This morning, after months of being rumored, Sprint has officially opened up LTE access to the Sprint Prepaid Group with Boost and Virgin Mobile announcing their first LTE-capable smartphones in the HTC One SV and Boost Mobile branded ZTE Force, while Virgin Mobile has announced its own variant of the Samsung Galaxy Victory, already available through Sprint’s own branded prepaid service.
Priced at $299.99 and available next week on March 7th, the HTC One SV features a large 4.3-inch touchscreen and a dual-core processor, HTC Sense 4 on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the HTC One SV also features 1080p HD video capture and one-press continuous shooting while HTC VideoPic gives it the ability to take photos and video at the same time. The front-facing camera also takes self-portraits and is also used for video calls. Available exclusively on HTC smartphones, the HTC One SV also features Beats Audio integration.
Full specifications for HTC One SV:
- Android™ 4.0 and access to Android Apps on Google Play™
- Dual-mode 3G/4G LTE
- 4.3-inch WVGA Super LCD-2 touchscreen
- Qualcomm™ Snapdragon S4 dual-core 1.2GHz processor
- Enhanced 5MP camera with 1080p HD video and HTC VideoPic™
- 1.6MP front camera with 720p video
- Wi-Fi and GPS enabled
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Near Field Communications (NFC)
The Boost-branded ZTE Force boasts a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a 4-inch touchscreen and dual cameras. Priced at $199.99 and also available on March 7th, the Boost Mobile Force combines 4G LTE and Android. Additional features include:
- Android™ 4.0 and access to Android Apps on Google Play™
- Dual-mode 3G/4G LTE
- 5MP camera (1MP front-facing)
- Wi-Fi and GPS enabled
- microSD slot
Virgin Mobile has officially announced its first LTE smartphone in the Samsung Galaxy Victory and has begun sales today on its website for $299.99. The phone features a 4-inch touchscreen display and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Other features include:
- 5.0MP rear-facing camera
- 720p HD video capture
- 1.3MP front-facing camera
- Bluetooth 4.0
- NFC capable
- Wi-Fi
- MicroSD slot for expandable storage (no card included)
Ahead of the launch of LTE service this morning on Boost and Virgin Mobile, both brands reiterated their current throttling policies, with Boost Mobile adopting Virgin Mobile’s throttling policy last month in preparation for the launch of LTE support.
