If you’re one of the ~6 million customers of United States semi-regional cellular carrier U.S. Cellular, you’re probably used to getting older smartphones (or just not getting them at all) by now. Well good news, thrifty consumer: you can now enjoy one of the best phones from 2011, on the regional/value carrier of your choice. The Samsung Galaxy S II will be available from U.S. Cellular soon, at a rebated price of $229.99. There’s no exact release date for the phone, but it should be available within the next few weeks.

Ever US carrier has a slightly different version of the Galaxy S II, and U.S. Cellular is no different. They get the larger 4.52-inch variety (though the AMOLED screen keeps its 800×480 resolution) with a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor. The rest of the specs are standard: 16GB of on-board memory, an 8MP camera, and Samsung’s TouchWiz-enhanced Gingerbread. Like the rest of the American variants, it uses four capacitive navigation buttons instead of the home configuration on the international model.  This version has an empty SD card slot and uses 3G data bands, since US Cellular’s LTE market is in its infancy.

The phone runs $229.99 after a mail-in rebate, for new users who sign up for a two-year contract. Existing customers who use the “belief” plan can qualify for the upgrade price. Naturally a data plan is required. Options for pre-paid customers haven’t been unveiled yet, but should be disclosed shortly after the Galaxy S II goes on sale.

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