The next champion of Samsung’s Galaxy S line has finally been announced; The Samsung Galaxy S II.
The Galaxy S II has some pretty hefty hardware improvements over its predecessor. A dual-core 1GHz processor is at the top of the ‘impressive specs’ list, closely followed by a beautiful 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus display sporting a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The employment of Gorilla Glass on this display is a great addition and should make the screen resistant to most casual impact damage and scratches.
The 8MP camera takes great shots and even records videos at an impressive 1080p. While that doesn’t actually mean much as far as video quality goes (just because you cram a tonne of pixels in doesn’t mean it’ll look any good) rest assured that the video capture on the Galaxy S II is fantastic when compared to its predecessor. We like the addition of a LED flash to the main camera, although we still feel it should be standard on all phones, and the surprisingly good 2MP front-facing camera for video calls.
Physically the phone is quite attractive and offers a fantastic screen-to-edge ratio but one thing we really like about the form factor is just how thin this device is. The Galaxy S II rings in with a thickness of around 8.5mm. That definitely makes it the thinnest high-end smartphone we’ve ever heard of. The sheer lack of bulk to the device is surprising considering the size of its screen, the dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 1650 mAh battery.
The inclusion of Near Field Communication (NFC) is expected but appreciated, as is a new updated to Samsung’s UI that has been labelled TouchWiz 4.0. The new UI appears responsive and less cluttered than older versions and includes a new games hub that we can only assume has been designed to compete with Sony Ericsson’s new PlayStation Suite for the Xperia Play. We’re still not sure if we prefer TouchWiz 4.0 to Gingerbread’s (Android 2.3, the OS the phone ships with) basic UI, but it’s definitely an improvement.
So far so good for the Samsung Galaxy S II. We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes posted on this one for more juicy information as we approach a release date.
Find a better phone plan
Thousands of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
Related Articles
Related Topics
Samsung Samsung Galaxy S Android Gingerbread Samsung Galaxy S IIPopular Topics
Android Apple iPhone Samsung Google iOS Cell phone plans Rogers Telus BellFind Better Phones and Plans
Hundreds of cell phone plans unpacked. All the facts. No surprises.
