Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S2 and a New AT&T 4G Show

Notwithstanding sad prophecies of a big failure, Apple Inc. has hit yet another out-of-the-park home run with its new iPhone 4S, with AT&T reportedly ringing the register on 200,000 pre-ordered models of the smartphone in just 12 hours.

One of the key improvements that the Cupertino tech giant has included in its new device is the high-speed download packet access (HSDPA) technology. Thanks to the technology, the iPhone 4S is claimed to have data download speed that is nearly twice as fast as iPhone 4 -- 14.4Mbps compared with 7.2Mbps. Does it mean that the iPhone 4S is 4G enabled?

According to a leaked document reported by This is My Next, AT&T wants the iPhone 4S to incorporate the 4G indicator. The report said that the company that also serves as the carrier of the Samsung Galaxy S2 is working with Apple to show 4G indicator in iPhone 4S status bar, since the phone can download data at a faster speed like other popular Android smartphones offered by AT&T.

This will happen with an iOS release from Apple. Since iPhone 4S is an HSPA+ device, our customers will get 4G speeds from day one. Only AT&T has this unique network advantage, the leaked document said.

Apple is Reluctant to label HSPA+ as 4G

During the iPhone 4S release on Oct. 4, Apple's senior vice president Phil Schiller said that Apple is arguably not a fan of calling HSPA+ a 4G.

Apple is not going to get into a debate in the industry of what's 4G and what isn't, Pop Herald quoted Schiller as saying. However, it seemed that he made a play-safe statement saying that whether HSPA+ is 4G or not, it is just as fast as all these phones.

Samsung Galaxy S2

AT&T offers the U.S.-only Galaxy S2 that sports the features found in the global Samsung Galaxy S2. Some of the key features include the 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, 8-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera and Android Gingerbread 2.3.4 with the latest TouchWiz skin version among others. Unlike the global Galaxy S2's physical home button, AT&T's Galaxy S2 features Android's 4 capacitive buttons.

Although the AT&T Galaxy S2 also sports the HSPA+ technology, its data signal indicator doesn't show the 4G sign while on HSPA+. In addition, unlike other HSPA+ smartphones like the Samsung Infuse 4G and the Motorola Atrix 4G, AT&T's Galaxy S2 is free from 4G brand, according to Pop Herald.