The 4G evolution has continued today with Telstra and Samsung jointly launching the new Galaxy S II 4G smartphone. This is Samsung’s first 4G LTE smartphone and its second device overall, after the launch of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 4G.
Samsung is understandably very happy with this release, as evidenced by the number of adjectives used by VP of telecommunications Tyler McGee:
Consumers want access to meaningful content quickly and easily whether they are surfing the web, watching a movie or reading a magazine. The combination of Samsung’s intelligent innovation through to its sophisticated hardware and design, in conjunction with Telstra’s super-fast 4G network, makes the Samsung Galaxy S II 4G an ideal smartphone device for Australian consumers.
Over at Telstra, Andrew Volard compared the speed of the 4G network to being blown away.
The Samsung Galaxy S II 4G takes the design elements that have made Samsung Galaxy SII one of Australia’s most popular smartphones and adds 2012’s must-have phone feature: ultra-fast 4G web connectivity. Customers in 4G coverage areas are going to love being able to load web pages up to five times faster than on 3G handsets. They’ll be able to send, stream and surf at speeds that will blow them away.
Like the original Galaxy S II handset, Samsung has packed this smartphone full of high-end features, including a 1.5GHz dual-core processor powering the Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) operating system. The display is a 4.5-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen (800 x 470), while there are two cameras: 8MP with flash (rear) and 2MP (front).
Samsung quotes dimensions of 69.9 x 130.9 x 10 millimetres and a weight of 132 grams for the phone, which has 16GB of in-built storage.
Users of this smartphone will have access to Telstra’s 4G network in all capital city CBDs and around 80 metro and regional areas. When not in one of these areas, the phone will automatically switch to Telstra’s 3G network.
As with the previously released HTC Velocity 4G, Telstra has retained its competitive Freedom Connect plans for this device, with consumers encouraged to purchase it for $5 per month on the $59 plan, which has 1.5GB of included data (minimum cost over 24 months is $1,896).
The new Samsung Galaxy S II 4G.