AT&T today announced that the Samsung Galaxy Express and the AT&T Mobile Hotspot MiFi Liberate will both be available for AT&T customers on November 16. The Galaxy Express will cost $100 (with a two year contract) and the MiFi Liberate will cost $50 (with a two year contract).
The Galaxy Express is a low-end Samsung smartphone that has a 4.5-inch screen, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a 2000mAh battery, and a 5MP rear camera. It’s the less-expensive cousin to Samsung’s flagship android smartphones, the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II.
The AT&T Mobile Hotspot MiFi Liberate is a Wi-Fi hotspot device with a touchscreen display, which AT&T claims is a first. The 2.8-inch touchscreen displays all of the options for the device, allowing customers to manage connected devices, change settings, and view data usage. It offers 4G LTE speeds, has 11 hours of battery life, and customers can connect up to 10 Wi-Fi devices to the Liberate. It even has a microSD card slot, from which it can stream media such as music and video. AT&T also touted the fact that customers would be able to use the device in over 200 countries around the world, though they will need a thick wallet to pay for the international roaming data rates outside the U.S.
AT&T provided a short video detailing all of the features of the MiFi Liberate. Though the device does look well-designed, Mi-Fi devices should really be a very niche product. The Android operating system for years now has had the ability to turn 4G devices into mobile hotspots, but carriers disable the function before shipping them to customers. So, really, a rooted $50 4G Android smartphone, such as one of the four that AT&T sells on its website (including a refurbished HTC One X), could really do the same job as the MiFi Liberate and so much more.