HTC EVO 4G Could Be Coming to Verizon with LTE

Sprint made headlines last week when it announced the HTC EVO 4G, the first smartphone with WiMAX. According to an unconfirmed report, Verizon Wireless is going to be offering its own version of this device with its 4G standard LTE.

The EVO 4G is a very high-end Android OS smartphone with a 4.3-inch, WVGA touchscreen and 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. Its feature set meets or exceeds virtually every other smartphone available today, so a report that it might be on its way to Verizon is sure to make that carrier's customers take notice.

However, there is plenty of room for doubt.

An LTE Smartphone?
Sprint's version will use its 4G standard WiMAX, which is already available in many large U.S. cities. Verizon's version will reportedly use its LTE network, which this carrier is still testing, but will begin widespread commercial availability near the end this year.

Verizon announced recently that its first LTE smartphone won't be on the market until around the middle of next year. That makes the report of the EVO 4G being released with LTE unlikely -- Verizon isn't going to release a 4G smartphone over a year, and as advanced as this HTC model is now, it will have been replaced with newer models by the summer of 2011.

Don't Forget about the HTC Incredible
It's possible the report of the HTC EVO 4G coming to Verizon is a result of confusion between this smartphone and another that Verizon is expected to release in the near future, the HTC Incredible.

Both HTC models will run Google's Android OS 2.1 on large, WVGA touchscreens, but the Incredible's will be slightly smaller: 3.7 inches. And as discussed earlier, the Verizon device will not offer 4G, but information that has leaked out about it indicates that it will have the 3G standard EV-DO, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a GPS receiver.

And Verizon customers definitely shouldn't feel left out, as they will also soon have the option to get the Google Nexus One, another Android OS-powered smartphone very similar to the Incredible.

Source: Examiner