Samsung Galaxy S 2 – Post Mortem
Well I’ve been using my Samsung Galaxy S 2 for about two and a half months now, and I’ve gotten used to using it quite a bit.
There are some good and bad things about this phone handset that I’ve noted and I thought I’d share them with the world.
This is just a quick run-over.
Hardware & Build Quality
Some people have taken real issue with Samsung’s choice of using plastic for the casing of this phone.
In my opinion, its 100% perfect in terms of build quality. THe phone is solid when together, does not flex and the back cover is solid when on the phone.
Still, I do recommend all that get a Galaxy S 2 get a case for it, if anything just to protect the stunning SuperAMOLED screen.
The screen is the biggest highlight of this phone, and it delivers in terms of quality. Admittedly, its not an Apple Retina Display, but that is fine as it more than makes up for the dpi in terms of colour vibrance. Blacks are really black, whites are radiant.
Camera
The camera on this phone is great. 8MP pictures, and the ability to record and playback in full 1080p.
Performance
This phone performs great. Clearly, this is a result of the dual-core 1.2Ghz CPU and special Samsung GPU. This thing simply flies. Load times are quick, and often instantaneous, videos are smooth and 3D games play well (I’ve recently become quite addicted to Gun Bros).
Media Playback
The Galaxy S 2 is the best phone I’ve seen in terms of codec support.
The vast array of video and sudio codecs that ‘just play’ are staggering. I’m very happy on this front.
Also, dont forget, there is no need to ‘sync’ your Galaxy S 2. You simply plug it in, drag files onto it and when you unplug the phone does a quick scan and puts all media files (Videos, Pictures & Music) and puts them into the relevant applications immediately so you dont have to go find and open things.
MLC to HDMI
I’ve purchased an official Samsung MLC cable from Play.com and I’m very happy with it.
Its a simple case of plugging in the MLC cable to the Micro-USB on the bottom of the handset and also a HDMI to the TV. Dont forget to plug in the Micro-USB power, via a standard USB port or via a mains adaptor.
Works like a charm. Everything you see on the screen is scaled fully to 720p or 1080p of the TV you are using. It’s worth noting that mobile applications that are hard-coded for the screens resolution are scaled and do not look great, however, other applications and in particular movies scale beautifully.
Included Samsung Software
This part is a mixed bag, but mostly bad.
The included Samsung software is sketchy at best, the ‘Hubs’ that come on the phone are not helpful and only are there to further Samsung’s profits by making you download more arguably useless software which costs money. The only use I have found for these hubs personally, is the ‘Social Hub’ where adding a facebook account adds the corrisponding facebook pictures to your contacts which also syncronises upto Google.
On the flip side of this, I have found that the part of the Samsung software (Which also requires you to register a ‘Samsung account’) which locates your phone if it lost is quite comprehensive. If you dont wish to use this, I recommend an app in the Android Marketplace called Android Lost for locating your missing device. This links into your existing Google account and provides many of the same features, as well as some others not provided by Samsung, also for free.
Skype
Finally, Skype has been updated for Android. I do find it highly amusing that this has occured since Skype was purchased by Microsoft.
The Galaxy S 2 as of this writing has full support for the front and back camera, and works well. I cant fault it.
My most used Apps:
Gun Bros
Angry Birds
MtG Tracker
Abduction!
Chess Free
Skype
GMail
Google Sky Map
WhatsApp
Facebook for Android
Llama
TED Air
BBC News
Ebay for Android
Shazam
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