Samsung’s Galaxy S II has remained faithful to the original, but despite the improvements under the hood, can such a simple design still ignite the same level of passion?
From zero to four in a matter of months, there are already some very tough choices to be made when choosing which one of the new dual-core smartphones to invest your hard-earned in.
Everything needs an edge, and just as Samsung was about to begin shipping the Galaxy S II, news surfaced of HTC’s Sensation with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor – outdoing the Samsung by 0.2GHz.
With Samsung’s ability to get products to market quickly, the manufacturer seemed unfazed by this news and simply decided to boost the Galaxy S II processor to match the HTC. Job done.
However, the models destined for the UK then lost NFC – although not necessarily because of the speed boost. We’re told there’s no NFC hardware inside the phone at all, so don’t expect a software update to magically enable it later on.
Given Samsung has launched an NFC-enabled handset for the new Orange ‘QuickTap’ service run in conjunction with Barclaycard, this does seem like a rather odd move and also means we can probably expect an updated model later in the year that restores this feature.
If you’re keen to be ready for mobile payments, you may have to hold on (or opt for the Samsung-built Google Nexus S) but we’re not sure whether NFC is really going to big enough in 2011 to warrant waiting for.
Of all the current dual-core smartphones, many have some unique stand-out features, like the Motorola ATRIX’s biometric fingerprint reader or the qHD-resolution display present on both the Motorola and HTC’s Sensation (the latter also having the excellent HTC Sense enhancements).
The Galaxy S II, especially without NFC, only wins out by being the slimmest dual-core model. The other feature is the incredibly bright AM-OLED screen, which Samsung calls ‘Super AM-OLED Plus’.
The phone isn’t heavy either, at just 116g, although this is as a result of being constructed from fairly cheap materials.
Missing the grade
While the Galaxy S II may be Samsung’s flagship smartphone, it just doesn’t come close to the premium feel of the HTC Sensation. However, anyone that liked the original Galaxy S and is ready to upgrade will feel comfortable that the next model hasn’t made any radical changes.
There’s still the centre ‘home’ key that probably helped attract all that unwanted attention from Apple, and two hidden touch-sensitive keys for menu and back.
These can be illuminated if you want, either permanently or for a limited time, but once you know which is which, it looks quite slick having the lighting disabled completely.
On the back of the phone, you have an 8-megapixel camera that can also record HD video at both 720 and 1080P resolutions. With the incredibly bright and somewhat over-saturated OLED display, your pictures and videos will look incredibly vivid when viewed back, but this will probably lead to some disappointment when viewed on a normal monitor, or TV via HDMI, where the colours are far more neutral.
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Great gadget from Samsung. Loved its super AMOLED plus display, 1.2 MHz dual core processor,absolutely love it. The stock Samsung e-mail app is absolutely fantastic. I use it with IMAP integration with our Exchange server and it works flawlessly. The keyboard is sometimes a little finicky though. I personally enjoyed the typing experience a little bit better on my iPhone, but it's not that bad.
i waanaa to buy Samsaung galaxy SII but i have no money So Plzzzzzzzzzzz give me Alone Dis mobile
So because of this inferiority, this cheap phone has been voted by 'WHAT MOBILE' as the phone of the year 2011 and also above Iphone 4s ? ( today's news) Wake up Mr Author.
I also love this s2 samsung galaxy. I see the downside of this phone is slightly smaller speakers.
very poor review…especially considering the review is comparing to the sensation which is an inferior phone lacking notable features and inferior technology such as:
WIFI Direct
HSPDA+ 21mbps internet compared to sensations 14mbps
16GB internal storage compared to Sensation dire 1GB
1GB RAM compared to Sensations 768MB RAM
Sensation is a Brick, Galaxy s2 is slim and sleek and light weight
Galaxy s2 recordings in superior H.264 whereas Sensation only records in 3GP
Galaxy benchmarks score on average 3400 Sensation scores on average a poor 2500
Galaxy has push email sensation doesnt
so are we really comparing against an inferior device like the sensation?
reviewer do you job properly so we dont have to do it for you!!
What about the poor colour accuracy of the OLED display, or the far lower screen resolution? The Galaxy S II is definitely thinner, for sure, but the HTC is more solid in its construction. HSPA+ hasn't yet reached a level where I think we need argue about the top-end speeds – yet. Even on our recent HSPA+ data test, we couldn't exceed 12Mbps (in most cases, it tops out at 3-6Mbps) so I doubt we'll have any UK networks reaching 14Mbps, let alone 21, for a fair while! I have to presume you don't rate the HTC Sense features either, but it isn't as if we said the Galaxy S II wasn't a good phone. 768MB of RAM isn't poor either but when you say the Sensation is a 'brick' I think your mind is very clearly made up, so I am not sure what you want us to do? If you've got a Galaxy S II and you like it, isn't that enough?
Your review seems determined to prove that lightweight = cheap. I own neither phone (I still have a Desire, so like HTC and Sense) and am researching an upgrade, so I have no agenda. But the fact is this review just reads as anti-Samsung. Surely a phone that has 'blisteringly fast performance, a decent camera, good battery life' deserves a better sum-up than 'underwhelming'? Aren't those 3 points just about the most important aspects of smartphone performance?
Oh, and you go against the opinion of every other review I've read so far. But hey, would be boring if we all had the same opinion wouldn't it?
Great Phone!
What about the Sensation's antenna issues? Great build quality indeed.
htc bias. smartphone newbies- beware.
Average ?? This by far the best phone available..I have a SG2 and it shows no lag whatsoever when scrolling etc..Also,if you dont want the screen to be "vivid" You can change the settings in display.For me personally far better that vastly overated i phone 4
Wow, just wow. The author keeps repeating "cheap" materials, as if he is an expert in materials. Highly rigid yet light plastics are not necessarily "cheaper" than metals. I totally disagree HTC is any better in build quality.