Having owned over half a dozen Android smartphones in the past year, I thought I’ve seem them all. The Samsung Galaxy S II (S2 i9100) brings it up a notch — a powerful and sexy Android superphone that comes with all the bells and whistles.
The very thin frame of the Galaxy S II gives it that sexy appeal. Just like its predecessor, its mostly made out of polymer making it very light and almost unnoticeable in the pocket.
Yes, it sometimes looks like an iPhone, both in design and UI (though I’d wish the iPhone 5 would very much have an exact form factor) prompting Apple to file a lawsuit against Samsung. Still, it’s admirable that Samsung is able to pull it off and somehow retain a little bit of design signature.
The large 4.3-inch display is surrounded by a thin, dark bezel with a front-facing camera on top, a couple of sensors and earpiece beside it. At the bottom end, the usual physical home button is sandwiched by a touch panel button for Menu and Back.
On the left side is the volume rocker while the power/sleep button is on the right side. On the top end is the 3.5″ audio jack while the micro-USB port for data and power is situated at the bottom. The absence of a dedicated camera button is a little disappointing.
The bright and crisp display of the Galaxy S II is one of its best feature. Just like the first-gen Galaxy S, the AMOLED Plus display is among the best screens we’ve seen on a phone — deep contrast, vivid colors and smooth display quality. I’m not able to discern the difference between AMOLED and AMOLED Plus but I guess the benefits are all behind the scenes (like low-power consumption).
At the back panel is the huge 8MP camera and there’s a little protrusion at the bottom end (perhaps to give it a good grip) is where the audio speakers are placed. The entire back cover (for the battery compartment) has a rough mesh-type finish.
Contrary to what we’ve posted before here and the specs that we’ve gotten earlier, the Galaxy S II unit that we’re using has a slightly lower specifications. It still even has the dual-core 1.0GHz processor instead of the recent announcement that it’s going to be 1.2GHz. That’s probably due to the fact that it’s just an engineering unit and not the final release.
The battery is also rated at 6.11Wh (and a voltage rating of 3.7V), which translates to roughly 1651mAh. That gives us about a full 2 days with mostly calls and SMS with light WiFi browsing. We’re not able to test out 3G usage since I could not figure out the settings (copied the one from the old Galaxy S but that didn’t work either).
Based on the System Info App, here’s the partial internal specs of the unit we got:
CPU Frequency Range: 200MHz – 1,000MHz
SD Card Storage: 11.5 GB
Internal Storage: 1.97 GB
System Storage: 504 MB
Memory: 833 MB
System Cache: 92 MB
Sensors: 9
OS Release: 2.3.3
Resolution: 480×800 pixels
Density: 240 dpi
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
That does not include the external SD card (A2SD) slot found at the back, behind the battery, which can accommodate an additional 32GB of storage.
The Galaxy S2′s camera is among the best ones we’ve used and is at par with the likes of Nokia N8 and the iPhone 4. The camera takes great photos — images are crisp and well saturated. There’s far less blurry images since the shutter speed is quite fast. Oh, and it’s got an LED flash now, too! Would have been nice if they added a dedicated camera button. See sample shots taken below (or see full album here in raw).
What makes it better than all the other cameraphones out there is that the Galaxy S II can record up to 1080p videos (full HD!) without even breaking a sweat. It can also play the 1080p videos effortlessly, something my 11″ Macbook Air is having a hard time to do.
See sample video footages take using the Galaxy S2 (select 1080p on the dropdown menu).
The handset performs really well, thanks to the improved CPU, more generous RAM and graphics chip. Apps load faster, games run more smoothly and even web browsing is much more efficient and pleasant.
The Galaxy S II uses Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on top of Android Gingerbread. It comes with 7 panels or home screens and navigates just like the old Galaxy S. There are a number of very noticeable improvements, especially with the additional of more functional and eye-candy widgets (reminds me of HTC Sense). See video demo below:
Samsung i9100 Galaxy S II specs:
4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus @ 480×800 pixels
Gorilla Glass display
Dual-core 1.0GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor
Mali-400MP GPU, Orion chipset
833MB RAM
2GB + 12GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD
HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, WiFi Direct, WiFi hotspot
8MP autofocus camera w/ LED Flash
Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS with aGPS support
Bluetooth 3.0 + HS
1080p video recording
2MP front-facing camera for video calls
Li-Ion 1650mAh battery
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
I was not able to test out other integrated features such as 3G/HSDPA and WiFi-Direct due to compatibility in the settings. Samsung PR stressed that this is not the final unit which is the reason why we’ve encountered numerous system and app errors.
The Samsung Galaxy S II definitely brings new excitement to the Android smartphone line-up. The souped-up specs, dual-core processor, sexy form factor and large AMOLED screen certainly elevated the Galaxy S2 i9100 to the top of the heap.
It’s probably going to be the first dual-core Android smartphone to hit the Philippines this May (unless of course LG will beat it to the punch). Samsung is yet to release this handset in the Philippines (although I hear it’s definitely going to be this May) and we’re still guessing what the suggested price will be.
If it’s going to be anywhere near the price of the first Galaxy S (~Php32k), then it’s going to be another hot item once again. See our closer comparison between the SGS2 and the SGS here.
Update: The Samsung Galaxy S2 will have a retail price of Php29,990.
Hi,
I am keen to know if the S2 will last even one day with talk and internet browsing. Most of the 4.3 inch displays like the Desire HD seem to have bettery problems. Also does an overheating phone cause any health issues? My current phone does and I want to change to S2 only because it seems to have a stronger battery. Does anyone know if this is a better choice than an iPhone 4? Am not an iPhone fan and hope the S2 is better. I was going to buy it like right now, online, but am holding off until I am sure. I have suffered with a Sony Xperia X2 mishap and don’t want to repeat that.
Thanks,
Dinesh
if 24 hours is good enough for you then this is your phone. the s2 does have more battery than the ip4 but it has power-hungry android. overnight my s2 can go down by 60% with all connections running, so including my calls and text messages i could get a good 20 hours before i have to charge it again, which is pretty good considering 1.2ghz cpu and 4.3 super amoled+, but comparing it to the iphone 4, the s2 doesn’t have the best power saving features (it takes 3 days before i have to visit my charger).
btw, charging the s2 takes forever so i have to close all connections (airplane mode) if i want it to charge fastest.
there are rumors of quad core cpu’s in the making and rumors of apple submitting patents and for iPad3 :) by the time u got this phone samsung and apple will release their latest toys.
those aren’t rumors, the ipad 3 will be running on the quad core a6 processor, so 4core phones should be following soon. also you forgot to mention 3d phones. technology is moving way too fast now that people arent given time to breath in between :)
[...] Globe launches Samsung Galaxy S2 Tweet In a media launch this evening, Globe Telecom formally introduced their latest product under the Globe Tattoo line-up — the Tattoo Tonino Lamborghini and the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S2. [...]
I really want this phone…
hello sir yuga,
i’m a newby to androids but on reading the reviews about the sgs2 i’d like to have 1. can i buy an original sgs2 i9100 here in shanghai?
Bad display, they are all defective. Look for yellow tint on one side, its very annoying. AMOLED is an immature technology when in mass production, the original Galaxy S was totally blue where it should be white, and most Nokia N8 had purple screens. So out of 3 famous AMOLED fones, 3 are delivered with defective displays, for the two Samsungs the failure rate is 100%, right out of the box from day 1. Get other brands with SLCD displays instead, they cost less and have correct colors with no tint, and while the contrast is not as good as AMOLED its still very acceptable and a big step forward from older TFT displays.
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Twitter: mykillross
says:
This will be my next phone
i bought my galaxy s2 here in korea but it doesnt have a simcard slot…can i still use it in the philippines? or make it a postpaid phone perhaps?
If you’re absolutely sure that there’s no sim card slot, then I think you may have bought a CDMA version.
There’s no way you can use that here in the Philippines. CDMA is a type of network that doesn’t use sim cards. All our networks here are GSM. Sorry dude.
If you’re still in Korea, maybe you can still exchange it for a GSM version or sell it second hand.
Twitter: chenmeicai
says:
One problem I had since I opened the box is … familiarization with its features. I’ve been a long-time Nokia user and its interface is really confusing for me. LOL. I’m not a geek in techie items hehe.
I looked for a manual. Sad to say, there’s none. I have to self-study. I got my package thru Globe’s new postpaid line subscription by the way. So now, I just research online for reviews and other user feedback.
The first thing I worried about was its initial charging time. Some folks say 16hrs. Some folks say 8 hrs. Some folks say it should be unplugged the moment the phone says so, when battery is completely charged. Care to shed light, anyone? I did the latest step – but it extended a bit longer coz I fell asleep. Now, I dunno which one is true.
I also couldn’t find any Samsung Contact #s in the pamphlet included, at least to validate the initial charging. Tsk tsk! Only the website is there. Globe couldn’t answer my concern. The website Contact Us shows 1800 #s I couldn’t even reach (though it’s already in Samsung Philippines’ page).
I’m yet to discover what this phone has to offer for me. I was looking forward to having more free apps / games already though. Sad to say, there’s none. LOL. :p
i recently bought an S2 and so far, the only problem i have with it is the battery life. i can’t seem to make it last through a whole day. I read somewhere that a system update is available to somehow make the phone more efficient but whenever i’d update my software, it says there aren’t any available. Is it possible that the software update is not available in the country yet?
I’m not sure about the system update, but your problem may be with an application called “Wifi Sharing”. It randomly turns on by itself and eats up a lot of battery.
Whenever your battery starts dropping rapidly, go to Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Usage. If you see something running called “Wifi Sharing”,click on it and then click the “Force Stop” button. That should keep it from draining your batt.
This is only a temporary solution though, but at least it’ll work until you get the proper update.
Got it here in KL,Malaysia. I am loving the features plus the applications running on android are cool and plus the swipe keypads capacity rocks :) There’s no way apple user can do this, best of all angry birds for all levels are free, I bet apple users pay for the other levels :))
damn,if you only like games you can get it for free on mobilegamesarena.net!..for me moto atrix is way much better than this.the downside though is it doesnt have a radio!well,you cant have it all i guess..
I noticed that the back / battery cover can be opened, does this mean that the battery of the Samsung Galaxy S II replaceable?
Has anyone tried the voice talk as shown in this commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FUZs-4RB7I
How was it? Is it that responsive like in the video?
Twitter: rjtotally
says:
m considerin to buy the white version of this but my concern is Im hearing some things like cellphone companies are releasing brand nu phones that august/sept is the season for new set of gadgets sumthin like that. and one more thing am not really techy so is it gonna worth it? i like browsing the internet, taking pictures, listenin to music but not into games, though likes to show off. lol. so do u guys think a not so techy like me could get use of or maximize the utilization or usage of the features of this phone or not and stay wit my Nokia 1280? =)
[...] about numerous reports of the yellowish tint on the display of the Samsung Galaxy S2 a couple of weeks ago but since I no longer have my review unit with me, I wan’t able to [...]
Samsung i9100 Galaxy S II 16GB and 32GB 2.3 Android Smartphone.
Package Contents:
* Samsung phone Galaxy S II
* 1500mAh Li-Ion Battery
* Headset
* Instruction Manual
* Meet brochure
* Travel Adapter
* microUSB cable
* Screen Saver
32GB and 16GB available.
Interested buyers should contact us at: alejandro_sanchez44@yahoo.com
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