MetroPCS' 4G phone now badged Samsung Craft, to cost $300
updated 09:15 am EDT, Fri August 6, 2010
Samsung Craft 4G will be MetroPCS launch phone
The regional no-contract carrier MetroPCS has revealed that the Samsung R900 will be known as the Craft when it launches in conjunction with the carrier's planned Long Term Evolution (LTE) rollout scheduled for later this year. The first 4G phone in the US, it also won't cost extra beyond a 3G device and will retail for around $300. The phone will use LTE only for data and will still depend on CDMA for voice.
Although its OS is currently unknown, the Craft’s features include a touchscreen display, a full HTML browser, a three-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.1 and a Qualcomm processor.
In a financial results conference call, MetroPCS CEO Roger Linquist said that his company's LTE network will launch first in Dallas/Fort Worth and Las Vegas. MetroPCS' deployment in the areas should be complete by early 2011. This will significantly enhance the speed of the service for the roughly seven million customers covered by the network.
Although a smaller player, MetroPCS looks like it is on track to beat AT&T and T-Mobile to the market with 4G and will come roughly in step with the late 2010 launch of 4G at Verizon. [via FierceWireless]
