Boost Mobile is set to upend the current prepaid race by offering its own variant of the HTC EVO Design 4G Android smartphone by the end of the current quarter. What makes this offering notable is that the Boost Mobile version will upstage the current Sprint version by shipping with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which would mark a first for a prepaid carrier in the US, and offer a significant competitive advantage against larger postpaid carriers which have yet to offer Ice Cream Sandwich updates en masse for their respective flagship Android 4.0 compatible devices.
Many carriers have yet to offer updates to current models or new models with the latest Android version, taking into account that Sprint and Verizon would be the only carriers currently offering Android Ice Cream Sandwich hardware for sale with the Galaxy Nexus. The Galaxy Nexus officially launches tomorrow on Sprint after a compressed pre-order period which saw the carrier sell out of its pre-order inventory in a week.
Aside from the update to Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the Boost Mobile version of the EVO Design 4G will be identical in terms of hardware to the Sprint version, with a 1.2GHz single-core processor and 768MB of RAM with a 4.0-inch, 960×540 qHD resolution display, WiMax radio, 5.0-megapixel and 1.3-megapixel cameras. Hotspot capability is also expected to ship with the Boost Mobile variant, but specifics on pricing for either feature have yet to be confirmed.
Virgin Mobile is also expected to offer its own HTC 4G WiMax device this quarter in a variant of the older EVO 3D known as the EVO V 3D, also with 4G support included. With both phones slated to ship on each respective provider this quarter, Sprint may be looking to take the fight to prepaid services such as StraightTalk and postpaid carriers by offering 4G access on preapid, which will undoubtedly increase the competition level for every service in the country.
[via PocketNow]
Some might say the news on the virgin device in the last paragraph deserved to headline this article with the boost news as the footnote. We are talking about MNVOs that have little differentiation except that with these two devices one has two cores and the other has one. Apologies for splitting hairs. Keep up the good work.
I chose to footnote the EVO V 3D news because it’s going to be overshadowed by the One V from HTC which is going to front Virgin Mobile’s upmarket push. The EVO V 3D will be identical to the Sprint version right down to the software version. Boost going 4G is the result of Sprint actively paying attention to the increasing numbers of enthusiasts gaming the system for swapping 4G devices on the provider.
No reason to apologize, I learn how to do my job better daily and comments like yours are a big help. Thanks for reading and I appreciate the compliment.
I didn’t realize the One V might be going to Virgin. I agree the newness of the One V might overshadow the other devices of older vintage like the 3D but the only new/better feature is Ice Cream Sandwich otherwise its smaller screen, less ram and one core. I think there is little chance both devices will end up in the lineup at the same time. If I was a betting man I’d put my money on the One V. It’s a lot easier/cheaper to roll out a device that already has ICB then trying to roll it out as an afterthought.
I’m not sure I follow your comment on Boost going to 4G. By “gaming” are you implying people are already using Sprint WiMaxx products on Boost?
Thanks again!
There’s a scene of Boost Mobile users that actively game access on 4G via Boost by an involved process of MEID switching between a donor Boost Mobile device and the desired 4G device. The process involves device identifier modification and is impossible to trace otherwise.
If the Boost Mobile variant of the Evo Design 4G retains it’s world phone capabilities, I could potentially see it having some appeal to a subset of business users as well. That would certainly be a feather in Boost’s cap.