Samsung Galaxy S II Reviews

[sciwizam]

Since the UK release date for Samsung Galaxy S 2 is May 1st, the reviews are coming online.

SlashGear

TechRadar

The most important part from Slashgear:

Big, bright screen, dual-core processor, lots of wireless: you’d be forgiven for assuming the Galaxy S II would gulp down juice like a long distance runner after a race. In actual fact, it’s something of a minor miracle. The standard 1,650 mAh battery took us through two days of use – from off the charger at 7am, through a full day with push email active, the display at maximum backlight while outdoors, lots of photography and some video recording, a couple of YouTube clips, GPS with Google Maps, browsing and some calls, then through the night (again, with push email switched on) and through the next day, only expiring that evening.

That’s ridiculously impressive, and we’ll be watching closely to see if it was a fresh-battery phenomenon or a sign that the Galaxy S II really is in the top tier of current smartphones. Even if you really hammer it with your usage, we’re confident you should get a full day out of a single charge.

Engadget

9/10 !

For a handset with such a broad range of standout features and specs, the Galaxy S II is remarkably easy to summarize. It's the best Android smartphone yet, but more importantly, it might well be the best smartphone, period.

 

[abaez]

No stock Android ruins this phone.

 

[SunnyD]

The most important part is does the GPS lock sometime BEFORE you actually get to your destination?

 

[Bateluer]

The most important part is does the GPS lock sometime BEFORE you actually get to your destination?

This is very important. The TouchWiz deficiency can be alleviated with LP/ADW in the short term before stock roms begin showing up. If you're willing to root, the lack of OS updates from Samsung shouldn't be a deal breaker either.

 

[Deeko]

That battery is goddamn impressive. Wow. Sounds like all around a solid performer. And look at Samsung, on top of their software game...I realize Gingerbread isn't exactly new anymore, but how many new Android phones today are still launching with Froyo? They've struggled here in the past, but it seems they're taking steps to improve.

Despite the TouchWhiz hate, I actually like it, and am not considering that a major downfall here. Hey, its not like Samsung locks you out from loading a custom ROM.

 

[dpodblood]

If you are buying a Samsung phone by now you know you wont be getting updates regularly. Either that or you don't know much about Smartphones. This being the case I think most people buying will be planning to Root, and run their own custom ROM's. This should alleviate the touchwiz issue.

 

[Bateluer]

Raw benchmarks only tell part of the story, but the Galaxy S II scored 2939 in Quadrant Standard and 3540 in Quadrant Advanced, 46.939 MFLOPS in Linpack Pro, while the SunSpider test for browser performance came in at 3584.3ms (lower is better).

Very nice. Not liking that single button though. Might be different when the phone comes to US carriers, all the GS1 spins have the standard 4 Android buttons.

 

[sciwizam]

The most important part is does the GPS lock sometime BEFORE you actually get to your destination?

This review had lock within 5 secs.
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-s2-930907/review?artc_pg=11

The sat nav functionality was equally impressive – no need to download the voice software to make this one work for once, and we were off and running with a simple click of the icon – the Galaxy S2 managed to lock our GPS in less than five seconds, and we were away in no time at all.

EDIT: Also,in the summary of that same review.

In short, simply being able to open Google Maps and have your location in under a second is the kind of thing we love to be able to do, and the Samsung Galaxy S2 is the only handset we know that does it this well.

 

[zoiks]

Looks like a winner.

 

[Anubis]

Very nice. Not liking that single button though. Might be different when the phone comes to US carriers, all the GS1 spins have the standard 4 Android buttons.

its got 2 other buttons they are just hard to see

see pic

http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/samsung_galaxy_s_ii_sg_review_16.jpg

 

[dpodblood]

Want! I will wait for the prices to drop and the custom roms to start coming out though.

 

[you2]

WHen will the USA phone providers actually carry these ? Bit surprise how behind the times USA is becomming (consider that both sprint and verizon are introducing rehashed galaxy s while europe is getting the galaxy s 2)

 

[Fire&Blood]

Nice phone, suitable for those who don't care much for updates or are willing to flash custom ROM's. While I prefer HTC's models, this one seems better than the upcoming Sensation.

Though I am distracted by posts from Eldar Murtazin, the russian phone guru. He claims an even better Samsung phone is being timed for iphone 5 launch.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Nice phone, suitable for those who don't care much for updates or are willing to flash custom ROM's. While I prefer HTC's models, this one seems better than the upcoming Sensation.

Though I am distracted by posts from Eldar Murtazin, the russian phone guru. He claims an even better Samsung phone is being timed for iphone 5 launch.

versus sensation...

the Galaxy S II lacks LED notifications, and has a lower res screen.
SAMOLED+ would be nice to see in person, but the current SAMOLED screens are so blue it's ridiculous. I think after staring one for 10 minutes and even going back to an average uncalibrated monitor, you'd think "HOLY CRAP RED SHIFT" but in fact it's the SAMOLED screen being so far off.

For me it's HTC Sensation over this phone. Unfortunately, it looks like it will take 6 months for Canada to get their hands on the phone or something, so no 850/1900 for a while. Yuck.

 

[s44]

If you are buying a Samsung phone by now you know you wont be getting updates regularly. Either that or you don't know much about Smartphones.

Actually, you're the one who doesn't seem to know much about smartphones.

American versions of the Galaxy S have had comically bad delays, but the international Galaxy S has gotten new firmware releases every month and is quite ahead of HTC in getting official Gingerbread.

As far as releasing with Froyo, I think only Sony has all their new stuff on Gingerbread. The Incredible 2 is Froyo, even (see Anand post).

this post brought to you by Swype

 

[cheezy321]

Sounds pretty impressive. I am glad they are finally doing something about battery life.

I've always liked the look of samsung phones. Seems like this one is going to be a winner.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Actually, you're the one who doesn't seem to know much about smartphones.

American versions of the Galaxy S have had comically bad delays, but the international Galaxy S has gotten new firmware releases every month and is quite ahead of HTC in getting official Gingerbread.

As far as releasing with Froyo, I think only Sony has all their new stuff on Gingerbread. The Incredible 2 is Froyo, even (see Anand post).

this post brought to you by Swype

The Incredible S (gsm version of the Inc 2) should be getting 2.3 sometime Q2. There's still 2 more months for HTC to keep their word. Who knows about the Incredible 2. Either VZW could push for a faster update or they could be the bottleneck in the update process (typical).

 

[NikolaeVarius]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piPZWJzorBU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZDNuCRqkcQ&feature=related


I must say, not bad, not bad at all.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I am not sure how to assign the update delay blame between OEM's and carriers, I think the latter are worse. IMO, on the OEM side, Motorola is by far the worse in delays as well as simply dropping support support for older devices. LG is about as bad in terms of updating skinned devices, Samsung being little better and IMO HTC is the best in terms of updates and support of older phones.

As for the Sensation vs. SGS2, specs and reviews don't show a clear winner. I tend to think the SGS2 has the edge based on specs but it's too early for definitive conclusions.

 

[ponyo]

Very impressive phone. Everything I've been reading of Super AMOLED Plus says it's the best screen available today. No more PenTile so text should be super crisp. That was my major complaint with AMOLED technology. And the file system used on SGII is confirmed to be EXT4. :thumbsup: So no more of that horrible RFS. D:

Let's see what kind of nerfs and changes US carriers demand.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Let's see what kind of nerfs and changes US carriers demand.

The 2 Gestapo carriers will castrate 3rd party apps and tethering if the phone comes over to them, I can tell you that right now. If the SGS2 is to launch in a manner similar to the predecessor which seems logical, differentiation will likely come in shape of NFC addition/omission.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Honestly I'm pretty sick of hearing people complain about lack of updates and non-stock apps on devices like this. The updates often don't amount to much, and the launcher is easily replaced.

If it's good enough out the door, there isn't much need for constant firmware updates. And if you do love tinkering, that's why it's an Android device and you can mess with it if you want.

That battery life sounds really impressive. I wouldn't have expected nearly that much from a mere 1650 mAh. The battery on my Samsung Epic is 1500 mAh.

 

[Anubis]

Honestly I'm pretty sick of hearing people complain about lack of updates and non-stock apps on devices like this..

they only people that canplain are us geeks. i know people who have a galaxy version 1 who have no idea WTF is going on, it simply works for them.

2 of them had no idea amazon even had an appstore till i told them last Friday

 

[Monster_Munch]

As for the Sensation vs. SGS2, specs and reviews don't show a clear winner. I tend to think the SGS2 has the edge based on specs but it's too early for definitive conclusions.

I can't decide either. They're both the same price over here, the galaxy has a great screen and lots of flash memory, but the sensation has better software (I like sense) and a higher resolution screen.

 

[Raduque]

Samsung #NeverAgain

I'm going G2X.