AT&T announces pricing and availability of the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini with HD Voice

As AT&T is getting ready to be the first carrier to launch voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), we will begin to see the initial rollout of smartphones that are compatible with the feature and enjoy HD voice as part of the package.

Beginning May 23rd, VoLTE will be active in Chicago and Minneapolis, and the device that will make its debut on that day to provide the super-clear call quality will be none other than the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini.

The S4 mini was announced a year ago, and has since been available on Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular, albeit without any HD Voice compatibility. It is a decidedly mid-range phone, but has a lot of cool little features that its big brother had, like an IR emitter for using it as a remote, S-Beam, and NFC.

While some might balk at the dual-core Snapdragon 400 CPU and Adreno 305 GPU, we had no issues with the Galaxy S4 mini’s performance. Thankfully, there is microSD support since TouchWiz takes up half of the 8GB of on-board storage.

Price-wise, the Galaxy S4 mini will run $49.99 on a two-year agreement. The device will be available on AT&T Next too, with Next 12 costing $18.50 per-month (for 20 months) and Next 18 costing $14.24 per-month (for 26 months). That equates to a full retail price of $370, which is respectable for an LTE equipped smartphone with an 8MP camera, and all the Samsung packed features.

Just remember, to use HD Voice, the person you are calling will need a compatible device too. If you were thinking of picking up one for yourself, you may want to grab more for the family.


source: AT&T