BEWARE - POOR QUALITY POWER BUTTON WILL BREAK!!! November 17, 2012

Reviewer:  amethyst21183 

BEWARE: GALAXY S2 POWER BUTTON WILL BREAK EVEN WITH NORMAL USE. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!

My power button broke less than 2 weeks after my warranty was up and Samsung REFUSES to replace the phone despite the fact that it was having problems before the warranty expired. I just didn't know it because it was only intermittent.

After talking to the call center, I was told they *might* be able to repair it for a fee, but that I'd be without my phone for up to a few weeks. They said I could use the "voice of the customer" option to talk to a supervising tech and my email was answered in broken English. CLEARLY not a supervisor in the US.

Been a loyal Samsung customer for over a decade, but thinking about changing brands now. Might even have to return the $3000+ TV we just bought from you.

I'd gladly trade my gorgeous screen for a phone that works November 16, 2012

Reviewer:  C. vermont 

While I've been fortunate to avoid the major problems listed in the negative reviews, I wouldn't go so far to say the phone actually WORKS.

I can some up my experience with this phone, and even more so the previous model, as bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, and more bugs.

Poor reception, sensors rarely function right (if reverses north/south, but not east/west?), mysterious battery drains, phone heating up while "idle", settings changing from boot to boot, etc, etc, etc.

Even as I write this review, I can't connect to wifi, my battery is draining more than 1% per minute, and I can't place my cursor to make corrections.

The sad truth is, Samsung still doesn't know how to make a quality, reliable cell phone.

(Needless to say, Samsung and Sprint's respective Departments of Geniuses are always on hand with useful advice like "have you tried resetting your phone?")

I think buying Samsung is a crap shot, they have no quality control, and you have to be lucky to get on of their good, ie, functioning phones.

Poor speaker quality! November 15, 2012

Reviewer:  E. Staeheli "Book lover"  (Aberdeen, WA USA) -

This phone has the worst speaker system imaginable. What a waste to have a "high quality" phone but you can't hear the person you are speaking to clearly. Isn't that what a phone is supposed to be primarily for?

Sprint + Samsung Galaxy SII = Expensive Paperweight November 2, 2012

Reviewer:  K. Wabst 

I just brought my 4th Samsung Epic SII to the Sprint Service Center to see if they can fix the same problem I have seen on 3 previous SII phones. No luck! The problem supposedly is the Ice Cream Sandwich software update - Android 4.0.4. Here's the problem I have had with 4 SII phones so far...

When I slide my finger across the screen to answer a call the screen goes black, the phone just keeps on ringing and ringing and ringing making me very popular with those around me. Eventually I see a message that says "Unfortunately the process com.android.phone has stopped working." There is an OK button at the bottom of the error box - but in a final twist of the knife, the OK button does not do anything when pressed. Yes, as an added annoyance for those around me I get to wait for a while before the button responds and stops the ringing.

I have reset the phone in any way that Customer Disservice can think of. But by the very next call I am unable to answer the phone.

Each time I call Sprint Customer Care, the kid on the phone wants to follow the same troubleshooting steps as the last time. Never mind it is the same error on a newly replaced device. Maybe this time there will be magic. I have to go through a whole song and dance before I can get to a "Supervisor" who ships another replacement and then promises to call back and check that the problem has been resolved. So far, no call backs but the problem persists.

This is not the Droid you are looking for!

Great Phone - Wrong Network (Sprint) September 19, 2012

Reviewer:  Cindy 

First let me say, there's nothing wrong with this phone, I own it, it's great! The battery life is good however if you use it a lot then you may have to recharge at the end of the day. The camera is awesome, everything else about it is awesome and the phone works the way it's supposed to work. Also, you can replace the battery in this phone where with the Galaxy SIII you cannot replace the battery, once your battery dies then your phone is done. This is also true with the DROID phones from Verizon. Also, the SII allows you to control how you want the phone to act rather than it all being automated for normal users. I'm an IT Guru anyway so I'd rather control things myself and make them the way I want them to run rather than NOT having the option which is what they did with the SIII, they just took a lot of your options away!
*** Just information regarding phones & networks comparisons, see below ***
*** However don't buy the SAMSUNG phones to use on the Sprint network because you'll get NO Coverage. It consistently gets no DATA or VOICE coverage and TEXTs fail continuously on the Sprint network. I also own a Sprint Airrave, which is a signal booster you install from your internet connection at home to get a better signal, this still doesn't help! You may want to try it on the Verizon network because Verizon has better and more consistent service/coverage than Sprint but Verizon will cost you more. The phone brand that gets the best coverage on the Sprint network are the HTC phones. If you're trying to save money on your coverage go with Sprint and an HTC Brand of phone. If you want to be able to actually use your phone, go with Verizon. Thanks!

Customer service not so great September 4, 2012

Reviewer:  James D. Denson 

Prior to purchasing a Samsung phone, I suggest you try and reach the Samsung customer service department.
I had a problem with my phone Verizon could not resolve. I called the Samsung "Customer Service" department for 3 days, multiple times and was never able to talk to an actual person. One of the most frustrating phone loop systems I've ever encountered.
If you feel customer service may be of value to you in the future, check it out before you purchase their products.
An over acceptable product but their customer service SUCKS!

Was a great phone... until it wasn't June 11, 2012

Reviewer:  KM 

I had been extremely satisfied with my Sprint GSII. The phone was fast, wafer thin, light, and an all around joy to use. Unfortunately after 7 months the screen has started locking up, rendering the phone completely useless. This phone lived in an otterbox defender case, was never dropped, and never exposed to water. I would seriously reconsider your purchase if you are looking for a phone to last more than half a year.

AMAZING!!!!! September 25, 2011

Reviewer:  DanDroidOS 

I've owned just about every Android Phone that's been released in the us and this is by far the best! I highly recommend this phone! It's extremely fast, has great battery life, a huge beautiful display, and is super lightweight and slim.

Android OS bug must be acknowledged and fixed NOW October 20, 2011

Reviewer:  M. Beltran  (Whittier, CA USA) -

This is a very nice phone except for the fact that it suffers from a crippling bug that drains the battery life in a matter of hours. This is something that has been known for at least a month and to my knowledge, Sprint and Samsung have not acknowledged it. This is very disappointing. I was so excited with this phone. I'm the go to guy for most of my friends when it comes to advise on phones. My advise. Stay away from this one. There is no time frame for a fix, this is very frustrating. If you are listening Samsung, please show some common courtesy to the legions of people who went out and bought this phone and fix this thing.

update 11/4/11:

Just to clarify, The Android OS bug which many of these phones suffers from is documented here [...]. There doesn't seem to be a software update in the pipes. I called Samsung and my only option is to send them my device and they will test it and hopefully replace it. After I wrote this review, I read that its not affecting the majority of owners, only some. If my battery life improves after I send it it for servicing, I will update my review. If you currently suffer from terrible battery life, I suggest you call Samsung directly and check what your options are.

Update 11/27/11

Received my phone back from Samsung about a week ago. They did not specify what the problem was. Only said that they applied a software update and that the problem I complained about no longer existed. Its been about a week and my battery life has improved dramatically. I still do not get 15+ battery life as some users claim to be getting, more around 9-10 hours which is fine for me and much better battery then I was getting with my HTC EVO and EVO 3D. Still not sure I would recommend this phone but I do believe it is the best phone available on Sprint at the moment. Updated my review from 1 star to 4 stars.

Almost a great smart phone July 10, 2012

Reviewer:  George Viveiros "Veeves"  (Rhode Island) -

This phone does a lot of things well but a phone call is not one of them. It seems that Samsung was so concerned with the bells and whistles they forgot about the basics. Reception is very poor and the phone call quality is terrible. I drive all over this state and reception varies but the phone quality does not. Regardless of the number of bars I have, it is difficult to hear the person I am talking to. I tried using a headset and the sound quality was so bad, I cannot understand the person on the other end and they cannot understand me. I am so upset that I am stuck with this phone for two years.

great toy but not great phone May 22, 2012

Reviewer:  Yuying Xie "XYY"  (Chapel hill, NC, USA) -

The battery is not very good can barely last for one day(from 9 am to 6 pm) with normal usage. And sometime cannot receive calls although the phone is still on. You have to restart it once a day to make sure it can receive phone call

GPS problems + poor build quality April 16, 2012

Reviewer:  tbuyer "tbuyer" 

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Bottom-line
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* The much-touted GPS problems are truly there

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The problem showed-up right away
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I really wanted to like this phone. I got this Galaxy S2 for me and an iPhone 4S for my wife. As soon as I started using it I came across the GPS problems. I was close to the window and, while the iPhone 4S showed the location with speed and precision, the Galaxy S2 took much longer to show a completely off position (I mean like a mile away).

During 3 days I repeatedly compared the performance against the iPhone 4S, and the result was always the same: the iPhone picked up the location much faster and with far more accuracy than the Galaxy S2.

Only when you are out in the clear (with literally nothing above you) the GPS reading was reliable. A simple roof is enough to mess the reception.

The GPS problem alone trumped all the good things this android phone has to offer: swype, good implementation of google maps, seamless integration with google services, big screen (by the way, the 4S screen is better. Yes, it's much smaller, but far better resolution).

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Other negatives
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Also, the GPS is not the only negative:

- It really feels like cheap plastic. The built quality is clearly inferior to that of the iPhone 4S.

- Battery: very short battery life

- Youtube: I use Youtube a lot. I listen to debates, watch "how to" videos, and things like google talks and Ted Talk. The Youtube app will restart the video from the beginning whenever you do something else -like answering a call, or reading a text message. Big, big, no for me.

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Summary
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I'm sending it back as soon as I get my replacement (an iPhone). A pitty, as I really wanted to like this phone but the GPS problem is a no-go for me.

Epic fail! March 15, 2012

Reviewer:  James Parker "Jim"  (Little Rock, AR United States) -

I've had my Epic for a few days now, and am trying hard not to let a learning curve affect my overall impression of this phone, but I get the distinct impression that the Samsung engineers didn't think about how a phone might actually be used when they designed this thing.

First of all, it is an absolutely gorgeous phone to look at. The white one has a front bezel that is slightly off-white, maybe even pearlescent. The back cover is a beautiful shiny white. The screen is huge. And bright. I had an EVO before, and when I pick that one up now it seems small and dull, and the display seems grainy compared to the Epic. In fact, as long as you are only looking at it, the Epic is a great phone. It is when you pick it up and actually start using it that the impressions start to dim. The plastic back is a little cheap-feeling. I wish it had some texture to it instead of being shiny slick plastic.

Then you turn it on and things really start to go downhill. I should say that I actually had another Samsung phone a few years ago, and decided after that experience to never buy another Samsung phone due to the user experience. Obviously, I forgot that vow until I bought this phone, but was immediately reminded of it after a few hours with it.

The ridiculous little annoyances that just don't have to be there include (so far):

1. while the rest of the world has standardized on 2.5mm audio jacks, this thing uses 3.5mm jacks, meaning that I either can't use my current headphones, or maybe that I should never have bought this phone in the first place.

2. a camera with shutter sounds and beeps that cannot be turned off. A little annoying when I am trying to take pictures of my daughter's dance recital or piano recital. If I had a dedicated camera that made this much noise, I'd return it as defective. Even 3rd party camera apps can't seem to silence this thing's shutter.

3. when I imported my google contacts and facebook contacts, it created two separate contacts for people who were in both. The last phone I had was smart enough to realize that I don't actually know 2 *different* people named Joe Blow with the same phone number and address. Actually, some of these people are also on Skype and LinkedIn, compounding the problem immensely.

4. the vlingo app that comes installed leaves a lot to be desired. It actually recognizes my voice just fine, but in one instance when I said "call joe blow at work" it said 'I found 4 matches, which one did you mean?' and then presented me with a list to choose from that consisted soley of the name joe blow repeated 4 times. No other information to help me decide which one to pick. All of this while driving down the road. And what was the thinking behind having 2 separate voice recognition apps that do basically the same things, but slightly different? Voice Command is the one for calling and texting, but not for opening apps, and Voice Talk is the one I can actually speak commands into. Or the other way around... The one thing I think I have right is that Voice Command is the one I can just start talking to, and Voice Talk is the one I can't just talk to. Or the other way around... Sheesh!

5. while I'm non the subject of vlingo, in my contact list Jane Blow happens to have 2 work numbers, and I can't seem to call her at work without a major hassle. If I say "call jane blow at work," vlingo says "I found multiple numbers. did you mean ..." and then it goes through the entire list of ALL Jane's numbers (home, mobile, both fax numbers (!!!), not just the 2 work numbers), and I can't seem to get it to shut up until it is has gone through the whole list. Then I say "work one" and it says "okay, calling jane blow at work" (note that it mockingly leaves off the "one" like I said when I started this whole process). Same thing happens if I start with "call jane blow at work one". Even screaming it doesn't seem to help. Trust me, I've tried...

6. I used to use my phone's alarm clock to wake up in the morning. I'm not sure I'll do that any more. This thing gives you a configurable snooze option, which is nice, but I think I'd really have to be clear-headed and wide awake in order to operate the screen that is displayed when the alarm actually goes off. I am basically presented with 2 circles, one with an "X" in it, the other with a "Z" in it, both the same size and on opposite sides of the screen. The object of the game is to pick one of these circles while still half asleep and bleary-eyed and drag it to the miiddle of the screen. Actually, because the 'middle of the screen' is right next to the other circle, in practice you really end up dragging one circle on top of the other one. So, unless you are already wide awake you are likely going to be manipulating both circles. Then, if you intended to drag the "Z" circle, you are supposed to try to go back to sleep and trust that you did it all correclty. Or else, you just turned the alarm completely off and you are going to be late for work. Fun game. Like a video game with real-world consequences.

7. I also used to use my phone with a 3rd party program to track my location and send text messages in some particular instances. This functionality no longer works now that I have this phone. I suppose this COULD be a problem with the 3rd party app, but given everything else I think it is more likely that Samsung just did something "hinky" with its API for contacts.

8. Don't even get me started on the desktop dock (sold separately). It is a nice piece of hardware, good looking and sold, but it is practically useless for use at work. It has an audio jack in the back that is apparently useless for phone calls. So, if you are listening to your music and a phone call comes in... well, I'm not sure what you are suppsoed to do. The dock has a speaker in it (which would be a nice feature if the user had any control over its use), and while docked the phone defaults to speaker mode, but who wants that at work? I'm in a cubicle, which is why I was using the headphones in the first place. Jeez, put a little thought into your product design. Not to mention the annoying special home screen that pops up whenever I dock the phone. I can make it go away with a button press, but there doesn't seem to be any way to tell it not to pop up in the first place. Just one more little annoyance that detracts from the whole user experience of this phone.

So far I have been terribly disappointed with this phone in use. But, it DOES look good on my desk...

Just ok January 20, 2012

Reviewer:  Hellskitten  (NW INDIANA) -

The new SGE4gII is great if you only want a camera or texting phone. But if you rely on an actual phone to make calls this is not the phone for you. I returned this phone within 8hrs had to charge it to make sure that was not the issue. Replaced with Photon best talking phone for smartphones. service almost everywhere. country living causes issues sometimes. Like I said it is a great camera but I needed something as a phone since I have no other service to rely on at home and the PHOTON won. Epic II has beautiful colors and so many things to do with them but we don't live in the city or in 4g area so not for us. Chicagoland area outside 4g area, Northern Indiana. Good Luck and enjoy you new phone. Also when had service it was not loud enough to hear on but speaker volume for radio was nice.

Ask yourself - When has Samsung made a completly good product? November 15, 2011

Reviewer:  dguido 

I encourage you not to purchase this phone. The only good things about it is it has a good camera and a good screen. Search Sprint's forum and many other Android forums and you will easily see that this phone has major issues that have yet to be addressed.

1. Horrible battery after 30 days. The battery starts off great but is easily rendered defective after multiple charges.
2. The antenna's in the phone are absolutley horrible
3. 3g connection speed are stiffled due to the poor antenna's that Samsung uses in cdma
4. The phone loses its signal where no other phone does even phones that are 4 years old.
5. Youtube and streaming video is useless because the phone fails to gain a good signal to get good data speeds
6. Reception is subpar
7. Speaker quality is horrendous and if you normal talk using the loud speaker you will be very dissapointed.
8. The phone locks up on games and renders most game apps useless.

This phone is another failed product by the manufacture that has a solid track record in producing phones with problems and not providing support or customer service to the end user. Buy at your own risk and google the many issues you will likely experience.

Best phone but Sprint May 14, 2012

Reviewer:  Cloud 

I bought this phone from amazon with Sprint contact. Of the major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile and Sprint). The Sprint Version of this phone has the the best features and performance. By far this is the best phone in terms of performance, phone features, and (contact) price. Everything runs great and I absolutely love this phone. But... i cannot say the same about the Sprint. Between the drop calls, very limited 3G/4G coverage, hidden charges, and poor customer services, I opted to sell my phone and cancel my contract.

Voice Talk may be a dealbreaker.... March 27, 2012

Reviewer:  Enzo 

I just bought two of these phones for myself and my wife. We just came from Evo's which we loved.

I love everything about the GSG2 except for two main things...

The generic dialer that comes with the phone is awful. You have to toggle between contacts and logs to see history whereas on the old Evo i could see recent calls and the keypad in the same window. Possible Solve for this: Download ExDialer - excellent app, only flaw with that app is you can't erase missed calls, it keeps adding them up and you'll have 100 missed calls displaying in notification and have to "clear" it every time.

MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM FOR ME: Samsung's partnership with VLINGO. On the HTC I was used to hitting my talk button on Pro Voyager bluetooth and saying "Call Michele" and it called my wife every time. With this new software it goes through Vlingo and you CAN NOT use an alternate application (whole purpose of Android). I've tried saying Michele and it doesn't recognize the name and says the contact does not exist. I have been searching the web for hours to a resolution to this and you'll find there is none at this point and Samsung and Vlingo are not speaking about it.

Buyer Beware - I wish the HTC One X (Spring will cal it HTC Jet) came out now so I can return this phone for an HTC....

Not sure what to do now. If I return this there's nothing else good available in my opinion (even the Nexus Prime isn't out yet)

Awsome!!!!!!! December 18, 2011

Reviewer:  Yonan 

Awsome if I had one word to describe this phone, it would be AWSOME!!! Does amazing things, and all my i-phone friends are jelous.

Amazon needs to fix their system March 12, 2012

Reviewer:  David Pulliam  (O'Fallon, Mo USA) -

Tried to get the a GS2, but I can't due to trying to get a phone back in November when they had a similar deal. In November of 2011, I had ordered a GS2, but realized I would still have an ETF from T-Mobile, so I had the phone shipment turned around. I never received the phone, canceled the Sprint account, and as far as Sprint is concerned, I should be able to get a phone with a new activation, but Amazon's system will not let me. According to the Amazon representative I spoke with, because I had setup a Sprint account through them in the past, I can never again get a Sprint promotion through them. Sprint is the only carrier they have this problem with, and they cannot fix it either. So even if I had not canceled the order the next day, since I had previously setup a Sprint account through Amazon, I'll never be able to partake in any Sprint promotion on Amazon again... EVER!

I'm posting this around to various sites in the hopes that someone out there may know of a possible solution, Sprint says there is no way that they can offer me the same deal as Amazon, I'd still have to pay $199 for the phone.

the keyboard sucks... November 17, 2011

Reviewer:  Kong 

So I replaced my old smart phone with this one hoping that I could use it as my business phone...write e-mails, texts, make calls and etc... and the thing i hate the most about it is the stupid keyboard... HTC's keyboard features blow this one away hands down. But overall it edges the evo 4g...