4G or bust: We travel to Philadelphia to test the Sprint EVO's speed

Our lab techs have so far been pretty impressed with the new HTC EVO, the highly anticipated phone from Sprint. Tests so far have revealed a lightning-fast processor, a large, crisp screen, and convenient video streaming straight from the browser.

But the EVO's real selling point is its ability to run on Sprint's 4G network, which promises download speeds up to 10 times faster than on a 3G network.  Unfortunately, we can't test that from our headquarters in New York, one of several large cities that don't yet have access to Sprint's "Now Network." (Until we get it, we may have to rebrand 4G as the "Coming Soon Network.")

In the face of this adversity, intrepid editor Mike Gikas is today on assignment in Philadelphia, the closest city with Sprint's 4G network, to test the EVO's speed claims.  And as only fitting for the city that gave us Rocky Balboa, we expect to see a head-to-head matchup against a phone running on the (reportedly) slower 3G network. A Consumer Reports video crew is with him to record the excursion.