LG's G2 Is Ready for LTE-Advanced

When the wireless operators have LTE-Advanced networks up and running, LG Electronics Inc.'s new G2 smartphone will be ready to jump on.

The new device, unveiled on Wednesday, includes Qualcomm Inc.'s Snapdragon 800 processor. The chipmaker says it's capable of "fully integrated connectivity with a wide variety of communication options, including 4G LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation." The G2's biggest handset rival, the Samsung Corp. Galaxy S4 LTE-A offered by SK Telecom on its LTE-Advanced network, also uses the Snapdragon chipset.

LTE-Advanced is defined by the 3GPP as Release 10 of the 4G specs for faster speeds and more a more efficient, reliable network. It's made up of a number of features, of which carrier aggregation is the most commonly deployed. (See Why You Should Care About LTE-Advanced (Eventually).)

Except LTE-Advanced is not commonly deployed at all yet, especially in the U.S. The U.S. operators T-Mobile US, Sprint Corp. and AT&T Inc. have all promised deployments this year. (See T-Mobile To Debut LTE-A 'Features' in 2013, Sprin Plans LTE-Advanced Launch in 2013 and Carriers Are a Mixed Bag on LTE-Advanced.)

The LG G2 will launch first in South Korea, then in Europe and the U.S. with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, which hasn't said when it will launch LTE-Advanced, in the coming months.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading>