First Thoughts

The galaxy s II. The peak of the samsung series. So many people have sought after this phone, especially those in the american market, as an american I have been wondering what it would offer, I have had friends get it in europe and canada and love it, but I wondered if it would be watered down or with less features.

The Looks

These three phones are similar to their predecessors, they look kind of the same (each has changed, the AT&T version is now much smaller than its first gen device. The sprint and the t-mobile now look like the Vibrant which was t-mobile’s first galaxy s device. The spint and t-mobile have bigger screens than the first gen devices by a bit and then AT&T model is only a bit bigger, it actually looks a lot like an iPhone 4 (no wonder Samsung and Apple are in court). There are now flash cameras on all devices and it is only obvious when you look at the back, they also all come with bigger cameras in the rear and now with cameras in the front too.

The Hardware/Screen

The three devices have different and subtle changes, the Sprint and AT&T are using the Exynos 1.2ghz dual core processor, the T-Mobile version opted for a Qualcomm clocked at 1.5ghz, a little faster but not much. They all have the same ram coming in at 1024 MB. They also all support up to 32 gigs of additional space via SD Card. The three also share the amount of on board space coming at 16 gigs. That is a pretty big hard drive.

The screens have a small difference as well. Seems to be a running thing here.

4.52 inches for Sprint

4.52 inches for T-Mobile

4.30 inches for AT&T

They all are the same resolution though.

The Battery

None of them are the same when it comes to battery size for some odd reason

Sprint

1800 mAh
8.70 hours talk time
252 hours stand by

T-Mobile

1850 mAh
7.00 hours talk time
167 hours stand by

AT&T

1650 mAh
3.00 hours talk time
250 hours stand by

Mind you all these are average times and I have found that I get similar timing on things like Google+, Facebook and twitter when I use those services, which is often. I make calls here and there and do some chat sessions with Google Talk a lot. I try to hangout on Google+ via the mobile devices when the connection permits, but connection is a big part of what drains the batteries.

The Operating System/Software

All Three are running version 2.3, T-Mobile is the only one that does not have the new Google Talk app. All three have gingerbread and are running touchwhiz, however, in some ways you can barely tell. The devices have a very good nearly stock feel with new touchwhiz. Sure it still scrolls side to side in the app drawer and the notification bar still has the buttons on it, but it does feel good and virtually stock, I am a fan of new touchwhiz since they updated this version.

The Browsing, Camera and Video

The browsing is the same as any android phone, it really does depend heavily on the network as to what is best. There are no real changes to the browser that I noticed, it still feels like very other version of the android browser from Samsung.

The front and rear cameras are very nice for these phones. I really like what they have done here. It looks good and feels good. The pictures and video are amazing, you get crystal clear photos with the 8mp rear camera and 1080p video with the rear video. The front cameras are all 2mp, crazy to think that my phone 2 years ago only had 1.3 mp.

Vlingo and Voice Search

The Call/Data Quality

All three networks were great for calls, sadly though, some of the speakers suffered from distortion and from what I have heard, it is not the network. Some on Google+ and other networks have complained that the earpiece speaker on the galaxy s II is less than adequate.

Summary

Pros:

Super Amoled Plus screens are so clear
very nice Front and rear cameras
Dual Core 1.2 and 1.5 ghz
Android 2.3
The voice commands are impeccable

Cons:

The earpiece speaker experienced a bit of distortion and made it hard to hear, sometimes turning the volume down can fix it, but it never should have been an issue

Conclusions & Final Thoughts

I am a huge fan of all three of these, I want one on Sprint as soon as possible. They are very nice in so many ways. Even though they are not QHD they are still very good and crisp. The cameras are a huge selling point as any one can get a clear shot with the rear camera and the ability to hangout via google+ is a huge benefit for me. I have recommended this phone to many with the old galaxy s phones and will continue to recommend it to many with just about any phone as it is a major competitor

Finally, with a bit of self promotion… circle me on Google+

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