billsmed

Things have changed quite a bit the past couple of days and the excitement is starting to build around the Sprint WiMAX HTC Supersonic phone.

The rumor today is that inventories are building already and the eminent release is near. Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that "Sprint Corp. will soon roll out the HTC Supersonic, the first U.S. phone to work on a faster wireless network. The company plans to unveil the phone at the CTIA industry conference next week, according to people familiar with the matter".

Last edited by billsmed; March 18th, 2010 at 10:59 PM.

KRD

I sure hope so. Don't get me wrong I like my hero, but in light of what the other carriers are getting, I would love to have this phone.

phatning

One thing bothers me about Sprint's recent "4G" ad is that it featured a Moment. I thought it was kinda misleading or even false advertising...

mcbtrain929

i'd love to hear something at ctia about the SS. i'd like for this to be my next phone simply because the sprint prices are cheaper than VZW and this phone should match or exceed everything the incredible will offer. but if i dont hear anything after ctia/beginning of april, it'll be hard NOT to get an incredible.

photon00

I was eyeballing the Nexus One until I heard rumors of the Supersonic. It is exactly what I'm after. However it is not going to be out on Sprint for a while, and considering the rumours indicate this phone is Sprintcentric, I've not got a clue when something like this phone will reach the UK. I could be waiting a while, so I'm now looking at the HTC desire. I'm really flakey right now I know, but there are some really nice possibilities with HTC.

wankingweiner

same here man. I originally wanted the Nexus One until i heard about the Supersonic. But realizing it wont come to Europe for a long time im sure, im defiantly sticking behind the Desire now.

billsmed

Some reports from the media are saying look to CTIA for more information on the Supersonic, but even if we don't hear something by then, I would find it difficult to believe more information won't be leaked by the beginning of April. But then, I was a little disappointed that we didn't hear something at MWC, until someone pointed out that that show was basically a European show.

As far as the Incredible, I'm a little underwhelmed by it right now, especially when I compare it to the Supersonic. Even though we haven't heard much, I have to think it isn't that far away. I mean, are you going to get the Incredible in April or May when it comes out, and then kick yourself when the Supersonic comes out a month or two later?

I really like the Desire too, but I'm not going to move to AT&T for it.

KRD

I really hope sprint doesn't wait that long after the incredible

ValdiviaENT

i dont think Spint can wait passed June to release the SS! We all know Apple will probly be putting out a new iPhone every year! and yea it may be the same thing with more memory but ppl still get hyped over the "new iphone" so Sprint needs a phone like the SS in there line up! The SS has the specs to be around for a long time and still be a high end phone. and for this reason i cant give up on it just yet. I just want it to be offical! or at least more leaks! lol

billsmed

I agree. I keep looking for information on this phone and lately there hasn't been much. Hopefully, that's because Sprint is waiting until CTIA to make an announcement like they did at CES in January with their Overdrive Hub.

I'm with everyone else and would love to hear something. It would take away a lot of the anxiety if even the smallest little thing was said officially.

Covert_Death

i think the rumors have been around long enough that it is time to start getting more ifficial news, if nothing by CTIA i think i am not the only one who will cave for a purchase. whether it be the moment, moment2, n1... whatever sprint offers me

billsmed

I'm surprised to hear that from you, especially since you've been on the Supersonic bandwagon and you have all that WiMAX coverage where your family is in Texas. I'm reading the N1 will only be sold online through Google for the Verizon version, so I can't imagine it will be any different with Sprint. What do you like about the Moment?

Are you really that unwilling to wait just a little longer?

billsmed

I'm sure if the Supersonic would have been available, they would have used that instead. I do believe Samsung is working on a WiMAX version. Wouldn't that be something if they were to release that before the Supersonic is released...

ValdiviaENT

Yea and thats where my heads at too. So i hope CTIA is gonna be big for SS news! Or at least i hop so!

Yea the only think holding me back is there really isnt anything that great on Sprint for me to get! But if the N1 comes before the SS, i might bite and get it! And I really want the SS to be out by June!

pkpmoa1536

Right now, I'll take any news, even some sort of teaser from Sprint. I am currently on TMO--it sucks for me. I might get coverage in my house depending on what room I am in; right now I'm in my office-no service Service has been up since early December, and I have been waiting for the SS or Incredible. I was leaning towards the Incredible until I played with a friend's N1. I really liked it, of course I will wait for Sense, but I would really prefer to have something with the 4.3" screen. I'm a big guy with big ol' hands, the more room, the better. So I am in no big hurry, but if something isn't revealed soon, I will not wait much past June without some solid release info, I'm going to jump on the Incredible.

Honestly, I'd prefer Sprint, I've been with them before (had no problem with Customer Service, Reception, etc...) and I love the fact that they're soooooo much cheaper than everyone else. Plus, I live just down the street from their world headquarters here in KC, so I like supporting my local businesses, and I guess that this would count. But do not get me wrong, I'm not waiting forever while every other company out there brings the goods left and right.

Covert_Death

if they announce it then sure ill wait but if it is still just a rumor, and that's all it is, by the time ctia is over then i'll prob be caving, i just can't live with my instinct any longer, it just simply doesn't work at all, i can't even type, and the calls always dial the wrong person, the fav list is bugged.... enless missory with this phone, i do ultimately want the SS though

billsmed

@covert,

I know what you mean about the Instinct. I had one too and was very disappointed with it. From that phone, I upgraded to the HTC Hero, but almost immediately, I wished it had a bigger screen and a faster processor (which is probably a never ending story). At least the Hero has a decent browser and it does a pretty good job with Google searches. For that part you can do voice to text which is fairly accurate and it beats typing. I also like that it's an Android phone and that it has Android Market. There's a lot of awesome programs to download and the widgets that come with HTC Sense UI make it a pleasure to use. If it were faster and had a bigger screen, with an accompanying larger keyboard, I would be a happy camper, but it only has a 580 MHz processor and a 3.2" screen and that's why I want the Supersonic.

KRD

I totally agree with everything said.

acp

I've always felt this phone was too good to be true, so I won't be suprised either way, but I sincerely hope this phone is announced and the released shortly after.

billsmed

I think it's healthy to have a difference of opinion. You and Covert and others probably think this phone is a hoax or at best a rumor, but I feel positive about it. When the HTC HD2 came out last fall, a lot of people were asking HTC to develop an Android version of the phone and that's basically what the Supersonic is supposed to be.

It would erase all doubts if we could see the full specs and actual release date for the Supersonic, but I keep thinking that Sprint must want this phone as much as we do. They need it to show off their rapidly growing WiMAX 4G network and with partners like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Intel and Google, it gives me confidence that Sprint has a real good chance of staying ahead of the competition if they can bring this phone out soon.

We were starting to hear more about the Supersonic, but there hasn't been much lately. I still think a lot of that has to do with the Apple lawsuit, but maybe Sprint is holding back until CTIA, which is about 10 days away now, to make an official announcement.

bimmjo

for what it is worth, and it is not much at all. I went to two different sprint stores yesterday to get my hero worked on and both mentioned the supersonic and said they were guessing June or July for a release date?

I have had a lot of recent problems with my hero not working well as a phone, and was considering switching to a moment, the first guy told me to wait. He said I would be better off waiting as he was confident the supersonic was coming out, just not 100% able to tell me which month.

He knows as much as we do which is nothing im sure, but it was some sort of hint maybe.

billsmed

Thanks for posting, bimmjo. This thing about the customer service reps has been discussed in other forums and the consensus seems to be that the csr's have no inside information. When asked about it, you find out they generally get the information the same way we do - in forums like this or from news sites.

billsmed

I was looking at the render of the HTC Supersonic and wondered what the final version might look like...

In the picture below, the render of the HTC Bravo (left) when released morphed into the HTC Desire (right) or some would argue, the Nexus One. Either way, there was quite a change. Do you think the same thing is likely to happen with the Supersonic? I'm just trying to get some conversation going about this phone and I'm curious about your opinion and what you have to say about it.

billsmed

billsmed

Does anyone know if there will be some kind of podcast or live webcast of Dan Hesse's keynote address next Wednesday at CTIA?

acp

I don't really know what to think, I guess I'm just being skeptical because the phone is exactly what I would want in a phone (minus the hardware buttons) and that is a weird feeling, to get what I want.

IMO the Bravo looks a lot like the Desire, there is only minor cosmetic changes based on the picture you provided. If the SS follows that same pattern then we would still have a 4.3in screen, which is brilliant.

photon00

I would take the render in both cases. Like the Bravo -> Desire changes I suspect there will be some changes from the SS render to the final product. If the last SS video leak we saw is legit, I really hope there is an all black version. Not too keen on the white. The render looks good!

billsmed

photon00, I believe I read somewhere awhile back (don't ask me where) that they were going to have both a white and a black version.

KRD

I would like the white just for something different, i keep my phones in a holster so I can do the white. Black, brown, and silver are getting tired.

Roddy

If no new is given @ CTIA, YES i am giving up on the Supersonic. I have a freaking old Blackberry 8330m for God sakes. I can't do it much longer!!!
:-(

Covert_Death

agree w/ roddy... and as for what it looks like, if that video is legit, i want it just like that... that dirty white back with the red leans cover looks pretttty spiffy if you ask me

Thefoodman52

I recently hit up my local Sprint store (applying to work there, I've always kind of wanted to anyways, figured why not) and I know the 3 or 4 people that work there fairly well. I mentioned this phone and the manager (name will not be given =P) was kind of surprised I'd heard about it. She said something about it being 'announced' in late June this year, which means we really can't hope for too much.

The main real estate I'm interested in on this phone is for one, the projected screen size. At 4.3", I'd assume this is as big as a cell phone screen CAN get while still being able to be tossed into a pocket. Something else is the processor. With something like that rocking in it, I can only imagine good things for ROM space and amounts of RAM. As for it being made by HTC, I'm not sure. The whole senseUI thing, I could deal without. I've made my Moment into exactly what I need it to be via third party software (on and off market), so I really don't consider the add-ons that come with the phone to be a major choice. I choose based on hardware now, as far as Android phones go. And this thing, well it looks to be some pretty damned good hardware.


-edit-

That is what I'm assuming as well, they HAVE been boasting about it, yet they have not one single device *aside from a hotspot thing* that can use this. If they're spending money advertising it, I can only assume they have plans for something like this; I.E. this phone's name Supersonic, possibly suggesting faster download speeds coupled with a(the) faster(est) phone. Logic would break it into this.

As far as coupling with Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House, I don't really see much coming from that. On the other hand though, with Intel and Google, I can see that happening. All of a sudden Sprint's got 4g speeds and coverage with the ONLY device capable of using it; who's going to be paying attention to them now? Just about everyone. If this DOES happen, I can see AT&T start to turn and throw the knives at Sprint and begin to shy from Verizon, in theory this is.

Last edited by Thefoodman52; March 15th, 2010 at 05:33 PM. Reason: Adding yummy yummy information coated in mayonaise

acp

more than likely the manager you spoke to knows less than you do, or heard a rumor from her boyfriend's aunt's son's girlfriend's dad who knows a guy at headquarters who is a custodian and while cleaning the shitter overheard a guy talking about the Supersonic or possibly the Supersonics, he still isn't sure.

The manager of my local Sprint store told me before I purchased a Moment and Hero that she received an email from Headquarters that said the Moment was guaranteed to get the 2.0 update on 12/15/09 and the Hero was still not confirmed to receive the update.

billsmed

foodman, thanks for stopping by and posting. I hope you voted too

Your contact was saying late June for this phone to be released. That's what a lot of the reports I'm reading are saying and that still fits within the first half 2010 time frame. Hopefully we'll be surprised and it will come sooner than expected. If it really is going to be that late, I highly doubt there will be an announcement at CTIA, but like you pointed out, they need to release this thing ASAP.

The specs that I have been able to find for the HTC Supersonic are amazing:

Type: CDMA dual band (1900/800 MHz)
Data: 1xEV-DO rev.A
Screen: 4.3" OLED (Some reports are saying AMOLED and others color transflective TFT)
Resolution: 480 x 800
Camera: 5MP (Some reports are saying 8MP)
Flash: Dual LED; Auto focus, Digital zoom
Video: MPG4
FM Radio: Yes
Memory Slot: microSD/microSDHC
OS: Android 2.1 initially, then updated to Android 3.0
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8650 1GHz
Memory: 1024 MB ROM
Ram: 512 MB
WiFi: Yes
WiMAX: Yes
Bluetooth: Stereo Bluetooth

This should be good enough to keep this a high end phone for quite awhile. I know I can wait until June, but some of the others are suffering with old phones and are saying they can't wait that long.

Edit:

BTW, I don't know if you're aware of it, but Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Intel and Google have invested with Sprint on WiMAX for a combined $3.2 billion.

Last edited by billsmed; March 15th, 2010 at 06:14 PM. Reason: To add partner info

billsmed

Thanks acp, that's pretty funny stuff

capwulf

My contract with Alltel is up tommorow so I was forced to get a Hero today. If I add a line later can I get the supersonic for the new 2 year contract price?

Thanks in advance.

billsmed

As far as I know, you have 30 days in which you can return the phone. Hopefully, we'll know more about the Supersonic by then.

acp

I thought OLED = AMOLED

now I'm not sure

billsmed

AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) is an emerging display technology for use in mobile devices such as mobile phones.

An OLED display in which each pixel has its own transistor on/off switch (see TFT and Active Matrix) rather than being activated by its address

OLED is what I think the Supersonic will have and not the AMOLED that the Nexus One has. Guess you can't have everything, but I think the difference is the size of the screen.

Thefoodman52

And OLED is hella better than LCD. Much brighter, and allows for thinner devices. Still a nice screen, just not as nice.

billsmed

@acp

Speaking of funny... I noticed you replied to a thread where a guy got poop under the glass of his Hero, but it was only visible with black ultraviolet light and a magnifying glass. What do you think happened to that guy? He had the best sense of humor and wrote the funniest post I've ever read here. I even printed it out so my friends could read it and everyone got a kick out of it. I wish he'd come back...

acp

that post was an absolute classic and so was this one http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/35971-why-can-t-hero-better-phone.html

calling him the bloodninja of cell phone forums is the HIGHEST compliment I could think of. if you have not heard of bloodninja, check out the site dedicated to him bloodninja.org and click on BN Chats. becareful I guess they are slightly NSFW.

Thefoodman52

I really don't think it's early enough to call it quits on the SuperSonic.... it's only had a few 'leak' photos out so far, which means that someone wants us to see it. That and it always helps generate hype for it.

billsmed

I'm with you foodman, but I have to admit that it's painful waiting when there's so little to go on. Almost 27% of the people voting are saying they're not waiting any longer and it's hard to blame them. On the other side of the coin, at least one or two of the yes votes are from the UK where they don't have much of a chance of getting the Supersonic anyway. Some of the others are probably from the Verizon side or they just don't like Sprint.

Only 26 votes have been registered, but there has been over a 1000 views so far.

This whole Supersonic forum has been pretty dead lately and that's why I've been trying to reinvigorate some interest. Personally, I don't see anything better on the horizon, so I'm going to wait it out. I refuse to think this whole thing is a hoax, but it sure would make the waiting easier if there was more information. Hopefully we'll learn more next Wednesday. If not, it's going to get even harder to wait.

KRD

I would really hope that Sprint does announce something. They need to put heavy competition on the other carriers to try to sway some of the lost customers back. Verizon is going to be there either announcing the incredible, nexus one, or maybe both. Sprint needs to at least acknowledge the fact that the supersonic exists, because it hasn't been through the FCC. Making it hard to believe that it will be out in the next couple of months. I hope the CTIA will bring enough information for us fanatics to dwell on until it launches.

Thefoodman52

Yea, the more information, the higher my hopes get. Right now, it's just a cool concept with some photo's tossed out there of (probably) a plastic shell of what the thing might look like. Hardware specifications suggest good things, but those are always debatable.

If only, if only, people weren't greedy. All we want to know is if this phone exists, and if it's going to get consideration for release this year, why do companies always do this crap?

stleber

A leftover from MWC?

photon00

If I was part of HTC marketing I wouldn't be releasing this in Europe for a bit. Any word that this phone is coming out in Europe in Q2/Q3 will hit N1 and Desire sales. People will just wait! Alternatively you release it at the end of the year earliest and you get phone hungry people like me who will buy a N1/Desire now and then a Supersonic later. This doesn't apply to sprint customers. HTC have nothing to lose by getting this out as soon as possible. I really hope I'm wrong and we all get this phone soon. I'm aching for this phone. Though I can probably only wait till the summer at the most.

Ouhei

Don't "give up", we all know the phone exists and will be released this year. We've seen video of it "in the wild" and know it's out there, being tested. We know it's going to Sprint and that Sprint is set to release it's first 4G phones by the summer, what better phone to flagship the 4G launch than the Supersonic?

My guess is that we'll see the phone by July at the latest. Which would work perfect for me to jump ship from AT&T and my iPhone 3G since my contract ends in July. I'd love to see the phone earlier than that, but who knows. Hopefully they announce more details later this month.

I can't say much, but can say that the specs posted in this thread are MOSTLY correct.

billsmed

Thanks for posting that picture, stleber. I have not see it before.