Samsung SCH-r900 Is First LTE Smartphone: Going To MetroPCS
Samsung Mobile has really taken advantage of their floor time at the
CTIA wireless show in Las Vegas. Following the release of the Wave S8500 and the Galaxy S, the company introduced the second 4G phone to
debut at the show. The SCH-r900 won't run on the WiMAX network that
Sprint and Clearwire use; instead, it will run on the LTE network that
is still at least 7 or 8 months away from being initialized.
The company is calling this phone one of the firsts, and that is indeed the case. What's interesting is that the phone wasn't announced for Verizon or any other major carrier; instead it will go to MetroPCS, a smaller carrier that definitely doesn't make the news often for securing phones before other operators. What's also interesting is that this puts pricing pressure on those other "big guys" who will probably want to charge more for LTE phones considering the massive investment they've laid out for LTE. MetroPCS is famous for their flat rates, and that flat rate service will also apply to this phone, despite the fact that it will be able to download far more data and stress the network in new ways.
MetroPCS plans to initially deploy a commercial LTE network in various metropolitan markets, including the Las Vegas metropolitan area where Samsung Mobile LTE network products will be used, in the second half of 2010. We can only assume that the phone will be launched on other carriers as well, but obviously no one else is called dibs just yet.
The company is calling this phone one of the firsts, and that is indeed the case. What's interesting is that the phone wasn't announced for Verizon or any other major carrier; instead it will go to MetroPCS, a smaller carrier that definitely doesn't make the news often for securing phones before other operators. What's also interesting is that this puts pricing pressure on those other "big guys" who will probably want to charge more for LTE phones considering the massive investment they've laid out for LTE. MetroPCS is famous for their flat rates, and that flat rate service will also apply to this phone, despite the fact that it will be able to download far more data and stress the network in new ways.
MetroPCS plans to initially deploy a commercial LTE network in various metropolitan markets, including the Las Vegas metropolitan area where Samsung Mobile LTE network products will be used, in the second half of 2010. We can only assume that the phone will be launched on other carriers as well, but obviously no one else is called dibs just yet.
