Smartphone makers have long touted the appeal of their high-definition display screens. Soon they'll be able to add high-definition sound to the mix, too.
"HD Voice," also known as wideband audio, is a technology designed to make a caller's voice, and other noises, sound on phone calls as close as possible to how they do in person.
On Monday, AT&T Senior Vice President Kris Rinne confirmed that the company plans to roll out HD Voice later this year, making it the latest major player officially adopting a mobile feature that, unlike many in recent years, actually has to do with making phone calls.
"HD Voice is part of our voice-over-LTE strategy," said Rinne, speaking at the VentureBeat Mobile Summit in Sausalito, California, speaking of the next generation of cellular phone networks.
In January, T-Mobile announced HD Voice was available on a handful of phones including the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One S. The carrier also said last month it will have HD Voice on the iPhone 5, to be rolled out on T-Mobile's networks in the U.S. for the first time later this month.
Verizon has said it plans to implement the technology in 2014 and Sprint has said it plans to make HD Voice an option on the Sprint-exclusive HTC Evo 4G LTE.
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