Sprint on Wednesday announced that its upcoming flagship Android smartphone, the HTC EVO 4G LTE, will become available on May 18th for $199.99 on contract. While Sprint doesn’t yet have a nationwide 4G LTE network to support the new One-series smartphone, subscribers will find plenty of cutting-edge technology to tide them over until Sprint begins flipping the switch on LTE. Key features of the new phone include a 4.7-inch 720p HD display, a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, an 8-megapixel camera with HTC’s Image Sense technology, and Sense 4 atop Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. BGR took a hands-on look at the EVO 4G LTE last month and called it an impressive smartphone with an aesthetic that may be a deal-breaker for some. Sprint’s full press release follows below.

Sprint Debuts HTC EVO 4G LTE on May 18 for $199.99

HTC EVO 4G LTE is now available for pre-order at www.sprint.com/evo4glte

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), May 09, 2012 – Sprint (NYSE: S), the only national wireless carrier offering truly unlimited data for all phones while on the Sprint network1, and HTC, a global designer of smartphones, announce the Friday, May 18, availability of the next evolution of the award-winning HTC EVO™ family, HTC EVO™ 4G LTE.

It will cost $199.99 with a new line of service or eligible upgrade and two-year service agreement (excludes taxes). Pre-order began May 7 at www.sprint.com/evo4glte.

“HTC EVO 4G LTE sets the benchmark for Android devices this year with its incredible 4.7-inch screen, advanced camera features and future HD voice capabilities when combined with the speed of Sprint’s upcoming 4G LTE network,” said Fared Adib, vice president-Product Development, Sprint. “Its cutting-edge technology pairs perfectly with Sprint’s unlimited data plans to let our customers enjoy their wireless experience without worrying about overage charges or throttling.”

HTC EVO 4G LTE is built on Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, integrated with HTC Sense™ 4. It focuses on exceptional improvements in camera technology, audio and voice quality on both the network and device.

HTC ImageSense™ brings improvements to every part of the amazing camera experience featuring a superfast autofocus to enable continuous shooting, the ability to capture still images while taking video, and increasing the quality of photos taken in adverse conditions such as low light, no light or with bright backlighting.

HTC EVO 4G LTE is Sprint’s first device with HTC’s Authentic Sound experience integrating Beats Audio™. The technology enables customers to hear music the way the artist intended with unique audio tuning that delivers thundering bass, soaring midrange and crisp highs. Beats Audio is enabled across the entire phone experience, including playing music stored on the device, streaming from a favorite service, watching a movie or YouTube™ video, or playing the latest hot game.

HTC EVO 4G LTE boasts brilliant features, including a vibrant 4.7-inch HD display, future HD voice capabilities2, 2000mAh embedded battery and 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.3-megapixel front-facing cameras. It is powered by the Snapdragon™ S4 processor by Qualcomm, delivering best-in-class performance and a power efficient platform for exceptionally long battery life. HTC EVO 4G LTE brings back the fan-favorite kickstand built into the smartphone’s refined, slim design.

“With the HTC EVO 4G LTE, we’re launching a true successor the original EVO, bringing a focus on innovation, design and industry-leading consumer experiences,” said Martin Fichter, vice president, product management, HTC America. “The millions of current and new EVO fans will appreciate our amazing camera that’s superfast, easy-to-use and takes video and photos at the same time as well as our enhanced audio experience that you need to hear to believe.”

Respected device critics are buzzing with excitement for HTC EVO 4G LTE. Here are a few of the praises that poured in when it was announced earlier this month:

“The HTC EVO 4G LTE is a good looking phone and will make fans of Sprint’s EVO line very, very happy. It packs every spec anyone could possibly ask for: dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 8-megapixel camera, 4.7-inch HD display, and the latest Android 4.0 operating system, enhanced by Sense 4.0. Oh, let’s not forget the kickstand!” – Eric Zeman, Phonescoop

“The original superphone has been reborn.” – Mark Spoonauer, Laptop Magazine

“As for first impressions, I was shocked when I finally got to hold an EVO 4G LTE. In the presentation videos the phone looked thick and bulky. In person, it’s anything but. It is thin, deceptively lightweight and absolutely beautiful.” – Gary Krakow, TheStreet.com

“Yesterday Sprint and HTC made a joint announcement, unveiling the brand new EVO 4G LTE. It’s an impressive device. Thin, light, fast, powerful, the whole package.” – Steve Kovach, Business Insider

HTC EVO 4G LTE customers can enjoy an unlimited data experience with Sprint Everything Data plans. Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $79.99 per month for smartphones – a savings of $40 per month versus Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB Web, or $10 per month savings versus Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB Web (excludes taxes and surcharges).

HTC EVO 4G LTE is one of the first devices available with Sprint Professional Grade, a new designation for select smartphones that deliver enhanced security, device management and Exchange Active Sync capabilities to business users. Click here to learn more about Sprint Professional Grade designation.

As part of the HTC EVO 4G LTE launch, Sprint will be giving customers a chance to share their LOVE on Facebook. To learn how you could enter for the chance to win UNLIMITED LOVE, make sure to visit Sprint’s Facebook page on May 18 for details.

Sprint recently announced Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio are expected to have 4G LTE and enhanced 3G service in mid-year. The anticipated launch of these large metropolitan areas demonstrates the continued commitment by Sprint to invest in its network through Network Vision. Sprint customers in these areas will soon enjoy ultra-fast data speeds and improved 3G voice quality. For the most up-to-date details on Sprint’s 4G LTE rollout, please visit www.sprint.com/4GLTE.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is finally real, and it’s just about everything we have reported it would be, though the specs have been dialed back a bit in some areas. The super-smartphone features an insanely fast 1.4GHz quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch HD display, an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD recording, 1GB of RAM and of course, 4G LTE. It’s all tightly packed into a slim case that is just 8.6 millimeters thick. Samsung is launching the Galaxy S III on May 29th in Europe and in the coming months, nearly 300 carrier partners will offer the phone. It will start to appear on local carriers in the United States some time this summer, and it will be the official phone of the Olympic Games in London this summer. Samsung’s full press release follows below along with a video.

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S III, the Smartphone Designed for Humans and Inspired by Nature Effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, Samsung GALAXY S III reveals a new concept of smartphone 

London, UK—May 3, 2012—Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced today the third generation GALAXY S, the GALAXY S III. Designed for humans and inspired by nature, the GALAXY S III is a smartphone that recognizes your voice, understands your intention, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily.

This sleek and innovative smartphone has the enhanced intelligence to make everyday life easier. With Samsung GALAXY S III, you can view the content like never before on the device’s 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display. An 8MP camera and a 1.9MP front camera offer users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure all moments are captured easily and instantly. Samsung GALAXY S III is powered by Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, with greatly enhanced usability and practicality to make life easier. Packed with intuitive technology, the GALAXY S III delivers a uniquely personalized mobile experience that refuses to be compromised.

“With the GALAXY S III, Samsung has maximized the consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. “Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the GALAXY S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind. What makes me most proud is that it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences, opening up a new horizon that allows you to live a life extraordinary.”

Introducing Natural Interaction

The GALAXY S III enhances the interaction experience between the device and user. Smart enough to detect your face, voice and motions, the GALAXY S III adapts to the individual user to provide a more convenient and natural experience. With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognizes how you are using your phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. In addition to allowing information search and basic device-user communication, S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands. When your phone alarm goes off but you need a little extra rest, just tell the GALAXY S III “snooze.” You can also use S Voice to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize your schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.

In addition to recognizing your face and voice, the GALAXY S III understands your motions to offer maximized usability. If you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number. With ‘Smart alert,’ the GALAXY S III will also save you from trouble by catching any missed messages or calls; your phone will vibrate to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle. 

Easy and Instant Sharing 

The Samsung GALAXY S III is more than a personal device that can be enjoyed by one user – it wants you to share and experience smartphone benefits with family and friends, regardless of where you are. With the new ‘S Beam,’ the GALAXY S III expands upon Android™ Beam™, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

With ‘AllShare Cast’, users can wirelessly connect their GALAXY S III to their television to immediately transfer smartphone content onto a larger display. ‘AllShare Play’ can be also used to instantly share any forms of files between GALAXY S III and your tablet, PC, and televisions regardless of the distance between the devices. Under AllShare Play is also the ‘Group Cast’ feature that allows you to share your screen among multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network; you can make comments and draw changes at the same time with your co-workers, witnessing real-time sharing on your individual device. 

Human-centric Design with Uncompromised Performance

The GALAXY S III not only presents features with enhanced usability, but also provides an ergonomic and comfortable experience through its human-centric design. Its comfortable grip, gentle curves, and organic form deliver a rich human-centric feel and design. Inspired by nature, its design concept is the flow and movement of nature. The elements of wind, water and light are all evoked in the physical construct of the GALAXY S III. In its essence, the minimal organic design identity is reflected in the smooth and non-linear lines of the device. Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, Samsung will introduce a variety of additional color options.

With a 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, the GALAXY S III offers a large and vivid viewing experience. Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display even enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.

The GALAXY S III also sports a range of additional features that boost performance and the overall user experience in entirely new ways. It introduces ‘Pop up play,’ a feature that allows you to play a video anywhere on your screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web. Its 8MP camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets you capture moving objects easily without delay – the image you see is the picture you take. With the ‘Burst shot’ function that instantly captures twenty continuous shots, and the ‘Best photo’ feature that selects the best of eight photographs for you, the GALAXY S III ensures users a more enhanced and memorable camera experience. HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9MP front-facing camera, which you can use to capture a video of yourself. Improved backside illumination further helps to eliminate blur in photos that result from shaking, even under low lights.

Mobile payment is also accessible with the device through advanced Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The gaming experience is enhanced through ‘Game Hub,’ providing access to numerous social games, while Video Hub brings users high quality TV and movies. Furthermore, Samsung Music Hub will offer a personal music streaming service. Game Hub, Video Hub and Music Hub will be introduced in select countries initially and soon rolled out to global markets.

The Samsung GALAXY S III will be available from the end of May in Europe before rolling out to other markets globally.

Along with an iPhone nano and an iPad mini, rumors of a “Facebook phone” have repeatedly piqued interest as they come and go. The first round of reports surfaced in 2010, but was shot down when Facebook denied that it was working on its own smartphone with hardware and software partner HTC. The handsets that were thought to be Facebook phones ended up being unveiled the following month as the HTC Chacha and HTC Salsa, but consumers weren’t terribly interested in mid-range Android phones with a dedicated Facebook sharing button. Rumors resurfaced this past November before dissipating as quickly as they came, but now — whether or not consumers are actually interested in the possibility of a Facebook-branded smartphone — talk of a Facebook phone has returned once again.

Citing unnamed industry sources, DigiTimes on Wednesday reported that Facebook and HTC are jointly developing a smartphone. The device will be a “customized smartphone” presumably based on Android, and it will launch in the third quarter this year at the earliest.

The report draws a number of comparisons between the secret Facebook phone project and HTC’s previous efforts with Google on the Nexus One, suggesting that because Samsung has taken over as Google’s Nexus partner, HTC is looking elsewhere for branded Android projects. DigiTimes also claims that Samsung has likely been tasked with building the next Nexus phone, though no additional details were made available.

The Facebook phone currently under development is said to have a “platform exclusive to Facebook,” enabling deep integration of Facebook services and providing a variety of custom functionality. How the device might handle private user data is unclear.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

HTC’s flagship One X smartphone is now available for pre-order from AT&T for $199.99 on contract. The handset finds itself at the top of HTC’s new lineup of One-series smartphones, which the Taiwan-based vendor hopes will help it turn its sliding smartphone business around. The flagship smartphone features a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 4.6-inch 720p HD display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM and Sense 4 on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The HTC One X is available from AT&T in either gray or white, and it will launch on May 6th, three days after Samsung unveils its next-generation Galaxy S III smartphone.

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AT&T announced on Wednesday that the HTC One X smartphone will launch on May 6th for $199.99 on contract. Pre-orders will begin on April 22nd, in line with an earlier report from BGR. The flagship smartphone features a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 4.6-inch 720p HD display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM and Sense 4 on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. AT&T’s full press release follows below along with a video.

HTC One X Available Exclusively from AT&T Beginning May 6 for $199.99

4G LTE Entertainment Superphone features Amazing Camera and Beats Audio Experience, Runs on Android 4.0 and HTC Sense 4

Dallas, Texas, Bellevue, Washington, April 18, 2012

Key Facts

• The first new smartphone from AT&T to run the latest version of the Android operating system (4.0), the HTC One X, will be available from AT&T beginning May 6 for $199.99.
• HTC One X is AT&T’s first smartphone with Beats by Dr. Dre™ Audio built-in to the hardware and software.
• HTC One X is the first smartphone from AT&T to offer HTC Sense™ 4 to deliver an amazing camera with improvements to the lens, sensor and software, an authentic sound experience with Beats by Dr. Dre Audio, and long-lasting battery performance to accommodate heavy mobile use.
• Pre-orders for HTC One X will begin April 22.  Customers can visit any company-owned retail store or http://www.att.com/onex for more information.

Sound at its Finest

HTC One X is the first device from AT&T with HTC’s authentic sound experience featuring Beats by Dr. Dre Audio integration, offering rich, full sounds with professional-grade sound engineering to play the music how the artist intended.  Beats Audio provides a distortion-free sound at higher volume and rich bass at all levels for whether you are watching movies, playing games or streaming music.  HTC One X is custom tuned for the best audio performance when used with Beats by Dr. Dre accessories,** including the Beatbox (AT&T exclusive), Wireless HD Stereo Bluetooth Headphones, Beats™ Solo™ HD Headphones, and UR Beats™ In-ear Headphones.

With built-in software on the HTC One X, customers can connect it to a computer and HTC’s Sync Manager software automatically installs to your computer and once connected, makes it easy to move music and playlists to your phone from your music library.

Entertainment Everywhere

Consumers’ ability to incorporate their smartphones into every aspect of their lives continues with the HTC One X.  Watching TV shows or movies will be even more enjoyable on its 4.7-inch 720p HD screen with sharp images that appear detailed and visible from every angle – even angled up to 80 degrees.  HTC Watch gives you access to thousands of Hollywood blockbusters with minimal wait time and offers companion content to find out more about the film.  You can begin watching the movie moments after it starts downloading and wirelessly share the content on any HD TV using HTC’s wireless HDMI Media Link HD adapter.**

The laminated cover glass and touch layer eliminates light reflection for superior sharpness and clarity, and is protected with Corning® Gorilla® Glass.  HTC One X is made with a beautifully crafted polycarbonate unibody design that showcases its clean lines and seamless construction.

Superior Camera

For many consumers, their smartphone doubles as their camera.  HTC One X’s 8MP HD camera features ImageSense and rivals traditional digital cameras with improvements to every part of the camera including the lens, sensor and software, while integrating HTC’s new ImageChip to make quality picture taking a breeze.

Fumbling with the menu and settings on your smartphone is frustrating when the perfect shot is right in front of you. In less than one second, you can launch the camera from the lock screen and within another second the camera’s autofocus zeros in on your subject and zero shutter lag lets you take continuous shots simply by holding the shutter button.  HTC One X takes beautiful photos under low-light, no-light, and back-light conditions. The Video Pic feature allows the capture of still pictures while recording video in HD as well as the ability to capture a still image from previously recorded video.

The HTC One X’s next-generation 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 dual-core processor allows customers to run heavy duty tasks such as creating and editing homemade videos smoothly without any lag, while the 1,800 mAh embedded battery, and software enhancements that improve battery performance by 50-100 percent over previous HTC phones, offers hours of uninterrupted entertainment time.

HTC Sense 4

HTC One X will be one of the first devices in the U.S. with the simple and intuitive HTC Sense 4 user experience.  It helps make the Beats Audio experience possible while listening to any audio component and features camera enhancements including a quick launch feature for the camera on the HTC One X – dramatically cutting down the time needed to move from the lock screen to snapping a picture.

We have been informed by a trusted source that HTC’s One X, one of the best smartphones ever to come out of Taiwan, will be available on AT&T as early as this week. We have also been told that AT&T may announce availability details tomorrow, and that the handset’s release should follow within five to seven days of the carrier’s announcement. AT&T’s version of the HTC One X swaps out the quad-core Tegra 3 processor for a dual-core Snapdragon CPU in order to accommodate 4G LTE connectivity, but unlike the complete redesign we saw on Sprint’s EVO 4G LTE, the AT&T version should be nearly identical to the international model.

CTIA Wireless is shaping up to be a bit slow this year and despite the overlap in timing, it appears Samsung will look elsewhere to unveil its next-generation flagship smartphone. The South Korea-based consumer electronics giant circulated invitations on Monday to a press conference that will take place in London on May 3rd. While Samsung does not specifically name the highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone on the invitation — the only relevant text is “come and meet the next Galaxy” — it is widely believed that the company’s new flagship device will be the focus of the event. BGR exclusively reported in January that the Galaxy S III will feature a 1.5GHz quad-core Exynos processor, a 4.8-inch full-HD 1080p display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for HD video chats, 4G LTE, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and an ultra-thin case made of ceramic. Samsung Mobile’s “Unpacked” event will begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 11:00 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, May 3rd, and the event will be live-streamed at www.facebook.com/samsungmobile.

Sprint announced last week that pre-orders for one of its first 4G LTE-enabled smartphones were going live on April 12th, and now the carrier has made launch details official. LG’s affordable Viper 4G LTE will become available in just over a week on April 22nd for $99.99 on contract. While this makes LG’s new smartphone one of the most affordable LTE-equipped smartphones on the market — in line with the Nokia Lumia 900′s retail price, though the phone is free for the time being — buyers will be hard-pressed to find LTE service for the time being. The LG Viper 4G LTE features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 4-inch 800 x 480-pixel display and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Sprint’s full press release follows below.

LG Viper 4G LTE from Sprint Launches on April 22; Pre-Order Begins Today

First 4G LTE device from Sprint with eco-friendly features, LG Viper 4G LTE available for just $99.99

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., & SAN DIEGO (BUSINESS WIRE), April 12, 2012 – Sprint (NYSE: S) and LG Mobile today announced Sunday, April 22, as the availability date for the highly anticipated LG Viper™ 4G LTE, one of the first smartphones to be available on the upcoming 4G LTE Network from Sprint. LG Viper will be available in Sprint sales channels, including www.sprint.com and 1-800-SPRINT1, for $99.99 with a new two-year service agreement and $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1 (excludes taxes and surcharges).

New and existing customers can pre-order LG Viper 4G LTE beginning today at www.sprint.com/viper. Customers who pre-order LG Viper will begin receiving their devices as early as Friday, April 20 – two days before the device goes on sale – while supplies last.

LG Viper offers Android 2.3, Gingerbread, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 4G of ROM. It also includes a 4GB microSD™ card. The sleek, ultra-thin smartphone also boasts a 4-inch bright and clear touchscreen display for better viewing under direct sunlight. It features a Corning® Gorilla® Glass screen protector for extra display resistance. A 5MP rear-facing camera with flash and a VGA front-facing camera allow for a fun and easy face-to-face video chat experience.

Additional apps and features include:

Google Play™ offers more than 450,000 useful applications, widgets and games.

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which allows the device to read information from everyday objects, such as stickers and posters embedded with NFC chips. Google Wallet™, another NFC component, allows the smartphone to be used like a wallet to make safe, secure purchases at NFC-enabled merchants nationwide

Sprint ID allows users to cut through the clutter of thousands of apps by selecting from a variety of mobile ID packs. Sprint ID packs include ringers, wallpapers and widgets.

Consumers can download Box on the LG Viper and receive 50GB of free cloud storage and sharing directly from LG, an estimated value of $240 per year, so users don’t have to stress about storing all of their favorite music, files, photos and other memories. The 50GB of free storage is exclusive to LG devices until July 22.

“Life’s Good Fairytales” app, a customizable storyboard that allows parents and children to bond over the creation and sharing of unique fairy tales through their device.2

Additionally, LG Viper is Sprint’s first 4G LTE device to feature eco-friendly attributes, including ULE Platinum Certification, the highest level of environmental performance recognized by sustainable requirements established by UL Environment and Sprint, a casing made of 50 percent recycled plastics, and packaging that is 100 percent recyclable.

LG Viper customers can enjoy an unlimited data experience with Sprint Everything Data plans. Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $79.99 per month for smartphones – a savings of $40 per month versus Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB Web, or $10 per month savings versus Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB Web.

Sprint recently announced Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio are expected to have 4G LTE and enhanced 3G service in mid-year 2012. Sprint 4G LTE should enable faster speeds for data applications, and the enhanced 3G service could offer better signal strength, faster data speeds, expanded coverage and better in-building performance. The upcoming launch of these large metropolitan areas demonstrates the continued commitment by Sprint to invest in its network through Network Vision. Whether a Sprint customer is using a smartphone to share a video, checking the Web via a mobile hotspot, Sprint 4G LTE will make it easier. For the most up-to-date details on Sprint’s 4G LTE rollout, please visit www.sprint.com/4GLTE.

Samsung on Wednesday announced pricing and availability details for three upcoming Android-powered devices that will soon join the vendor’s ever expanding lineup of Galaxy-brand devices. Continuing its efforts to address a variety of price ranges and screen sizes in order to give consumers as many options as possible, Samsung will launch two new Galaxy Player devices and two new Galaxy Tab tablets between now and mid-May.

Already available nationwide at Best Buy, Samsung‘s entry-level Galaxy Player 3.6 offers a 3.65-inch HVGA display, a 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, a 2-megapixel rear camera, a VGA front-facing camera, 8GB of internal storage expandable to 40GB, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The budget Wi-Fi-only player aims to take on Apple’s iPod touch at an iPod nano price point, costing just $149.99.

Samsung‘s Galaxy Player 4.2 is a new addition to the Player family, featuring a 4.2-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, 8GB of internal storage expandable to 40GB, Samsung‘s SoundAlive audio enhancement engine, Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the TouchWiz UI. The vendor announced on Wednesday that pre-orders will be made available for the Galaxy Player 4.2 beginning May 4th, and it will launch on May 13th for $199.99.

Finally, Samsung has announced pricing and availability for two of its next-generation Galaxy tablets. The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 features a 7-inch 1,024 x 600-pixel display, 8GB of internal storage expandable to 40GB, 50GB of free Dropbox storage for a year, a dual-core 1GHz processor, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the TouchWiz UI. It will launch on April 22nd for $249.99, and pre-orders begin on April 12th.

The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 includes a 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel display, a dual-core 1GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage, microSDHC support, 50GB of free Dropbox storage for a year, a 3-megapixel rear camera, a VGA front-facing camera, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the TouchWiz UI. Like the 7-inch model, the tablet features a built-in IR blaster and Samsung‘s Smart Remote software capable of controlling a huge range of HDTVs and components, as well as any other device that can be controlled with a universal remote. Pre-sales kick off on May 4th and the Tab 2 10.1 will launch on May 13th for $399.99.

T-Mobile plans to release its flagship HTC One S smartphone in just over two weeks according to a recent report. Earlier rumors pointed to a launch on April 22nd, but a photo of a purported internal slide published Monday evening by TmoNews suggests the launch will take place a few days later on April 25th. HTC unveiled the One S at the annual Mobile World Congress trade show earlier this year. The sleek device features a 4.3-inch qHD Super LCD display, a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor, 16GB of internal storage plus 25GB of free cloud-based Dropbox storage for two years, the same amazing 8-megapixel camera as the one found on the One X, Sense 4.0 and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, all somehow packed within a unibody aluminum case that is just 7.9 millimeters thick. A photo of the purported slide follows below.

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Sprint and HTC have been partners for years, but it wasn’t until the HTC EVO 4G launched in June 2010 that the companies realized their potential. HTC’s sleek, technology-packed flagship smartphone and Sprint’s unlimited data plans were a match made in heaven for smartphone power users, and the EVO 4G was the first handset to truly offer a complete package to Sprint subscribers. While Sprint’s EVO line of devices has remained popular for the carrier — Sprint has sold more than 7 million EVO-branded smartphones and tablets to date — the company has yet to recapture the magic introduced with the original EVO 4G. With the new HTC EVO 4G LTE that Sprint and HTC unveiled on Wednesday, however, Sprint hopes to do just that. Hit the break for our hands-on impressions of Sprint’s new flagship smartphone.

We spent some time with Sprint’s flagship device for 2012 ahead of tonight’s press conference, and we left impressed. Powerhouse Android smartphones seem to be a dime a dozen these days, and although the EVO 4G LTE is certainly a cut above almost every device currently on the market, it doesn’t quite recapture the magic created by the EVO 4G, which was among the first of its kind.

The handset’s hardware is truly unique, and it is instantly recognizable as an EVO device. The red accents are unmistakable and the kickstand made famous by the EVO 4G is back — and improved. The red aluminum kickstand on the EVO 4G LTE is now spring-loaded, so it can support the device in landscape orientation with the display turned to the left or to the right.

The case on the EVO 4G LTE is made from a single piece of anodized aluminum that has a great look and a nice, soft feel. As an added touch and a means of further distinguishing this smartphone from the pack, HTC machined the edges of the smartphone to remove the anodized coating and leave a smooth polished aluminum finish that circles the outer edge of the device.

While we weren’t able to spend as much time as we would have liked with this sleek new smartphone, we did give it a quick spin and walked away very impressed. The 4.7-inch Super LCD display with 720p HD resolution is absolutely gorgeous, and the dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor helps the Sense 4.0 user interface jump from screen to screen with ease. We fired up as many apps as we could launch on the new EVO and the phone was completely unphased.

Our biggest qualm with the handset after the short amount of time we spent with it is absolutely the styling. This is a slick smartphone with a unibody anodized aluminum case and brushed detailing on the edges, but it is completely ruined by the glossy black cover at the top of the device’s back. HTC had to use a material that would allow radio waves to easily pass through, but a matte rubber-feel plastic like the material used on the back of the HTC One S would have looked infinitely better. We’re sure there is a reason HTC chose the material it did, but the glossy plastic really does ruin the look of this otherwise sleek smartphone.

While Sprint hasn’t yet announced a release time frame beyond some time in the second quarter, the HTC EVO 4G LTE will be available for pre-order starting May 7th, and it will cost $199.99 on contract. We’re definitely looking forward to reviewing this new flagship smartphone but in the meantime, be sure to check out our hands on photos of the HTC EVO 4G LTE, which are linked above.

Sprint and HTC on Wednesday unveiled the HTC EVO 4G LTE during a joint press conference in New York City. As a customized version of the HTC One X, Sprint’s new flagship smartphone features a 4.7-inch Super LCD display with 720p HD resolution, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an 8-megapixel camera powered by a dedicated ImageChip, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Sense 4.0, 16GB of internal storage plus microSDHC support, 1GB of RAM, NFC, 4G LTE and a 2,000 mAh battery. The smartphone will also be Sprint’s first device to feature HD voice, an enhancement that will be enabled by Sprint’s Network Vision efforts. The service is not yet enabled, but we were told that the difference between standard voice and HD voice is akin to the difference between a standard-resolution television and an HDTV. HTC EVO 4G LTE pre-sales begin May 7th for $199.99 on contract, and the device will launch some time in the second quarter. Sprint and HTC’s joint press release follows below, and be sure to check out BGR’s hands-on preview of the HTC EVO 4G LTE.

HTC EVO 4G LTE, Exclusively from Sprint, First HD Voice-capable Smartphone Available in the U.S.;
Offers Best-in-Class Features, including Beats Audio,
Amazing Camera and HD Display

Next-generation EVO offers the ability to enjoy industry-leading features
without fear of overage charges or throttling with unlimited data plans
for new and existing Sprint customers

Available in Q2 for $199.99; Register for updates at www.sprint.com/evo4glte

NEW YORK – April 4, 2012 – Sprint (NYSE: S), the only national wireless carrier offering truly unlimited data for all phones while on the Sprint network¹, and HTC, a global designer of smartphones, announce the next evolution of the  award-winning HTC EVO™ family: HTC EVO™ 4G LTE. HTC EVO 4G LTE focuses on exceptional improvements in camera technology, audio and voice quality on both the network and device.

HTC EVO 4G LTE will be available in the second quarter for $199.99 (excludes taxes and surcharges). The availability date will be announced later. Customers can sign up for updates today at www.sprint.com/evo4glte, and pre-order will begin Monday, May 7, at www.sprint.com.

HTC EVO 4G LTE is built on Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, integrated with HTC Sense™ 4. HTC EVO 4G LTE boasts brilliant features, including a vibrant 4.7-inch HD display, HD voice capabilities, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, large 2000mAh embedded battery and dual-cameras (8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.3-megapixel front-facing) with instant capture capability. HTC EVO 4G LTE brings back the fan-favorite kickstand built into the smartphone’s refined, slim design.

With the launch of HTC EVO 4G LTE, Sprint becomes the first U.S. carrier to announce plans for a nationwide HD Voice network beginning in late 2012 as part of Sprint’s Network Vision program.

HD Voice is the next-generation evolution of voice quality and the future of voice communications for mobile phones. The service will provide fuller, more natural-sounding and less fatiguing voice quality and should reduce troublesome background noises often found in a cafe or on the street.² Users should expect to identify voices and hear every word better than ever. Sprint’s commitment to HD Voice starts with HTC EVO 4G LTE, Sprint’s first HD Voice capable device.

“Sprint has a long history of leading the wireless industry in innovation, and the debut of HTC EVO 4G LTE marks another chapter in that innovation story,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. “Once again, we are partnering with HTC to deliver the benchmark Android device for the year with the next generation of our award-winning EVO brand. We know our customers will appreciate the focus on audio and voice quality with EVO 4G LTE, including the addition of Beats Audio and HD Voice capability.”

HTC EVO 4G LTE is Sprint’s first device with HTC’s Authentic Sound experience integrating Beats Audio™. The technology enables customers to hear music the way the artist intended with unique audio tuning that delivers thundering bass, soaring midrange and crisp highs.

HTC EVO 4G LTE incorporates Beats Audio across the entire phone experience, including playing music stored on the device, streaming from a favorite service, watching a movie or YouTube™ video, or playing the latest hot game. HTC Sync Manager software also lets users easily get their music on the device from their PC, and it works with current programs, including iTunes^®.

“The partnership between HTC and Sprint has resulted in one of the most popular and successful smartphone brands of all time with over 7 million EVO devices sold to date,” said Jason Mackenzie, president, HTC Corporation. “With HTC EVO 4G LTE, we’ve created a desirable successor that is sure to excite the millions of current EVO customers and beyond with HTC’s distinct design, amazing camera and authentic sound.”

ADVANCING SMARTPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY

HTC EVO 4G LTE makes mobile photography and video easy and intuitive.

• The on-screen photo and video buttons are right next to each other so users don’t have to switch modes. This allows the user to take video and still photos concurrently.
• It makes the whole idea of “video mode” or “photo mode” irrelevant. While shooting a video, the user can just tap the shutter button and it captures a still image of that exact moment. Still images can also be captured during video playback.
• HTC EVO 4G LTE’s camera has a super-fast start-up and auto-focus time. With the fast auto-focus, users can easily stay with a moving object or person, taking numerous pictures just by holding the shutter button.

In addition, HTC ImageSense™ technology combines hardware and software advancements to the camera lens, sensor and software, including integration of a new custom HTC ImageChip, to take great photos even in adverse conditions. The best-in-class f/2.0 camera lens lets in 44 percent more light than the lenses used on most camera phones. The Smart Flash also adjusts the flash strength based on how far away the object is, so users won’t get photos where everything looks washed out.

REFINED STYLE AND DESIGN

Crafted from aluminum spaceframe in an anodized black finish, HTC EVO 4G LTE delivers cutting-edge function and style in a thin and distinctive design. The smartphone’s 4.7-inch display and 80-degree viewing angle makes it easier to share pictures and video with others. The multiposition kickstand allows users to watch videos hands-free.

HTC EVO 4G LTE customers can enjoy an unlimited data experience with Sprint Everything Data plans. Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, Anytime^SM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $79.99 per month for smartphones³ – a savings of $40 per month vs. Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB Web, or $10 per month savings vs. Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB Web.

Sprint recently announced Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio are expected to have 4G LTE and enhanced 3G service in mid-year 2012. Sprint 4G LTE will enable faster speeds for data applications, and the enhanced 3G service promises better signal strength, faster data speeds, expanded coverage and better in-building performance. The launch of these large metropolitan areas demonstrates the continued commitment by Sprint to invest in its network through Network Vision. Sprint customers in these areas will soon enjoy ultra-fast data speeds and improved 3G voice quality. Whether a Sprint customer is using a smartphone to share a video, checking the Web via a mobile hotspot, Sprint 4G LTE will make it easier. And, when someone makes an important voice call, they can expect to find a clearer connection and a stronger signal in more areas. For the most up-to-date details on Sprint’s 4G LTE rollout, please visit www.sprint.com/4GLTE.

Nokia is in a bind. The company announced more than a year ago that it planned to abandon both Symbian and MeeGo in favor of Windows Phone, the emerging mobile Microsoft platform that is currently still emerging more than two years after it was introduced as “Windows Phone 7 Series” in February 2010. Nokia and Microsoft had a lot in common, of course. Beyond an executive who ran Microsoft’s business division before joining Nokia as its CEO, both companies were once giants in the smartphone space. Microsoft had long since toppled, and Nokia’s market share was plummeting as its products continued to struggle against Android and the iPhone. Just two smartphones have emerged so far from Nokia and Microsoft’s deal since it was announced more than a year ago, and only one launched with carrier support in the United States. Now, Nokia is preparing to release its first flagship Windows Phone for the U.S. market — the Lumia 900 — and I spent the past week testing the handset in order to determine whether or not this might finally be the device that puts both Nokia and Microsoft back on the map.

The Inside

In a world where smartphones are judged on paper long before they find their way to consumers’ hands, the Lumia 900 is a tough pony to bet on.

Several smartphones with quad-core processors will launch in the coming months and the Lumia 900 has a single-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU. We already have phones with giant qHD and 720p HD displays on the market — Samsung is even prepping its first smartphone with a 1080p HD display according to BGR’s sources — and the Lumia 900 has a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display with 480 x 800-pixel resolution. Apple’s iPhone 4S includes as much as 64GB of internal memory and numerous Android handsets come with 32GB of internal storage expandable to 64GB thanks to microSDHC support, but the Lumia 900 comes with 16GB and no memory card slot.

Nokia itself doesn’t quite know how to position its new flagship smartphone on paper. Case in point: “Bing,” Internet Explorer 9″ and “HTML5″ are three of the first six items Nokia lists at the top of the Lumia 900′s specs page.

Lucky for Nokia, this “world” of specs and paper champions is a relatively small one that is generally confined to gadget reviewers, tech bloggers and smartphone enthusiasts. While the spec-head mentality sometimes trickles out into the mass market, consumers by and large don’t care about the technology that powers their gadgets. Even if they toss out the term “dual-core,” they typically have no idea why a dual-core chipset may or may not be better than a single-core processor. Instead, they simply want their gadgets to perform well.

The Lumia 900 is a remarkably smooth smartphone, thanks in no small part to Microsoft’s mobile platform. The user is greeted on the home screen by two columns of brightly colored tiles that make up the most recognizable part of Microsoft’s “Metro” user interface. Each tile represents a different application, for the most part, and tiles configured to do so can display live information such as unread message counts, current weather conditions or top headlines. A swipe to the left reveals the full list of apps installed on the phone, and those are the only two screens on the device that aren’t inside an app.

Of course bad apps are bad apps regardless of a device’s platform or specs, and some third-party apps I tested had a very difficult time running on the Lumia 900. Interestingly, I find that the worst offenders among my regularly used apps — that is, the apps I use that have trouble running on every Windows Phone I’ve tested — seem to have even more trouble on the Lumia 900 than they do on other devices. So, where an app might take occasionally get stuck refreshing a screen for a second or two on the HTC Titan, that same app might get stuck for three seconds on the Lumia 900.

Nokia’s new smartphone also features 16GB of internal memory that is not expandable, and 512MB of RAM. Local connectivity options include Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and the Lumia 900 features compatibility with 10 different cellular bands — GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 850/900/1900 and LTE 700/1700/2100.

This will be the first Windows Phone to launch in the U.S. with 4G LTE support and while AT&T’s LTE network is still quite young, users with coverage will notice the speed boost immediately; during my tests, I saw download speeds that averaged more than 15Mbps and upload speeds in excess of 5Mbps. Unlike Verizon and Sprint, however, AT&T subscribers also have a speedy previous-generation network to fall back on. I experienced download speeds in excess of 6Mbps on the Lumia 900 in and around New York City on AT&T’s HSPA network, while Verizon and Sprint’s 3G networks typically deliver download speeds in the 1Mbps to 1.5Mbps range in my region.

An 1,830 mAh battery powers the device and while it certainly doesn’t last as long on a single charge as some other modern handsets, I found that the Lumia 900 could easily power through a full day of moderate usage that consisted of sending and receiving dozens of emails, taking a few phone calls, various sporadic app usage, snapping a number of photos and uploading them to Dropbox, streaming some music using a third-party Pandora app and more. Wi-Fi seemed to have a big negative impact on battery life, and streaming video for even 20 minutes over Wi-Fi one morning made it difficult for the battery to make it all the way to the end of my work day.

As is common among Nokia smartphones, I found reception on the Lumia 900 to be very solid. The fact that the phone includes an “LTE” indicator for 4G LTE signal and a “4G” indicator for HSPA signal is horribly confusing and more than a little disturbing, but I found that the Lumia 900 consistently showed more bars than other AT&T smartphones in the same room. Voice calls were loud and clear on the ear speaker, the quality of the speakerphone was above average, and I didn’t drop a single call during a week of testing the device.

The Outside

Full-touch smartphones are a dime a dozen right now, and to say smartphone designs are beginning to blend together is putting it mildly. Nokia’s Lumia 900, however, does not blend.

Even without the phone’s unique color choices, the Lumia 900 features a fantastic design that is unlike any other smartphone. Aside from the Lumia 800. And the N9. Nokia’s manufacturing process transforms a single piece of polycorbonate into a stunning unibody smartphone case, and the result may be one of my favorite smartphone designs in recent history. The Lumia 900 is gorgeous.

A large panel of Gorilla Glass covers the phone’s 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display along with a front-facing camera and Windows Phone’s three mandatory hardware buttons, taking up most of the Lumia 900′s face. The display, I should note, is very competitive with leading smartphones — color are vivid and I found visibility in sunlight to be much better than on a number of rival phones with AMOLED displays.

The bottom of the handset is home to a microphone and loudspeaker, while the top of the device includes a standard 3.5-millimeter audio port, a secondary microphone for noise cancellation, a microUSB port and a microSIM slot.

The smooth, curved right edge of the Lumia 900 includes plastic volume rocker, power and camera buttons, and the left side is completely bare. The back of the phone is home to a dual-LED flash and a small chrome insert featuring Carl Zeiss and Tessar branding along with the rear camera lens. Overall, the smartphone is 5.03 x 2.7 x 0.45 inches in size and it weighs a hefty 5.6 ounces. It does feel a bit large and heavy in the hand, but it’s no larger than other phones with similar display sizes and I like the weight — it makes the phone feel substantial.

The clean lines on this remarkable design are largely uninterrupted, and it really pops in cyan and white, though the white version of the Lumia 900 will not be available until later this month. In black, the smartphone is much more understated but still a sight to behold. And it’s not just the overall look of the phone that separates it from the pack, it’s the minor details as well. Things like the tapering of the ends of the curved case that lead to the perfectly flat top and bottom, or the 1-millimeter raised glass edge that surrounds the display add unique touches that come together to further separate this smartphone from the pack.

The Upside

The overall user experience offered by the Nokia Lumia 900 is fantastic. This stems from Microsoft’s mobile platform which, despite being praised regularly by gadget reviewers, has failed to gain widespread adoption. Despite Microsoft’s muscle and support from several big-name vendors such as Samsung and HTC, Windows Phone has been ignored by end-users for the most part.

In the United States, industry watchers tend to place a good deal of blame on carriers for Windows Phone’s slow adoption — Android and iOS are currently the darlings of U.S. carriers, and little effort is made on the part of sales associates to push devices running Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS to end-users. While it is true that Android devices and Apple’s iPhone are pushed much harder than other platforms, we’ll soon find out what kind of impact real carrier support will have on Windows Phone sales.

Windows Phones are incredibly responsive in most cases, and Nokia’s Lumia 900 is no exception. The interface on this phone is glued to the user’s finger during operation, and scrolling is nice and smooth. Animations are fluid and like other Windows Phones, multitasking is a breeze on this device. A one-second tap on the capacitive back button brings up the task switcher, which automatically displays the user’s most recently-used apps. This makes flipping back and forth between the email composition screen and a web page, for example, an absolute breeze.

There are still a number of apps that aren’t compatible with the “tombstoning” feature introduced with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, however, and waiting for those apps to start up again after having switched back from another app is a hassle. Tombstoning is simply Microsoft’s terminology for the process that pauses an app when it is sent to the background and allows it to restart from its paused state when the user opens it again.

Another one of my favorite Windows Phone features, and therefore Lumia 900 features, is the implementation of “live tiles.” A quick glance at Windows Phone’s home screen reveals that the OS makes use of a terrific variation on the concept of app icons. While Windows Phone uses a grid of images to represent applications on a device just like any other OS, Microsoft’s platform transforms these icons from static graphics to living entities that exist somewhere between icons and widgets.

Live tiles can display a wide variety of information immediately as it becomes available, and the live tile system’s utility is limited only by developers’ creativity. Messaging apps can display unread message counts. Weather apps can display forecasts and snow alerts, news apps can display headlines and sports apps can display scores. Some live tiles can also utilize basic animation, so Microsoft’s Pictures tile is an ongoing slide show and the People tile flips through images of a user’s contacts.

As has likely been made clear, I am also a huge fan of the Lumia 900′s design. The hardware has a terrific weight and the shape is outstanding, with well-placed curves that manage to look fantastic and fit perfectly in the hand.

The unit I reviewed is cyan, and I have yet to come across a person who had something bad to say about the color. It catches the eye immediately and yet still manages to maintain a level of sophistication that pink phones and other crazy colors quickly lose. It does attract a fair amount of attention, though — people were constantly checking out the Lumia 900 any time I pulled it out in public — so users who don’t want the added attention may want to stick with black.

The Downside

Considering Nokia’s pedigree, I was absolutely shocked the first time I used the camera on the Lumia 900. To put it plainly, as good as the hardware design is on the Lumia 900 is as bad as I found the camera to be.

In a world that was once dominated by Nokia, the Finnish vendor’s competitors have made huge strides in recent years with regard to camera phones. Apple’s iPhone features one of the most impressive smartphone cameras on the market, and HTC just set the bar several steps higher with the cameras on its new One-series smartphones. These cameras, which are driven by a dedicated microprocessor, are capable of capturing a RAW 5- or 8-megapixel image, converting it to JPG, saving it, and returning to a ready state in 0.7 seconds.

Meanwhile, I found that the Lumia 900′s camera takes very poor images compared to these market leaders. Colors were washed out and didn’t pop at all like they do on the iPhone. The edges of objects were extremely blurry rather than sharp and clear like they are on the HTC One S I have been testing.

I also had a great deal of trouble focusing on objects at close range. Even when I tapped on an item to focus on it and snap a picture, the phone still focused on something in the background instead. Macro mode did nothing to resolve the issue.

I’m hoping some of these issues will be fixed in upcoming software updates. Considering the quality of images taken using other Nokia handsets, I have to imagine these are not problems with the optics or other camera hardware Nokia used in the Lumia 900.

Outside of the camera, apps are one of this phone’s biggest barriers. This is hardly a new issue, and it is certainly not one that only impacts the Lumia 900 or even just Windows Phone. Mobile developers, for the most part, focus their attention on iOS and Android for obvious reasons.

Nokia and Microsoft have not been shy in recognizing this issue, and the companies are both throwing money at it. Also, I think we’ll see some interesting integration with both Xbox and Windows 8 in future versions of Windows Phone that will make the mobile platform even more attractive to developers. If they can continue to woo big-name developers — and maybe even get a few exciting exclusive titles on the platform — it should help draw more attention and ensure Windows Phone can remain competitive. In the meantime, users looking for popular titles like Words With Friends, Draw Something, Temple Run and Instagram will have to look elsewhere.

Selling users on a platform where they’ll have to ditch several of their favorite apps will never be an easy task, regardless of how much incentive AT&T sales representatives are given and regardless of how gorgeous a device might be.

Beyond those major qualms, my remaining issues with this handset are relatively minor. The phone’s oleophobic coating, for example, is not on par with many rival devices. All touchscreen phones gather oils from the hand, but Nokia’s Lumia 900 seems to gather more grease than other phones. This handset also seems to hold onto oil a bit more than other devices, and I found a mobile cloth worked much better than a t-shirt to clean the display. Also, it would be nice to see this flagship phone ship with a pair of earbuds like most comparable devices do.

The Bottom Line

If the Lumia 900 fails to gain traction in the U.S. market, it will pose a huge problem for Nokia and for Microsoft. It won’t signal the immediate end for either company in America, of course, but will leave both companies in a very difficult spot.

Nokia’s Lumia 900 on AT&T is the total package in every sense of the term. It is a phone with gorgeous hardware that manages to be both classic and unique. It will launch alongside a massive marketing and advertising effort. AT&T’s retail staff is being given Lumia 900 handsets and extensive training, and the device will have prime positioning in the carrier’s stores. And on top of everything else, this flagship 4G smartphone is just $99.99 or even less on contract.

This is Windows Phone’s shot.

If the Lumia 900 cannot succeed in the U.S. under these conditions, it begs the obvious question: what else can be done? The biggest barrier, beyond the established positions and momentum currently enjoyed by iOS and Android, is likely apps.

The absence of popular apps certainly won’t be a deal breaker for everyone, however, and as someone who regularly uses all mobile platforms, I have personally been able to fill most gaps on Windows Phone with somewhat comparable apps. WhatsApp is a perfectly suitable alternative to iMessage and BBM, for example, and while there is no official Pandora app for Windows Phone, there are several third-party options such as MetroRadio. GoVoice fills in for an official Google Voice app on my Windows Phones, and there are plenty of high-quality mobile games to replace missing titles that are popular on Android and iOS.

Windows Phone is smart, fast, responsive and very well-designed, though its UI tends to be polarizing. Most people I have come across offer praise for the Metro UI in general, though some suggest that they miss a more graphics-heavy interface. I enjoy the Metro UI a great deal, though I find that there are some apps that would be better off with a more traditional interface. From what I understand, the next major version of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform will offer a host of new options to developers that should bring immediate improvements to the quality and variety of apps on the platform.

Nokia’s Lumia 900 is a terrific smartphone that gives Windows Phone its best shot yet to succeed. The hardware is well-designed and unique, the software is intelligent and smooth, the price is right, and the 4G data speeds along with excellent reception and call quality seal the deal. AT&T’s new flagship phone is not without its faults, of course, but this handset can most certainly go head to head with the best devices on the market when it launches on April 8th.

Sony is aiming to launch its next-generation PlayStation video game console ahead of rival Microsoft, a recent report claims. Microsoft’s next Xbox console — which could be an ARM-based “Xbox lite” that will launch ahead of a true Xbox 360 successor that will be released some time later — is widely expected to hit store shelves for the holidays in 2013. According to an unnamed source speaking with VG247, Sony plans to launch its PlayStation 4 console before Microsoft’s next Xbox makes a splash. ”Sony are completely in the belief that they have the jump on Microsoft this time,” the source reportedly said. The anonymous source continued, ”Top line publishers already know about it. Developers working with publishers – like Ubisoft, for example – already know what’s going on. They’re already working on it.” Both Sony and Microsoft are expected to unveil their next-generation consoles during the annual E3 gaming conference next year.

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AT&T on Monday announced that Nokia’s latest flagship smartphone, the Lumia 900 Windows Phone, will launch on April 8th for just $99.99 on contract. The handset will be one of the most affordable flagship devices AT&T has ever launched thanks to what is reportedly a huge investment from Nokia and Microsoft, and the device will launch alongside a massive marketing and advertising campaign as well. BGR exclusively reported in January that the Lumia 900 would launch in March at just $99.99 on contract, but we said at the time that issues discovered during testing were preventing the handset from gaining technical acceptance. The phone’s launch target was later pushed back to late April before the release date finally settled on April 8th. We took a hands on look at the Lumia 900 when it was unveiled during the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and we called it a gorgeous smartphone that we couldn’t wait to see hit store shelves. The handset features a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display, a 1.4GHz processor, 4G LTE and the Windows Phone 7.5 operating system. AT&T’s full press release follows below.

AT&T Brings First LTE Windows Phone to Market with Nokia Lumia 900, Available for Customers April 8 for $99.99

Dallas, Texas, March 26, 2012

The Nokia Lumia 900, the Windows Phone named “Best of CES” for all smartphones, will be available exclusively in the U.S. from AT&T* on April 8 at a price of $99.99.  One of the first 4G LTE Windows Phones in the world, the Nokia Lumia 900 gives AT&T customers greater 4G LTE choices than ever before and the largest selection of Windows Phones in the U.S.  For more information, customers can visit www.att.com/lumia or AT&T’s Consumer Blog.

Customers who can’t wait to get their hands on this new smartphone can pre-order it in cyan or black beginning March 30 by visiting any AT&T company-owned retail store. Qualified business customers, military personnel, students, and employees who receive wireless service discounts can pre-order the Lumia 900 online, beginning the afternoon of March 30, at http://www.att.com/nokialumia900.

Running on AT&T’s superfast 4G LTE network, the Lumia 900 delivers an unsurpassed mobile experience. With 4G LTE speeds, the people-first style of Windows Phone 7.5 and outstanding design lets customers access their emails, music and social media quickly and helps them look good while doing it.  The Lumia 900 will be available in unique and eye-catching cyan blue and a matte black on April 8, with a newly announced high-gloss white version on sale beginning April 22.

“AT&T and Nokia’s relationship spans many years and we’re thrilled to introduce their first 4G LTE Windows Phone only for our customers,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president – Devices, AT&T Mobility.  “The Lumia 900 is impeccably designed with clean lines and a camera that rivals stand-alone digital cameras on the market today.  Combine that with the people-first Windows Phone experience and our4G LTE network – the nations’ largest 4G network – and it’s clear that this is one of the best phones customers can find.”

The Nokia Lumia 900 has a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display for rich, bright images both indoors and out and a long-lasting 1830 mAh battery for enjoying content.

Its 8 megapixel camera includes Nokia’s exclusive Carl Zeiss optics, with large aperture (F2.2) and wide angle focal length (28mm) for high-quality, uncropped images even in low-light conditions. The front-facing camera boasts a large aperture and a wide angle lens that ensures sharp, bright images for high-quality video calling, right out of the box.  Additionally, customers can enjoy their favorite music and videos from their Lumia 900 wherever they are with the Nokia Purity HD On Ear Stereo Headset by Monster, also available beginning April 8.**

The Nokia Lumia 900 offers AT&T customers a range of leading content experiences such as:

• AT&T U-verse Mobile lets U-verse TV subscribers browse the U-verse TV program guide, schedule and manage their DVR recordings, and watch hit TV shows while on the go. The U-verse Mobile library includes more than 100 TV series and more than 700 TV shows from a variety of genres.
• Nokia Drive, available to download from Windows Phone Marketplace, provides free voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation with a dedicated in-car user interface that turns the Nokia Lumia 900 into a GPS navigation device.
• The exclusive ESPN sports hub is pre-loaded on the Nokia Lumia 900, and provides a one-stop sports application for news, videos and scores.

Limited 4G LTE availability in select markets.  4G speeds delivered by LTE, or HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul, where available.  Deployment ongoing.  Compatible device and data plan required. LTE is a trademark of ETSI.  Learn more at att.com/network.

Limited-time offer. Nokia Lumia 900 requires a new 2-yr wireless agreement with voice (min $39.99/mo) and min monthly data plan ($20/mo). Subject to Wireless Customer Agrmt. Credit approval req’d. Activ fee $36/line. Geographic, usage and other terms, conditions and restrictions apply, and may result in svc termination. Coverage and svcs not avail everywhere. Taxes and other charges apply. Data (att.com/dataplans): If usage exceeds your monthly data allowance, you will automatically be charged overage for additional data provided. Early Termination Fee (att.com/equipmentETF): After 30 days, ETF up to $325. Restocking fee up to $35. Other Monthly Charges/line may include a Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge (up to $1.25), a gross receipts surcharge, federal and state universal svc charges, fees and charges for other gov’t assessments. These are not taxes or gov’t req’d charges. Visit a store or att.com/wireless to learn more about wireless devices and services from AT&T.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.