Bugs Plague Sprint's EVO 4G On Launch Day?Bugs Plague Sprint's EVO 4G On Launch Day?

Sprint and HTC are today offering the EVO 4G for sale, what they claim to be the first 4G handset in the U.S. The device costs $200 (depending on where you get it), and comes with what some are calling some serious security flaws.The EVO 4G is a solid smartphone. I've held it, used it, tested it. Nothing in my experience led me to believe it was anything other than a good device. Reports are cropping up, however, that suggest all is not rosy.

The first issue is a storage card problem. Some users say that they are having trouble writing files to the included 8GB microSD card. They are receiving an error "insufficient file permissions." Others say that their EVO 4G's won't access the card at all. This was confirmed by HTC representative Keith Knowak, who said that an over-the-air fix would be delivered to solve the problem.

At least one user reported today that his device received an OTA system update, bringing the software version to 1.32.651.6. According to that user, the microSD card problem has been taken care of, as well as several other bugs.

Long story short, if you buy an EVO 4G, and it immediately updates the software once you get it home, you shouldn't have any problems...

...unless you believe certain developers who say Sprint's software customizations leave the EVO 4G wide open to attack. Earlier this week, dotspots founder Matt Mastracci was able to "root" the EVO 4G. (Rooting an Android handset is the equivalent to jailbreaking the iPhone.)

"The Sprint customizations of Android are so bad that an Android application could get access to all of your data with very little work," Mastracci claims. "You are putting your data at risk of theft from not just one vulnerability, but a whole suite of vulnerabilities."

Mastracci plans to release his rooting tools on the internet today, so EVO 4G owners can gain full access to their handset.

If you're interested in rooting your EVO 4G, be forewarned. The OTA update I mentioned above? Yeah, it locks out root access for now.

Don't let any of this prevent you from buying the EVO 4G if you're really interested in it. It's a good phone, and for those in WiMax-covered cities, it will browse the Internet lickety-split.

[Electronista]