So what will be revolutionary about the LG Revolution introduced at CES? It is expected to have Voice-over LTE (VoLTE). This kind of voice transmission falls into the category of internet calling and supports video chat. The VoLTE name and plan pricing are not finalized yet. More details will be announced next week at Mobile World Congress.
This new voice protocol will have high-definition audio fidelity that will sound better when made to other VoLTE handsets but will sound the same in traditional wireless calls. An added bonus of voice-over 4G is that users can make calls and use the internet at the same time. VoLTE calls operate via the users' phone number and not by user names like Skype.
The goal is for the voice-over 4G service to eventually replace the infrastructure
that cell phones have relied on for more than a decade, Brian
Higgins, executive director for ecosystem development at Verizon
Wireless, told CNN reporter Mark Milian.
Another added advantage of the Voice-over-LTE service and LTE network is that it takes the pressure off the Verizon network (3G and Voice) expected from the well-reviewed Verizon iPhone that goes on sale to the general public on Thursday, February 10.
The LG Revolution has a 4.3-inch touchscreen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, DLNA, HDMI, DivX compatibility, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G/LTE mobile hotspot
capabilities, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a
microSD card slot. The LG Revolution records and plays 1080p HD video. The LG Revolution has a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and front-facing camera for video conferencing.
"Eventually, operators are going to want all of their traffic on their
LTE and next-generation network, and that includes the voice traffic," Phillip Redman, a wireless analyst for Gartner Research, told CNN. "They're not ready to do that today because delivering
voice services over LTE is more expensive."