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Could we see a non-HTC “Evo” make its way to Sprint’s shelves?

Posted by pyroscott, in Author: Scott Johnson 25 March 2012 · 1,864 views

Sprint HTC Evo One
Could we see a non-HTC “Evo” make its way to Sprint’s shelves?

Scott Johnson
Sprint 4G Rollout Update
Sunday, March 25, 2012 - 5:00 AM MDT

Every Evo ever released on Sprint’s network has been manufactured by HTC.  Does this necessarily mean that it is exclusive to HTC?  The “Droid” line of Verizon phones have been manufactured by Motorola, HTC and Samsung.  Would Sprint consider extending the Evo name to another handset maker as Verizon has done?

Sprint and Evo

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The Evo “franchise” has defined Sprint’s Android line of phones since the HTC Evo 4G burst onto the scene and redefined the way we look at smartphones.  The mere fact that Sprint still sells the device nearly 2 years after its release is telling of how great a handset it is.  HTC followed up the success of the Evo 4G with the HTC Evo Shift 4G, a slider phone with a physical keyboard.  The HTC Evo 3D is seen by some as the successor to the original Evo, but others see it as a whole different offering, due to its inclusion of 3D camera and glasses-free 3D screen.  The final smartphone in the Evo series is the smaller, lighter, world phone, the HTC Evo Design 4G.  HTC also produced a tablet with Evo badging, the 7 inch HTC Evo View 4G.

Verizon and Droid

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Similar to Sprint's Evo line, the “Droid” line of phones has defined Verizon’s high-end Android powered phones.  Some argue that the Droid line has been watered down with a steady stream of Droid badged phones hitting shelves.  There have been 15 “Droids” released starting with the Motorola Droid in October 2009.  This amounts to a new Droid every 2 months on average.  Motorola has accounted for nearly 75% of the models, but HTC (3) and Samsung (1) have also provided Droid branded models to Verizon.


My-Touch

T-Mobile’s “my-touch” line, while not known as high end phones, but more of a family friendly line, has seen models from HTC and LG.  Even Huawei is rumored to be manufacturing a my-touch model for T-Mobile’s network.

Samsung Galaxy

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One might say that the Evo branding is HTC’s brand, similar to how Samsung has used the “galaxy” branding.  Samsung has released “galaxy” smartphones, tablets and even android powered media players.  The difference is that Samsung’s use of the galaxy badge has extended across carriers and, as seen with the media players, extended to non-wireless carrier electronics.  The Evo brand has stayed with Sprint, with no “Evo” branded electronics being released (other than an international GSM version of the Evo 3D) which makes it appear to be Sprint exclusive.

What does the Evo future hold?

What can we expect from Sprint’s Evo line moving forward?  Many think that the HTC Jet will be the next in the Evo line, but it has been rumored on this very site that HTC may abandon the Evo name to consolidate their product line.  With the original Evo and Evo Shift getting “long in the tooth,” will Sprint find successors from any willing manufacturer to refresh their iconic line with a slab and slider?  What manufacturers should Sprint consider, and would those manufacturers be willing to shed their own brands and assume the Evo branding?  Should Sprint let the Evo name ride off into the sunset if HTC abandons the line?  There are a lot of questions surrounding the name “Evo,” but we could see at least a partial answer on April 4th when HTC and Sprint announce their most recent collaboration.

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themuffinman
Mar 25 2012 06:17 AM
The evo name is way more recognizable and more valuable than the one series. If anything, instead of HTC going with the "One Series" of devices they should have went with the "Evo Series" of devices. Yes, I am sure some people would be upset since the name is exclusively used by sprint(in the U.S.) but from a business standpoint thats what HTC should have gone with.

Anyway the og evo is what really started this evolution(pun intended) of 4g large screen devices and with so many evo contracts coming to a close in the next several months Sprint would be wise to keep that brand or name recognition. I don't know what sprint will call this next HTC device but from a business standpoint it better have the evo name somewhere in there. As far as another manufacturer using the evo name, thats just sacrilege, LOL.
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Sgt. Slaughter
Mar 25 2012 08:27 AM
The HTC One variation that makes its way to Sprint should NOT have the "One" name in it, in my opinion. They already are differing b/w the HTC OneX and OneXL with the ATT and world versions...I also Can't see them getting the OneXL(ATT version in a sense) and leaving the name the same...
With that said it only makes sense to use a different name to differ itself from the other Carriers some imho...like they did with the GS2 and such...Whether the One series device uses the EVO name or some unseen ridiculous spec device from HTC has it later, it doesn't matter imho.
the only thing that matters to me is the EVO brand continues and it be with HTC...
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Rawvega
Mar 25 2012 09:10 AM
I certainly wouldn't be mad about a Motorola manufactured Evo series handset.
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legion125
Mar 25 2012 09:38 AM
It all comes down to who owns the name? Sprint or HTC?
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Sgt. Slaughter
Mar 25 2012 10:09 AM

I certainly wouldn't be mad about a Motorola manufactured Evo series handset.


ha I'd be pi##ed if they bring out a Moto flagship EVO personally....not wanting to deal with their locked bootloader crap with no way around it personally...
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Sgt. Slaughter
Mar 25 2012 10:29 AM

It all comes down to who owns the name? Sprint or HTC?


HTC owns the trademarks for all of the EVO branded devices....Though from searching their owned trademarks at USPTO I didn't see "EVO" by itself as one....though didn't see it for Sprint either...HTC's trademarks for EVO devices include the whole name like "EVO 4G" and "EVO Shift"
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strung
Mar 25 2012 10:48 AM
Name doesn't matter too much when 90% or more of new smartphones sold on Sprint are iPhones ;-)
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themuffinman
Mar 25 2012 11:01 AM

Name doesn't matter too much when 90% or more of new smartphones sold on Sprint are iPhones ;-)


In this particular case I think it does matter. The evo was the biggest thing since slice bread for sprint and even though the iphone may be the hottest thing going now there are many extremely satisfied owners of the og evo that will have a renewal coming up. I think it would be very important to Sprint and especially HTC to name this phone "Evo Whatever" to retain those customers. The iphone isn't the answer to everyones which smartphone to get question, there are many out there that wants to continue to have that android experience. I am more than confident that whatever they decide to call it, it will have the evo name somewhere in it.
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WiWavelength
Mar 25 2012 11:28 AM

HTC owns the trademarks for all of the EVO branded devices....


Indeed, HTC, not Sprint, controls the EVO trademark, and it is important to make this distinction, as it renders the Droid comparison less relevant. On the other hand, VZW controls (licenses from Lucasfilm) the Droid trademark. So, in the first case, the OEM holds the trademark; in the second case, the carrier holds the trademark. And, like it or not, that makes a big difference in the use of the EVO name vs the use of the Droid name.

AJ
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pyroscott
Mar 25 2012 11:31 AM

In this particular case I think it does matter. The evo was the biggest thing since slice bread for sprint and even though the iphone may be the hottest thing going now there are many extremely satisfied owners of the og evo that will have a renewal coming up. I think it would be very important to Sprint and especially HTC to name this phone "Evo Whatever" to retain those customers. The iphone isn't the answer to everyones which smartphone to get question, there are many out there that wants to continue to have that android experience. I am more than confident that whatever they decide to call it, it will have the evo name somewhere in it.


Exactly, there are some people, like myself, that have a ton of premium app purchases on Android. If I were to switch to Apple, I would either have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy those apps from iTunes or go without them.

As far as the Evo name, I think a HTC Evo would sell more to current Evo owners, but maybe HTC wants to use their "One" model across the board. Then I think Sprint could sell a lot of OG Evo owners the next Evo even if it is made by Motorola or Samsung, maybe even LG.
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Sgt. Slaughter
Mar 25 2012 11:52 AM

Exactly, there are some people, like myself, that have a ton of premium app purchases on Android. If I were to switch to Apple, I would either have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy those apps from iTunes or go without them.As far as the Evo name, I think a HTC Evo would sell more to current Evo owners, but maybe HTC wants to use their "One" model across the board. Then I think Sprint could sell a lot of OG Evo owners the next Evo even if it is made by Motorola or Samsung, maybe even LG.


doubtful. If its a Moto/LG named EVO then you wont see near as many bought than if it was an HTC device...ppl are loyal to the Device maker more than they are the name of it. Esp when you call a Moto Device an EVO then the customer picks it up and sees it has MotoBlur on it and not Sense...
HTC customers are more loyal to the OEM than the name itself...

HTC is going to shoot itself in the foot with this "One" naming esp in the "X" category as they have already done 2 variants of that with the OneX and OneXL...I guess they could just name Sprint's version the OneXL since itll have the same hardware, BUT the reason I don't see them doing that is there is no way they would hold an event for a device thats already had its own event and been shown a ton...
Also the OneXL for some reason is trimmed to 16GB and I can't fathom Sprint doing that without expanded memory being allowed...So even with that it will be a different name...and I can't see it being something like OneXE...lol
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pyroscott
Mar 25 2012 11:52 AM

Indeed, HTC, not Sprint, controls the EVO trademark, and it is important to make this distinction, as it renders the Droid comparison less relevant. On the other hand, VZW controls (licenses from Lucasfilm) the Droid trademark. So, in the first case, the OEM holds the trademark; in the second case, the carrier holds the trademark. And, like it or not, that makes a big difference in the use of the EVO name vs the use of the Droid name.AJ


Sprint could always buy or license the Evo trademark from HTC, especially if HTC is no longer interested in manufacturing any more Evo devices.
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themuffinman
Mar 25 2012 11:58 AM

I think Sprint could sell a lot of OG Evo owners the next Evo even if it is made by Motorola or Samsung, maybe even LG.


I don't know about this, IMHO I think the average evo user will feel more comfortable going to a newer device with a newer but similar UI in sense 4.0 versus using motoblur(or whatever the hell its called now) or touchwiz.
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Sgt. Slaughter
Mar 25 2012 12:01 PM

Sprint could always buy or license the Evo trademark from HTC, especially if HTC is no longer interested in manufacturing any more Evo devices.


Though HTC doesn't own the term "EVO" by itself from what I saw in my search on the USPTO so technically anyone could use it I guess...though not likely as EVO's by HTC or no one else will be the case...imho
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pyroscott
Mar 25 2012 12:46 PM

I don't know about this, IMHO I think the average evo user will feel more comfortable going to a newer device with a newer but similar UI in sense 4.0 versus using motoblur(or whatever the hell its called now) or touchwiz.


The switch to Sense 4.0 and ICS will be a huge change for Evo owners when they upgrade their phone. I don't think changing the manufacturer skin is going to be a big deal to some people. There are definitely some users that will feel more comfortable with having sense on their new phone, but there are a lot that don't care or don't know about what Sense gives them.
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S4GRU
Mar 25 2012 12:51 PM
I knew this article would be a conversation piece. ;)

Robert
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allpapajohn
Mar 25 2012 11:00 PM

ha I'd be pi##ed if they bring out a Moto flagship EVO personally....not wanting to deal with their locked bootloader crap with no way around it personally...

Yeah but if it is anything like what the Photon has I wouldn't need to root it anyway. I can take out all of my built in apps if I want so there goes that need there. Other than a custom PRL I don't really feel the need to get ICS right now. It wasn't as much of a jump as it was a polish job on this most recent build. I did root my old Hero but that was to get to a high enough version to be able to run things like Netflix. I was going to be left with 2.1 as my only option.

And why would I worry about my data usage in ICS if I am on Sprint. Unlimited.
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themuffinman
Mar 26 2012 03:53 AM

Yeah but if it is anything like what the Photon has I wouldn't need to root it anyway. I can take out all of my built in apps if I want so there goes that need there. Other than a custom PRL I don't really feel the need to get ICS right now. It wasn't as much of a jump as it was a polish job on this most recent build. I did root my old Hero but that was to get to a high enough version to be able to run things like Netflix. I was going to be left with 2.1 as my only option. And why would I worry about my data usage in ICS if I am on Sprint. Unlimited.


Rooting isn't for everyone, in your situation you may want a couple of apps gone and that may be fine with you but for someone like me and many others, we want the ultimate freedom and control in doing whatever we want to our phones. There are custom roms, custom kernels, free tethering, titanium backup, not to mention the numerous apps that require root access. I know one thing is for certain, I don't care how awesome the specs are on any particular phone/tablet, if it can't be rooted then I am not interested.
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pyroscott
Mar 26 2012 08:19 AM

Rooting isn't for everyone, in your situation you may want a couple of apps gone and that may be fine with you but for someone like me and many others, we want the ultimate freedom and control in doing whatever we want to our phones. There are custom roms, custom kernels, free tethering, titanium backup, not to mention the numerous apps that require root access. I know one thing is for certain, I don't care how awesome the specs are on any particular phone/tablet, if it can't be rooted then I am not interested.

Being able to have full control of the phone is a big reason that many people choose Android over iOS or WP. Look at the success of the Nexus line, it's not that the phones are the best phone out there, or have the most features, but they have a bootloader that is easily unlocked, Vanilla Android Open Source Project (AOSP) operating system, and a huge developer following. I can see both points. There are many people who like Android for its openness, like the OEM skins, and just want to reduce bloat if they root (ICS allows you to freeze any program you want, the unwanted program disappears as though it was uninstalled but if anything else needs its files to run, it does not lose functionality) Conversely, you have the crowd that likes to root, load custom ROMS, load themes, change the boot animation and the list goes on and on with what you can do with your phone. There is a good balance within Android to please both crowds and ICS is just the next improvement in an operating system that continues to improve with every upgrade and IMO keeps the customer desires in mind when they are making changes instead of just the almighty dollar.
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