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Samsung Galaxy S II Reviews

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Added the Engadget review to the OP.

Wow, for Engadget and that too Vlad, to give it 9/10. 😱 The usual joke is whenever Vlad reviews anything Android, you add +2 to the score.
 
I think when he said screen upgrade he meant SGS2's display resolution.

What he doesnt understand is that Samsung cant do that even if they wanted it to. It's technical manufacturing limitation right now. Samsung had to increase the screen size to 4.3 inches from 4 to keep the same resolution when they got rid of that nasty PenTile. They didnt make this phone 4.3 inches voluntarily. It was out of necessity to keep the current resolution. Increase resolution is coming in 2012. Samsung has figured out a way to do it. It just current tradeoff to have this plasma like super display of AMLOD on our phone. I'll gladly trade slightly lower res for awesomeness of S-AMOLED anyday. People who want the higher res have plenty of other Android phones to choose from. But if you want S-AMOLED plus, you can only get it from Samsung phones. That is a killer advantage for Samsung.
 
Looks like a sweet phone. Tons of awesome phones coming out this year. Here's hoping Samsung doesn't f-up this phone like they did practically every other Android phone they made.
 
Been waiting for these reviews since I'm anxious to ditch my Nexus One and it looks like this will be my next phone. 😀


What I really want though is a Nexus S II - 4 buttons and stock androidy goodness. Also, I'd like to see an extended battery option - something that makes it a tag thicker but gives you 2x the battery life.
 
What he doesnt understand is that Samsung cant do that even if they wanted it to. It's technical manufacturing limitation right now. Samsung had to increase the screen size to 4.3 inches from 4 to keep the same resolution when they got rid of that nasty PenTile. They didnt make this phone 4.3 inches voluntarily. It was out of necessity to keep the current resolution. Increase resolution is coming in 2012. Samsung has figured out a way to do it. It just current tradeoff to have this plasma like super display of AMLOD on our phone. I'll gladly trade slightly lower res for awesomeness of S-AMOLED anyday. People who want the higher res have plenty of other Android phones to choose from. But if you want S-AMOLED plus, you can only get it from Samsung phones. That is a killer advantage for Samsung.

Agreed. In about 2 weeks at SID 2011 in LA, Hitachi, barring a major setback caused by the earthquake, will show off their 1280x720 smartphone displays:

http://translate.google.com/transla....hitachi-displays.com/news/2141500_16927.html

While the SAMOLED+ screens are great, IPS displays aren't bad either. LCD OEM's are adopting higher resolutions faster but Samsung won't be too far behind with implementing AMOLED higher res screens.
 
While the SAMOLED+ screens are great, IPS displays aren't bad either. LCD OEM's are adopting higher resolutions faster but Samsung won't be too far behind with implementing AMOLED higher res screens.

IPS is inferior to S-AMOLED in almost every way. Super AMOLED screens have better contrast, blacks, viewing angles, and response times.
 
IPS is inferior to S-AMOLED in almost every way. Super AMOLED screens have better contrast, blacks, viewing angles, and response times.

But why does that all matter if you can't see it in any enviroment other than pitch blank?

Kidding. But S-AMOLED+ is amazing stuff. My only complaint with AMOLED was pentile, and BOOM now it's gone.

One of these days, they will create my perfect phone. The Hardware and screen of this phone, the body of the Droid X (mainly for the buttons, but I also do love the look), and an unlocked bootloader.)

Many nerdgasms will be wrought
 
IPS is inferior to S-AMOLED in almost every way. Super AMOLED screens have better contrast, blacks, viewing angles, and response times.

Not too inferior apparently, LCD displays prove to be good enough for the majority of the smartphone market. For me personally, AMOLED isn't a must have feature though it's a welcome one if everything else I look for is already there.


A 1280x720 LCD will be inferior to the AMOLED of same resolution but for most it's not a compelling reason to wait for them, if HD LCD's hit the market a lot sooner.
 
When will we see this on Verizon? It can't be that soon considering they just launched the Droid Charge.
 
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Not too inferior apparently, LCD displays prove to be good enough for the majority of the smartphone market. For me personally, AMOLED isn't a must have feature though it's a welcome one if everything else I look for is already there.


A 1280x720 LCD will be inferior to the AMOLED of same resolution but for most it's not a compelling reason to wait for them, if HD LCD's hit the market a lot sooner.

Being enough for most people doesn't mean much, just look at the horrible LCD panel's that ship in the vast majority of consumer laptops.

A high resolution display is nice but I'd never sacrifice quality to get it. It's like getting a 1080p LCD tv over a 720p plasma, the LCD may be higher resolution but the plasma will still have better picture.
 
Not too inferior apparently, LCD displays prove to be good enough for the majority of the smartphone market. For me personally, AMOLED isn't a must have feature though it's a welcome one if everything else I look for is already there.


A 1280x720 LCD will be inferior to the AMOLED of same resolution but for most it's not a compelling reason to wait for them, if HD LCD's hit the market a lot sooner.

Its quickly becoming a must for me. Standard LCD just looks so...washed out and boring after having an AMOLED phone.
 
The issue is selection, at least for the time being, very few phones feature AMOLED.

To watch 720p content on a 720p native SAMOLED+ screen... can't wait.
 
So, what's the use case for a super high resolution on a small phone screen? 1280x720 in a 4.3" screen? Why? Just for a sharper/crisper image? If you're still going to be limited to 4 rows of icons or widgets at the same size for usability sake, what's gained by increasing resolution? When an app icon is just going to use more pixels to visually occupy the same percentage of screen real estate, I don't see any benefit to higher resolution smartphone screens.

Someone help me out here.
 
So, what's the use case for a super high resolution on a small phone screen? 1280x720 in a 4.3" screen? Why? Just for a sharper/crisper image? If you're still going to be limited to 4 rows of icons or widgets at the same size for usability sake, what's gained by increasing resolution? When an app icon is just going to use more pixels to visually occupy the same percentage of screen real estate, I don't see any benefit to higher resolution smartphone screens.

Someone help me out here.
I find 4.3" screens good enough to watch stuff on the go. It's beside the point but even bigger screens could be fit without changing the actual device size by minimizing bezel.

It's not just about the display and viewing the content on it though that aspect alone makes it worthwhile for me.

While the average household today is limited to wired linking of smartphones to big screens, I expect that to change, a wireless link between a smartphone and a monitor or a TV will become standard pretty soon.

I think the phone will become the only pocketable device to carry around, phasing out portable DVD players and handheld gaming consoles. Eventually (probably 5 years form now) phones will offer laptop's computing ability and people will be running around with their phones collecting work/entertainment material and processing it once they hook up to a big screen and input devices.

I don't think we'll ever come to a point where a phone can do the same thing as a desktop but we could use more computing power while away from the desk.
 
So, what's the use case for a super high resolution on a small phone screen? 1280x720 in a 4.3" screen? Why? Just for a sharper/crisper image? If you're still going to be limited to 4 rows of icons or widgets at the same size for usability sake, what's gained by increasing resolution? When an app icon is just going to use more pixels to visually occupy the same percentage of screen real estate, I don't see any benefit to higher resolution smartphone screens.

Someone help me out here.

High PPI is nice, though qHD is close to enough. Push over 300 like retina and I'll be more than happy. I still prefer to not use my phone ever to watch any multimedia. I hate gambling with whether my device can last. I can always waste battery on my iPod Touch because I know that if I run out I'm not screwed. I have my phone at least.
 
Can somebody explain the MHL deal to me? All reviews I've seen say the phone is pretty impeccable, but I can't figure out whether I can output HDMI from the device. Do I need a MHL-compatible HDTV, or can I just plug the microUSB-to-HDMI cable to it and have it bloody work? I don't really care if it can charge my phone so long as it actually functions.
 
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