Optus has finally launched its 4G LTE network for the general public with a bang. From today, customers will be able to pre-order a 4G LTE version of the record-breaking and vastly popular Samsung Galaxy S3 flagship smartphone and will be able to purchase a 4G USB dongle.
A report in The Australian today said that from today, customers in
…Sydney, Perth and Newcastle will today be able to purchase a USB dongle or pre-order Samsung’s Galaxy S III 4G handset, while users in Melbourne will be able to access the telco’s 4G mobile network from September 15.
No word yet on plan pricing for the Galaxy S3 4G, but you can expect it to be competitively priced compared to the Telstra 4G network, which currently offers plans from $60 to $130 per month.
Now it’s time for some specs. Unfortunately we can’t quite access all the info we’d like just yet, like whether or not the GS3 4G will be quad-core. Our guess is that it shouldn’t suffer the same fate that the HTC One X did when it made the jump to 4G. The US One X and the Australian One XL (both 4G devices) were both trimmed down from a quad-core 1.5GHz Tegra 3 processor to a dual-core Snapdragon S4. This was because the Tegra 3 chip is incompatible with 4G LTE technology; a flaw not shared by the quad-core Exynos processor of the GS3.
As a result we’re hoping that the GS3 will retain its raw quad-core power now it’s made the jump to 4G, as the only reason we can think of cutting its power would be to save on battery life.
Other specs seem to have stayed relatively the same:
- 4.8 inch 720p AMOLED Plus display with Gorilla Glass 2
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB internal memory
- 8MP camera
- Same or similar external design
No matter what the CPU turns out like we’re extremely excited about this news. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is hands-down our favourite Android handset that we’ve reviewed and adding 4G support makes it even better. Of course Optus 4G coverage is still a little lacklustre, but that should improve drastically over the life of a new 24 month contract.