Samsung GT-I9100 Galaxy S II. Consumer Review.

I have had the Samsung Galaxy S II (SGS2) for well over two months now, and that has given me just enough time to make a fairly geeky unbiased non-Android fanboy recommendation regarding this particular smart phone. For you that know me, you're probably aware that I have been saving up for a smartphone of this caliber for almost a year now through methods some might refer to as my inhuman powers of saving. Of course, that only half-true. Chinese blood probably has a lot to do with it or something. Back then, it was a choice of waiting out the next generation iPhone or picking up one of the most successful Android smartphones to date, but then of course, I've always been an admirer to the works of both sides, just that Android offers more options for customizability. Even before the iPhone4S sucked and disappointed the crap out of me, I already knew I wasn't going to regret the biggest purchase of my life (as to this point in time). For a full review, There is more after the break.

General Feel:

The very first time I saw this phone was when a friend bought himself one month earlier than my purchase. Of course, I handled that phone being the curious gadget enthusiast that I am, and DAMN, was it light. and sexy. It's like this sleek feather weight large screened bastard that just looks back at you with that smug look saying "Yeah, I'm that light. Take it like a man." In fact, the first comment of a large majority of the people who borrowed the phone is always about how light and huge the real estate is. Something I noticed iPhone users tend to say out loud more vocally. This thing will give you only an extra 110 grams  of weight and 8.5mm of thickness, which by gadget standards, is one of the best deals you could find currently if you're that particular. The phone's size may be not everybody's cup of tea, as I've encountered girls who say it's too large for its own good. Actually, only one person said that. Majority loved the size, including my rather relatively small sized male hands. The casing is a mix of plastics which is a huge gripe to some which gives it a less premium feel, but no doubt about it, this plays a huge role in giving it its anorexic weight.

Performance:

Certainly, having a dual-cored processor in its heart means it's no sloth, and seriously, this thing is no sloth. The only time I get visible lag is upon start up of the device from a cold boot, while loading the various widgets around your home screen. In fact, benchmarks revealed previously that Samsung's own dual core 1.2ghz ARM-cortex A9 processor bests Qualcomm's dual-core 1.5ghz. Which is pretty stupid, if you ask me. This brute throws around apps like it's nothing and multitasks like a boss. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's only but a few apps out there that can fully maximize the dual core's potential. Which is pretty good because that way I get insurance that this thing is future proof for another year or two. Now, I won't be throwing around benchmarks here because that's the professional reviewers jobs, you can peruse yourself to their sites if you're interested. But take my word for it, just until recently, it used to be the baddest in benchmarks. That recently being until the iPhone 4S came out and had these inhumanly optimized benchmarks. So, maybe Apple wins that round, so my only defense is since technically no app can utilize their brutish CPUs maximum potential, it doesn't really matter? Just how you compare a regular guy and a WWE wrestler peeling potatoes? That's just me saving myself some grief. Probably.

As for the GPU, the ARM Mali-400 MP is found on board though I found myself not using any apps that's insightful enough to grant me wisdom to make a comment about it. I heard good things about it, but I really had no first hand experience with it since I really abhor 3D based mobile gaming.

One thing I noticed though, the phone has a quirky habit heating up by itself because of a firmware related problem which is called the Wifi Sharing Bug. It starts up randomly even when you aren't sharing your Wifi with anything and starts eating away at your battery. Fast. It's quite distressing at first, then you becomes annoying once you know how to deal with it (forced stopping with the task manager or a reboot). A firmware update to leaked Samsung's Gingerbread 2.3.4 fixes this, but that might be a bit challenging to the less adventurous tweakers, but, really, I just hope Samsung's Touchwiz-ed Ice Cream Sandwich comes out sooner.

Display:

4.3 inches of screen real estate is mighty huge. Hell, 4 inches is already big. Once you go 4 and up, you'll find yourself wondering how were you able to be content with just 3.5 inches. I sure did with my iPod Touch. The 480x800 pixel resolution isn't class leading, but it certainly does the job. Sure, you can't fully appreciate your HD videos due to this limitation, but what sets the screen apart is the Super AMOLED+ technology Samsung developed. It brings out truly astounding contrast and vivdness to your screen that, once again, when you go back to the regular variety, you'd again wonder how you were able to withstand such a bland palette of colors.

Camera

This thing packs an 8 megapixel camera that's bound to make digital point and shoot cameras weep. Once you test this out, I doubt there would still be a space in your bag for a digicam just for casual everyday shooting. The pictures are sharp, clear and simply wonderful. Of course, don't expect the tail end of the 8megapixels to be razor sharp. Practical sizes of the pictures taken barely give away such minor imperfections though. The macro settings aren't the best and may have trouble focusing on what you really want, but it can get pretty awesome and very convenient to have around. Night shots are not the best in certain settings, but pop out the Outdoor Visibility option, and everything seems to just get better. Don't expect things to be as awesome all zoomed at 100%, but the camera is definitely above average when it comes to mobile phone cameras. Simply put, unless I get myself a DSLR, chances are most of the pictures going to be placed in the blog are taken from the Galaxy S II. A little thing to note of is that tech blogs around the world hail the S2's camera as the best in class as of the year 2011 (that doesn't include the iPhone 4S' but some sites declared that the SGS2 trumps it nontheless). A LED flash is available at your disposal for those extremely dark shots you just want lighted up (can be used as a flashlight with an appropriate app too).

Dark picture without any settings(Left). Same picture with night shot(Center). Same picture with night shot and outdoor visibility(Right). Note how less shaky hands affect the third picture.

The SGS2 is also capable of recording 1080p videos at 30fps without a hitch. The videos are sharp and buttery smooth. Although I don't have a sample video for this due to an extremely cumbersome upload process, take my word for it. This thing doesn't disappoint at all. You better hope you packed extra microSDs though. It's a given 1080p videos eat through MBs like me and a bowl of fine spicy siomais (chinese dumplings).

Android OS and Samsung TouchWiz 4.0:

Now, considering how iOS is already a household name in the realm of smartphone operating systems, making the jump to the Android ecosystem might be a bit daunting thought considering how iOS sweeps the market off everyone else. The perks of jumping ship the Android aren't too shabby at all. One of them being extreme customizability without the need for jailbreaking(or in the android world, Rooting). Customizability is it's forte. The open based nature of the OS means certain activities are more flexible such as playing music with a preferred music player, writing messages with a whole variety of keyboards to choose from, a messaging app that allows a wad of customizations, and watching a video of almost any format right off the bat without having the need to convert to mp4. Flash support might be plus for others, but I certainly don't find myself using too much flash, but for the people who do use it. That certainly adds another reason. One thing that certainly disheartens me is the choice of Apps from the Android Market. Quality Apps aren't abundant and Apps that also have an iOS equivalent tend to be inferior to the latter. Of course, this may change in the future (and I certainly hope they do).

Having handled a vanilla Android Gingerbread OS on a Samsung Nexus S, I can say that TouchWiz  4.0 definitely improves upon weaknesses of the stock OS albeit at the cost of some bloatware and a few ugly customizations like the Samsung Keyboard. It's definitely a good thing Samsung decided to remake the Camera, Phonebook and Dialer apps to name a few. Certain features are added which add functionality and convenience to the otherwise clumsy mold. I would also like to say that I am not a fan of the TouchWiz homescreen. It's hard to describe but perhaps the word bland could help put it to word. But matters of such are quickly remedied with the variety of launcher apps available in the Android Market. I for one use, LauncherPro.

Battery Life:

This has always been a trouble for most smart phones, and that problem doesn't spare the SGS2 either. A thing to consider about Android is that some of the apps aren't optimized for being battery efficient. That is to say, you may need to choose your apps well in order to maximize your battery's worth; some are definitely battery drains, and some aren't. It all boils down on to how well you manage your choice of apps and your smartphone usage. Generally, with everyday normal use that's more geared towards texting, a few calls once in a while, minor to moderate wifi usage to check on my feeds and twitter, and surfing around, the phone could last me around the whole day with around 30% of the battery left by the time I get home around 7PM in the evening. Massive usage of the wifi easily eats the battery and would probably last you around 6-9hours. Without usage of the wifi however, with pure texts and a few calls and not so much on the apps, it could easily last your for almost two days. I've tried the SGS2 fighting the bitter empty end around 36hours. All in all, the SGS2 caters to my needs and usage profile just adequately. I do bring around a AC charger for those times when massive gaming and video watching warrants more juice.

Wrap-Up:

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S II is not the perfect device for anyone, but if you're considering of taking the plunge into premium Android territory anytime within the next months or so, I'd definitely be recommending you to get yourself the best selling piece of Android hardware. If you're accustomed to iOS, you may not like the choice of apps, but I personally think the hardware makes everything up for it. Considering how much time it took me to save up for this, I'm certainly delighted to say that this phone might last me for years to come, although, I know, gadget envy will always be a problem. Oh, and try not to get annoyed when people seem to ask you "Why didn't you just get an iPhone?" alot. It's healthier for all of us.