HTC Velocity 4G to Become Telstra’s First LTE Handset in January

HTC Velocity 4G will soon be able to feed the speed hunger of Australian mobile phone users interested in getting a taste of the 4G LTE technology.

The smartphone is expected to arrive on shelves at wireless carrier Telstra and is said to be the very first LTE-capable device on its network.

A recent article on Ausdroid suggests that the wireless services provider is gearing up for the release of HTC Velocity 4G and that it will have it available for $0 upfront on Telstra’s $79 cap.

For that kind of money, this Freedom Connect Plan can deliver $800 of call credit and 2GB of data, with 4G connectivity included.

Rumor has it that the new mobile phone will become available for purchase at Telstra on January 24th.

The smartphone packs high-end capabilities, being somehow similar to last year’s HTC Vivid that was released on AT&T’s network in the US. The same as that device, the new smartphone offers support for 4G LTE connectivity.

HTC Velocity 4G is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core application processor, and sports a large 4.5-inch LCD touchscreen display that can deliver a qHD (960×540 pixels) resolution.

The smartphone also packs 1GB of RAM for increased performance capabilities, WiFi and 3G connectivity, along with 16GB of internal memory and a microSD memory card slot with support for up to 32GB of additional storage space.

On the back, it packs an 8-megapixel photo snapper with support for 1080p video recording capabilities. It can deliver video calling as well, courtesy of a 1.3MP Front Camera.

The smartphone runs under Google’s Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread operating system with the Sense 3.5 user interface loaded on top.

Telstra is touting this handset as the first LTE-capable smartphone in Australia, which suggests that it might be set to launch some other similar smartphones in the near future. Stay tuned for more on this.