Samsung Hercules to be T-Mobile Galaxy S II variant

New images emerged over the weekend that confirm the Samsung Hercules as T-Mobile's take on the Galaxy S II. While the full specifications have yet to be uncovered, a TmoNews source suggests that the Hercules has a 4.5-inch display, which would make it larger than the smarpthones that other U.S. carriers are expected to deliver this fall.

We'll have to wait until an official announcement to be certain, but at this point we're looking at a Super AMOLED Plus resolution screen, a selection of pre-loaded apps like TeleNav GPS and Netflix, and a device that Android 2.3 with Samsung's TouchWiz UI. What's more, a picture of the back side of the handset confirms an 8-megapixel camera with a possiblr 1080p HD video.

For data, the SGH-T989 Hercules should be T-Mobile's first smartphone capable of supporting the carrier's HSPA+ network with download speeds of 42Mbps. Granted, that figure is theoretical, but it is considerably faster than anything currently offered by the wireless provider.

The first sighting of the Hercules product name came back in May when a leaked T-Mobile roadmap showed a smartphone with NFC support, 16GB of ROM, and 1GB of RAM for a September 26 release. Indeed, the timing lines up well with earlier reports of Verizon releasing their Galaxy S II in August followed by other carriers.