Samsung Galaxy S II review

It’s not often that a gadget comes into the Test Centre and blows away my expectations, but the Galaxy S2 did exactly that.

I’d expected a standout phone, but the Galaxy S2 is so much more. I want to tie my hands together to stop myself writing superlatives, but this phone is just that good.

Where do I start, in outlining its perfection? I could begin at the incredible 4.3-inch super AMOLED display. The high resolution screen means that not only is everything large and clear, but the AMOLED technology also makes it eminently readable and beautifully bright. If a large screen is your heart’s desire, it’s hard to go past this one. My only concern was whether the people sitting across from me at my dining table could read my email in such a large font – they undoubtedly could, but hopefully didn’t.

The screen is encased in a black sheath of a handset that can truly be described as feather light at just 110g. The lightly textured rear of the handset and cleverly weighted bump at the base (all of 8.5mm thick at maximum) help to anchor it in your hand solidly, though.

As with other top-of-the-line phones, the S2 eschews physical buttons in favour of touch buttons, aside from a home button that no doubt forms part of the current patent duel that Samsung is fighting with Apple. Still, they work seamlessly and with speed and nice haptic feedback that mean you’ll barely notice they aren’t real.

Samsung has updated its TouchWiz UI and the S2 also runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Among the nice touches are four ‘hubs’ for different activities such as gaming and social media, live wallpapers, seven home screens that give you plenty of real estate for your favourite apps, and the contacts that now include Facebook and Twitter updates, the option to video call (using the dual 2MP front and 8MP rear cameras on the S2), and a record of any media, messages or activities shared.

When it came to performance, the S2 wasn’t just speedy – the phone features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, wireless-n connectivity and 1GB RAM. It’s fair to say that it blasted all the competitors, with more than double the score of it’s closest competitor, using the quadrant benchmark. There’s plentiful storage, too, with 16GB onboard and another 32GB in the form of a microSD card.

Do I have any complaints at all? The onscreen keyboard is not up to that of the HTC phones of similar size, such as the Desire HD2, but since we don’t get those models in New Zealand, you’ll barely notice. And to be honest, it’s still great.

The overall theme of the S2, and of this review, is excess. Everything you could want in a smartphone is in plentiful supply, and the only thing that may put you off buying is if you prefer a smaller form factor. Given it’s barely a centimetre longer than the iPhone, it’s hard to imagine many will turn their nose up.

•  
•