Sprint LTE upgraded Galaxy Nexus ad shown and pulled

Sprint LTE upgraded Galaxy Nexus ad shown and pulled

An ad has appeared on CNET that displayed a Sprint LTE Galaxy Nexus displayed proudly, touting some better specifications than its Big Red brethren. CES starts this next week and yesterday we received a clue about what Sprint may have in mind to show us at their press conference. The problem with the Galaxy Nexus is you have to sign up for a Verizon account to get it. If you want Google Wallet you have to pop over to XDA Developers and go through a few system changes to get it without Verizon’s permission. The whole launch of the Galaxy Nexus was a debacle at best, but it is now looking as if we may have a better choice coming our way. Although this ad was pulled pretty quickly, it was up for long enough to show some features that the Sprint Galaxy Nexus is likely to boast.

Sprint Galaxy Nexus LTE NFC smartphone specifications

Most specs remain the same as the Verizon and HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus. However, the Sprint Galaxy Nexus has a couple of important differences. Let’s start with the processor. The, let’s say, normal version we have seen so far features a 1.2 dual-core processor. As you can see from the images below the Sprint Galaxy Nexus appears to have had a bump up to a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. That doesn’t suck, another 300 MHz is always welcome.

Sprint has been doing a lot of talk about its upcoming LTE network and it appears that the Galaxy Nexus could be the Now Network’s first handset. The question remains when will this handset launch. Sprint has said that its LTE Network is due to light up in the middle of the year, however, if the Galaxy Nexus has to wait until then it is likely to have to do battle with quad-core monsters that also feature Ice Cream Sandwich.

Probably the most important factor that the Sprint Galaxy Nexus will have in its favor is that it is likely to feature an unfettered Google Wallet experience. Sprint’s public statement that suggests the carrier will provide a true open ecosystem for NFC means other services are likely to also be available on the Now Network without Isis meddling.

So, the ad may have been pulled for the Sprint Galaxy Nexus and we knew other carriers would get the NFC smartphone with Ice Cream Sandwich. Sprint is an obvious choice for Google because of the Google Wallet partnership and now we just need a launch date and pricing. Something tells us that we will learn more at CES about the Sprint Galaxy Nexus.