Ask an American how much they paid for the smartphone in their pocket and they’ll say $199. Tell them that it’s actually a $700 phone in other parts of the world, and they’ll yell out the word socialism while chunks of fried chicken come flying out their mouth.

But seriously, most people in most countries buy a phone unlocked and unsubsidized, which means they’ll have to swallow huge upfront costs in order to enjoy the latest and greatest devices. Phone service is often a fraction of what Americans pay though, but I’m not going to go there.

Instead, I’d like to tell you about the Optimus F5 from LG. It’s not the best looking phone, but it has a 4.3 inch qHD (960 x 540 pixel) screen, dual core 1.2 GHz processor from Qualcomm, 1 GB of RAM, and a 5 megapixel camera. It’s launching in France today.

What makes it special is that it has 4G LTE. Now budget 4G LTE phones have been on American store shelves for ages, but that’s because that country was lucky enough to get the ball rolling on high speed networks. Europe has been slow to adopt 4G LTE, but now it’s actually starting to become a thing, so it’s good to see affordable phones feature the technology.

http://youtu.be/-EivOs-fcZk

Just like 3G used to be a feature exclusive to high end smartphones, the same will happen to 4G LTE. According to an article that was published in the Times of India, Samsung is currently attempting to make a $100 smartphone with 4G LTE, but there’s no word as to when it’ll actually come out.

If ever.