the voice commands from the easiest place possible. So I’m tempted to wait for the Maxx to come to Sprint and not jump on the S3 upgrade in July until maybe 6 months later. Maybe. Last time the Evo was a clear winner combined with Sprint’s advantages. Now it’s less clear. No carrier should create a situation where fans are forced to hold off purchases, word of mouth, etc.
June 25, 2012 at 8:14 am
The links in the article will direct you to the authorized retailers offering the discounted price.
June 26, 2012 at 9:52 am
Actually they only link to amazon. And sprint still hasn’t changed the price to 150 on their site. It’s still better to get directly through sprint since they give a rebate for your current phone (ie OG evo is $65).
June 26, 2012 at 9:54 am
Well I would certainly go with the better deal that benefits you the most. : ) In most cases, Amazon beats the carrier price and/or deal – but not always.