Another SGS2 preview woohoo!

[chocobosandwich]

I had no idea there was a double tap function. Pet your SGS2 and it will perform a trick!


YouTube - Samsung Galaxy S II Motion Settings

 

[chocobosandwich]

Preview from PhoneArena.


Samsung Galaxy S II Preview - Phone Arena


Has basic color temp options in video player. Yippee? What about the rest of the phone?

Even without the battery-preservation modes, the Samsung Galaxy S II is not a power-hog. We accidentally left the phone with the screen on all night at full brightness, with the battery charged about 70%, and after eight hours it still had juice in the morning to wake us up, but died down shortly after that.

Considering 90% of my power usage on the original galaxy S was for the display alone, and I sure didn't turn it on for 8 hours at full brightness (prolly 1-1.5hours at lowest brightness), this is encouraging. No comment about how 3g/4g will fare though, since I only used wifi and 2g.

 

[Vann]

yeah i dont think that will be the case. by the way all Amold + means is thiner screen nothing more. I dont think you know how much 4g eats battery all 4g phones suffer power shortage this will be no exaption.

bigger screen (Brighter)
4g
2 core
and only 150mah more than original what a joke

 

[Quboid]

That memory is short, it says 833MB not 1GB and 13.5GB storage (2GB for apps, 11.5GB additional), not 16GB. Why is this? What is using the other 191MB and 2.5GB, or is it not there? They can't be rounding off by that much, surely. Even if they are misleading us by pretending 1KB = 1000 bytes, that only explains about half this discrepancy.

 

[Quboid]

SAM-OLED+ doesn't just mean bigger. It uses a proper 3x subpixel matrix rather than a pentile matrix and, despite having more subpixels, it uses less power.

Dual core should only affect things when running flat out, which isn't going to be often. 4G is quite battery expensive, but does this have 4G? The models I've read about don't, but I'm looking at the UK market which doesn't have any 4G yet.

 

[AndroidifyMe]

yeah i dont think that will be the case. by the way all Amold + means is thiner screen nothing more. I dont think you know how much 4g eats battery all 4g phones suffer power shortage this will be no exaption.

bigger screen (Brighter)
4g
2 core
and only 150mah more than original what a joke

I think you need to understand it depends on the user. Yea, 4G eats battery but use it when needed. Are you going to be walking around town with 4G on when not in use? The point of 4G is faster data speeds. It doesn't help reception or talk better. It is not a signal to talk on or anything. It is all about speed. Use it when browsing and downloading and even uploading. Anything data related can be used with it. I'm sure all 3G speeds are just fine if you have good coverage to use at home. Use wifi if your at home. 4G is not needed to do every little task on the phone. The screen helps with battery. Dual core does and the that small little boost helps a bit. The rest is on conditioning the battery and realistic use. I mean what do you expect a phone to do. Personally Apple has one of the best battery life when it comes to devices but even when you play hardcore games and even watch video it takes a chunk out of it. The phone will be just fine. The Galaxy S was known to have better battery life then most Android phones. So the boost on battery for the successor was not needed much. The new screen even helps now and the dual core.

 

[AndroidifyMe]

More video goodness...

YouTube - Samsung Galaxy S2 Display e Benchmark

YouTube - DLNA AllShare Samsung Galaxy S II TEST - Wayerless

Two reasons as to why I love both videos.

One is because in the first one he has a Nexus S and SGSII. Those will be both of my devices. Nexus S4G to specific.

My second reason is in the DLNA video I could tell he had a Samsung TV. The volume indicator gave it away when he was turning it up from the phone. I also have a Samsung hi def tv. This will be really sweet.

 

[Shocky]

yeah i dont think that will be the case. by the way all Amold + means is thiner screen nothing more. I dont think you know how much 4g eats battery all 4g phones suffer power shortage this will be no exaption.

bigger screen (Brighter)
4g
2 core
and only 150mah more than original what a joke

No, you don't know what talking about so please stop posting.

 

[NZtechfreak]

11 minutes of Phonearena video preview!

YouTube - Samsung Galaxy S II Preview


EDIT: Wow, 1080p MKV playing flawlessly - this phone will be the ultimate portable media player without a doubt.

 

[jinwons]

yeah i dont think that will be the case. by the way all Amold + means is thiner screen nothing more. I dont think you know how much 4g eats battery all 4g phones suffer power shortage this will be no exaption.

bigger screen (Brighter)
4g
2 core
and only 150mah more than original what a joke

If that's still what you think, I don't know why you are wasting your time here. Your concerns on battery life was already addressed by me and some other members here and you don't seem to be willing to learn anything new.

 

[jinwons]

That memory is short, it says 833MB not 1GB and 13.5GB storage (2GB for apps, 11.5GB additional), not 16GB. Why is this? What is using the other 191MB and 2.5GB, or is it not there? They can't be rounding off by that much, surely. Even if they are misleading us by pretending 1KB = 1000 bytes, that only explains about half this discrepancy.

I haven't looked at that preview yet. But even so, 833Mb is still plenty of memory. The rest of 1Gb is probably allocated to GPU and/or TouchWiz. The same thing happened to 512Mb RAM in Galaxy S. GPU took some part of it. So it's not that surprising.

Similar story for internal memory. Even Nexus S had about 12~13Gb usable memory out of 16Gb, allocating some part to OS and basic apps.

 

[Quboid]

Good point jinwons. It implied the 833MB included that used by Android and Touchwiz, but maybe the rest is allocated for graphics memory - probably 192MB, a typical figure. I wonder how this is done, I'd expect the video memory size to be dynamic if it's shared with system memory and 192MB isn't needed during the test, but then neither is more than a couple of hundred MB of main memory so why not. Likewise, the storage space could be allocated for temporary usage, Java cache and system stuff. 2.5GB still seems excessive so perhaps storage is measured as 1KB = 1000B (which means 14.9GB actual storage space so 1.4GB gone AWOL).

 

[jroc]

11 minutes of Phonearena video preview!

YouTube - Samsung Galaxy S II Preview


EDIT: Wow, 1080p MKV playing flawlessly - this phone will be the ultimate portable media player without a doubt.

Preview from PhoneArena.


Samsung Galaxy S II Preview - Phone Arena


Has basic color temp options in video player. Yippee? What about the rest of the phone?

Looking at the different settings for videos, is this a phone or a mini HDTV...lol

This thing just looks more and more sick every time you found out something new.

 

[Vann]

Whatever, I am here because I OWN Vibrant and will be considering getting another phone after June since my contract will be up. I am not some puffed up fan that stays on forums all day jerking for some new concept and writing off on what his/her friends said about the product. Unlike you I own Vibrant since it came out in Q3 of 2010 and guess what!!?? It’s slow and glitch and on top battery is horrific!! So don’t tell me something your friends said. I am not biased I am just trying to get a good phone for the new 2 year agreement. So do me a favor and own one before you going to make false comments like that. Everyone knows battery is weak and the phone lags 50% of the time, or else they wouldn’t make lag fix.

You’re Welcome

 

[AndroidifyMe]

Whatever, I am here because I OWN Vibrant and will be considering getting another phone after June since my contract will be up. I am not some puffed up fan that stays on forums all day jerking for some new concept and writing off on what his/her friends said about the product. Unlike you I own Vibrant since it came out in Q3 of 2010 and guess what!!?? It

 

[MagicMarker]

Official website:

Samsung GALAXY S II

 

[Quboid]

The lag was caused by Samsung's baffling decision to change the file system from Android's YAFFS to their own RFS. The SGS2 reportedly does away with this and uses the native EXT4 (it has been updated recently, mainly for dual core optimisation), I am waiting for confirmation that retail units do have this sorted out for definite.

 

[kyler13]

After watching that phone arena video review, it confirms how sick this phone actually is. I find it baffling that the online discussions are so minimalistic when HTC and Motorola upcoming units have 10's of pages of pre-release discussion threads. This phone is a legitimate replacement for an HD camcorder, digital camera, portable video player (both on its own screen and TV-connected), and mobile gaming. If they some how managed to push out qHD SA+ to this phone, it would probably be completely future proof. I'm sure Samsung will save qHD for the SGS3, but tossing in LTE on Verizon will make this phone well worth the wait.

 

[jinwons]

After watching that phone arena video review, it confirms how sick this phone actually is. I find it baffling that the online discussions are so minimalistic when HTC and Motorola upcoming units have 10's of pages of pre-release discussion threads. This phone is a legitimate replacement for an HD camcorder, digital camera, portable video player (both on its own screen and TV-connected), and mobile gaming. If they some how managed to push out qHD SA+ to this phone, it would probably be completely future proof. I'm sure Samsung will save qHD for the SGS3, but tossing in LTE on Verizon will make this phone well worth the wait.

HTC has established their name as premium android phone manufacturer last year with phones like Incredible, Evo, MyTouch. Similar for Motorola with Droid X, D2. Samsung's Galaxy S was bigger success than any other android phone globally, but they are still trailing HTC, Motorola in brand preference especially in hard core android fans like this forum. I think the main reason is slow updates on U.S Galaxy S than anything else plus GPS glitches on early units.

But it's amazing to me that HTC gets free pass on poor battery and locked boot-loader/Motoblur doesn't seem to turn off enough folks here. Of course there are some folks complaining on it but they don't seem to be majority. This is good example of how hard it is to shake off bad first images no matter whose fault it is. To me all HTC got is just pretty looking body design and Sense UI. Their phones are not particularly good at any thing. SLCD display is good but not the best. Sticking with qualcomm processors is not bad, but often not better than Nividia, TI, Samsung. They continue to prove themselves that they don't know how to manage battery power. To me it's flat out fail if phone can't last one day no matter how good it is otherwise. Motorola makes better phone than HTC in my book in terms of hardware components. Their signal reception/call quality is second to none. But their Motoblur UI is the one that I dislike most among all UIs unfortunately.

I don't care how many folks are raving on HTC, Motorola phones on their forums. By Q4 this year, they will know that SGS2 has them beaten all.

 

[jroc]

^I am a Motorola fan just on reception alone. Whats funny is I didnt find out about different phones and reception until I had 2 different Samsung phones (1 was a regular cell, 1 was a smartphone) right before my Droid 1.

The fact it worked in places my two Samsungs didnt was enough for me. Even with that and GPS issues and updates.....I was thinking hard about switching to a family plan last year just so I could get the Fascinate...lol

It doesnt matter to me that I dont like Samsung phones for actual phone use, I try to keep up with whats happening with them cuz I do like how they seem to be somewhat one step ahead of everyone else in multimedia dept. One reason I am looking at this as my next phone is cuz LTE is supposed to improve reception too. If it does, that levels the playing field with different phones and reception. If LTE doesnt help with reception, I have absolutely no idea what my next phone will be, if I get a new phone at all.

 

[AndroidifyMe]

After watching that phone arena video review, it confirms how sick this phone actually is. I find it baffling that the online discussions are so minimalistic when HTC and Motorola upcoming units have 10's of pages of pre-release discussion threads. This phone is a legitimate replacement for an HD camcorder, digital camera, portable video player (both on its own screen and TV-connected), and mobile gaming. If they some how managed to push out qHD SA+ to this phone, it would probably be completely future proof. I'm sure Samsung will save qHD for the SGS3, but tossing in LTE on Verizon will make this phone well worth the wait.

Yea, I was thinking the same thing. I was like this phone is better then a lot of the other phones quality wise and design wise. But not everyone will like what we like or see it how we see it. When it comes out it'll get more attention. Most people are stuck on the same thing or with the crowd.

 

[Bearly]

I'm just worried that the phone will be too big in the hand (for me). The TB is almost too big but works (without case). Not sure how the TB would be with, say, an Otterbox Commuter case.

 

[Bearly]

Has Panda/Black_man_x said anything about the SGS2 coming to Verizon with LTE? I don't think we've seen confirmed reports, only rumors. I don't trust that Verizon roadmap document.

 

[kyler13]

Has Panda/Black_man_x said anything about the SGS2 coming to Verizon with LTE? I don't think we've seen confirmed reports, only rumors. I don't trust that Verizon roadmap document.

That's a good question. I saw that the Bionic is canceled and I followed the source back to Howard Forums where there is a 51 page thread for the Bionic pre-release. There were some reliable insiders posting in that thread. So I searched Howard Forums and couldn't find anything meaningful about the SGS2. I have to imagine someone out there has seen some sort of test unit for one of the US carriers.

 

[chocobosandwich]

I find it baffling that the online discussions are so minimalistic when HTC and Motorola upcoming units have 10's of pages of pre-release discussion threads.

Just some possible (good?) reasons. HTC owns the XDA community. Back when smartphone was still a new term and PDAs ruled the roost, HTC was the one making all the Windows Mobile devices and the place to get custom ROMs for them was XDA. This was before Android or the iPhone, so HTC is a long-running stalwart in geeky hacking circles and therefore the internet at large, including non-dev forums. The current smartphone scene owes a lot to them.

Then there is Motorola, which some claim put Android on the map with their original Droid. That has to mean something. Samsung was far behind then, especially with their maligned Behold 2, and didn't start to get recognition until the middle of last year with the Galaxy S, their first bonafide success in the Android ecosystem.

Howardforums is Canadian and focuses more on phones that can be easily obtained domestically on contract in America. That's a ton of Motorola and HTC phones. The mobile-review.com forum is a better place for international phones, like Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, and Nokia. XDA is also more international. Forums like androidforums have an American tinge as well, and so far the SGS2 is only available in Europe, so you'll find a 60-70+ page thread on availability at XDA, but only a handful of UK peeps and some NZ freak who bother to post here.

^I am a Motorola fan just on reception alone. Whats funny is I didnt find out about different phones and reception until I had 2 different Samsung phones (1 was a regular cell, 1 was a smartphone) right before my Droid 1.

The fact it worked in places my two Samsungs didnt was enough for me. Even with that and GPS issues and updates.....I was thinking hard about switching to a family plan last year just so I could get the Fascinate...lol

Don't wanna rock the boat or anything, and I really haven't done the research, but I have always superstitiously avoided Motorola because they allegedly have some of the highest SAR values for their phones, which could explain the good reception. At least in the RAZR days, I remember reading an article comparing values and Motorola was up there. I dunno about their current smartphone lineup.