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What do you think of Galaxy S II?

F

Faux Carnival

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 1, 2010
697
2
Hi guys, what do you think of Samsung's newest Android flagship Galaxy S II? Doesn't it look just fabuluous?

specification_img.png

- 1.2 Ghz dual core processor
- Thinner and lighter than iPhone 4.
- Lower SAR value.
- 21 Mbps HSPA+
- 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display (800x480)(Crisper than most 960x540 SLCD panels thanks to its 12 sub pixels)
- 8 MP camera
- 1650 mAh battery
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread

This is the preview from GSMArena: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9100_galaxy_s_ii-review-588.php
Browser test (Flash): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqxKHGO9HhM
Preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYrA7VQTQto

I'm currently an iPhone user but I think this might be the chance to go for Android. New "Tilt to zoom" is a groundbreaking innovation. No lag whatsoever. It's playing 720p Flash video and you can scroll/zoom smoothly as butter.

And finally, it kicked *** in Quadrant.

2j0nuw8.jpg
 
What do I think?

Same as I've thought of Samsung since the first Galaxy S, that their R&D department should be made redundant.

The Galaxy S was obviously based on the iPhone 3GS design, and the Galaxy S2 looks to have taken more than a passing glance at the iPhone 4 for it's "inspiration".

Nice specs though, but specs aren't the be all and end all.
 
Faux Carnival said:
Did somebody in a turtleneck say that mobile devices can't handle Flash? :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqxKHGO9HhM
Click to expand...

You really don't get it do you? You're a Spec Junkie, fair dues.

Flash is a plug in, and plug ins use up system resources. Even if you are using a 1.2GHz CPU, you're still essentially wasting resources running a plug in when, in actual fact, HTML5 gives you the same content without sacrificing that level of system resources.

Flash will die, it's long in the tooth and a drain. And on mobile devices why do you need it? For video? I use BBC and Sky News apps to watch the same content as the websites, but contained in it's own app.

As I said, people who want Flash on mobiles have made this an obsession.
 
i cant stand how flimsy and plasticky the Galaxy S series phones feel. the GSII has the same feel and general construction.
 
YOU don't understand it. People, who had never heard of HTML5 before Steve Jobs made those comments, are now talking like they are tech pros all of a sudden. HTML5 uses at least as much system resources as Flash when it does the same thing. HTML5 content is generally much more simple compared to Flash. But design the same content and you'll see.

This is a personal matter to Steve Jobs now. He can't turn back from what he said. He talks all the time about how fast the iPad 2 is, 9x GPU, bla bla... As a user, I would at least expect the option to use it in such a powerful device. It's so amazing how Apple users settle for too little.

Deny it all you can but still 90% of internet is Flash. On my computer, I run into Flash more than once every minute. It's easy to use and works excellent with the Creative Suite of Adobe, the industry standard in designing.
 
Faux Carnival said:
YOU don't understand it. People, who had never heard of HTML5 before Steve Jobs made those comments, are now talking like they are tech pros all of a sudden. HTML5 uses at least as much system resources as Flash when it does the same thing. HTML5 content is generally much more simple compared to Flash. But design the same content and you'll see.

This is a personal matter to Steve Jobs now. He can't turn back from what he said. He talks all the time about how fast the iPad 2 is, 9x GPU, bla bla... As a user, I would at least expect the option to use it in such a powerful device. It's so amazing how Apple users settle for too little.

Deny it all you can but still 90% of internet is Flash. On my computer, I run into Flash more than once every minute. It's easy to use and works excellent with the Creative Suite of Adobe, the industry standard in designing.
Click to expand...

most flash objects require hovering to function properly, i.e. control overlay on videos, menu expansion. this is incongruent with a touch interface.

other than that, flash is most widely used as an annoying ad medium or for dropdown menus, again, which require hovering.

it's not so much about performance as it's about the current incarnation of flash objects being incompatible with a touch interface. until flash in updated to work properly with a touch based GUI (not require pointer hovering), it'll fail to provide 100% functionality no matter how efficiently it does or doesnt run.

until then, all flash provides are nuisance menus and bandwidth hogging ads when combined with a touch-based mobile interface.
 
WeegieMac said:
What do I think?

Same as I've thought of Samsung since the first Galaxy S, that their R&D department should be made redundant.

The Galaxy S was obviously based on the iPhone 3GS design, and the Galaxy S2 looks to have taken more than a passing glance at the iPhone 4 for it's "inspiration".

Nice specs though, but specs aren't the be all and end all.
Click to expand...

Do you know what R&D means? Hint: the D is not for design...
 
Whatever, enough of Flash discussion. All I'm saying is, it isn't too much to ask for only the OPTION to turn it on/off. If you really think it slows down the system or drains battery, then you won't use it. Steve Jobs is using you to fulfill his own passions and ego.

Anyway, back to Galaxy S II. I think this will very very easily top the 10 million sales number of Galaxy S. In my opinion, this is the best competitor to iPhone currently. And a pretty darn good one.
 
Well, the phone concept and specs are very nice of course. That was the reason why I bought the first Galaxy S a year ago. However, there was also a reason why I sold it three month later. The phone had glaring software issues. The interface was inconsistent, finding a decent pdf reader was impossible, the apps lacked polish, the widget system very immature, the GPS didn't really work, the phone was laggy despite great hardware, and on the top, the proprietary audio connector didn't help either (who the hell needs video-out with a smartphone anyway). The updates take too long and the official Samsung PC software is horrible. No Mac support (you had to put the phone in debugging mode to be able to write files to it!). After contacting Samsung they simply said "we don't support Mac, get a PC".

Simply said, I have lost my faith in Samsung after that experience. It may very well be that they have learned from their mistakes and Android 2.3 looks like it is heading the right direction as well. Still, it's not quite there yet. Maybe in a year or two it could be a great platform. Right now, it still lacks polish to me (to the point that I find it frustrating to use).
 
I had a Samsung Corby before my iPhone 4 and I'd say I would never ever buy a Samsung mobile ever in my life. The touch wasn't anywhere close to the iPhone and on top of that the touch stopped working properly and it used to lag so much in less than an year.
 
Faux Carnival said:
Whatever, enough of Flash discussion. All I'm saying is, it isn't too much to ask for only the OPTION to turn it on/off. If you really think it slows down the system or drains battery, then you won't use it. Steve Jobs is using you to fulfill his own passions and ego.

Anyway, back to Galaxy S II. I think this will very very easily top the 10 million sales number of Galaxy S. In my opinion, this is the best competitor to iPhone currently. And a pretty darn good one.
Click to expand...

u've obviously got doubts about it .. that's the reason u started this thread .
my opinion is that it sucks :D:apple:

iPhone rules
 
It's nice but it's not a game changer. The higher end smartphones have become pretty generic. In the end, it's a mobile phone with blah, blah bkah processor, blah blah blah display, blah bah blah pixel camera, etc.

Of all the things Android phones offer, it's not flash that interests me. I like a few of the UI features on androids and wish Apple incorporated them into iOs.
That said, I'll upgrade to iPhone5 when it's released.

Bottom line for me, it's just a smartphone ad I'm not a "power user". The iP gives me seemless integration with my other Apple products.

Galaxy is just another phone in a very crowded and hugely undifferentiated market.
 
There's nothing special about it. The specs are really nice but apart from that, is there anything else to entice people to buy it?

All the iPhones had one or more selling points. The first one was all about the touchscreen, iPod, Internet, Mail device. The second one was all about the faster 3G. 3GS added a faster processor, etc. The 4 added a retina display, HD video, and FaceTime.

With Android, all I ever see is faster processor, faster graphics, bigger screen, more MP count camera. There's nothing really special that differentiates one Android phone from another. They all have bigger screens than the iPhone, all have higher MP count cameras, faster processors, faster graphics. But who still sells more units and makes more profit? Apple.

So what do I think of the Galaxy S II? It's just another Android phone. It's got really good hardware but the same crappy software.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

Here we go again!... A great phone with great specs, I mean it's internal hardware is way ahead of the iPhone, android.. Great OS,just touchwiz!!!!.. Agh!!! , the Htc sensation is better, and as for stupid posts like trashy phone for trashy people and iPhone rules... Please grow up children
 
SnowLeopard2008 said:
But who still sells more units and makes more profit? Apple.
Click to expand...
Smartphone_share_current.png


This is the current mobile operating system market share.

Plus, it's normal when there are hundreds of Android phones out there you can buy. iPhone outsells any specific phone in the market but again Samsung has tens of smartphones available. This is just like the PC vs. Mac debate so your "Who sells more?" argument is invalid.
 
Geez, if you wanted an Android Smartphone, atleast go with the Xperia Arc. That is a beautiful phone. Galaxy S's are nothing more than chunks of cheap plastic.
 
I think it's a nice device. I have the original Galaxy S, coming from an iPhone 3G. At fist I was a bit disappointed with the lack of polish, the lagging, some crashing. Then the Android 2.2 update came along and now it runs much better. So well in fact that i'm considering Android again as my next phone. I do agree with the Samsung Kies software. Goddamn what a mess. I think there is a mac version now, and i haven't been able to test it yet but I updated my phone yesterday through bootcamp via Kies. At first it wouldn't start, then it finally started but it took ages to get in the menu's, ... jebus Samsung, what were you thinking?! All in all, I think the follow-up is going to be much better then the original S, and that was already a pretty good phone, altho a bit buggy compared to the iPhone. Then again, it's much cheaper :)
 
boss.king said:
Do you know what R&D means? Hint: the D is not for design...
Click to expand...

Wow, slow applause for you. Trying to be "cool" and point out an error that wasn't even there.

Research & Development, is still where you expect the latest technology to be worked on. If you can't see that the Galaxy S ripped off the design of the 3GS and that Galaxy S2 has severe leanings toward the iPhone 4 design, well you best get to Specsavers.
 
And to the OP, 90% of the internet is Flash?

Away and don't talk pish ...

NOW who's trying to sound like a tech expert, rattling off imaginary stats and numbers.
 
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