AT&T (NYSE:T) will launch the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and HTC Vivid Nov. 6, marking a milestone launch as the first two 4G Long-Term Evolution smartphones from the top U.S. wireless carrier.
The Galaxy S II Skyrocket, a follow-up to the company’s first S II with a 4.3-inch display and a 1.2GHZ dual-core processor, includes a 4.5-inch Super active-matrix organic LED Plus (Super AMOLED Plus) display powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor.
The handset runs Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread operating system and has an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, complemented by a 2MP front-facing shutter for video chat. And 1080p high-definition video recording tops off the camera capabilities.
AT&T will begin selling the Skyrocket, which has 16GB of on-board memory, and a microSD expandable to 32GB, Nov. 6 for $249.99 with a two-year deal.
The HTC Vivid, meanwhile, sports a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and a brilliant 4.5-inch quarter high-definition (qHD) display, supported with HTC’s Sense user interface, including a customizable lock-screen.
The Gingerbread-based Vivid also has an 8MP camera with an f2.2 28mm wide-angle lens for low light photos, 1080p HD video recording at 60 frames per second, and slow-motion playback. The phone also offers 16GB of on-board memory, expandable to 48GB on the microSD card.
The Vivid will arrive in AT&T stores and online Nov. 6 for $199.99 with a two-year deal.
Customers can choose from two-tiered data plans for the Vivid and Skyrocket. The DataPlus plan provides 200 megabits of data for $15 per month, while an additional 200MB of data usage is $15. The DataPro plan provides 2GB of data for $25 per month. An additional 1GB of data is $10.
With the Vivid and the Skyrocket, AT&T beat its January promise to launch over twenty 4G devices this year by bringing the total Android device count to 22.
The company said it is launching its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network Nov. 6 in Boston; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; and Athens, Ga. Those cities will join the company’s existing markets of Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas-Fort Worth; Houston, Texas; and San Antonio, Texas.
AT&T expects to reach 15 markets by the end of the year. Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile easily beat AT&T’s 4G rollout coverage, but AT&T has the advantage of having over 100 million subscribers in its pocket. Verizon isn’t far behind.
