You won’t last long in the cell phone-selling biz if you can’t promise LTE speeds. That’s why it’s so essential that Aio Wireless, AT&T’s prepaid arm, is about to capture this crucial bolt of the 4G lightning.
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Aio (pronounced AY-oh) has now announced the ZTE Overture as its debut LTE phone, arriving sometime in July.
The Android handset has modest features by most accounts: a 4-inch LCD touch screen backed by a 5-megapixel camera, the whole thing buttressed by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.
Details like the resolution of the Overture’s front-facing camera and processor specs are murky still, but we do know that the device will have an expandable memory option of up to 32GB. We’re also in the dark on pricing, but I’m going to guess it’ll come in around the $150 range, based on the $130 asking price for Samsung’s Galaxy Amp.
In addition to lower-priced models like the Nokia Lumia 620 and Samsung Galaxy Amp, Aio also sells the much pricier iPhone 5, which uses LTE on networks that have it.
Aio promises that its iPhone 5 users can pull down LTE speeds when the faster 4G goes live, an essential when battling no-contract rival T-Mobile.
While Aio’s AT&T-backed network covers more than 200 million people in 278 markets (just like AT&T), only a handful of cities are privy to Aio’s growing lineup for now. Naples and Fort Myers, Fla. join a few other cities in the Sunshine State, as well as Houston.