Samsung Galaxy S II specification + review

SPECIFICATIONS

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
		HSDPA 1700 / 2100 / 1900 - for Telus
	Announced	2011, February
	Status	Available. Released 2011, April

BODY	Dimensions	125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm
	Weight	116 g
		- Touch-sensitive controls

DISPLAY	Type	Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass
		- TouchWiz UI v4.0

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes, check quality

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB
	Internal	16GB/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 12
	Speed	HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v3.0+HS
	NFC	Optional
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 2 MP

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v2.3.4 (Gingerbread), upgradable to v4.x
	Chipset	Exynos
	CPU	Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9
	GPU	Mali-400MP
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML, Adobe Flash
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White, Pink
		- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - SNS integration - MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input (Swype)

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1650 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 710 h (2G) / Up to 610 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 18 h 20 min (2G) / Up to 8 h 40 min (3G)

MISC	SAR US	0.16 W/kg (head)     0.96 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.34 W/kg (head)
	Price group

REVIEW 

Samsung Galaxy S2: Overview, design and feel

The Samsung Galaxy S II is the phone the Korean firm deems the successor to its best smartphone so far. And with a 1.2GHz processor, super-slim chassis and feather-light innards, it's easy to see why.

The dual-core race is set to heat up massively over the next few months, with the LG Optimus 2X already released, and the Motorola Atrix, HTC Sensation and iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S all set to bring the tech to market too.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 is almost impossibly thin when you pick it up – dim

ensions of 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5mm mean it's one of the thinnest smartphones

on the market at the moment, rivalling the likes of the iPhone 4 and Sony 

Ericsson Xperia Arc for the title.

It's crazy-light too – when we show you what tech is rammed under the hood, you'll be amazed that it all goes in a device that weighs only a shade over 100g (116g, to be precise).

Samsung clearly traded the premium feel an all-metal chassis might have brought to keep the grams off the Galaxy S2 – pop the battery cover off and you'll find you're holding a piece of pretty flimsy plastic.

However, most of the time you won't be removing this and it fits nicely into the contoured chassis – the mesh feel on the rear also helps keep your hand from getting warm during extended holding.

The other thing you'll notice when you first pick up the Galaxy S2 is the screen – at 4.3 inches it's hard to miss, and when you turn it on the Super AMOLED plus technology hits you square in the eyeballs (once it's got through the toughened Gorilla Glass).

The front of the phone is pretty sparse, with the home key the only piece of furniture on offer. This rectangular button flanks two touch-sensitive buttons – Menu and Back – so there's no room for contextual search here.

The volume keys are located on the left-hand side, and the power/lock key is on the opposite flank; both are easy enough to hit without error, and crucially the travel on the power key is softer so that it's much easier to hit when you're juggling it in the palm – compare that to its predecessor, where you could accidentally drop it trying to shut off the screen.

The 3.5mm headphone jack lives on the top of the phone, bucking the lower placement on other 4.3-inch screen phones, and the microUSB slot (which also doubles as an HDMI out port) lives on the bottom.

The only other element of note is the 8.1MP camera with single LED flash on the rear – it's slightly raised, but not so much that it disrupts the Galaxy S2 when you're placing it on a table, thanks to a rear lip to help you hold the phone.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Interface

Samsung has realised the importance of keeping its phones up to date, and that promise is upheld on the Galaxy S2, running Android 2.3.3 from the outset. It's also packing TouchWiz 4.0, the latest version from the Korean firm, and it's a real upgrade.

Before we dive into the new features, we'll deal with the most important point: how it feels under the finger. And we're pleased to say it's the best out there in our opinion. Using dual 1.2GHz Samsung Orion CPUs means the Galaxy S2 can keep up with whatever you throw at it without a hint of slowdown.

Be it pinching the screen to call up the exploded view of all your home screens, pulling up an application or simply scrolling through reams of photos, the Galaxy S2 is capable of matching it all. We're not usually blown away by a phone's response, but we literally couldn't beat the S2, even after we opened all the applications on the menu.

The large screen may make reaching all areas of the display slightly tricky in one hand, especially for those with small palms, but that's a rarity, and a secondary hand can easily be called in.

The TouchWiz interface is overhauled again, and to good effect in our eyes. The Samsung Galaxy S2 has a WVGA screen, which is actually a little lower-res than its competitors these days, but it can still pack a load of widgets all over the place.

The same Android system is in place on the S2, but there are loads more widgets on offer to chuck around the home screen, and like the Motorola Defy, these are all easy to resize by dragging the corner to increase the functionality.

I am fan of the way Samsung has split the screen for customising the home 

screens, allowing users to sweep across the options at the bottom while seeing

 what space is left on the display, and easy resizing makes the interface as 

clean as you want it to be.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Calling and contacts

It's sometimes hard to remember that a handset like the Samsung Galaxy S2 is a phone at all – it's right on the cusp of being defined as a tablet by some people, thanks to that massive screen.

But the phoning capabilities of the device are perfectly sound, and the contacts management system is as deeply integrated as anything we've seen.

Contacts

Samsung has always favoured the set up of tweaking the standard Android contacts management system, where tapping a person's profile picture from anywhere will call up options to phone, message, email and more.

This is done by synchronising as many accounts as you can from the outset – once you've downloaded the official Twitter and Facebook applications, this functionality is added in too.

A word of caution if you're upgrading from another Android phone: if you've been chucking Google contacts in left, right and centre previously, you might find loads of duplicates when you first set up your Galaxy S2. We'd advise you to head into the Google Mail site on your computer and have a look at the contacts on there. A simple Find and Merge Duplicates search will work wonders.

Once you've called in all your contacts, it's a simple (yet slightly time consuming) process of joining them all up. On some Android phones this is a real pain, asking you to click Edit, then Join Contacts then going to find the person in question. On the Galaxy S2 it's a little simpler – hit the Joined Contacts section in your contact's profile and you'll be given a list of suggestions to tie in with.

However, it's not overly intuitive – there were plenty of occasions when we had to manually search for someone when they had the same first name on Facebook and should have been automatically suggested. When you compare this to the likes of the HTC Desire S, with its almost eerie recognition of the person you're after (plus a list of names it thinks you should join up to speed things up) it's not in the same league.

One cool option is the ability to set default options for everything – be it profile picture, email address or phone number for messaging or calling. This means you can have a buddy's Facebook picture as their default icon, but use another account for emailing and such.

Like HTC's Sense UI, Samsung allows users to see ways in which you've interacted with the contact, a list of their recent status updates and access to online albums. However, if you want to actually see the pics, you'll need to jump out to the Facebook site, so no native support here, unlike the HTC Incredible S, for instance.

Scrolling through the contacts is once again a dream – either search using the keypad, slide down the side to the desired letter or just scroll down – there's no hint of slowdown here. Smart dialling is also included, allowing users to type in a number using predictive text on the dial pad and have the relevant number come up. Pretty slick and helpful when in a hurry.

Calling

The call quality on the Samsung Galaxy S2 is excellent too – be it noise reduction control or a loud speaker and earpiece, we couldn't fault the phone for its calling abilities.

Video calling is also firmly integrated, thanks to the Gingerbread version of Android, and is a simple option on the bottom of each contact profile. We tried this out a few times with some random friends, but we reckon you'll struggle to find many out there at the moment who can accept your video chat request. Not that or our friends don't want to look at us.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Messaging

With a dual core phone, you'd expect a plethora of messaging options, and once again we're not disappointed with the Samsung Galaxy S2.

I'll list the options I've got just to show you: POP/IMAP email, Gmail, Exchange, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, SMS, Text, Twitter and Facebook. OK, so the last two are only available by adding the apps, but still – it's an easy step to get them on there.

The reason we've included them on there is that Samsung's Social Hub gives you access to all the above. Should you receive a message from any of the listed options, it will appear in this application with a little notification icon, making it very easy to respond and keep up to date.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Internet

The internet browser on the Samsung Galaxy S2 isn't too different from the stock Android offering, with the obvious difference of being so fast at times it may make your socks fall off.

The S2 can handle download speeds of up to 21Mbps on HSDPA, which is faster than i would likely to see in the near future in the UK – so it's heavily future-proofed there, and the ability to use Wi-Fi over 802.11n means speeds are at a maximum throughout the internet browser.

The WVGA screen looks pin sharp when zoomed out on a whole web page, and you can double tap to speedily get to a legible level of text, no matter where you are on the page.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has an 8MP sensor with single LED flash and a mul

titude of shooting options.

The camera application 

fires up in just over a 

second (sadly there's 

no physical shutter 

button, so we recomm

end putting the applica

tion on your home scr

een) and is ready to tak

e pictures instantly.

However, opening the settings menu takes one or two seconds with a spinning dial for company – odd when the rest of the application is so whizzy-fast.

Shutter speed is slightly above average, with around four to five seconds between shots at maximum resolution if you're taking a few in quick succession. This has nothing to do with picture size, as the processor can handle all of them easily; it's the autofocus that's a little tardy.

There's no option to turn it off either, so something like the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is a much better option if you're after a snappy shutter.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Video

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has the all-important 30fps 1080p Full HD video recording at its heart, and it works jolly well indeed.

The range of options is less extensive than the standard camera, but nonetheless it's more than enough.

Exposure and white balance can all be calibrated manually to ensure you're getting the best resolution, and touch to focus will also alter the brightness of the scene, although this will revert back once you've let go.

A video light is also included for darker scenes, which is a godsend for when you're trying to get the Galaxy S2 to actually work out what's going on for an...er, art movie.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Media

Asking whether media is important to the Samsung Galaxy S2 is like asking rhubarb whether it's into custard – the two are meant to be together.

After the power of the Samsung Galaxy S, we thought it would be a while until we saw a phone that was its media equal – now we have it in the Galaxy S2.

From the huge screen that's perfect for watching movies to the sheer range of getting stuff onto your handset (check out the connectivity section to find out all about the different version of Kies) we were blown away by what we think will be king of the media phones for 2011.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 is also adept at Bluetooth streaming – using our Jabra Clipper accessory we were able to easily go wire-free when out and about, and there was no hint of judder in the audio, thanks to Bluetooth 3.0.

There's 12GB of internal memory for media supplied, and the microSD cards in the box appear to start at 4GB, but that will vary by network or supplier of the phone.

Music

The music player on the Samsung Galaxy range has always been pretty impressive, with 5.1 virtual surround sound making it easy to improve the quality of the tunes you're listening to.

The quality is above average sonically, and you'll find a number of reasons to like the music player here. The simple ability of having a music control widget in the notification bar means you can easily switch between tracks no matter where you are in the phone.

An equaliser is offered from within the application too, and this can be used with a number of presets or a custom setup instead. We particularly liked the Auto setting here, as it actually did improve the quality of a tune when turned off and on.

Smart Playlists are also on offer here, allowing users to see the songs they've just added or listen to the most – come back to this function after a few days of listening and you'll be happy to see all your old favourites in one place.

Samsung Galaxy S2 review: Battery life and connectivity

But the more important question is: does all that connecting and suchlike affect the performance of the battery? It's all very well being light and thin, but if it won't work, it's pretty pointless.

Battery life

It's usually pretty easy to state battery life on a smartphone – 90% of them will last a day, perhaps a day and bit. Either way, it's a nightly charge if you don't want to end up with a dead device.

With the Galaxy S2, it's a little more difficult to state the battery life, as we were so busy playing with it all the time we never could get an accurate read out. However, we eventually stood firm in the face of temptation, and it's good (ish) news.

The not-so-good news is that if you're playing with the Samsung Galaxy S2 all the time as we were (and we mean listening to Spotify, browsing the web via 3G, watching videos frequently, whacking out some maps here and there with GPS, reading books, using Push email and playing games) then you'll be lucky to get 10 hours of battery out of it – and that's with the enhanced 1650mAh battery wedged on board.

Then again, the fact that using a device a lot makes the battery run down quickly shouldn't be a shock to any human being – it just seems that a lot of people expect a phone to be able to do it all and then fight a Duracell bunny at midnight too.

In real terms (ie four months in when you're used to having all the functions and don't feel the need to play with the S2 every seven seconds) you'll be laughing, as we actually managed to eke out nearly two days' use, even with accounts syncing in the background.

Either it's the dual cores or Android 2.3.3 making things more efficient, but if you're away for the weekend and forget your charger, you can definitely use the Galaxy S2 as a calling and texting tool the entire time you're away without worry.

However, we'd estimate that you'll probably still be charging every day under normal conditions. We just had to say it – a review doesn't feel right without it. But at least the S2 won't run down in six hours regularly.

Connectivity

Here's where it gets tricky – Samsung has decided to throw in so much new tech we may have to spend some time explaining it.

The main connections are already present and correct: Wi-Fi to b/g/n standard (although it's not the strongest – even next to the router it will only display two bars of signal, but it holds connection fine enough) Bluetooth

Wi-Fi Direct

This is a relatively new one to us, but thankfully it's not too hard to explain – think Bluetooth but using Wi-Fi, and running faster.

It's set up in the same way as Bluetooth – search for devices transmitting, link up with a confirmation box, and away you go. We could only test this on our PC, but the setup was simply one click, and exchanging large files was much faster than over Bluetooth.

You're also able to do the same with printers, but currently only Samsung ones. This will likely change in the future though.

Kies

Kies is Samsung's proprietary PC software, and it's pretty comprehensive. From media management to application adding, it's the best way to interact with your phone.

It does take a while to load though – and be prepared for it to be a bit unstable on start-up at times. However, after that it's one of the better platforms for getting media onto a phone, with simple dragging and dropping with search thrown in making it easy to find what you want.

And if the heady list of media playback options isn't good enough for your video collection, the Kies software will re-encode them for you too.

My rating

5/5

FOR

• Super-fast reaction times
• Slim design
• Ridiculously clear screen
• Clear call quality
• 1080p video recording

AGAINST

• Flimsy back cover
• Poor keyboard layout
• Samsung Apps portal