Staggering review, Anandtech analyses every aspect of this phone, and the smartphone industry comprehensively and scientifically.
Summary: Great phone. Samsung have really impressed with this phone, in terms of how much effort they have invested in the hardware and software. One thing still stands out for me, the battery life. While good, it still doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone 4, as shown on the charts.
There's so to discuss in this article. Another interesting point was the section on web browser scrolling - Anandtech shows how it all works behind the scenes, and how Samsung have matched iOS' scrolling smoothness.
For my Epic 4g I was able to buy 2 batteries and a charger for less than $8 on Amazon. The charger even has a USB port on the bottom so you can charge an external battery and your phone at the same time. I find it not too inconvenient to just keep a couple backup batteries around at all times.
Question: is it possible to clean it up and wipe out every single piece of Samsung software and have it run a clean, stock Android? The sole fact that this review has a dedicated "Software" section scares me.
I'm glad to hear it's better than the SGS1 model (especially GPS). However, having been burnt once (I own the SGS1), I'm certainly not going to let it happen again. My next phone will not be a Samsung handset.
I got one to start doing Android dev properly and I concur. I still have my iPhone 4 but it's looking a little bit older now. It will take quite something from the iPhone 5 to make me consider upgrading again.
It's not better in battery life, audio quality, display resolution and sharpness, or the many ways that iOS is better (AirPlay, app selection AND quality), immediate OS updates, etc).
I agree with the app quality (or at least polish) - that's the most noticeable difference. As for other points, I really haven't noticed enough a drop in quality sufficient for me to have any problems with it (I've never used AirPlay so have no comment on that one).
i find the overall UI experience not as consistent and thought out on android, but its still very good.
That said the screen, speed, weight & size of the S2 are amazing!
I have an HTC Droid Incredible, and I find the touch interface as good as, if not better than the iPhone. Everything works exactly as I'd expect it to, and there isn't any lag while dragging or scrolling.
> I have to be honest that continuing to shun the search button confuses me. Not just because not having it means we can’t run kwaak3 and get to console without lots of work, but because not having it made me realize how much I use it. Thankfully almost everywhere that I’d use the search button there’s a contextual shortcut - menu, then search. It’s just an added button press in the occasional spot, which can be alien if you’re used to having that button.
You can actually hold the menu button and it will function as the search button instead.
> The TouchWiz task manager also is snappy and has some nice - kill everything - buttons to free up all RAM.
This really bothers me. There is absolutely no need for such a thing and Samsung is basically advertising the misleading idea that you need to "kill apps".
If it's anything like my Galaxy S in recent firmware updates, it doesn't act in the same way that the unnecessary task killing apps do, it only lets you close things that are actually active and using CPU, not ones that have been suspended in the background by android. It's come in handy on a number of occasions, mainly because it shows when an app has gone nuts and lets you kill it.
Funny, despite all the glowing reviews, I have a Samsung Galaxy S (the original), and I hate it. I swore I'd never buy another Samsung product, nor another Android-based phone because of it.
The only way to get any decent performance out of it (and I mean, basic performance like mp3s not skipping) was to root it and format the file system. Then remove a bunch of crap samsung and my carrier put on it (Smartone actually put a porn app on there). They were extremely slow to make Android releases available for it (2.3 came out like 6+ months later). Now some apps won't install because the Market limit was raised to 50mg, but this phone only supports 25mb download. And, while trying to upgrade the phone twice, using the official (crap) software, it's bricked (At least the local samsung office was quick/effective at repairing it).
My point? To both Samsung and Android, the market is too hot, and there's someone too successful (Apple) to be messing around with your brands. It's a commodity market, there's simply too much choice not to have a solid product.
I had a Galaxy S 1 and the lag was horrible. HORRIBLE! I resorted to rooting and using a custom firmware (Darky's ROM, which was like getting a new phone). With my S2, the lag is no where to be seen. I've had it for almost 2 months now, and I love it! Everything just works, and as a result I haven't even considered rooting it.
Samsung has historically had great hardware products, and crappy software products. But at least with the SGS 2 they seem to have gotten it right. Time will tell if they are more responsive about Android releases, but to be honest I'm not that worried because it works so well out of the box.
the lag fix had little to do with the rom, its voodoo lag fix (aka ext4) and then 8 month later or so, samsung finally fixed it in their rom (it was a bug with their file system, RFS) so any rom based on anything post gingerbread is now fixed (including samsung stock)
They seriously know their stuff there. Back when SSDs were first becoming popular they had this expose on the problems that the SSDs of the time had with random write sometimes taking 100s of milliseconds, leading to manufacturers to change their firmware.[1] I'm not sure how many review sites can claim to have uncovered new problems and gotten them fixed.
Despite being a tech guy in the Valley for a long time, I've never been a gadget guy... But the progress of Android OS and Samsung's phone have got me going a bit gadget/phone crazy. I really wanted an SGS2 until the rumors of the Droid Prime started to circulate. But, whichever variant of the SGS2 or Droid Prime (sounds as though it could be a monster phone) comes to Verizon, I can't wait to upgrade.
I can definitely recommend it, although I don't like the stock Samsung software/Touchviz that much. I put MIUI on it, which in my opinion makes it the best phone on the market (best hardware by far/software nearly matches the iPhone).
Maybe they use Europe for testing. Maybe because it's a huge market that request must be filled all at once. Imagine there was a problem and they had to return the devices to factory.
Europe is a bigger market than the USA, and a much more complicated one to get right - each country has it's own regulations, language, different stores to deal with, etc.
I can only assume it's the American carriers that caused the delay.
I'm willing to bet a large part of it is that essentially, Samsung lets the carriers talk them into each getting their own custom build of the phone. Both Sprint and T-Mobile US are getting a variant with a 4.5" screen, and there's rumbling that the T-Mobile variant is using a Snapdragon instead of Exynos to take full advantage of T-Mobile's DC-HSPA+ network. And for some reason, Samsung insists on using a different button layout on their US models (flat home/menu/back/search in US vs. menu/raised home/back on the Euro model).
Let Samsung ruin the international version with that silly iPhone-wannabe button layout, but I appreciate T-Mobile and the other US carriers not letting them get away with it here.
I found this was a very good review. I liked that they kept the part where the browser was buggy (I never had that bug on my SGS2 btw.), and that they explained how the browser uses the GPU.
> "To start, home screen one is the far left, not the center."
That's a little disappointing. That can leave you up to 6 swipes away from the screen you're trying to get to. As a user who shortcuts everything on one of the screens I would find this annoying. Very minor though in the light of everything else, just a surprising decision.
> "To start, home screen one is the far left, not the center. Switching between these is accomplished either by swiping back and forth or dragging on the dots at the bottom. This animation is extremely fluid"
I'm glad I finally know why the iOS browser is so much smoother than Android devices. I've been trying to figure that out for years. Good to hear that Google and the device makers are making headway. That scrolling looked very smooth on the GS2.
My only complaint about this phone is that it is so thin and lightweight that it's difficult to believe it'll survive being sat on without snapping in half. And yet it has survived being landed on quite a few times when I've forgotten it's in my pocket before flomping onto the sofa.
I'd like to inform Anandtech that the SGS2 Intl is available since april 2010 and they're 5 month late. ;-) (and yes I own one since april and no the USA is not the center of the world)
I've always thought this was something of a joke. An iPhone doesn't have 1 button. It has a power button, two volume buttons, and a home button. Personally I think the 'home' button on the iPhone is unintuitive and confusing and would be glad if Apple did away with it.
Summary: Great phone. Samsung have really impressed with this phone, in terms of how much effort they have invested in the hardware and software. One thing still stands out for me, the battery life. While good, it still doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone 4, as shown on the charts.
There's so to discuss in this article. Another interesting point was the section on web browser scrolling - Anandtech shows how it all works behind the scenes, and how Samsung have matched iOS' scrolling smoothness.