The IP-based phone service that FreedomPop touted back in June is at last getting its first smartphone, the HTC Evo Design.
FreedomPop will be selling the mid-range handset for $99—less than the $150 Boost Mobile charges—and plans to offer other Android phones before year’s end. In June, CEO Stephen Stokols said he hoped to launch devices at $99, $149 and $199 price points and hinted that the Samsung Galaxy SII was in the running.
FreedomPop’s service for the phones begins with the free tier offering of 500 MB of data, 500 text messages and 200 anytime minutes. From there, customers can put down $10.99 per month for unlimited voice and text along with an extra 500 MB.
The HTC Evo Design is not an LTE phone so it will be running on WiMax for the time being. But FreedomPop promises LTE-enabled handsets for its phone service will become available in the coming months and eventually the MVNO will allow customers to bring Sprint phones over to FreedomPop.