Like the original Galaxy S before it, Samsung's Galaxy S II sure knows how to get around. After having touched down on Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T (twice even (http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/31/att-reveals-first-lte-phones-htc-vivid-and-samsung-galaxy-s-ii-skyrocket/)), the Korean giant's one-time flagship handset is now being embraced by the folks at U.S. Cellular.
Customers who have pledged their allegiance to the nation's sixth-largest wireless carrier are probably celebrating the news, considering the last big Android handset to grace their shelves was the Motorola Electrify (http://www.uscellular.com/uscellular/cell-phones/showPhoneDetails.jsp?productId=prod240002&phone-selector-compared1=&phone-selector-compared-prepaid-sku1=&phone-selector-compared-contract-sku1=&phone-selector-compared2=&phone-selector-compared-prepaid-sku2=&phone-selector-compared-contract-sku2=&phone-selector-compared3=&phone-selector-compared-prepaid-sku3=&phone-selector-compared-contract-sku3=&phone-selector-type=contract&phone-selector-category=phone-selector-android&phone-selector-price=&phone-selector-camera=0.0,100&phone-selector-styles=phone-style-Bar,phone-style-Flip,phone-style-Slider&phone-selector-brands=BlackBerry%C2%AE,HTC,Huawei,LG,Motorola,Pantech,PCD,Samsung&phone-sort-options=1), a non-WiMax version of the Photon 4G.
As far as specs go, U.S. Cellular's GSII variant plays it straight — it sports the same 1.2GHz Exynos C210 processor that most of the U.S. models do, as well as the bog-standard 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 8-megapixel camera, and 16GB of onboard storage. Oh, and expect it to feature the now-classic Gingerbread/TouchWiz combo we've come to know and tolerate.
Sure, the Galaxy S II may seem passe these days (especially with MWC right around the corner), but good hardware is still good hardware. Sadly, U.S. Cellular's version of the Galaxy S II is 3G-only, so anyone looking to pick it up won't be able to jump on their LTE network (http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/u-s-cellular-reveals-additional-lte-markets-expected-to-go-live-in-2h-2012/) when it lights up later this year. It's not as though the hardware doesn't exist — AT&T's Skyrocket features an LTE radio — but for now it seems like U.S. Cellular customers will have to make do with a revamped Galaxy S if they want their mobile LTE fix.
U.S. Cellular's is keeping mum on the Galaxy S II's release, but that should give customers a little time to either weigh their options or scrimp together $230.
TechCrunch