MetroPCS has announced two new Android smartphones in the LG Connect and Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G with LTE support that will be launching within the next few weeks. Starting with the LG Connect, the phone features a 4-inch Nova display with Gorilla Glass and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 5.0 megapixel main camera with flash and 720p HD video capture, as well as a front-facing camera for video chats and also includes Dolby Mobile sound processing for enhanced audio.

The Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G features Android 2.3 Gingerbread,  3.5-inch display, and is powered by a 1GHz processor. with a 3.2-megapixel main camera, LED flash and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera with Google Talk support. Pricing for the Galaxy Attain 4G is set at $249.99 before an additional $50 mail-in rebate bringing the total to $199.99.

The new LTE smartphones reflect the new emphasis on LTE for the carrier after months of stagnating growth as a result of the spectrum crunch it faces due to not having enough available to launch LTE in current markets while making the transition from CDMA in order to make better use of the AWS spectrum it does have in order to focus on LTE.

The new lower pricing for both phones also reflects the continual decrease in prices for phones with built-in LTE radios following statements from MetroPCS last year regarding the lack of cheap LTE phones, with the next major reduction in costs for LTE enabled phones not expected until the second half of the year.

Not long after the first announcement confirming the future launch of the Mobile DTV service via MetroPCS later this year, Mobile Content Ventures, the consortium responsible for Dyle Mobile DTV has confirmed a new tieup with wireless hardware manufacturer Belkin to produce hardware tuners for the iPad and other smartphones alongside the yet to be officially confirmed Samsung smartphone with Mobile DTV capability.

As previously reported, the Dyle Mobile DTV initiative will be the first attempt to deploy the recently ratified ATSC M/H broadcast standard on a commercial level with MetroPCS spearheading the launch with the aforementioned Android smartphone from Samsung. The service will launch in much of the US with many of the major and minor over the air broadcast networks being made available to view over the Dyle Mobile TV app.

The new tie-up with Belkin is meant to expand the service outside of dedicated handsets and out to smartphones and tablets, with the goal of wide adoption as an alternative to standard portable televisions with standard terrestrial ATSC antennae, which cannot be used while in motion due to the inability for the tuner to maintain a steady signal in order to receive programming, while Dyle Mobile TV is designed to be used while in motion or outdoors.

The service has yet to have pricing or launch details confirmed, with external dongles and the aforementioned Samsung smartphone being demonstrated at CES all this week. It should be noted that Qualcomm had a similar agreement with automotive aftermarket manufacturer in Audiovox for MediaFLO with plans to release dongles and commercial availability of in-car systems before its liquidation via agreement with Chrysler, which met with a tepid response.

Ahead of next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, MetroPCS and Samsung have issued a joint announcement confirming that both companies are working together to launch the first Android smartphone with support for the ATSC M/H terrestrial broadcast standard which was ratified in 2010.

The phone will be the first phone in the US to ship with the capability to watch terrestrial digital TV broadcasts after the initial plan to launch and ratify mobile television broadcasts was first announced in 2008. Those efforts went dormant after Qualcomm’s attempts to launch its own mobile television service, MediaFLO, until Qualcomm decided to transition away from the initiative after years of losses and low subscriber counts. That shutdown culminating in the sale of the 700MHz spectrum previously used for MediaFLO to AT&T, late last month.

The service will be powered by the Dyle consortium of broadcasters with service and coverage over more than half of the total population in the US through 72 stations in 32 markets, with initial launch markets to consist of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Mobile television in the US has had a history of stops, starts and stillborn product development going all the way back to 2007 when carriers such as Sprint and AT&T were testing everything from MediaFLO to standard ATSC transceivers to 3G streaming and even the Euro/Asian preferred DVB-H broadcast standards before eventually settling on 3G streaming and MediaFLO respectively, which had their own set of issues such as poor video quality, high costs for both data services and additional monthly fees for subscriptions, which led to low adoption rates and high maintenance costs for carriers.

Qualcomm’s MediaFLO ended up being launched by Verizon in 2008 followed by AT&T in 2009 and was plagued by low customer adoption rates and high costs, as the service required both a data plan and an additional monthly subscription fee. To add to the confusion, while the services launched by Verizon and AT&T were the same on the technical and hardware level, both carriers had their own set of exclusive channels on the service, which did little more than annoy users and customers in practice and was done in order to drive customers to each respective service with the promise of exclusive content.

In a last ditch effort to make its service marketable to consumers during 2009-2010 before its eventual decision to kill the service and sell the spectrum, Qualcomm even attempted to sell its own hardware for MediaFLO which was manufactured by HTC and spent millions on a failed marketing blitz which included heavy sponsorship during sporting events, heavy spending on commercials during events such as ESPN’s X Games and NFL football games, even going as far as having former NFL on Fox commentator James Brown tout Qualcomm’s failed MediaFLO Mobile TV as being perfect for watching football on the go during CES in 2010.

While the adoption of mobile television using existing standards and technology may prove to be a key difference from other failed initiatives, Metro’s attempt will need to take lessons from MediaFLO if it actually intends for the service to be successful.

It has already made the wise move of deploying it with an Android handset, which raises the possibility of it being equipped with LTE, but it must also price access inline with the average monthly bill per customer on the carrier keeping in mind that its own plans go no higher than $60 a month before additional fees for more profitable add-ons. Should this attempt to launch mobile television in the US prove successful, the larger carriers may take notice and decide to develop their own products around Mobile DTV, especially as carriers look to move as much data intensive activity off of increasingly strained data networks to other alternatives.

The new service and phone will be demonstrated next week at the Consumer Electronics Show from the 10th-13th.

After months of anticipation, MetroPCS has launched its next flagship Android smartphone in the LG Esteem.

The phone features 8GB of internal memory along with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 4.3 inch touch display, LTE support, a 1.3 megapixel camera for video chat, 5.0 megapixel camera with 720p video capture and flash, Bluetooth, microSDHC slot and Wi-Fi radio. Pricing is set at $349 plus sales tax where applicable with an additional $100 mail-in rebate becoming available for the phone beginning this Saturday, which will bring the total to $249.

Following up on yesterday’s news confirming the launch date for the MetroPCS LG Esteem, the internal training documentation for the phone has been leaked and posted along with a promo reel showcasing some of the phone’s key features, which include built-in access to the Rhapsody streaming music service.

In terms of specifications, the phone will now feature 8GB of internal memory along with Android 2.3 Gingerbread on top of the already confirmed specifications which include LTE support, a 1.3 megapixel camera for video chat, 5.0 megapixel camera with 720p video capture and flash, microSDHC slot and Wi-Fi radio. Continue reading for the promo reel and screen cap of the spec sheet.

Internal MetroPCS documentation has confirmed that the carrier will launch the LG Esteem high-end Android smartphone next week on September 29th, with the latest information suggesting that pricing will be set at $349.99 before an additional $50 mail-in rebate, bringing the total to $299.99, placing it inline with the current high-end model in the Samsung Galaxy Indulge.

Additionally, the launch of the Esteem will also coincide with the launch of the Rhapsody streaming music service, which will be included with select LTE service plans as well as being offered as an optional monthly service.

The LG Esteem features a  4.3 inch display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM, front facing camera, main camera of unknown resolution with flash, HDMI output, microSD slot, Android Gingerbread 2.3.4, 4GB internal memory (reduced from the 16GB internal of the Revolution), and WiFi hotspot support to be launched in October, which would make it the first Android smartphone on MetroPCS to support such functionality on an official basis.

Following up, the first images and hard specifications for the MetroPCS version of the HTC Wildfire have surfaced, courtesy of HowardForums. The MetroPCS version of the phone will be functionally identical to the GSM version with a 600MHz processor, Android Gingerbread version 2.3.4, HVGA resolution capacitive display, speakerphone, 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi N radio. Pricing and availability have yet to be determined, with the latest information suggesting a launch on the 28th of this month. The phone is expected to slot between the recently released Samsung Admire and LG Optimus M.

MetroPCS CFO Braxton Carter has confirmed to investors attending the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Entertainment & Communications conference that the carrier has spent $100 million adding EV-DO data access to 20% of its cell site footprint in order to improve quality of service for its customers, mainly to relieve capacity issues.

While the carrier has completed most of its core network investments related to its nascent LTE network, it is also dealing with the biggest challenge inLTE compatible  handset costs which are currently pegged at $200 per unit and will not be decreasing further until the end of next year, which means that the majority of its customer base that adopts smart devices are increasingly reliant on Wi-Fi for high-speed data access instead of the standard 1x data connection, a key point of contention for customers that want to take full advantage of Android, but are also driven to stay with the carrier due to its rate plans.

The carrier initially intended to roll out an EV-DO overlay across its entire network as early as 2007, but decided to skip rolling out EV-DO access in favor of additional investment in AWS spectrum and preparing for a rollout of LTE which began last year, as evidenced by its decision to roll out LTE service months before its much larger competitor Verizon Wireless, with mixed results.

As more and more customers adopt Android smartphones on MetroPCS, the carrier is looking for ways to drive customers to LTE, although it can’t discount current LTE phones further without losing money on each phone purchased on a per unit basis, nor can the carrier make a bigger push for LTE service rollouts due to its constrained position in terms of spectrum holdings until more and more people move to LTE, making this more of a rock and hard place issue for the carrier.

Because of this, it’s using the EV-DO rollout to emphasize that service is continually being improved while slowly ramping up its network for the eventual transition to LTE, which includes a rollout of VoLTE service in the near future. MetroPCS expects to be able to transition customers to VoLTE in order to free up additional spectrum currently used for CDMA and eventually repurpose it to expand LTE service, though timelines for the rollout and availability have yet to be confirmed.

The first handset to be launched by MetroPCS to include support for VoLTE service will be the LG Esteem, it being a less expensive variant of LG Revolution for Verizon Wireless and is expected to launch later this month for $379.99 with Android Gingerbread and a 5.0 megapixel camera along with LTE support.

Internal MetroPCS documentation freely posted on HowardForums has confirmed that the forthcoming LG Esteem will be launched by the carrier for $379.99 when it is launched one week earlier than expected and is now set for a September 21st launch. The LG Esteem will be positioned as the latest high-end Android smart device for the regional flat rate carrier as it features Android Gingerbread and LTE support along with a front facing camera and 5.0 megapixel camera. The LG Esteem is the less expensive variant of the LG Revolution currently sold on Verizon Wireless.

After weeks of leaks and speculation, MetroPCS has officially announced the forthcoming launch of the Samsung Admire midrange Android Gingerbread smartphone.

As previously reported, the Android smartphone will replace the now discontinued LG Optimus M in the lineup and feature a 3.5 inch HVGA display with an 800MHz processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread without the TouchWiz overlay and a 3.2 megapixel camera with video capture along with a microSD slot. The phone is expected to be launched with a planned initial price of $199.99 before a $50 instant rebate which would bring the total to $149.99, though pricing and launch details have yet to be confirmed.