Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G to hit T-Mobile on September 19

Although it has been in the news for the past couple of months, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G is yet to be made available. Initially known as the Galaxy S Blaze Q, this was supposed to see the light of day on August 15, but for some reason it will go on sale with a delay of more than a month.

The good news is that Sammy’s fresh new mid-ranger finally has an official launch date that seems to be set in stone, so come September 19 you should have the chance to buy yourself a snazzy new slider.

Oddly enough, although T-Mobile has issued a press release clearly stating that the Relay will start selling in eight days from now, the phone is nowhere to be found on Magenta’s official website. Samsung itself is still listing it as “coming soon”, with no word of an exact release date, so we can’t shake up the feeling that we might be treated with another launch delay after all.

Things aren’t very encouraging in pricing terms either, with the Relay 4G now being confirmed as hitting the market for $150. That’s with a two-year T-Mo carrier agreement and after a $50 mail-in rebate, which doesn’t sound like a very hot deal to us.

The HTC One S is just one of Magenta’s more affordable phones ($49.99 after mail-in rebate and web-only discount), and that’s snappier and more powerful than the Relay, as far as we can tell. If you can’t imagine going for anyone else than Samsung, you still have a couple of other interesting choices at T-Mo, like the Galaxy S2, going for $150, or even the GS3, which is only $130 more expensive than what the Relay is going to cost.

There is of course that added functionality of the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, one feature that you can’t find at the One S, GS2 or GS3, so some of you might still be keen on getting the Galaxy S Relay 4G. If that’s the case, you should know that there are a few details T-Mo needs to clear up, including the battery’s capacity and the phone’s weight and dimensions. The rest of the specs have all been revealed and can be checked at this link.

The Relay will be running Android 4.0 ICS upon launch, and, although nobody has confirmed a Jelly Bean upgrade per se, it seems likely that the mid-ranger will take the software leap sooner or later. T-Mobile told Tmonews a couple of days ago that there are “no news to share” on that front, and that “we will communicate updates as we have additional details to share”, which is basically PR talk for “a Jelly Bean upgrade is coming”.

Who’s looking forward for the Relay 4G to start selling? Would it need a price trim to draw your attention or do you think it’s fair from T-Mo and Samsung to be asking $150 for it?

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