Qualcomm, the arch-enemy of WiMAX, finds itself in the slightly odd position of seeing its flagship chip, the Snapdragon processor, in the most high profile WiMAX device to date, the HTC Supersonic for Sprint (now officially rechristened the EVO).
The dual-branded HTC/Sprint phone, long awaited, is the first WiMAX smartphone to launch in the US and will be important to the carrier’s bid to steal a march on its LTE-focused rivals, by offering full mobile broadband services, including handset support, before Verizon can go live with its own 4G offering.
Obviously, Qualcomm’s political wish to see LTE (or preferably HSPA) succeed over WiMAX is secondary to another in a long line of good contracts for Snapdragon, which integrates a gigahertz app processor with the modem, in this case for Sprint’s CDMA EV-DO network. The WiMAX baseband comes from Sequans, and the dual-mode phone allows for roaming outside the 4G city zones, plus cellular voice connections, via the 3G system. The ‘Sprint 4G’ service rides on the Clearwire network, in which the cellco is the largest stakeholder, and Clearwire is expected to bring its own-branded smartphone to market within a few months – possibly a rebranded version of Supersonic, or a different model.
Given that Google is also an investor in Clearwire and close development partner of Sprint, it is no surprise that the Supersonic runs Android, as do most of its Snapdragon counterparts on 3G networks – Google Nexus One, HTC Desire, Acer Liquid, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and others (there are also Windows Mobile Snapdragon options, notably the HTC HD2 and Toshiba TG01). The Supersonic’s differentiator, of course, will be the superfast connection available in Clearwire territories, which not only has a higher average data rate than 3G, but – at least now, in the early days of build-out – is an uncongested network. Other specs include HD capable camcorder, 4.3-inch display and kickstand.