Sprint Officially Announces the LG Viper 4G LTE

At an exclusive media event to celebrate the kick off of NBA Green Week, Sprint announced the pre-order date and price of an eco-friendly 4G LTE handset: the LG Viper 4G LTE.

For $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year agreement, customers eager to purchase the device can pre-order it starting on April 12 on Sprint’s website. It will be available from all Sprint retailers later this month.

The LG Viper 4G LTE will hold the title as Sprint’s first LTE-capable device with eco-friendly features. It will launch with a 4-inch display that has Corning Gorilla Glass for extra protection. It will also run Android OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) and will have a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. The Viper 4G LTE will feature 1GB of RAM, a microSD card slot (expandable up to 32GB), mobile hotspot capabilities, and an included 4GB microSD card.

Other features for the LG handset include a 5MP rear-facing camera and a VGA front-facing camera for video conferencing. It will be enabled with NFC and will support apps such as Google Wallet, which allows users to make payments using a mobile device at participating retailers.

In addition to its internal specs and design, the LG Viper 4G LTE is noted for being eco-friendly. The press release that went out announcing the handset listed a number of "green" features, such as:

• The device is ULE Platinum Certified, the highest level of environmental performance recognized by sustainable requirements established by UL Environment and Sprint.
• It is protected by a casing made of 50 percent recycled plastics.
• It is RoHS compliant, meaning it is free from many potentially hazardous materials such as PVC, phthalates, halogens and mercury.
• The packaging contains up to 87 percent of post-consumer paper, uses soy ink, made with a glueless construction and is 100 percent recyclable.
• The phone also includes a charger that exceeds the EC Code of Conduct on energy efficiency when it comes to no-load consumption. Unlike other chargers, LG Viper 4G LTE's charger only consumes 0.03 watts of power when plugged into a wall socket without being connected to the phone.