14 DAY TRIAL // Although AT&T is still busy deploying its LTE network in additional markets, it appears that the carrier is close to releasing its first 4G LTE smartphone.
According to the guys over at BGR, the Samsung Impulse 4G will be AT&T first 4G LTE handset available on the market.
Even though the phone strongly resembles Samsung's DROID Charge smartphone, it will still be a good addition to the carrier's portfolio of high-end devices, which now lacks a 4G LTE device.
Unfortunately, there is no information available about the phone's hardware or software configuration whatsoever, but we assume that more details will emerge in the following days.
Pete Ritcher, senior vice president of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, stated two weeks ago that the carrier does not feel the rush to launch any 4G LTE handsets, instead AT&T will focus on increasing the speeds of its HSPA+ network and wait for the LTE technology to mature.
Emphasizing the importance of deploying its LTE network in more markets, Richter also said that AT&T customers will fall back to HSPA+ speeds when outside of the carrier's LTE coverage area, while customers of other operators will all back to networks that offer slower speeds than HSPA+.
“We are the only carrier with LTE and HSPA+. When you don't have LTE you will fall back to faster speeds than our competitors,” added Richter.
However, while Verizon Wireless already deployed its LTE services and sold more than 1.2 million LTE devices in Q2, AT&T is still struggling to launch its first 4G LTE device.
Ritcher thinks that as soon as AT&T will launch its first 4G LTE device, customers will be tempted to migrate to a network that offers improved LTE service and newer devices.
Until that happen, we will keep you updated as we receive any new information about AT&T's upcoming Samsung Impulse 4G device.
