Friday is a momentous occasion for Sprint because it does not merely mark the release of a landmark smartphone, but it is going to be the first time that any phone will be able to access the world’s fastest network at 4G speeds. Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Sprint stores have begun receiving their HTC Evo 4G shipments in masses.
Intel is invading ARM/Qualcomm and Marvell territory when its handheld processors begin powering tablets, slates, and smartphones by the start of 2011. Aava Mobile’s Virta is a Google Android smartphone reference design based on Intel’s Zxxx Moorestown processor. The Virta Android SDK is shipping to developers in Q3.
Imagine if Apple’s unreleased smartphone had been disassembled for viewing. What would happen? Unlike Apple, HTC operates very differently, is not as protective of its products, and usually allows reviewers early access to write about them. The same thing happened with the iPad, but that was after Apple had announced it, and reviewers had to wait until the eve of launch before they could publish their impressions.