Today didn't bring with it the unveiling of a certain device that had been rumored, but U.S. Cellular has swooped in and given us a product announcement of its own. Today the carrier revealed that it's adding the Huawei Ascend II to its Android lineup and pricing it at the low cost of free with a two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. The Ascend II will be available online next week, but if you'd prefer a more hands-on buying experience, you'll be able to pick one up at stores in early January. As far as specs go, the Ascend II is packing a 3.5-inch 320x480 touchscreen, 600MHz processor, 5-megapixel camera, 2GB microSD card, and a 1,400mAh battery powering the whole thing. On the software side of things, you can expect to find Android 2.3 Gingerbread onboard. 

Obviously the Ascend II won't be knocking the Electrify from its high-end throne or anything like that, but Huawei's offering should make for a respectable device for folks that want a smartphone but don't need bleeding edge hardware. Plus it's tough to argue with free, even if you do have to send in a rebate. If you'd like to check the Ascend II out a little further, you can do just that at the U.S. Cellular link down below.

Via U.S. Cellular