I got my Samsung Galaxy S II delivered yesterday (perhaps an exaggeration, as I got it only at 10 pm ). Initial impressions of this device are great. So here goes the quick review.
SAMSUNG Galaxy S II inside a Zenus Case
Coming from a Samsung Galaxy S (i9000), the imposing Physical dimensions of Galaxy S2 is the most striking first impression one will get. It is super lite, yet feels very sturdy. The huge screen may prove unwieldy to those with smaller palms, often warranting two handed operations. The buttons are placed similar to that of Original Galaxy S; though one could easily find the Home button a lot more ‘clickier’. The speaker is better than Original Galaxy S; So is Phone call Quality.
Samsung seems to have done their home work well to optimize the software of Galaxy S II (I have a KE2 Build). The TouchWiz 4 Launcher is zippy and a lot customizable to suit everyone’s need. I did install LauncherPro for a while, but that did not stick. TouchWiz launcher seems capable and some of the neater widgets are exclusive to it. Programs open instantly. The scrolling performance of lists are very good. I did notice some lag while scrolling through Market App. Browsing on Galaxy S II is a near – shall I say better than – iPhone 4 experience? Buttery smooth is the word. Galaxy S II seem to gain better signals and I have no complaints on wireless performance. Pruning of the bloatware a.k.a Hubs etc.. are something one will have to do – if they were to expect a decent battery life out of SGS II. I am planning to upgrade to KE7 build which supposedly has better battery life. Those things can wait! – till I evaluate the raw stock performance over the next few days.
So should you get a Galaxy S II ?.. You should – for it’s beautiful vibrant display, excellent native browser and stylish exteriors (nah, i don’t buy the ‘plastic is cheap’ argument). The dual core processors should offer enough ampere for a Gamer. I read, ChainFire3D hack can effectively make all Tegra2 Games run on Galaxy S II. I honestly cannot differentiate the Sound/Music qualities between a Voodoo’d Original Galaxy S and S II. Probably the former is better. I took couple of snaps under fluorescent light with Flash ON, all of them were smiling in natural colors!. I should test the camera more during day light. How can a device be so perfect, one might ask – Yup – If I were to nitpick, it is the touch responsiveness. It is a little worse than the Original Galaxy S. But never a show stopper.
Conclusion: Samsung did the right thing!
Let me know if you have any questions or want to me post some more info on Galaxy S II.
[Update] I’ve had the phone powered on for 6 Hours. With Google, Exchange , Twitter and Facebook Sync all active, the battery is showing 70% now. I made 4 Calls. Demo’d the phone to couple of friends and browsed for nearly 15 minutes during this period.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Is that the Indian version with NFC?
No. It was imported from UK. Doesn’t have NFC.
What about the GPS ??
is it any better than S1 ?
Yes. GPS got the first fix faster than i9000 and hold on to the satellites throughout a trial with MapMyIndia’s Android Navigation app.
What about the yellowish tint, noticeable?
I tried with ( code:*#*#0*#*#* ), but there was no Yellowish tint.
Open this Page on your SGS2 with very low brightness : http://fiddle.jshell.net/qFxsC/1/show/
The yellow tint issue exists on every SGS2. But its not major enough that it could be seen easily. Mostly just hyped up by the media!
I tested. My not-so-poor eyes could not detect anything wrong!. I guess the Banding issue should get more attention.
Display is fantastic. Fonts are smoother!
Hey Vinod, how do you use this code to check for the yellowish tint??
How long does Angry Birds run. That is a real test because it drains battery using both the screen and the processor power.
I’m scared of Angry Birds ;)
Wat abt the heating issue everyone is talking abt ??
By ur review I can’t guess whether battery is good or not….Plz try to give us a specific no say u have to charge everyday or 2 days once ????
Thanks,
Guru
It lasts me from 9AM – 11PM with 3G On, Google Sync, Exchange Sync, Twitter and Facebook apps ON.
But I had to prune out the Samsung default apps (after rooting) which used to run in the background, to get this kind of battery life.
Very nice review , was confused between iphone and this phone.
Excellent review. Will buy this phone. Am waiting for CyanogenMod to be available for it. I am told that Samsung sent them 4 handsets free with only one request: “get CyanogenMod working on this phone”! Compare this attitude with Sony and HTC which are locking up their bootloaders.
Glad. It is true that the Team Hacksung got their Samsung Galaxy S II for free – directly from Samsung. It is a great notion by a corporation of this size!. Keep a tab on http://twitter.com/codeworkx for the progress on CyanogenMod for Galaxy S2.
An early CM release is available. But critical functions like Phone, WiFi and Data are not ready at present.
Is the sceen better than Htc Sensation..?
what the price of this sgs2 in banglore??
is there any heating issue/ hanging issues…after continuous usage/ running some movies or games…
i read some artciles on the net about issues with the phone heating..up..even bcoz of continous cals…causing them problems with placing the phone close to their ears for talkin,,,
Yes. The phone heats/warms up on earlier firmwares. But on latest firmwares, this issue is mostly reduced.
How good is the battery life? I got the feedback that the battery drains out quickly on use of media rich apps. Please guide.
Battery life is good to go for One working day.