LG Motion 4G is a cheap MetroPCS VoLTE phone, and it looks surprisingly decent
I’ve talked plenty about the contract-free carrier MetroPCS in the past, both to highlight their specific advances, and to inform about the many benefits of prepaid plans. Today, I’m writing about one of the carrier’s most recent advances, the first Voice over LTE (VoLTE) network in the US. I originally reported on MetroPCS’s launch of the feature a few weeks ago, when the rollout was still quite limited and it wasn’t totally clear what devices would be supporting the feature. Now, more information has come to light concerning exactly what devices will be offered and how much the plans will cost, although when the device and service will be coming to specific areas still isn’t completely clear.
Although it certainly won’t win any speed contests, the newly announced VoLTE ready LG Motion 4G certainly looks like a decent piece of hardware, especially for a small carrier like MetroPCS. It comes with a 1.2GHz processor that I can only assume is single-core, 5MP camera with 1080p video, and an average-sized 3.5-inch screen. In addition, it has the distinction of being the first MetroPCS smartphone with Android 4.0, something that should make the experience vastly better than with older Gingerbread and Froyo devices.
It may not seem like much, but the price of the device manages to push this announcement from the “unimportant” pile into the “that actually sounds like a good deal” pile. For $149, the Motion 4G will get you VoLTE service, Android 4.0, and access to unlimited everything on MetroPCS for $55 a month, if you sign up soon. It certainly isn’t the latest hardware, but if you can live with that fact, then switching to MetroPCS’s unlimited everything plans might not be a bad deal, especially since larger carriers offer only limited data at higher prices.
Personally, I’m happy with my prepaid Galaxy Nexus, but am tempted to go to a MetroPCS store and try out the Motion 4G just to see how well VoLTE works. Provided their network holds up and VoLTE works well, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some significant growth related to cheap Android devices with LTE in the near future.
[MetroPCS via AndroidCentral]
