Galaxy S II US names: Attain; Function; Within.

[JS80]

nokia didn't hold back on features because the carriers told them so. their model worked fine overseas and its how practically every other manufacturer works. they design a phone and if you want it, you sign up on board. It's why Nokia's been knocking it out of the ballpark for years in other countries and can't even enter the US market.

I spoke with the VP of Nokia Research and he heavily criticized the subsidized and branded market of the US. Subsidies are fine in the way many other countries do it, but in the US it's all about carriers signing a deal to have some "exclusive version" of the phone. They wouldn't sell a Nokia N95. It'll have to be branded with not only an AT&T stamp but also an orange/blue box and loaded down with bloatware. I bought a Telus Milestone and while that was SIM locked, the only thing different about it was that it had a Telus movie on it and the homepage was some Telus page. There was no Telus stamp on the hardware. The box itself said Motorola Milestone like it could've come from the UK or Asia. That's the extent of branding that goes on in many other places.

In the US, the carriers are like the gestapo in that they want to control every aspect of the phone. They neuter phones, change the outer shell just so they can differentiate one little bit. Not every manufacturer wants to play ball with that, and that's why the US misses out on a lot of phones. I suspect the carriers fork over a great deal of $$$ trying to get these exclusive phones. I'd rather then spend that money on network improvement, especially in the case of AT&T.

BTW, Motorola is the worst of all manufacturers as it sucks on Verizon's left tit to survive. After the poor reception of the Motorola Milestone due to its locked bootloader, I'm almost confident that everyone ran away from the Milestone 2. Most of those international users jumped on board with HTC and Samsung. Motorola probably gets a huge payment from Verizon to keep the Droid branding going and to keep releasing these phones.

What is this "nokia" you speak of?

 

[Dulanic]

Do you always turn your screen on to see if you got an SMS/IM/Email/Missed Call?

I'm very disappointed in the TB's LED notification, its horrible. A two color, green & red, LED located under the ear piece grill that can only be seen if you're looking at it from a 90 degree angle. Its pathetic and sad.

LED notifications are a great feature that should be mandatory on all smart phones, and its not like its a hard thing to implement either.

I can see it rather easily. To be honest if I am going to look at my phone I'm going to turn on the screen to see my emails anyways.

 

[Rottie]

No Galaxy S 2 for Tmobile?

 

[lothar]

It entered a multi-year contract because AT&T paid them a boatload of money. Notice how the iPhone is now sold unlocked everywhere else in the world. Even if Apple is semi guilty, I'd assign far more blame to the carriers.

Apple refuses to cater to the idiotic branding that every carrier in the US insists upon. While the carriers can get HTC to crank out 4 different versions of the Touch Pro 2, each with a different colored keyboard, and 4 slightly different SGS phones, I KNEW that the VZW iPhone would never be different. That's the last thing Apple would allow--a carrier in the US to demand a slightly different appearing phone. The iPhone is not only a product, but an experience. This experience needs to be maintained across the globe. This is the attitude every manufacturer needs.

You want the SGS2? Sell it under the SGS brand. We'll put a CDMA chip in for you, and that's it. Otherwise go fuck off Verizon.

If Samsung does that, they can say bye bye to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
You're cutting off your own hand to spite the snake, except in this case the snake can easily call your bluff.

I wish what you're suggesting can happen, however you also have to realize that what you're suggesting isn't anything close to reality.

 

[lothar]

lol..verizon FUNCTION is the worst

Fuck no.

"WITHIN" is clearly the worst.
It's not an adjective, verb or a noun...WTF???
Telling your friends and other people you own a "WITHIN" doesn't have that ring to it.

This. And LTE support on the Verizon spin.

I don't see this happening in the current form factor.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

If Samsung does that, they can say bye bye to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
You're cutting off your own hand to spite the snake, except in this case the snake can easily call your bluff.

I wish what you're suggesting can happen, however you also have to realize that what you're suggesting isn't anything close to reality.

I think if they offered the SGS2 openly in America unlocked and went hardline with the carriers saying take it or leave it, I estimate a few hundred thousand will actually buy it unlocked to use it on AT&T. It's impossible to deal with the CDMA carriers too.

Remember, Samsung sells an insane number of SGS phones WORLDWIDE. The US market is not the only one. In fact if you look at XDA, there's a huge number of foreign developers. Some of the top Android app developers like Go Team and Launcher Pro's Fede are not from the US.

 

[MrX8503]

I'm not sure why carriers/manufacturers feel the need to have several identities for their products.

....and you wonder why Apple is currently the #1 brand.

 

[kubani1]

took a look at the samsung s 2 at my local mobile shop, it is a beastly looking phone, smooth and a beautiful looking screen, this is truly a phone to wow anyone.

 

[kubani1]

I think if they offered the SGS2 openly in America unlocked and went hardline with the carriers saying take it or leave it, I estimate a few hundred thousand will actually buy it unlocked to use it on AT&T. It's impossible to deal with the CDMA carriers too.

Remember, Samsung sells an insane number of SGS phones WORLDWIDE. The US market is not the only one. In fact if you look at XDA, there's a huge number of foreign developers. Some of the top Android app developers like Go Team and Launcher Pro's Fede are not from the US.

sorry to say, the best mobile phones either arrive late to the US, or not at all. i don't understand why it is so difficult to get the new phones in the US.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I wouldn't blame Samsung for these horrible names. Blame the retarded corporate ideology that the 4 major US carriers live by.

Carriers insist on differing the devices they carry and in the subsidized US market, the carriers make major purchases the phones and gain leverage so OEM's have to comply with all the ridiculous demands that carriers set.

For example, my T-Mobile HD2 is taller than the Euro model. The reason? Because T-Mobile demanded to have their logo on the front and HTC had to comply.

 

[abaez]

Really leaning towards just importing a GSii.

 

[lothar]

I think if they offered the SGS2 openly in America unlocked and went hardline with the carriers saying take it or leave it, I estimate a few hundred thousand will actually buy it unlocked to use it on AT&T. It's impossible to deal with the CDMA carriers too.

Remember, Samsung sells an insane number of SGS phones WORLDWIDE. The US market is not the only one. In fact if you look at XDA, there's a huge number of foreign developers. Some of the top Android app developers like Go Team and Launcher Pro's Fede are not from the US.

US is by far their biggest market with 40% of the sales. They can't ignore that.
40% US, 25% Europe, 20% Asia...

We’re just three days into 2011 and Samsung is already reminiscing about the big year it had in 2010. Between sales of its Galaxy S smartphone and Galaxy Tab Android tablet alone, Samsung’s mobile division had quite the year — and the company finished strong. With just two weeks left in 2010, Samsung announced that it had sold 9.3 million Galaxy S smartphones globally. Today, the South Korean giant reportedly confirms that it surpassed its goal of 10 million units sold in 2010. Over 700,000 units in two weeks is quite an accomplishment, especially considering one of those weeks was the last week of the year. With Christmas landing just prior and New Year’s fast approaching, the last week of December is typically not a huge week for consumer electronics.
North America was reportedly Samsung’s biggest market for the Galaxy S, having sold 4 million units across the continent in 2010. Europe came in next with 2.5 million units, followed by Asia with 2 million. Samsung has a lot of work to do if its Galaxy S successors hope to match the astonishing pace set by the sleek Android phone, but with the ability to woo carriers like no other cell phone maker, we have high hopes.

Assuming they make a realistic profit of $100 per phone, that's $400 million padded to their earnings report that they will be missing.
Most people in the US won't pay $700 for an unlocked phone. Selling an unlocked phone to a few hundred thousand people(I'd say anything more than 100,000 is an unrealistic sales figure) is certainly possible, but what about selling 4 million in a single year through following carrier demands? They did exactly that.

If Samsung ever tried that, the carriers could simply call their bluff. That could possibly make the situation worse than what we have today. If those 4 million sales don't go to Samsung, they WILL go to someone...That is a fact. Majority will go to Moto with the remaining few split between HTC, LG, and a few others.

The carriers hold all the cards.
If AT&T wasn't so desperate to stop the red bleeding of their subscribers to Verizon 4 years ago, they would have done the same thing Verizon demanded and Apple's iPhone would be no where to be found on the major carriers. Verizon and AT&T together are ~70-75% of the subscribers market in the US.

 

[lothar]

Epic > other Galaxy S phones

This.

 

[ponyo]

please. i9000 is by far the best Galaxy S model. That's a fact.

 

[boomhower]

Ice Cream and release date please.

 

[evident]

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[Imported]

I want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date

x100

 

[zerocool84]

I want release date i want want release date

I think you want a release date.

 

[lothar]

I want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date i want release date

July 2nd.

 

[Bateluer]

No Galaxy S 2 for Tmobile?

The names came from a leak from an accessory page. Since the AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon spins can all use the same case, its likely they are pretty similar to each other. Its also likely there will be a T-Mobile version, but since it apparently cannot use a case that the other 3 can, I'd say its going to have a keyboard or something. Epic 4G vs Captivate/Vibrant/Fascinate, for example.

 

[s44]

July 2nd.

Pulling out of butt, or is there a source?

 

[cheezy321]

The carriers are pieces of shit, but Apple has done nothing to change that.

Do you even remember verizon before the droid came out? Can you really say this with a straight face? Verizon used to force load every phone with their OS. This changed once the droid came out. You don't think apple and their paving the way for this model did anything for that?

Yes, the carriers are pieces of shit. Apple has done some things to change that. Fact.

 

[cheezy321]

July 2nd.

Link? I really wanna check out this phone once it comes out.

 

[Bateluer]

Do you even remember verizon before the droid came out? Can you really say this with a straight face? Verizon used to force load every phone with their OS. This changed once the droid came out. You don't think apple and their paving the way for this model did anything for that?

Yes, the carriers are pieces of shit. Apple has done some things to change that. Fact.

Verizon is still a step or two behind their competitors with phones.

 

[cheezy321]

Verizon is still a step or two behind their competitors with phones.

Back on topic. I really want to check out this phone. I always read it wouldnt be out for a while in the US. If it comes out July 2nd that will be amazing.