Sprint and HTC on Friday will release what I consider to be the world’s best smartphone. They should enjoy that status while it lasts, because three days later Apple is likely to announce its next-generation iPhone.

I can only speculate about what Apple will unveil. But after carrying around Sprint’s HTC Evo 4G for the past week, I can say with certainty that it’s the best phone I’ve used to date — and that includes the current iPhone 3G.

The Evo 4G, which runs the Google Android operating system (version 2.1), features not one but two cameras — an 8-megapixel back-side camera for taking regular pictures and a front-side camera for video chat. The picture quality of that back-side camera is quite good and, as with other smartphones, once you take a picture, you can easily e-mail it to someone or post it on Facebook or other sites. I had the phone with me at the Maker Faire in San Mateo and had fun using the camera to update my Facebook page with photos throughout the day.

I’m writing this column from a hotel that charges $15 a night for Internet access, so I appreciate the phone’s ability to create its own wireless hot spot. When you configure that optional feature, you can use it to provide Internet service for up to eight devices.

At the moment, I’m using it with my laptop and iPad — both of which are getting online at about 900 kilobits per second. That’s pretty good, but the phone is capable of speeds up to 6 megabits, nearly seven times faster, when using Sprint’s fast 4G network.

Sprint currently offers 4G in Las Vegas, Baltimore, Portland, Ore., and several other markets. The company plans to roll it out in other areas, including the Bay Area, later this year. Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walter Mossberg tested his Evo 4G phone in Baltimore, where he experienced “the highest consistent downstream data speeds” he had ever seen on a cellular network. Sprint plans to charge an extra $30 for the service above whatever voice and data plan you already have. That’s about half the monthly cost that Sprint and other carriers charge to use stand-alone wireless adapters.

Like other Android phones, the Evo 4G has Google maps and GPS, which provides excellent turn-by-turn directions and traffic information. I have a dedicated Magellan GPS in my car and found that the Evo works in places where the Magellan doesn’t. And because the Evo is connected to the Internet, it is able to receive traffic information.

Also typical of Android phones, the Evo is tightly integrated with Gmail and other Google services. That includes, of course, the ability to easily search data stored on the phone or on the Web, or search on Google maps. For example, when I wanted to find a restaurant in San Francisco, I just typed in the name of the restaurant in Google maps and the software searched the Web for the restaurant’s address and plotted a course. All GPS systems have points of interest. But because Google is searching the Web, it’s not limited to the ones programmed in by the device maker.

HTC has added its own Sense user interface to Android, which adds additional features, including a “friend stream” that aggregates your social networking experiences into a single stream. In many ways, Sense makes the phone a bit easier to use. But I was already accustomed to the standard Android user interface, so having to learn Sense slowed me down a bit. I wish they would make Sense optional.

Like all Android phones, the Evo 4G is not without flaws. Android apps have a way of crashing now and then. I don’t recall the phone ever freezing up, but I have found some annoying idiosyncrasies I haven’t experienced with iPhones.

One of Android’s best feature is also one of its flaws — the multi-tasking operating system that allows several programs to run at the same time. The problem is that apps run long after you stop using them. And while they run, they use energy, potentially slowing down foreground apps. That’s why the app I use the most is the free Advanced Task Killer, which is a convenient (albeit manual) way to clear out the memory.

Apple’s soon-to-be-released iPhone operating system 4.0 will also allow several apps to run at the same time, but Apple says it has a way of limiting the resources they use while they are in the background.

Contact Larry Magid at larry@larrymagid.com. Listen for his technology chats on KCBS-AM (740) weekdays at 3:50 p.m.