US Cellular releases its first LTE smartphone, the Galaxy S Aviator

US Cellular is one of the larger regional carriers in the US, and has a pretty solid nationwide coverage map. Recently, they have begun rolling out an LTE network, with the high-speed network reaching portions of Maine, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Iowa. Before today, US Cellular only offered one LTE-capable device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1“.

Starting today, US Cellular will begin selling their first LTE-capable Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator. Yes, you read that right; the Aviator is a variant of the original Galaxy S line, and not the more-powerful Galaxy S II series. Fortunately, the original Galaxy S is definitely one of the better older Android devices, and it will only set you back $99.99 after $100 mail-in-rebate Mastercard.

Full specs for the Galaxy S Aviator include:

AndroidTM 2.3 (Gingerbread)4.3? Super AMOLED™ Plus Screen1GHz Hummingbird Processor8 MP Camera with LED Flash1.3 MP Front-facing Camera1.4GB of Internal Memory

Though we’re certainly not blown away by a device with a single-core Hummingbird processor when quad-core Tegra 3 devices are starting to eek their way out, the Galaxy S Aviator provides a solid option for US Cellular customers who want to board the LTE train.

Any US Cellular customers out there? Plan on picking up the Galaxy S Aviator, or are you holding out for a slightly more powerful device?

US Cellular's Samsung Galaxy S Aviator available today

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US Cellular today has made available its first 4G LTE smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator. It's pretty darn close to the Droid Charge we know on Verizon, with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, an 8MP rear camera, and it's running Android 2.3.6.

U.S. Cellular is using King Street Wireless as its LTE provider, and with cities in Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin currently seeing service. USCC will expand its LTE market the second half of the year to cover select cities in Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. By the end of 2012, 54 percent of U.S. Cellular customers have LTE.

The Aviator is available today in stores and online for $199 on contract (after $100 rebate).