Samsung Mesmerize Unveiled By US Cellular

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I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is right in super-regional carrier US Cellular’s home turf. They’re more popular than T-Mobile here (I have no scientific evidence to back that up), and people seem to love them and proselytize them more than any other phone. For the army of US Cellular advocates, they’ve got their own flavor of the Samsung Galaxy S Android superphone – the Samsung Mesmerize.

This really isn’t anything ground breaking. It was known that US Cellular was getting a Galaxy S phone months ago. But, it was suspected that they would get the international-spec generic “Galaxy S” phone, instead, they’re getting one of the branded phones with a unique name, like the “big four” major US carriers.

Aside from the new name, the press release from US Cellular makes the Mesmerize sound like a pretty “stock “Galaxy S. That’s not to take anything away from the 4-inch Android phone. It just doesn’t have a 4G connection or keyboard like the Epic 4G. Or come preloaded with the complete movie Avatar like the Samsung Vibrant. But, it’s “normal” like the Samsung Fascinate and Captivate.

But, this could be interesting, the press release says:

The Samsung Mesmerize will retail for $199 after an $80 mail-in rebate.

Now, the “big four” major carriers refer to “full retail price” as the unsubsidized contract-free price of the phone, and it’s usually around $500-$600 for a Galaxy S. If US Cellular is selling the Mesmerize for just $280 (or $200 with rebate), then that’s really a great deal. However, I suspect that that’s US Cellular-speak for the two-year contract price, which would be par for the course for Galaxy S pricing. I’ve contacted US Cellular’s press team for confirmation on the $199 pricing. See Update.

Although some of my TFTS coworkers disagree, US Cellular really is starting to gather a compelling collection of Android smartphones. They have the HTC Desire (which is more or less a Nexus One, sans the Google branding) and they’re now getting the Samsung Galaxy S, which is one of the top Android phones of the year. While they may not have the customer base of the  ”big four”, they certainly have compelling phone offerings, specially in the Android department.

Update: I’ve heard back from US Cellular. That $199 with $80 rebate is their two-year contract price for the Mesmerize. While it isn’t as cheap as we’d hoped, it’s still the going rate for the Galaxy S phones and US Cellular does have some affordable plans. Take it as you will.