14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung officially unveiled the Galaxy Core LTE mid-range smartphone back in February, a few days ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 trade fair.
The smartphone was confirmed to arrive on the market in the following months, but no exact release date was provided at the time of the announcement, so we were expecting additional details ahead of the phone’s launch on the market.
Well, those expected details have never emerged. Instead, Samsung has suddenly announced that the Galaxy Core LTE is now available for purchase in Taiwan for NT $8,990 outright, which is about $300 or €220.
According to Digitimes, Samsung Galaxy Core LTE will be available both unlocked and bundled via carrier Chungwa Telecom, where customers can grab it for as low as NT $2,790 ($90 / €65).
The smartphone is expected to go on sale in other countries this month as well, but it will be launched as Galaxy Core 4G is some regions, so look for both names if you want this phone.
Unlike the standard Galaxy Core, the LTE version offers download speeds of up to 150Mbps, so those who can take advantage of this feature will find that upgrading to this model is really worth it.
But this is not all. The smartphone comes with a decent 4.5-inch PLS capacitive touchscreen display that supports qHD (540 x 960 pixels) resolution and a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back, which features autofocus, LED flash and HD (720p) video recording.
The only downside seems to be the fact that Samsung Galaxy Core LTE ships with an older Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box.
On the inside, the smartphone comes equipped with a 1.2GH dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory. Luckily, the Galaxy Core LTE is packed with microSD card slot, so users can further expand storage up to 64GB.
It is also worth mentioning that the smartphone features a secondary VGA camera in the front, and provides users with multiple connectivity options, including 3G HSPA+, LTE, GPS with A-GPS support, NFC (Near Field Communication and Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP.
Samsung Galaxy Core LTE is powered by a 2100 mAh battery, which has yet to be rated by the manufacturer. It also comes with 3.5mm audio jack and FM Radio support.