Samsung Galaxy S II Hands-On Review: Design, Speed and Battery

Setup on another network

The reviewer was surprised that the phone programmed the Rogers APN settings by itself. In past experience the APN had to be typed in to get data and picture messages working, so this will help less technical people who unlock phones.

Frame and design

The mesh-like back is a clear improvement on the smooth back of the original Galaxy S. It looks more stylish and hides fingerprints. The speaker sits at the bottom left. When the phone lies on something soft, it loses nearly 75 percent of its volume, which made it harder to hear a message from another room. The 8 MP camera and LED flash are well protected, and the phone does not rest on the lens.

The front has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, a 2 MP front camera and a hidden light sensor. Below are a physical home button with touch keys for back and menu, and no search button. Micro USB is at the bottom and the headphone jack at the top. The reviewer said it was one of the biggest phones ever held: slimmer than an iPhone but taller and wider, and light enough to feel fragile.

Interface and performance

Anyone who used an earlier Galaxy S will find little changed. The standout is motion control: put two fingers on the screen and tilt the phone side to side to move through pictures, or pull it toward and away to zoom. The reviewer also called the Social Hub bloatware, a mess even if the idea is sound. The notification bar has toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, sound or vibrate and auto-rotate.

With a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, menus scrolled smoothly, apps opened fast and the back did not heat up under heavy use. Bluetooth broadcasting stood out: the phone sends the current song title to a Bluetooth car system or headphones.

Sound and storage

• Sound was very good and loud with no distortion at full volume. The included headphones were of decent quality and act as an antenna for the built-in FM radio.
• Videos that would not play on another recent Android phone played without conversion.
• About 2 GB is reserved for app data, with 11.5 GB of usable storage and a microSD slot, so a 32 GB card adds plenty.

Battery test

The reviewer got about two days of medium to heavy use. The test ran from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, auto brightness, push email on two accounts, about 20 emails, around 20 texts, 7 hours of Bluetooth audio, 10 minutes of web browsing and 1 hour 20 minutes of screen time. The phone ended the day at 60 percent and was at 50 percent by bedtime.

Rooting and complaints

The reviewer said the phone invites rooting to remove bloatware and free up memory, and that it is easy, but warned that rooting is risky and can brick a phone. Research first. The main complaint was the light sensor: a hand in landscape mode covered it and dimmed the screen during games. Turning auto brightness off fixes this, and a finger slid along the status bar adjusts brightness.