AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket And HTC Vivid Offer LTE On Nov 6

AT&T has unveiled its first two LTE smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, a 4G-enabled version of the 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus Android smartphone, and the HTC Vivid. Hitting AT&T stores from November 6, the AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket will run Gingerbread 2.3.5 on a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and pack an 8-megapixel main camera supporting 1080p HD video recording.

There's also a 2-megapixel front-facing camera and 16GB of internal storage to save photos and videos to. A microSD card slot allows for up to 32GB more to be added. Unlike the South Korean LTE versions of the Galaxy S II, the AT&T version's display runs at the same WVGA of the original model, rather than using a Super AMOLED HD display like, say, the Galaxy Nexus.

As for the HTC Vivid, that will have a 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and an 8-megapixel f2.2 28mm wide angle camera. It too will support 1080p HD recording, as well as include 16GB of internal storage.

Still, it's the LTE that we're most interested in, taking advantage of AT&T's fledgling 4G network whic turned on back in September. At the time, the carrier reckoned it could deliver upload and download speeds roughly 10x that of 3G connections. Also on November 6,  Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Athens (GA) will all see their AT&T LTE turned on.

The AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket will hit shelves this coming Sunday, priced at $249.99 with a new, two-year agreement. The AT&T HTC Vivid will be a little cheaper, at $199.99. You'll obviously need a 4G data plan to take advantage of the LTE connectivity, and AT&T have two, one of which includes tethering:

• DataPlus provides 200 megabytes (MB) of data for just $15 per month. An additional 200 MB of data usage is $15.
• DataPro provides 2 gigabytes (GB) of data for $25 per month. An additional 1 GB of data is $10. Customers who want to use their device as a mobile hotspot can sign up for DataPro 4GB for $45 a month