HTC Inspire 4G set to bring new Sense to AT&T

By on Jan 5, 2011 at 2:56 PM
CES January 5, 2011

When it comes to the sleek new HTC Inspire 4G for AT&T, we have good news and we have bad news: the good news is that it’s compatible with AT&T’s 4G network. The bad news, however, is that it’s not compatible with AT&T’s 4G network. Confused? Announced during AT&T’s 4G extravaganza this morning, the HTC Inspire 4G will be AT&T’s version of the Desire HD. It features a 4.3-inch display, Android 2.2 (Froyo), HTC’s updated Sense UI, an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and it will be the first device in the U.S. to be compatible with HTCSense.com. The Inspire 4G will also feature compatibility with AT&T’s HSPA+ “4G” network. It will not, however, feature compatibility with AT&T’s LTE “4G” network. How inspiring. The HTC Inspire 4G will launch in the first half of 2011 at an unknown price point.

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  • Anonymous

    Damn when can my EVO get some new Sense? . . . I’m not hearing a PEEP! from Sprint about anything so far… When is their press Conference?

    • http://infotainmentempire.blogspot.com Rob

      I’ve been wondering the exact same thing!

    • kyle

      LOL @Sense…

      rooted the hell out of my evo and couldn’t be happier with my custom rom/kernel

  • dbag

    4.3 inch android phone on ATT? Finally, HOLLLLLLAAAAAA!

    • MN

      AT&T locks down their Android phones (Captivate, Aria, etc.) so as beautiful as it is to have a 4.3″ phone, I see this as an fail on AT&T’s part as the phone will be 4G on a network that won’t have 4G until 2012,

      • NotAFanBoy

        This is a completely crazy statement. T-Mobile can market there small 21Mbps HSPA+ network as 4G but when AT&T does it so the average consumer doesn’t think there larger faster 21Mbps HSPA+ is anything less than T-Mo, idoits like you whine.

      • http://infotainmentempire.blogspot.com Rob

        You really calling someone an “idoit” when you misspell words in your post? Really??

        And not just that, “T-Mobile can market THERE small…” should be a completely different word, as in THEIR.

      • zoim

        T-mobile’s “small” HSPA+ is gonna jump to 42Mbps in the next 6 months…I got the HTC G2/Vision 4g on Tmo and its whooping download speeds with every iPhone or AT&T user I’ve done a speedtest duel with. This is in Orange County California where we have a huge AT&T and Tmo footprint so the tests are fair and using the same speedtest apps.
        Also +1 to Rob about the spelling and grammar…lol “idoit”…

  • justin

    What are the main differences between the 2 networks exactly?

    • kyle

      On a surface level: Speed.

      See here in America 3G speeds are equivalent to what “2.5G” speeds WOULD be everywhere else. Read: Americas mobile networks suck compared to most overseas.

      So, when a company like Sprint rolls out a 4G WiMAX network, considering global standards it is much better defined as “3.5G” …

      Now this HSPA+, though a big improvement on the “3G” as they call it here in the states, is more like what 3G speeds SHOULD be.

      The thing is, you can’t just call a network 3G or 4G because you want to. It’s a marketing scam. 3G and 4G are very specific ranges of speed/network interfaces. HSPA+ is basically a midway point for marketers.

      • Drew

        Yep, the U.S. is soooo far behind Europe and Asia as far as speeds are concerned. They’ve been using 3G video chat since 2003 in those countries and for some reason carriers in the U.S. block this functionality.

  • Anonymous

    no front facing camera?

    • kyle

      of course not. AT&T makes a move towards carrying phones that compete with the iPhone, then Steve Jobs growls, kinda sounds like a young pitbull. But it’s enough to make AT&T sh*t their pants and make sure the iPhone has zero competition on the network.

      • Drew

        Exactly… It’s no coincidence that AT&T is last on the Android front and by far has the ugliest phones of the Android and WP7 market. It’s by design people. More proof that AT&T can give a rats ass about you and what you want.

  • fr3d0

    no ffc, limited data, and att? phail…

  • Stevedub40

    All this 4G talk is really going to confuse consumers out there. If I wasn’t such an OCD cell phone fanatic, I would have no clue what they mean by “4G”. Especially now with ATT claiming HSPA+ as 4G, and LTE as 4G. Geesh!

    • Petey

      ATT is just lost themselves lol.

  • kyle

    this guy needs to check his voicemail

  • Dmav69

    When was the last time it was 78 degrees in Seattle at 10:08 AM in the morning, heck looks like 78 degrees was the high temperature for the day at 10:08 AM, WOW AT&T, FAIL……T-Mobile RULEZZZZZ!!!!!

  • Scotty

    Well it’s about time. I have been waiting for AT&T to get a EVO type phone for a long time.
    I love my iPhone but looking for a phone that makes SENCE (wink wink) haha…

    I can only speculate by all the talk of Verizon getting the iPhone that AT&T is now ALLOWED
    to get these phones to compete with the iPhone and loose that Steve Jobs grip.

  • Drew

    When the hell did AT&T get HSPA+??? You would think since they have so much money readily available in their advertisement budget they could somehow shed some light on their network infrastructure. And the nerve of them to name a phone with the “4G” moniker after trying to call out T-Mobile for their HSPA+. Typical fucking hypocrites…

    • Anonymous

      When did they get HSPA+? Old news as they have already talked about it. Also they didn’t start claiming it was 4G until the ITU actually changed it’s definition of what is 4G. The time they called Tmobile out on it was prior to the new definition.

  • Joeybutts

    Except that ATT won’t flat out say whether they truly have HSPA + 21 Mbps or not. Their PR guy tried to pass along software HSPA 14.4 Mbps as (HSPA +) when it isn’t. ATT also has been really quiet about their supposed 250 million POPS that they promised would be covered by HSPA +. I think ther PR guys and RF guys are on differnent planets.

    The ITU now claims that “evolved 3G,’ technologies can be considered 4G now. So technically ATT does have 4G even if they don’t have HSPA +.

    • Anonymous

      It will be 21mbps, they have already made a statement about this, old news.

  • Rockvulle

    HTC NuSense… :)

  • Anonymous

    Att Rep: Your phone will work on this 4G, but not that 4G. Oh, and our coverage maps don’t tell you where this 4G is.

  • Xandercapy

    wait…whats that I see…a big android phone launch for AT&T? Does apple know?!?!

  • Gabriel

    CHICAGO — 4G World — Everyone knows that AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is planning to move to Long Term Evolution (LTE) this year, but is the operator also planning a further upgrade of its 3G network in 2011?

    In his keynote here, David Haight, VP of business development at AT&T’s Emerging Devices Organization, said that if users roam off LTE, they would go to faster 3G in 2011. “The good news is that you’re going to fall back to HSPA+, so you’re falling back to 14.4 megabits, not 7.2 or 3.6,” Haight told the crowd. (See 4G World: AT&T Learns Lessons From iPad.)

    So far, AT&T has only said that it will deploy the earlier 14.4Mbit/s upgrade by the end of 2010, revealing nothing about a 21Mbit/s upgrade in 2011. So we asked AT&T what the official word on this was.

    “HSPA+ technology has a theoretical maximum speed of 21Mbps,” a spokeswoman said, in an email reply to questions. “WE HAVE NOT BEGUN DEPLOYING THE TECHNOLOGY AT THIS TIME”,she said that ONLY last October,2010 – then now magically they are saying they have 21 hspa+??? (See AT&T Plots Widescale HSPA+ Rollout .)

    Nonetheless, if AT&T is interested in keeping up with GSM rival T-Mobile then HSPA+ is a logical progression. T-Mobile is currently rolling out a 21Mbit/s upgrade for 100 cities by year’s end; it currently has the speed boost running in 75 cities in the US.

    The average download speeds offered on 21Mbit/s HSPA+ are in the 5 to 12 Mbit/s range. (See T-Mobile’s HSPA+ Rivals Clearwire, US LTE Speeds.)

    When we are in Austin,Texas for ANDROID FESTIVAL, T-Mobile executives said that 42Mbps hspa+ will be available by last week of January or 1st week of February-2011 in some major city then AT&T might start to deploy 21Mbps hspa+…

    I called a good friend who is Head Engineer in AT&T MOBILITY unit & he said to me that THEY STILL USE THE 7.2Mbps & SOME city with 14.4Mbps HSPA, NOT YET THE 21 HSPA+ (maybe around summer of 2011, he said)

    BEST LIAR OF ALL TIME & ALWAYS CRYING – AT&T…

  • Gabriel

    CHICAGO — 4G World — Everyone knows that AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is planning to move to Long Term Evolution (LTE) this year, but is the operator also planning a further upgrade of its 3G network in 2011?

    In his keynote here, David Haight, VP of business development at AT&T’s Emerging Devices Organization, said that if users roam off LTE, they would go to faster 3G in 2011. “The good news is that you’re going to fall back to HSPA+, so you’re falling back to 14.4 megabits, not 7.2 or 3.6,” Haight told the crowd. (See 4G World: AT&T Learns Lessons From iPad.)

    So far, AT&T has only said that it will deploy the earlier 14.4Mbit/s upgrade by the end of 2010, revealing nothing about a 21Mbit/s upgrade in 2011. So we asked AT&T what the official word on this was.

    “HSPA+ technology has a theoretical maximum speed of 21Mbps,” a spokeswoman said, in an email reply to questions. “WE HAVE NOT BEGUN DEPLOYING THE TECHNOLOGY AT THIS TIME”,she said that ONLY last October,2010 – then now magically they are saying they have 21 hspa+??? (See AT&T Plots Widescale HSPA+ Rollout .)

    Nonetheless, if AT&T is interested in keeping up with GSM rival T-Mobile then HSPA+ is a logical progression. T-Mobile is currently rolling out a 21Mbit/s upgrade for 100 cities by year’s end; it currently has the speed boost running in 75 cities in the US.

    The average download speeds offered on 21Mbit/s HSPA+ are in the 5 to 12 Mbit/s range. (See T-Mobile’s HSPA+ Rivals Clearwire, US LTE Speeds.)

    When we are in Austin,Texas for ANDROID FESTIVAL, T-Mobile executives said that 42Mbps hspa+ will be available by last week of January or 1st week of February-2011 in some major city then AT&T might start to deploy 21Mbps hspa+…

    I called a good friend who is Head Engineer in AT&T MOBILITY unit & he said to me that THEY STILL USE THE 7.2Mbps & SOME city with 14.4Mbps HSPA, NOT YET THE 21 HSPA+ (maybe around summer of 2011, he said)

    BEST LIAR OF ALL TIME & ALWAYS CRYING – AT&T…

  • Anonymous

    This is the best news I’ve heard all year long from AT&T. I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT!

  • http://www.ibizbiz.com/ Jew Mark

    to what i have known it will be available for $100 with two-year contract at AT&T.

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