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Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Reception and call quality As good or better than any phone I've had. So no complaints.
- Display As good as it gets right now. Simply beautiful.
- Battery life I get a day, but wouldn't get two out of this.
- Camera No comments
- Ease of use Unlike many Androids that came before it, it just works.
- Design and form factor The 4.3 inch screen really makes it usable and the super thin light form factor makes it pocketable. A prefect combo.
- Portability (size / weight) Lightest thinnest smartphone out there.
- Media support Can I give it a 6 out of 5? It played everything out of the box. This is where Samsung smartphones beat out competing Androids.
- Durability I had a Galaxy S1 before, which got dropped badly on to concrete and escaped with only minor scratches. The SGSII if anything feels more solid.
- Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) The Android Market now has a great range of apps including many free ones. The accessory market for the SGSII is hopeless though.
Detailed review
If you don't want to read the rest, here's my three word review: Awesome User Experience.
This is a great phone and the universal praise in every review will already tell you that so I'm not going to regurgitate everything about the screen and the speed and the camera, because you can already read about that everywhere else.
I've been buying the latest and greatest handsets for the past 10 years or so. Is this the best phone ever? It's not really possible or fair to compare phones from different generations against each other. I've usually been pretty happy when I get a new handset, becuase its new and better than what has come before it. But I don't think I've ever been as totally happy and satisfied in my first weeks of owning a phone as I have been in my first weeks with the Galaxy S II.
It just works. Its a joy to use. Unlike many previous Androids, the out of the box experience is excellent. You don't need to change anything to love this phone. Of course go the extra mile and customize it to your personal taste and it becomes even better. For example, I still prefer Launcher Pro Plus to Touchwiz.
The best praise I can give this phone is this: you don't notice it. Its so light and the front is so plain that the device just melts away and doesn't get in the way. Together with Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread the experience is so slick that you don't notice it is there. Instead, using the phone becomes all about the experiences you use it for, not the hardware or software. So you'll be browsing, texting, IMing, listening to music, looking up places to eat, playing games.......and you'll forget (or not even care) that you are holding a Samsung 1.2Ghz, Android 2.3.blah blah blah, you won't care about any of that.
And that's how it should be.
Is this the best phone I've used? Yes, by far.
This is a great phone and the universal praise in every review will already tell you that so I'm not going to regurgitate everything about the screen and the speed and the camera, because you can already read about that everywhere else.
I've been buying the latest and greatest handsets for the past 10 years or so. Is this the best phone ever? It's not really possible or fair to compare phones from different generations against each other. I've usually been pretty happy when I get a new handset, becuase its new and better than what has come before it. But I don't think I've ever been as totally happy and satisfied in my first weeks of owning a phone as I have been in my first weeks with the Galaxy S II.
It just works. Its a joy to use. Unlike many previous Androids, the out of the box experience is excellent. You don't need to change anything to love this phone. Of course go the extra mile and customize it to your personal taste and it becomes even better. For example, I still prefer Launcher Pro Plus to Touchwiz.
The best praise I can give this phone is this: you don't notice it. Its so light and the front is so plain that the device just melts away and doesn't get in the way. Together with Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread the experience is so slick that you don't notice it is there. Instead, using the phone becomes all about the experiences you use it for, not the hardware or software. So you'll be browsing, texting, IMing, listening to music, looking up places to eat, playing games.......and you'll forget (or not even care) that you are holding a Samsung 1.2Ghz, Android 2.3.blah blah blah, you won't care about any of that.
And that's how it should be.
Is this the best phone I've used? Yes, by far.
good review!
5 people find this review helpful
review history
- 2011-06-11
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Updated detailed review