Sprint Uses CES to Unveil First 4G LTE Phones: Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Sprint has just pre-announced plans to offer the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which will be its first smartphone with 4G LTE. It also committed to the LG Vivid, which will also use the very fast Wireless Data standard.

This carrier launched a 4G network using WiMAX in 2010, but this standard has proved to be slower and less popular than LTE. Sprint committed to switching standards several months ago, a project that is going to come with a very high pricetag.

New LTE Handsets
The Galaxy Nexus is currently the only device shipping with Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), the very latest version of Google's operating system. It has a 

This model debuted from Verizon last month, and Sprint could be the second U.S. carrier to offer it. Exactly when that's going to happen is not yet known -- Sprint was very light on details about a launch date or price for its version of this handset.

For those who like cutting-edge smartphones, it has a 4.65-inch, 1280 x 720 Super AMOLED display that has a slight curve. It has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, with 1GB of RAM. Sprint's version will sport 32GB of internal storage.

The LG Viper will also run Android on a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. It is going to have a 4.0-inch touchscreen, as well as a  5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a  VGA front-facing one.

Both of these smartphones will support NFC (Near Field Communications)  and come with Google Wallet.  

Of course, before either of these products are on the market, Sprint needs to get its 4G LTE network up and running. This is still months away -- at this point, the company will only say these models will debut by mid-year.

This announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show, where a number of LTE-enabled smartphones have been unveiled. Both Verizon and AT&T haVE promised tgo bring new 4G models to their product lineup in the coming months.

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