Along with hundreds of thousands of people inhabiting the San Francisco Bay Area, I've been waiting for the Sprint 4G launch ever since Google graciously gifted us the EVO 4G powerhouses back at the I/O conference. In fact, it was June 16th, which happens to be my birthday, when I first noticed a strong 4G signal in Mountain View, not too far from Google's own headquarters. Little did I know back then that the wait was not over, and we wouldn't be getting 4G until the very end of the year.

I am glad to report that the cat is out of the bag, and the tentative when was finally let out by a Sprint rep via twitter. On December 28th, Sprint will fire up all engines and finally unleash the WiMax goodness in full capacity, right in time for the holidays:

I really do hope that what we're seeing now, however, is only a few test towers, because 4G reception is currently ridiculously spotty. How about it, Sprint?

As Sprint’s 4G network expands, be sure to follow its growth on our up-to-date 4G Coverage Tracker, right here at Android Police.

Update: the San Francisco launch is also mentioned in the Los Angeles launch press release:

Additionally, the wireless carrier announced that it expects to launch the San Francisco market – home to Silicon Valley and thousands of tech enthusiasts – on Dec. 28.

Source: @svinge