HTC Evo 4G (photos)

As expected, Sprint announced its first 4G smartphone on the opening day of CTIA 2010: the HTC Evo 4G. Known by its codename, the Supersonic, this is the first 4G smartphone to launch in the United States using Sprint's WiMax network. Neither it's price nor release date were announced, but, according to Sprint, it expects to ship the device this summer.

Read more about the HTC Evo 4G announcement.

The HTC Evo 4G will run Android 2.1 out of the box, so you'll get such feature as Google Goggles, Google Earth, Google Earth, voice-to-text, and live wallpaper.

The HTC Evo 4G runs the newer HTC Sense user experience that was announced at Mobile World Congress 2010. This feature is called Leap, where you can pinch the home screen and it will then bring up all of your home screen panels, allowing you to easily "leap" to the screen you want. It's simple and it works.

Another new feature of the revamped HTC Sense is the capability to organize your contacts by groups. You can have one for work, friends, family--whatever you please. The new interface looks good and it's easy to add and remove contacts from a group.

The HTC Evo 4G will support several Sprint services, including Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, Sprint NFL Mobile, and Nascar Sprint Mobile.

With such a large display, you get a pretty roomy keyboard for composing messages.

The Evo 4G's Android Webkit browser offers visual bookmarks, as well as support for the pinch-to-zoom gesture. Along with the unveiling of the Evo 4G, Sprint also announced at CTIA that it will increase the size of its 4G network, which can provide speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G, to a handful of new markets in 2010, including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, and St. Louis.

On its back, you will find the Evo 4G's 8-megapixel camera, as well as a kickstand for propping the device on a flat surface so you can view videos, photos, and so on.

In addition to the 8-megapixel camera on its back, you also get a 1.3-megapixel camera on front. Sprint does not offer a video chat client, but the carrier is releasing the SDK today so that developers can create an apps.

Below the screen, the Evo 4G has the standard Android navigation controls: Home, menu, back, and search.

Like the HTC HD2, the Evo 4G is a rather large device because of its 4.3-inch touch screen. However, we're still impressed that it keeps such a thin profile. This is the right side of the smartphone, which features a volume rocker.

Here is a side shot of the kickstand. There will also be a video dock accessory available for purchase, which adds the capability to charge the device while viewing multimedia and includes a remote control.

On the bottom of the phone, you'll find a Micro-USB port and an HDMI port.