T-Mobile USA, fighting an uphill battle against its rivals and their iPhones, is expected to be the only major U.S. carrier without one of the Apple devices this holiday season.

So what’s an underdog to do? Apart from touting its rates, the company will be trying to get the attention of consumers by promoting the speed of its mobile network.

Earlier today the company announced two new Android phones that will be the first to take advantage of its super-fast HSPA+ 42 network. The company says the new HTC Amaze 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S II are its fastest smartphones to date.

T-Mobile is citing average download speeds of nearly 8 Mbps and peak speeds around 20 Mbps, which the company points out will let users browse the web faster than on the average home Internet connection. Details on pricing and specs here.

Ina Fried of AllThingsD has more on T-Mobile’s strategy from the company’s chief marketing officer, Cole Brodman, who showed the devices at GigaOM’s Mobilize conference today.

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