Dallas – AT&T
plans Nov. 6 availability of its first two 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE)
smartphones, joining multiple LTE-equipped data devices.
The only other
carrier offering 4G LTE smartphones is Verizon Wireless, which offers
for its 700MHz LTE network.
AT&T also
announced that it will turn on its LTE network on Nov. 6 in Boston, Washington,
Baltimore and Athens, Ga., to bring LTE-network speeds to nine markets. The
company promises by year’s end to expand LTE service to 15 markets and 70
million Americans. AT&T’s other current LTE markets are Atlanta, Chicago,
Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.
The phones, both
of which are Android smartphones, are the $199 HTC Vivid and $249 Samsung
Galaxy S II Skyrocket. The HTC Vivid boasts dual-core 1.2GHz processor and
4.5-inch qHD (960 by 540 pixel) display. The Samsung Skyrocket features
dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 4.5-inch SuperAMOLED Plus (800 by 480 pixel)
display.
Both phones are
the first smartphones in the U.S. to combine 4G LTE technology with 4G HSPA+
technology, the carrier said. LTE delivers faster data speeds than AT&T’s
HSPA+ network with enhanced backhaul. Both phones also operate in 4G LTE mode
in the carrier’s 700MHz band and AWS band (1,700/2,100MHz).
With the product
launches, AT&T said it will offer 22 4G devices this year, exceeding an
earlier commitment to offer 20 4G devices, consisting mainly of HSPA+ phones
and data devices. The carrier also said it exceeded its early-year commitment
to offer 12 Android smartphones in 2011, with the two LTE phones bringing the
Android total to 21.
The two new phones
will be available in AT&T-owned stores and the carrier’s web site on Nov. 6.
The HTC Vivid
features the Android Gingerbread 2.3.4 OS and HTC Sense user interface, which
includes a customizable active lockscreen that displays such content as
social-network updates, photos, and weather and stock updates that can be seen
when the user wakes up the display. Other features include an 8-megapixel
camera with f2.2 28mm wide-angle lens for low-light photos, 1.3-megapixel
front-facing camera, 1080p HD video capture at 60 fps, slow-motion playback, 16GB
of onboard memory, MicroSD slot to add up to 32GB more, HDMI output, DLNA
certification, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, 1GB RAM, and ability to
operate in HSPA+ mode in foreign 2.1GHz networks as well as in AT&T’s 850/1,900MHz
HSPA+ network.
The Samsung Galaxy
S II Skyrocket features Gingerbread 2.3.5 OS, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera
with LED flash, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 1080p HD video recording, 16GB
of on-board memory, and MicroSD expandable to add 32GB more. Additional details
were unavailable for this posting.
LTE data plans for
are the same as the company’s other tiered data plans for smartphones, starting
at $15/month. All plans include access to AT&T’s national
of more than 29,000 hotspots. The $15/month plan provides 200MB of
data, with an additional 200MB costing another $15/month. The $25/month plan
provides 2GB of data, with additional 1GB costing $10. Consumers who want to
use a smartphone’s mobile hot spot capability can sign up for a 4GB, $45/month
plan.
