They don’t call it the Consumer Electronics Show for nothing, so Verizon Wireless took the opportunity during a press conference Thursday at CES to unveil 10 consumer-oriented devices that will run on its LTE network later this year.
The line-up includes four smartphones, two tablets, two mobile hot spots and two notebooks. Pricing was not announced. The devices, all based on Android, are expected to be available by mid-2011, with some available as early as March.
During the news conference, executives stuck with their theme about how the carrier’s LTE offers “blazingly fast” speeds and a revolutionary style of service. Actually, a video before executives even took the stage characterized Verizon’s LTE network as something even bigger than a revolution. In a press release, Verizon Wireless President and CEO Dan Mead used the words “true magic” to sum up the nature of the carrier’s LTE ecosystem.
Verizon invited a number of executives on stage to discuss their role in providing devices for the LTE network. The HTC ThunderBolt will include an 8-megapixel camera and Dolby surround sound. The LG Revolution will have HD support for streaming, playing and recording video and mobile hot spot capability to share a 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
The Motorola Droid Bionic 4G and the Samsung 4G LTE smartphones both will have front-facing cameras and rear-facing 8-megapixel cameras. As for tablets, the Motorola Xoom and Samsung LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab will be arriving, along with notebooks from Compaq and HP.
Besides the integration of an upgraded version of Skype for video calls, the carrier said EA’s Rock Band will leverage the LTE network for multiplayer gaming.
Tony Melone, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Verizon, said the carrier had expected early speed bumps during the aggressive and broad rollout of LTE but they were few and far between.