Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II Malaysia Review:

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II is never predicted to be one of the kings of smartphone manufacturers, with a few false of start ups at the early beginning. Nobody would suppose the company comes up with new energy and took another step forward, putting the best technologies and developing sophisticated smartphones, and the popular Samsung Galaxy S is the real proof.

Now, the successor is made, namely the Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II. And this handset is coming up, firstly announced at Mobile World Congress of 2011. A lot of rumors revealed it right before the MWC event was held. Then now you can compare it which specs are true and false. If you are now having the original Samsung Galaxy S with you, you might be a bit surprised taking a look at what Samsung has improved in it.

The new handset is expected to start attacking the existing brand new smartphones in the market with its new superior features and specifications. One of the most-discussed points is the Super AMOLED Plus screen, featuring a new tech with better color gamut, contrast ratio and apparent 80 per cent reduction in power over the previous screen version.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Design and Build:

The phone’s aesthetic design looks brilliant, though it is very similar to the first Samsung Galaxy S. The Home button is flanked by touch-sensitive options for Menu and Back. And, the 4.3 inches screen comes with TouchWiz 4.0 UI, which is also called as a new version of Samsung’s overlay. The notifications are overhauled offering more pertinent functions and widgets, allowing you to easily manage anything from the Home screen.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Screen:

The highlight of Samsung Galaxy S2 is the 4.3-inch 800x480 screen, which incorporates Super AMOLED Plus technology. Colours are eye popping and blues and greens literally jump out of the screen at you. Off-angle viewing is excellent too - the first phone we’ve seen to match the iPhone 4.

A larger screen sizes means that the phone is bulky, but it’s a joy for movies. When playing back our test HD movie clips, detail is sharp and action smooth. We found that whites aren’t as pure or bright as those on the iPhone 4, although blacks seem darker and colours are bolder and warmer. It handles action smoothly too.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Processor:

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. In use the phone feels incredibly quick – one of the fastest smartphones we’ve used, whether you’re browsing a web page or swapping between applications it never feels slow. During our tests it loads web pages over WiFi quicker than the iPhone 4.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Camera & Video:

The rear of the phone is found an 8MP camera with single LED flash. Instead of a dedicated shutter; you tap the virtual shutter, which is fairly quick if not quite as nippy as the offering on the iPhone 4.

There are plenty of manual controls. Adjust the ISO from 100-800, choose from five white balance settings and choose between three metering settings. Samsung has also included Smile Shot, Beauty, Action, Cartoon and Panorama scene modes. Alongside auto focus, Macro mode captures sharp shots to around 10cm and there’s an effective Face Detection mode.

Still results are pleasing, the Samsung Galaxy S2 is pretty good at controlling noise, and we’d like them to be a little sharper, colours are very natural. The Samsung Galaxy S2 shoots HD video at 720p and 1080p at 30fps and results are pleasing; it’s smooth, with natural colours, perhaps lacking a little definition.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Music:

We’ve no complaints about the sound quality, when you plug some headphones into the 3.5mm jack, and here you can access nine Equalizer modes and some Sound Effects, including the useful Bass enhancement and Wide.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Software:

The Android 2.3.1 (Gingerbread) is installed on the phone, which is expected to be upgradable to Android 2.4 in the future, and of course Samsung would confirm it later on when everything is prepared well. In addition, there are some new features such as Photo Editor to be played, and it is much more surprising, for the dual core processing power supports the performance perfectly.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Speech Control (Vlingo):

Android comes with its very own speech recognition software these days. But still, Samsung has decided to provide the Samsung Galaxy S2 with speech recognition software of its very own: Vlingo. With Vlingo, you no need to type in order to perform searches, send emails, or what have you. Just fire up Vlingo and start talking. Vlingo does a really good job at understanding voice commands. Vlingo can be very handy when you are trying to send a longer than average email.

Vlingo might very well be really good at understanding voice commands. We will have to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Messaging:

There’s a Social Hub offering the uniquely Samsung experience, allowing you to easily open and send a message from the integrated inbox. Therefore, the Samsung Galaxy S2 is crowned as a good messaging smartphone, which is a little different than its predecessor. Swype is there pre-installed on the handset, and both the normal Samsung keyboard and the swiping option are well rendered and work effectively.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Other features:

Samsung’s included motion controls. Hold an app down then move the phone left or right to scroll through the homescreens and reposition it. Elsewhere hold two fingers on the screen and move towards you and away from you to zoom in and out.

Polaris Office lets you create and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. In portrait mode we did find the keyboard a bit cramped and frequently tapped the wrong keys and the predictive text isn’t as impressive as the iPhone 4. Alternatively the Swipe keyboard detects words as you drag your fingers over the keys, it works pretty well, although frequently didn’t recognize our choices.

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II - Battery:

With WiFi on, maximum brightness, moderate browsing, some video and photos we got into our second day. One of the most useful features is Task Manager, where you can view and kill active applications and clear the RAM, and you can enable Power Saving Mode to cut in when the power gets to 50%.

Conclusion:

Overall the Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II is quite impressive, with the dual-core processor built within, and the incredible Super AMOLED Plus screen is really hot, being able to hit the iPhone version of NOVA screen. A lot of new technologies are installed into the phone, making it a very different smartphone compared to others. This is the handset that is worth every penny you spend, even it can be the next top phone to be crowned a lot of rewards, as you possibly expected.

Good:

•     Beautiful 4.3-inch screen
•     Impossibly slim and light
•     Very fast
•     Great camera
•     Attractive design
•     Kies Air wireless syncing is useful

Bad:

•     Not the very latest version of Android at launch
•     Some of the Samsung-added apps are rather useless

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II Price in Malaysia & Release Date:

Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II is available in Malaysia market and the Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II price is as below. Click Buy Now to purchase Samsung Galaxy S2 / S II now (if any)!

Samsung I9100G Galaxy S2 / S II Specification: