Sprint Awarded Big Honors for HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO View 4G, Kyocera Echo, MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Novatel Wireless and Google Voice at International CTIA Wireless 2011

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Three Sprint (NYSE: S) devices were recognized for evolution and innovation at International CTIA Wireless 2011, the wireless industry’s annual spring tradeshow. Sprint made big news at the show with the announcement of HTC EVO 3D™, America’s first 4G phone with a 4.3-inch QHD 3D display, and HTC EVO View 4G™ – a powerful device that brings the EVO experience to a tablet form.

Honors for Sprint devices at CTIA included:

• Laptop Magazine honored HTC EVO 3D with its Best Smart Phone Award and the coveted Best in Show honor
• Phonearena.com named HTC EVO 3D and HTC EVO View 4G as “Best of CTIA 2011”
• GottaBeMobile.com and Notebook.com recognized HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO View 4G and Kyocera Echo with a Best of CTIA Award
• CNET awarded Sprint’s Google Voice™ Integration Best Service and HTC EVO 3D Honorable Mention in its Best of CTIA 2011

Additionally, Sprint’s ultra-compact MiFi^® 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Novatel Wireless (WiMAX MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot) took home a 2011 CTIA Emerging Technology Award. The sixth annual CTIA Emerging Technology Awards program is designed to provide industry recognition and exposure to the best wireless products and services in the marketplace. More than 300 entries were judged by a panel of media and industry analysts and scored on innovation, functionality, technological importance, implementation and overall "wow" factor.

Mobile 3D Without Glasses

Available this summer exclusively from Sprint, HTC EVO 3D is powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm^® Snapdragon^® dual-core processor, and it is built on Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread. It also features dual 5-megapixel cameras, which can be used to capture both high-quality conventional and stunning 3D images and videos, opening up new frontiers for user-generated content, social networking and streaming video, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

The Android-powered HTC EVO 3D displays 3D content on its glasses-free QHD screen. Powered by enhanced HTC Sense software, the sequel to last year’s game-changing HTC EVO™ 4G also sports a brawny dual-core Snapdragon processor and a beefier 1730 mAh Lithium-ion battery, in a compact and elegant design.

Bringing the EVO Experience to a Tablet

Available this summer, HTC EVO View 4G is a sleek, aluminum-encased tablet that weighs less than a paperback book. It is a powerful productivity tool for business customers and consumers and offers the best of the HTC EVO experience in a tablet design. It is also the perfect combination e-reader, media player and portable computing device that offers a premium entertainment experience with HD-quality video and a rich Web-browsing experience with the ability to browse the Web on Flash-enabled sites.

With a 7-inch, 1024x600 touchscreen display, HTC EVO View 4G is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm^® Snapdragon^® processor and the latest version of HTC Sense. It also has dual cameras – a main 5–megapixel, auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3-megapixel camera – HTC EVO View 4G unleashes the ability to create, stream over the lightning-fast 4G network, share via YouTube™ or Facebook^®, and watch video with the Qik mobile app.

Using HTC Scribe Technology™, HTC EVO View 4G will offer a new way to interact with a tablet and introduces the HTC Scribe™ digital pen (sold separately) to the tablet experience and unlocks new capabilities. When combined with Evernote™, a leading notes application and service, the user will have the ability to capture and make notes on Web pages, e-books, PDF documents and more, in an easy and natural way.

Two Screens for True Multitasking

The nation’s first dual-touchscreen smartphone, Kyocera Echo™ exclusively from Sprint, revolutionizes the mobile experience. Kyocera Echo’s patent-pending “pivot hinge” design enables a compact pocket-friendly single-screen position when closed, and exposes two adjacent 3.5-inch high-resolution touchscreens when opened. Kyocera Echo offers customized apps that are optimized for the dual-screen experience, including VueQue™, an app pre-loaded by Kyocera, which lets users watch a video in one display while browsing, queuing and buffering additional videos in the other.

The easy-to-use device offers four modes of interaction:

• Single-Screen Mode with all the functionality of a single-display touchscreen smartphone
• Simul-Task™ Mode with two of the phone’s seven core apps running concurrently but independently on the device’s dual displays

• Optimized Mode with both displays supporting a single, optimized app with complementary functionality and enhanced usability
• Tablet Mode with one application spread across both screens for a full 4.7-inch viewing area

Available beginning April 17, Kyocera Echo operates on the Android 2.2, Froyo, operating system and has a 1GHz Qualcomm^® Snapdragon^® processor. It also features a 5-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus and 2x digital zoom and 720p HD camcorder.

Sharing Via MiFi

Sprint’s ultra-compact MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Novatel Wireless brings customers the portability of the MiFi design with one-touch connectivity for up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices, including a tablet, e-readers, laptops or gaming consoles. Delivering a true wireless experience with no cables or software installation required, the MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot easily supports all the needs of a family household, a frequent traveler who wants to avoid Wi-Fi charges, or even a small business team in a form factor about the size of a credit card.

Sprint is the first carrier to launch a 4G MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot preloaded with MiFi OS™, widgets and application support, adding capabilities beyond just Internet connectivity. It offers 4G accessibility and download speeds that are up to 10 times faster than 3G service.¹ It also features an external display with status indicators for battery, signal strength and number of connected devices as well as shared storage capability through a microSD™ slot for up to a 32GB memory card.

Integrated Google Voice Experience from Sprint

Coming soon, a new integrated Google Voice will allow Sprint customers to set their existing Sprint wireless phone number as their Google Voice number on any CDMA phone. Sprint is the only carrier that allows the user to assign their existing mobile phone number as their Google Voice number without having to port their number, avoiding porting charges, potential service disruptions and the hassle of calling their carrier to terminate and port their number to Google Voice and then re-subscribe with another number. Sprint’s integration with Google simplifies and shortens the process of moving a phone number to Google Voice to mere minutes.

Google Voice makes it easy for people to manage and access most of their voice-based communication. It lets users manage up to six different devices through one phone number with intelligent call routing and advanced features like call screening, blocking and recording using the phone’s dial pad. Google Voice users can receive transcribed voicemails and read or listen to them online. They can also read, send and search text messages and call logs online at www.google.com/voice.

Customers can sign up to be notified when the integrated Google Voice experience for Sprint phones is available at www.google.com/voice/sprint.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 49.9 million customers at the end of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

¹Up to 10x faster claim: Based on download speed comparison of Sprint 3G avg. speeds (600 kbps -1.4 Mbps) vs. Sprint 4G avg. speeds (3-6 Mbps). Actual speeds may vary by plan or based on other factors.