US Cellular is moving up in prestige with its announcement that it has begun selling its first 4G LTE smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator. The carrier promised back in February that its first LTE phone would be released in April and has clearly stuck by its word.
The Galaxy S Aviator is a mid-range handset running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. (No word on if it will get the Ice Cream Sandwich treatment, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.) It’s graced by a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display and a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor. Naturally, you’ll find an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash on the back and a 1.3MP camera on the front geared toward video conferencing. Unnaturally, the Galaxy S Aviator comes with 1.4GB of internal memory — okay then. WiFi is on board as is 3G and the aforementioned 4G.
Unfortunately, US Cellular doesn’t make the pricing obvious on the product page because it apparently varies from location to location, but I can’t imagine it being more than $199 with a two-year contract. Another thing to keep in mind when shopping for 4G LTE devices is whether or not you fall within its coverage. Since US Cellular is new to the 4G world, a quick look at its current coverage map may leave you disappointed, but it claims that 54 percent of its customer base will be blanketed in LTE by the end of 2012.
If you’re interested in the Galaxy S Aviator, head over to US Cellular’s website to go shopping. There’s some nice accessories lined up for the device as well.