Lets Talk about Samsung Galaxy S II from U.S. Cellular

Lets Talk about Samsung Galaxy S II from U.S. Cellular

Samsung Galaxy S II, There's little question about it: almost a 12 months after we reviewed the initial, unlocked version, the Samsung Galaxy S II stays considered one of many high Android telephones out there.  In a market that sees a brand new scorching smartphone come and go each few weeks, that's a formidable feat.  The Samsung Galaxy S II has already taken the main carriers by storm, so it's good to see it make its method over to U. S.  mobile.  And the Galaxy S II stays simply as potent as ever—it's each bit as quick and exquisite as earlier than.  however U. S.  mobile will quickly be launching a 4G LTE network, and the Galaxy S II isn't a 4G telephone. Here's more about Samsung Galaxy S II.

Samsung Galaxy S II bodily Design, name Quality, and Network

 

Slim, sleek, and nonetheless tremendous gorgeous, the Galaxy S II measures 5. 1 by 2. 7 by . four inches (HWD) and weighs four. eight ounces.  It's a big black slab, made fully of plastic with a calmly textured again panel, which feels stable and properly constructed.  The teletelephone is comfy to carry, however beware: With my medium-sized mitts, the teletelephone is just too giant for me to carry in a single hand and drag down the notifications bar with my thumb.  Most of that measurement is put to good use within the beautiful, four. 52-inch, 800-by-480 tremendous AMOLED Plus show.  that is decrease decision than the 960-by-540 show on the Motorola Electrify ($129. 99, four. 5 stars), however tremendous AMOLED Plus seems to be richer, and lacks the PenTile structure that makes the Electrify seem considerably fuzzy.

The Galaxy S II is an effective voice cellphone on U. S.  mobile.  Reception is solid, and calls sound terrific within the phone's earpiece—full, clear, and natural, with lots of punch and quantity.  The speakerphone additionally sounds good and is simply loud sufficient to make use of outside.  Calls made with the telephone sound clear, although voices can have a rather muted, robotic high quality within the earpiece.  I had no bother connecting to a Jawbone period Bluetooth headset ($129, four. 5 stars) and calls sounded nice.  Samsung makes use of the highly effective Vlingo app for voice dialing right here as an alternative of the same old Android choice.  It permits you to dictate texts messages and problem different instructions by voice, although it generally had hassle connecting me to the names in my handle guide.  Battery life was good, at 6 hours and forty nine minutes of discuss time.

The cellphone is a dual-band EV-DO Rev.  A (850/1900 MHz) machine with 802. eleven a/b/g/n Wi-Fi.  There's no 4G LTE support, which is smart proper now, since U. S.  mobile has but to formally launch its 4G community.  however LTE is coming, possible in some unspecified time in the future inside the subsequent month, and we count on it to be considerably sooner than the carrier's present 3G community.

Samsung Galaxy S II Processor and Apps

The Galaxy S II is powered by Samsung's 1. 2GHz dual-core Exynos processor, which makes for very quick efficiency.  The cellphone simply bested the benchmark scores set by the Motorola Electrify, U. S.  Cellular's different dual-core option, though the Electrify has a better display decision.  Still, the Galaxy S II ought to have no downside working any app or sport you may suppose of.

Android 2. three. 6 (Gingerbread) is the OS at present on board here, alongside with Samsung's signature TouchWiz extensions.  Samsung has promised an replace to Android four. 0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), however hasn't dedicated to a timeline.  as well as to TouchWiz, the Galaxy S II comes preloaded with numerous helpful apps, like Kies Air, which helps you to view your phone's contacts, messages, and media by means of a PC's internet browser.  Media Hub is a downloadable music and video store, and Social Hub is a mixture Facebook/Twitter consumer.  in contrast to with the opposite Galaxy S II's, there's a refreshing dearth of carrier-branded, undeletable bloatware.  The cellphone ought to additionally be suitable with the 450,000+ apps obtainable within the Google Play retailer.

Samsung has added a few, nifty motion-activated controls to the UI.  a few of them are useful, just like the flexibility to flip over the telephone to mute the ringer.  Others, like tilting the telephone whereas touching the display to zoom in on the browser or on images, are questionable.  Samsung has additionally added a tiny strip on the underside of the house and app screens that permits you to slide by pages simply by dragging a finger over every one.

Samsung Galaxy S II Multimedia and Conclusions

The Galaxy S II has thirteen. 4GB of free inside storage, alongside with an empty microSD card slot beneath the again cowl that takes playing cards as much as 32GB.  Our 32GB SanDisk card labored fine, in addition to a 64GB SanDisk extremely microSDXC card.  All of our music take a look at recordsdata performed again with out a hitch, and sound high quality was glorious over each wired three. 5mm headphones in addition to Altec Lansing BackBeat Bluetooth headphones ($99. 99, three. 5 stars).  Our take a look at movies performed again easily as well, at resolutions as much as 1080p, although audio stuttered on a DivX file.

The Galaxy S II additionally doubles as a stable digital digicam.  The 8-megapixel shooter snaps images quickly, in about . four seconds.  images characteristic sharp element and accurate, vibrant colour.  The digital camera additionally information 1080p movies at 24 frames per second indoors and 30 frames per second outdoors, and 720p movies at 30 frames per second each indoors and out.  There's additionally a 2-megapixel front-facing digicam for self portraits and video chat.

The cellphone makes use of an MHL port to attach to TVs, which requires a hard-to-find adapter.  It additionally lacks the entire docking choices obtainable on the Electrify, which lets you use the cellphone as a desktop or laptop computer laptop with the right equipment.

a couple of months ago, the Samsung Galaxy S II would've been a simple choose for Editors' selection on U. S.  mobile.  It's nonetheless a strong buy, however it faces stiff competitors from the Motorola Electrify, with its decrease value and secure of progressive equipment.  earlier than you purchase both of these phones, though, I'd advocate you sit tight and look ahead to extra particulars concerning the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S Aviator, which can be the primary gadget to help U. S.  Cellular's 4G LTE community.  particulars are scarce, however it appears terrible comparable to the Samsung Droid cost ($99. 99, four stars) on Verizon.  The Galaxy S II's different closest competitor, the HTC Hero S ($99. 99, three. 5 stars), isn't very shut at all—it has a sharp, beautiful display, however falls far behind the Galaxy S II when it comes to name high quality and processing energy.

Benchmarks

Continuous speak time: 6 hours forty nine minutes

Samsung Galaxy S II Price when release is $229.99

Posted in: U.S. Cellular