Our local AT&T stores sold out of the SGS2 in a flat minute today, but I got to play around with a demo unit for an extended amount of time. Actually, I was quite impressed with the phone. I like the larger screen and the pure black of the SuperAMOLED tech. But the resolution is not quite as good as the iPhone 4; although it is subtle, some aliasing is visible on smaller text.
The UI seemed a lot more fluid than any Android device I've used before. The wealth of options everywhere was staggering coming from my three years' experience with iOS devices, but as an old-school PC tweaker I enjoyed the idea that I had all of them at my disposal. I'm just not sure I really need that kind of control (and therefore that kind of hassle) on my phone, which by and large I just want to work properly and then get out of my way when I'm done with it.
It wasn't all roses, though. I particularly disliked Android's version of inertial scrolling. Seemed to start slow, then suddenly start flying and took forever to wind down, such that I'd have to stop it again with my finger. Coming from iOS it was annoying, but I'd probably get used to it.
But I could not for the life of me get past the keyboard. I tried keying input into several different apps, including the memo pad where I attempted to write several full paragraphs. The keyboard just could not keep up with me, dropping every fourth or fifth character. Major showstopper for me, as I like to write quite a bit on my phone -- blog posts, notes, lists, emails, and so forth. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this, and if there is an easy solution? It was really the only significant problem I had with the phone, but it was a major one.
After playing with the SGS2 I went over and picked up the iPhone 4 demo unit. This is a 16-month old device, but IMO it still looks and feels like a world-class machine and the display resolution is still out of this world. As a current 3GS owner who never got an iP4, I'm going to have a hard time resisting whatever Apple announces this week.
Anyway, my feeling is that anyone who's seriously considering the SGS2 as an alternative to the iPhone 4S/whatever would be remiss if they didn't at least wait until more news of the Nexus Prime emerged, for comparison purposes.
As far as keyboards are concerned... it's Android. Not only you have three different keyboards provided with SGSII right away (and you can get more from Android Market) each of those keyboards have a set of options for you to tweak. For example, the Android keyboard has the following settings:
Vibrate on keypress: check this field to have the phone vibrate
each time you touch a key on the keyboard.
Sound on keypress: check this field to play a sound each time you
touch a key on the keyboard.
Popup on keypress: check this field to show a small popup of each
character that you type.
Touch to correct words: check this field to touch and highlight
words that you want to correct.
Auto-capitalization: check this field to have the keyboard
automatically capitalize the first letter of the first word after a period,
the first word in a text field, and all words in name fields.
Show settings key: allows you to select how the settings key will
be displayed.
Voice input: check this field to be able to enter text in a message
by talking.
Input languages: tap on a language that you want to input.
Quick fixes: check this field to automatically correct some common
misspellings as you type.
Show suggestions: check this field to show suggested words in a
field above the keyboard as you type.
Auto-complete: check this field to automatically enter a suggested
word, shown in orange in the field above the keyboard, when you
enter a space or punctuation.
Some of these settings may and will affect the typing speed.
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I give a shot to my Galaxy S2. I was amazing when i looked at videos the fast it is. I for suer can i say it is a beast!!
It fast i dont have almost nothing bad to say, just 2 important things!!
To charge the battery on SGS2 since 0% to 100% for me it is too much!
3 hours average.!
My macbook air charge faster!!! so come on!
The drain battery is quickly i can be comprensive in this way because the dual processor 1.2Ghz.
and the thing that really makes me angry is the issue camera.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/694/20110824182332.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/20110824182338.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/26/20110824182342.jpg/
Some guys told me that is a lens flare, depends in the colour, shape, directly towards the sun or strong light sources.
BUT!!! You guys in your iphones, YOU DONT GET IT when you make the picture and you look at it. Am i wrong ?
My cell company change my phone for a new one, but in the new I still have the same problem. So im sure all the S2 have the same problem.
P.D. I am talking about the tiny point that becomes pink. And it is not dust or anything i always clean the glass of the lens.
Obviously it's not a camera's problem. You just can't shoot right at the (high) sun and expect to get a clean picture. You'll get the same problem even with $10000 camera and lens.
