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14 Jun 2011
This Samsung Galaxy S II is an excellent device that builds on the strength of its predecessor. We think this is one of the best phones on the market and, despite its cost, it beats the HTC Sensation thanks to the hardware.
Pros:
Light as a feather, fast internet, great text input, clear screen, reasonable battery life
Cons:
Expensive, fragile back cover
Price: £475 SIM-free, contract variable
Manufacturer: Samsung
The Samsung Galaxy S II is the follow-up to the high-end Galaxy S and is, as expected, bigger, faster and more user friendly.
The device is available now, and customers can expect to pay around £475 for a SIM-free version or sign up to a contract starting at £26 a month on Vodafone and other networks.
Design
With its in-your-face square design, the Galaxy S II resembles the iPhone 4 and is more of a grower. The handset has dimensions of 125x63x8.5mm making it slightly longer and wider, but also marginally thinner than the iPhone 4 which is 115.2x58.6x9.3mm.
The screen size of 4.3in could persuade some that the S2 is going to be a burden to carry around, like other similar sized devices such as the HTC HD7.
However, the Galaxy S II chassis is crafted out of plastic and the handset weighs just 116g, compared to the 162g of the HD7. The Galaxy S II is so light that many will not believe that the battery has been included the first time they hold it. One thing that we don't like, though, is the flimsy back cover, which feels like it could snap at any moment.
The cover has a nice textured finish, but does feel sub-standard when removed. Thankfully, Samsung has not skimped on hardware components and has been particularly generous with internal memory.
Our review unit came with 16GB together with the now-expected micro-SD card slot that allows an additional 32GB.
A front-facing 2-megapixel camera is included for video calling. On the back is an 8-megapixel snapper, which features autofocus and LED flash and can record in 1080p.
Need for speed
With a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor and 1GB of RAM, speed is not a problem. The real test of speed can only really be judged after a few months of use when the owner has added applications and is managing a bustling text, email and multimedia inbox.
Every manufacturer is going to say that their device is the fastest on the market, but the Galaxy S II is definitely up there with the best. The handset has more RAM than rival dual-core device the HTC Sensation, and is just as fast if not a tad quicker.
Android 2.3.3 with TouchWiz 4.0, 4.3in Super Amoled Plus display with 480x800 resolution, 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, 1GB RAM, micro-SD support, micro-USB, 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, on-device hardware encryption, 116g, 115.2x58.6x9.3mm
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Do you agree?
A Beatiful Phone!
I can feel very much value in using this phone. It is simply the best phone so far. Congrats, Samsung.
Posted by: Abdul-Rahaman Gado 27 Sep 2011
Fragile?
The back is thin and flexible, which makes for a great fit. It's not fragile, or shatter-prone. No, it's not metal, or a hard plastic, but it's less likely that bits will snap off it, and will be far cheaper to replace (anecdotal - I can't see it through my phone case either) Basically, if the back has little give when in place, but has a lot of give when not in place, that's great design. I'd take that over a inflexible, prone to snapping and bending, back any day.
Posted by: David 14 Jul 2011
Reply to NO
Is that is your only critisism of the SG2 then? Quite an impressive phone then? I do not see any delay in the touch interface at all. And yes, I have used my wife's fruit phone 4, so I can compare the two hand sets. My wife's experience of the i-phone 4 is that yes it has all the eye candy and speedy interface which she loves. However, she would now rather have a phone that can reliably hold onto a signal (like the sg2 and many others brands) when in areas of poor reception. She is frequently complaining of dropped and missed calls, even with the half arsed Apple phone case to supposedly make the phone fit for purpose. Was the milli-second delay that you experienced really that that critical in daily usage? I suspect not. I trust that you went back to your fruit phone and made good use of that fraction of a second of your life that you lost out on, lol. Eeeeeesh, some people!
Posted by: Dr Sphincter 09 Jul 2011
Battery Life
The battery last just under 2 days with moderate use. I dont have the brightness turned down either.
Posted by: Aaron 16 Jun 2011
Good review
I've had this phone for 3 weeks now and I would only disagree with one thing. I found creating folders on the home screen very straightforward. Perhaps not quite as straightforward as the iphone but definitely not hard and, of course, you can customise folder names etc. This really is an excellent device and, although not mentioned above, it might be worth knowing that it also works extremely well as a phone! Call quality, microphone etc all great. Not always the case with other smartphones.
Posted by: DR 16 Jun 2011
reply to No
Yes Alexis, we get it you are an Apple Phan girl :-) If you are going to criticize like that you need to be a little more specific. I have an Atrix and your observation does not apply to it. What phones have you experienced this on and has it been fixed by software updates? If you are comfortable with the Apple software model then more power to you :-) I personally disagree with it and if you gave me an iphone, I would sell it to someone like you so I could buy an android phone. Have you even used the SGS2?
Posted by: Al 15 Jun 2011
S2 is surely Better !!!!
i think in all aspects Samsung galaxy S2 is the best phone in the market...... i got it ...can get it free on best phone shop .co.uk
Posted by: Hanle 15 Jun 2011
No
Why are all android phones slow to the touch response. Seems like everytime i hit one of the capacity buttons like home for example; it has a slight delay. Even in the newest models.....its like andoid is the po'boys phone....i think im gonna stick with apple's iphone. At least i can move the screen on an iphone micromillimeter if i want. Not like an android phone where it seems laggy and glitchy.....sorry im seriously not biased but Apple hands down. They have it down to a T.
Posted by: Alexis 15 Jun 2011