14 DAY TRIAL // Announced at the beginning of the month, Samsung Mesmerize has just hit the shelves today and is available at U.S. Cellular stores, both brick and mortar and online. The Mesmerize is, in fact, a version of the Galaxy S smartphone customized to operate on CDMA networks.
U.S. Cellular is the fifth major carrier in the United States that gets its own Galaxy S variant, as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint have treated their customers with the Galaxy S lineup months ago.
That leaves Cellular South as the last carrier to release its dedicated Galaxy S device, known as Samsung Showcase i500, which seems to be slated for a “holiday 2010” launch.
U.S. Cellular's Mesmerize is powered by a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and runs on the Android 2.1 Eclair platform. Fortunately, customers will be able to upgrade their software later this year to access Samsung's Media Hub and migrate to the Android 2.2 Froyo platform.
It comes with a 4.0-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colors support and a 480x800 pixels resolution.
The Mesmerize features a virtual QWERTY keyboard with Swype technology, six-axis motion sensing for responsive gaming, Samsung's Social Hub, a 5 megapixel shutter with video recording capabilities (720p@30fps), 3.5 mm headphone jack, CDMA 1x EVDO, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, 2 GB storage, 512 MB RAM, 384 MB ROM, and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB, 16GB card included).
“Customers told us they want access to the newest phones and the Samsung Mesmerize is an impressive Android-powered device for people who want to stay connected to work, entertainment and the people who matter most to them,” said Edward Perez, vice president of marketing and sales operations for U.S. Cellular.
The Samsung Mesmerize will retail for $199 on a two-year contract after an $80 mail-in rebate.