Superfast 4G LTE Handsets Roll Out in S. Korea

Now that LTE fourth-generation mobile phone service has debuted in S. Korea — boosting mobile internet speeds five to 10 times over 3G service and up to four times over standard 4G — handset makers are introducing smartphones that take advantage of the high-speed connections.

The first LTE smartphone introduced in S. Korea is the Raider 4G from Taiwan’s HTC which debuted Wednesday. Its 4.5-inch high-resolution screen provides 35 percent more pixels than Samsung’ Galaxy S2.

Korea’s Samsung and LG Electronics plan to roll out LTE handsets later this month that promise screens that rival laptop PCs for clarity. Samsung’s LTE smartphone will offer a 4.7-inch active AMOLED screen, while LG’s will feature a 4.5-inch IPS-LCD screen. Pantech’s smartphone, set for release next month, will feature a 4.5-inch screen with even higher resolution.

Apple’s iPhone 5, also due out next month, will have a four-inch-plus screen, according to CNET.

The advent of dual-core CPU technology gives cellphones the faster processing needed to support high resolutions while LTE technology allows the large high-resolution image and video files to be transmitted faster than lower-resolution files on today’s 3G phones.