Official Announcment

Here are the specs from the EVO fact sheet:

• 3G/4G capability
• Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ QSD8650 (1GHz) processor
• 4.3” capacitive display with pinch-to-zoom and tactile feedback
• World-class HTML browser – bandwidth and quality that rival that of netbooks
• Android 2.1, with access to more than 30,000 apps on Android Market
• GoogleTM mobile services including Google SearchTM, Google MapsTM, Google TalkTM, GmailTM, YouTubeTM, and syncs with Google CalendarTM
• Access to Google Goggles™ to search with pictures instead of words
• Sprint Navigation, with turn-by-turn driving directions and 3D maps
• Updated HTC Sense, award-winning user experience, which includes Friend Stream to integrate Facebook, Twitter and more into a single flow of updates
• Visual voicemail
• Messaging – personal and business email, IM and text messaging
• 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability – connects up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices
• 4G data speeds (WiMAX) – peak download speeds of more than 10 Mbps; peak upload speeds of 1 Mbps; average download speeds of 3-6 Mbps.
• 3G data speeds (EVDO Rev A.) – peak download speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps; peak upload speeds of 1.8 Mbps; average download speeds of 600 kbps-1.4 Mbps.

There isn’t another phone on the market that has specs like these.  That 4.3″ screen is a thing of beauty and the 1gig of memory is awesome!  This 4G phone along with today’s announcement that 7 additional cities are getting 4G service is really making Sprint look good.  They may not be #1 or #2 but their prices, phone lineup and 4G sure stands out among their competitors.

Press Shots

Hands-On Shots

HTC EVO vs iPhone vs Nexus One

Check out these videos to see some hands-on action of this beast!

Now, a device alone isn’t going to bring the company out of it’s rut.  That being said, Sprint is working very diligently to bring its 4G WiMax service to cities all around the country.  A press release put out today announced 7 more cities to get WiMax before the end of the year.  Sprint is the first cellular company to deploy, market and offer 4G service to its customers and they’re a good deal ahead of any other competitors.  AT&T, T-mobile and Verizon have yet to even start their deployments.  Many have scolded Sprint for choosing WiMax over LTE, however, almost all of their WiMax infrastructure can easily be converted to LTE by a simple software change if Sprint ever decides they need to go that route.  4G technology is something to be excited about.  It gives consumers yet another choice for home broadband and Sprint is encouraging consumers to try 4G out at their home.  With the speeds it offers, it’s a very enticing offer.

On a lesser note, yesterday Sprint announced their first Push-to-Talk, Android powered phone.  It’s the Motorola i1 and it’ll be running Android 1.5 which bothers me a little as there are already 3 newer versions of Android that have been released.  However, it does look like a durable phone for the PTT crowd and it’s “de-blurified” MOTOBLUR interface is actually very nice looking from the few pictures I’ve seen.

Here is a video clip of Mike Rowe holding the phone and generally being a goof ball…he’s such a funny guy.

The Heros come with Android 1.5, however they have the terrific Sense UI created by HTC.  The Sense UI makes the phone feel much more closer to an Android 1.6 or 2.1 device but still doesn’t quite cut it.  As soon as I got the phone I started reading up on when an update to 2.1 would be available; all I got were rumors and unofficial dates.  It’s finally looking like Sprint will be releasing the update in early Q2 of 2010.  Yay!

While I’m waiting for my update, I decided to root my phone to check out the custom ROMs available.  The first ROM I tried was Fresh 1.1, then Modaco, then back to Fresh 1.1 with a newer kernel.  I was fairly happy with the performance but it still wasn’t 2.1 and I was so jealous of those Nexus One owners!  However, whether it was a mistake or just a mishap, Verizon accidentally pushed out an Android 2.1 update to some of their Droid Eris users.  The ROM developers got a hold of it and built a custom 2.1 ROM for the HTC Hero (CDMA).  At first it had way too many issues such as no MMS, no camera, no video camera, etc.  I just didn’t want to waste my time on a non-functioning ROM.  Then, out of nowhere, we get a nearly fully functioning 2.1 ROM from a dev named Damageless on the XDA forums.  It’s based on the hard work of others but he refined it and made it work like it should.  I had to try it out and thank god I did because I wasn’t let down.  While it’s still not an official 2.1 ROM released from Sprint, it’s the next closest thing available.

I now have:

• Google Navigation (YES!)
• Multi-Touch in Google Maps
• Bluetooth file transfer!
• Access to many more apps
• Awesome performance (it’s very quick)
• Finally, I have a ROM that will hold me off until the official is released

Now, I understand if you think that the Android users are crazy for going through all this just for a ROM.  Well, we’re geeks damnit and we want the latest and greatest.  Really, I could have waited if I had a set date or month for the official 2.1 release but with all the runaround and rumors…I just got tired of it.  While my Hero isn’t the best phone available as far as specs go, it feels like a brand new phone with 2.1.  It’s terrific and now I understand why everyone loves the Nexus One.  I’ve used an iPhone and it just does not compare in my honest opinion.  Alright, I’m done blabbering now

If you have a rooted CDMA Hero, check out this ROM!

DamageControl 1.0 ROM

xRez Gigapixel Gallery

xRez Studio 2010 Overview Reel from xRez Studio on Vimeo.

Some drives will be able to simulate a 512 byte size to allow XP to still use them, but this will result in slow downs and possibly compatibility issues. I doubt this simulation feature will be around forever, hard drive manufacturers are really only doing it out of the kindness of their hearts (yeah right). So, if you have a Windows XP computer and your drive jumps off a cliff, it may be time to finally make the jump to Windows 7 or another 4kb aware OS such as Linux or Mac OS X (ewww).

Next Tuesday, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, will propose a broadband roadmap that will set goals for making broadband Internet available to every citizen of the United States.  This whole process has been very open and public, people from all around the country have given valuable input and the voice of the American people is actually being heard on this topic.  After the announcement of the National Broadband Plan next week, Chairman Genachowski will be answering questions via Youtube.  You still have time if you’d like to submit a question, just head over to CitizenTube.

Original Article