The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are poised to become the fastest smartphones on LTE, at as much as 300 Mb per second—in a few months, that is.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ launch event last March 29 has been phenomenal, bringing to the market one of the most beautiful and powerful smartphones to date. And while Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ launch brought a lot of rumors and speculations to rest, it has indeed emerged as a strong contender in a market that has learned to value premium and sophistication.
Samsung S8 to deliver monstrous LTE speed
We’ve seen the Samsung Galaxy S8’s majestic and huge infinity display, the departure of the home button, facial recognition, and many more features. However, what we’re truly interested in is how the Samsung Galaxy S8 is poised to become the fastest smartphone in the market regarding LTE and wireless connectivity.
The rumors were right—the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ will ship with the 2.45 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, the newest and fastest processor from Qualcomm. International Business Times highlights that other than computing speed and power that the chip will give the Samsung S8, the Snapdragon 835 will also lend the S8 the ability to connect to so-called Gigabit LTE-class speeds, which is the benchmark that every US carrier has set their eyes on this 2017.
If you haven’t heard of Gigabit LTE (well we haven’t yet until now!), it’s basically a supercharged version of the 4G LTE connection. CNet explains that Gigabit LTE will enable the Samsung Galaxy S8 to connect to the internet as quick as 300 megabits per second, or nearly 18 times better than the average speeds of Verizon and T-Mobile. Imagine downloading a 2-hour movie in just 15 seconds. That’s about how fast the S8 could be.
In fact, with speed as fast as this, the Samsung S8 could pave the way for users to start live streaming 360-degree videos for virtual reality. It also opens the cloud as an infinite storage device for the Samsung S8 since accessing the cloud at 300 MB per second is, theoretically, even faster than how a device could read a flash memory card.
Just you wait
The thing, however, is that this speed is not yet ready. US carriers such as T-Mobile are still working on Gigabit LTE. But during a press conference at CES 2017 in January, T-Mobile CEO John Legere promised that T-Mobile would be the first this 2017 to officially deliver Gigabit LTE. And when that happens, Samsung Galaxy S8 is ready to tap into that.
Legere says in a statement about Samsung S8 and T-Mobile tapping into Gigabit LTE technology (via Yahoo Finance ).
“You know what happens when you combine the most advanced LTE network in the country with Samsung’s most powerful phone ever? An entire industry has to redefine the word ‘fast.’ Anyone upgrading to the Galaxy S8 can see up to double their current LTE speeds in nearly 300 cities nationwide! That’s a clear first place finish for the Un-carrier.”
Sprint is also working on getting Gigabit LTE to various cities starting in New Orleans, while AT&T is poised to deploy its first “5G Evolution” markets (its version of the Gigabit LTE) in Indianapolis and Austin in the coming months.
In the Australian market, Telstra has already set up a running Gigabit LTE network, although running on it at the moment demands specific hardware as an X16 modem. When the Samsung S8 and S8+ deploy in the market come April 21, 2017, the smartphone will run on its standalone X16 and will be able to take advantage of Telstra’s Gigabit LTE network right away.
Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are already open as of March 30 via various channels and carriers. Are you ready to make the upgrade?
[Featured image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]