You missed the AT&T LTE phone sale that wasn't, or was it?

I spotted something really bizarre last night. AT&T apparently dramatically dropped the price of its new 4G LTE phones one day after offering them for sale. The HTC Vivid fell from $199.99 to a cool hundred bucks on the company website. The Galaxy S II Skyrocket listed for $149.99, not the original $249.99. What? Did AT&T's LTE phone launch not go as planned? Did the company respond to Verizon's upped LTE data plan caps? Or was it a terrible glitch AT&T might regret?

The pricing, captured in the two screenshots here, simply stunned me. Suddenly I was ready to trade in my standard Galaxy S II for Skyrocket, after all. Why not save 50 bucks (since S2 still listed for $199.99) and get faster data (whenever LTE comes to my area)? I also wanted to score information to offer readers who bought S2 Skyrocket on Sunday and might want partial refunds.

I called my local AT&T store to check on the lower pricing. The rep was surprised and put me on hold, coming back to say in-store pricing hadn't changed. The price I saw is a "web promotion". Oh yeah? There's nothing indicating web-only sales, something AT&T usually does. So I called another store, back in my old haunt in suburban Washington, DC. Another rep expressed surprise at the lower pricing and told me to order quick while I can online. Price in-store hadn't changed for either phone.

So I clicked through to order and, frak, the price on the product page wasn't the same lower one as the main selection of smartphones. The stores hadn't heard about the price reduction, because it was a glitch. If you read any blog or forum posts about AT&T dropping prices on its new LTE phones, sadly they're false. AT&T has since fixed pricing on its main smartphone page. The listed lower pricing is gone. For me.

But I'm curious. Did any of you see this price and demand AT&T honor it as advertised. I might have gotten different reaction being in a store with the lower price from the website and demanding AT&T honor what it advertised. Please tell your story in comments or email joe at betanews dot com, if you scored lower pricing. Based on early responses, the deal may have been good after all, but in select markets. I guess San Diego isn't select enough -- good enough to show the price for a while but not to get it. However, I couldn't find the lower pricing, as some readers report, for Los Angeles or New York.

After reading several of your comments about Skyrocket performance compared to standard S2, I decided to keep what I've got. I've never been as satisfied with a smartphone as Galaxy S II, even more than iPhone 4. For anyone considering Vivid or Skyrocket, some BetaNews readers share their experiences -- jondrew55:

I bought the skyrocket last Sunday, and I love the phone. Granted, it's my first Android and I'm moving from an iPhone 3GS. We don't have LTE in Orlando yet and who knows when it will show up? But the HPSA+ is giving me 3 to 5Mbps download speeds over "4G", which is a distinct improvement over my iPhone. The display is fantastic, and probably as nice as I've seen despite the 800 x 480 resolution.

Battery life may be an issue. I'm playing a lot with the phone, downloading apps, tethering etc. might need a second battery, but I have the luxury of being able to plug the phone in whenever I need to. There's still a chance I'll return this phone and go with a 4s iPhone. Its a lot easier to keep up with iOS than the absolute chaos of Android phones and OS flavors. But I can see liking this phone for a while. And if a 4.2" AMOLED LTE mega battery iPhone 5 (with Flash?) pops out next summer, well then my kid may end up with a skyrocket.

BetaNews reader Scott praises Skyrocket LTE: "I tested the speed of the device on the bus going to work. It was blazing fast even on a moving target! (20.24Mbps download, 7.30Mbps upload, 56ms ping). I used the SpeedTest.Net app. I tested again at work and the results were: 22.94Mbps down, 8.89Mbps up, 40ms ping!!! This is fast, and I am glad I exchanged the S2 for the Skyrocket!"

Bruce Burns "bought the AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket (two of them) Sunday. The store received 15 in Friday and I bought the first two". He also lives in a LTE area.

"I just found the Touchwiz UI to lag a little on the Skyrocket", Patrick O`Hare writes compared to the standard S 2. "The scrolling seemed to be a little less smooth and would hang on certain pages. I also found that the S2 could load web pages a tiny bit faster that the Skyrocket on the same WiFi connection...It wasn't a huge difference, but it was enough to slightly bother me".