3G Too Slow? Sprint Will Offer 4G Phones This Year

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Get ready for fourth-generation wireless data. Now that 4G networks are popping up around the country, it’s only a matter of time before 4G-compatible phones show up in stores. Like, how about this summer?

According to a Forbes report, Sprint aims to launch the first 4G phone this summer, much sooner than many analysts expected. HTC, which also brought us the Nexus One, will be making the handset, using Android as the software platform.

The announcement is a part of Sprint?s aggressive campaign to push its WiMax 4G network as an alternative to the much slower 3G networks currently used by other carriers.

4G, the forth generation of wireless networks, would provide speeds of up to 10 Mbps, making it much more enjoyable for things like streaming movies, downloading applications or multiplayer gaming. By comparison, 3G networks offer just 1-3 Mbps.

Sprint has been selling a number of other WiMax products such as PC card adapters, modems and hotspot devices like the Sprint Overdrive shown above. Dell recently announced its Mini 10 netbook with an option to upgrade to a WiMax-enabled card.

WiMax currently covers roughly 30 million people in 27 U.S. markets, and Sprint plans to add Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington to the list by the end of the year. This would bring the total coverage up to 120 million people.

“2010 will be the year of 4G,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint’s CEO, in the company’s most recent earnings call, according to Forbes.

Carriers in Europe and Japan have been making a push for next-generation networks as well. More than 800 million people by the end of this year, and over a billion by the end of next, will be able to enjoy 4G worldwide.

Since coverage in the U.S. will still be spotty when the Sprint phone arrives, it will automatically switch to Sprint?s regular 3G network in places where 4G isn?t yet available.

Verizon?s 4G network, based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology instead of WiMax, is set to roll out later this year.

Photo: Dylan Tweney/Wired.com