Three top Android smartphone makers will be the first to offer tri-band devices as part of Sprint’s new “Spark” offering. Samsung, HTC and LG have all worked with Sprint to enable their smartphones to shift from one band to another, depending on what speed is needed for the application in use at a given moment.
The four tri-band devices are the Samsung Galaxy Mega, the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, the LG G2 and the HTC One Max. None of these devices will be tri-band enabled at launch; instead they will be enabled through software upgrades after launch.
Sprint Spark combines 4G FDD1-LTE at 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz and uses the carrier’s 2.5GHz spectrum for TDD-LTE, TDD1-LTE and carrier aggregation. Sprint says the tri-band devices will support active hand-off mode between 800MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz, providing data session continuity as the devices move between spectrum bands.
Samsung Galaxy Mega and Samsung Galaxy S 4 mini launch on Friday, November 8, and are expected to become tri-band enabled with a software update shortly after launch. LG G2 will also be available on November 8 and is expected to become tri-band enabled with a software update in early 2014. The HTC One Max is coming to Sprint soon, but the launch date has not been announced.
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