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T-Mobile’s Samsung Galaxy S II 4G smartphone will launch Oct. 12 for $229.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and data contract, the carrier’s Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman promised at GigaOm Mobilize 2011 Sept. 26.
Brodman, who spoke at the event, also announced the HTC Amaze 4G, a Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” smartphone that boasts professional photography functionality.
Both T-Mobile’s S II and Amaze will run on T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ 42M-bps network, capable of facilitating average download speeds of close to 8M bps with peak speeds around 20M bps. That’s double the speeds of T-Mobile’s existing phones.
Such network speeds leave little doubt these new Android phones are designed for fast, fluid Web surfing, multimedia consumption and application processing. Indeed, Brodman noted that T-Mobile customers using 4G phones consume nearly three times as much data compared with those with 3G devices.
T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II completes the trinity of Gingerbread-based S II handsets on the top carriers, following Sprint’s (NYSE:S) already available Samsung Epic 4G Touch and AT&T’s (NYSE:T) S II, which is launching Oct. 2. T-Mobile’s handset offers the same large 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus display as the Epic 4G Touch.
However, T-Mobile is offering other features the other S IIs don’t have. While Sprint’s and AT&T’s handsets are fitted with 1.2GHz chips, T-Mobile’s S II sports a dual-core, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 chip. T-Mobile’s phone will also run the freshest Gingerbread build, 2.3.5. The other devices run 2.3.4.
Also, T-Mobile’s S II has near-field communications (NFC) capability, which could enable mobile payment services, such as Google Wallet, in the future. In addition, the SII boasts an 8-megapixel camera in the rear, a 2-MP shutter in the front for video chat and 16GB of storage, expandable to 48GB.
Netflix is preloaded to let users access their TV and movie content on the go. Finally, T-Mobile’s S II boasts the most powerful battery of the lot, with an 1,850-mAh power source.
The Amaze 4G is also a high-octane handset. Equipped with a 4.3-inch qHD super LCD touch screen and fueled by the latest HTC Sense 3.0 user interface, the Amaze 4G is a photography lover’s smartphone.
The handset is powered by the same 1.5GHz processor that lives in the S II, and it is also equipped with an 8-MP camera. However, in addition to providing a 1080p HD video recorder, the Amaze 4G shutter has a backside illuminated sensor, zero shutter latency, face detection and dual LED flash.
There are also advanced digital camera features, including SmartShot, PerfectPics, SweepShot, ClearShot HDR and BurstShot. The Amaze 4G, which will also include NFC capabilities, will cost $259.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, data plan and two-year contract when it becomes available Oct. 12.
T-Mobile, which has found its merger plan with AT&T tied up by regulatory scrutiny, is fresh off of a major one-day sale of Android smartphones and tablets, as well as RIM BlackBerry devices.