Yes you can change the UI, the gingerbread launcher is available free on the market.

 

No, icons for app shortcuts will look the same regardless of the UI.

 

Yes get this phone. It looks awesome. Im selling my Galaxy S asap so i can buy the galaxy S2.

 

Make sure the GPS works before you leave with it and also I would not expect any updates, but then again who has a phone long enough for that anymore anyway. I can say this is my second samsung and i am never doing this again, I dont care if the phone has a 3D display and a Quadcore processor. good luck though keep us updated and may G_D have mercy on Samsungs souls.

 

There isn't any "pre loaded garbage" on Samsung Android phones apart from the UI changes which look nice tbh.

Everything else is stock Android except the lockscreen and Applications folder.
The application folder can be changed with a launcher from Market but not lockscreen.

Getting a Nexus S over this phone is stupid.

The Galaxy S2 is super thin, its dual core, faster gpu, 8MP 1080p camera with flash, 20% better battery than previous Galaxy S, SAMOLED Plus.

It's better than a Nexus S in every way.

 

So let me get this straight, your going to choose which phone to get based on which icons you think look better?

There is nothing wrong with the Samsung stuff, The Galaxy S has and still has the best video player available.

 

I don't even know what the standard lock screen looks like, I've never used a "Google" phone.

We don't know what the lock screen looks like the Galaxy S2 yet, it's using an updated version of touchwiz.

 

Only a custom ROM can change the lock screen but in my experience Samsung Android phones have had more access to the filesystem so an app could appear in Market.

For the current Galaxy S there are a few awesome ROM's that have various options for lock screen including Stock Android but you can get rid of TouchWiz with ADW Launcher which is a better stock Android launcher. So I expect the S2 to get a lot of Awesome ROM's.

As above, the lock screen of Galaxy S2 has not been shown yet. The icons in TW4 although are stock Android and not like in TW3.

Also the TW3 UI is very similar to the iPhone's square icons so I take it you don't like the square icons on your iPhone...

 

I hate it, its very similar to the Galaxy S and I'm not fond of the "sweep" thing they have going, I like the stock android.

Can't wait to see what ROM's come out for this.

 

All these complaints seem very minor to me. Don't forget everyone else has their own skins (Motoblur, HTC Sense, LG watchamacallit, Dell Stage?) If icons, lockscreens, and complaints of vertical vs horizontal scrolling are the dealbreakers, you sir(s) are very hard to please and I'm afraid the tech industry is full of nothing but compromises.

 

I just saw S2 hand-on video at phonearena.com and they ran Quadrant benchmark that scored only around 1950. But LG Optimus 3D got like 2900. I know that Quadrant is not really optimized for multi-cores, and this is early demo phone but so is Optimus 3D. It's bit disappointing for S2, their much hyped Exynos(orion) processor and all of sudden LG's 2X, 3D are looking better to me. I wonder what's causing this difference and if they are still using notorious RFS file system. So what you think of this result?

 

I think we should stop using quadrant, been saying that for over a year and I still don't understand why people still use it.

But it's possible the Galaxy S2 is not using a firmware version which supports dual core and it wouldn't supprise me if they are still using RFS but I don't have a problem with it in the latest firmware for the SGS.

 

I'd still wait till iPhone 5 tbh, then see which is better and hopefully the S2 will be a bit cheaper and any problems, if any will have been fixed.

 

I'll be interested in this phone provided the AT&T carrier version actually has a search button. I'd definitely put a custom ROM on it too. Disappointed netflix won't happen though. (seems like only snapdragon based phones will get that in the near future).

 

This is good advice, and exactly what I am doing, granted not for the iphone, but jumping on a phone in a hurry is exactly what I did and wound up with a phone that had no GPS and terrible support. I want the Atrix bad but I am waiting till its out for a few months and who knows what else will be coming out in that time. Plus a new phone sucks until there is a nice rom to flash on it and they will be in developement for a while. Long story short sometimes its better to wait.

 

If u want to buy a Samsung phone, wait 2 months after the phone is launched.Do some research on the phone's abilities and disabilities.Ensure that users are not reporting that advertised features are not working...only then go ahead and buy..

 

Regards changing the lockscreen - its not true that only custom ROMs can do this. Check out Widgetlocker in the Market.

 

If you're asking if you can change the whole "look and feel" of the phone not just the icons themsevles, then yes you can using launchers or if you really want an improvement you can root your phone and install a custom ROM, myself i'm hoping that cyanogen will be supported on this device, which is very likely.