Sprint confirms switch to LTE with Galaxy Nexus, LG Viper
Sprint announced on a Web page that it would bring LTE to four cities and introduce the Google Wallet-enabled Samsung Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper.
LAS VEGAS--With a simple Web page on its site, Sprint today spilled more details on its already-promised switch to LTE and the first devices that would support it.
According to the page, the carrier will launch LTE and "improved 3G coverage" in the first half of this year in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Atlanta. The timing and choice of cities repeats earlier comments from CEO Dan Hesse, who
Though in December Sprint Chief Financial Officer Joseph Euteneuer had said that the company's LTE devices wouldn't come until the late summer or fall, that deadline may be moving ahead with confirmation that the carrier would offer the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Specifications for the carrier's Galaxy Nexus will largely mirror those of the
Yet, Sprint already is highlighting that its phone would break from Big Red's version by offering NFC and Google Wallet. That's a nice win for Sprint customers even if the carrier didn't and we're glad that Sprint followed Verizon's lead in doubling the amount of internal memory to 32GB over the 16GB on the
The LG Viper 4G LTE sports a standard candy-bar-design, 4-inch WVGA touch screen. Among the features are a 1.2 dual-core GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera around back, a second front-facing camera, and support for NFC Google Wallet. We'll report additional details as they come.
In addition to the two phones, Sprint also announced the Sierra Wireless Tr-Network Hotspot. The device will deliver access to 3G, 4G, or 4G LTE networks plus Wi-Fi and will support up to eight simultaneous devices. Other features include a range of up to 150 feet outdoors and up to 115 feet indoors and 32GB of shared storage.
Sprint didn't reveal specific release dates or pricing on the Web page, but we'll pass on the information as it comes. And of course, we'll have hands-on impressions of the Galaxy Nexus and Viper as soon as we can.
Updated on January 10 at 12:55 p.m. to reflect new information from Sprint regarding the Galaxy S's internal memory size.
