A nice phone, good battery life, snappy and perfect size. October 12, 2011

Reviewer:  J. Haggard  (Nashville, TN) -

I previously had an iPhone 3G, I loved that phone but it broke and I wasn't ready to sign a new contract so I moved to Virgin Mobiles Optimus V. I liked that phone as it was my first step into the android world. I then bought (and returned) a Motorola Triumph which was supposed to be a good phone but it failed. I then finally decided to step up to the Galaxy S2 and while it's only been a few days I'm very pleased.

Battery life:
I started my day out yesterday around 5:30 am, as I drove to work I had a video podcast playing on the phone and that ran for around 30 minutes during my commute. I got to work and then started playing a little with the phone but mainly using it for web browsing and listening to Audio the remainder of the day. I did play some words with friends, downloaded a few new apps from the market and showed off the phone and by 1:30 pm I was at 60% battery life. Not bad to only use 40% in 8 hours. At that rate it's approx 5% battery per hour which tells me I can run this thing just like I was for approx 20 hours without it dying on me. This was PRE any optimization, I had wifi on, data on, etc.

As for charging the phone, it seemed to charge just fine. I read other reviews where it was taking a long time to charge. I think it took the normal amount of time. That being said I was using a wall charger that came with the phone. If you charge via computer USB port it will take a bit longer.

Construction:
It's plastic and glass, no doubt about it but it is extremely lightweight but doesn't feel cheap. Samsung did a great job making this feel solid even though it is literally pencil thin. I don't have any issues with light leak or anything so far with the construction. Some people bash the back battery cover which is a thin plastic cover. In my eyes this is not important, Ive already ordered a cover to put over the phone so for me this is a non-issue.

On-board memory:
This phone comes with 16gig of on-board memory plus has a micro SD slot which can hold I believe up to a 32gig card. I currently have a 16 gig card which means my phone now has 32 gigs of memory. The phone is also pretty quick at reading the SD card, very little delay on boot up of the phone giving access to the applications which are stored on the card.

ATT intigration:
Aka, crapware. I don't want all the crap they install but with the right app you can actually hide what you can't uninstall. ATT did from what I understand put this motion control on which means you can put two thumbs on the screen and zoom in and out by tilting the device, this is sort of useless and I disabled it. (This may not just be ATT abut I thought I read it was). ATT also has a bug in the lock screen, if the phone turns off and you turn it back on the lock screen appears (if enabled.) Let the phone turn back off and then turn it on and the lock screen is bypassed. There is a simple fix by turning the lock setting to immediate which Samsung advises. You can also download alternative lock screens on the market to fix this. It's a silly bug that should never have made it passed the quality checks of samsung or ATT whoever was responsible for this defect.

Camera quality:
I played with both the front facing and rear cameras and both look good. I took several photos and am very happy with the quality of both cameras. I downloaded Skype and made a video call to my wife to test out the quality and it really looked good. (Who needs "facetime").

Voice commands:
Who needs Siri by Apple. this phone comes with its own voice commands integrated with Vlingo and and the phone will talk to you if you say "check schedule", it plays music, sends txt and emails, writes memos, etc all with the power of your voice. The one thing iPhone 4S is all about this phone has on-board. It may not talk back and ask you to reschedule a meeting due to a conflict but come on, the reality of me using that feature is very slim so it's not important to me.

Overall I'm very happy with this phone. I thought it would be too big, it's not. In fact it's perfect size for typing on. I installed several apps like Widget Locker to customize the lock screen and add new sliders, Tasker which allows custom tasks so when my calendar shows I'm at work my phone auto changes to vibrate mode, and if I am near home wifi turns on and when I leave it disables it to save additional battery. I use Pocket Casts to manage podcasts and have those set to download automatically,I use Photaf for panoramic pictures which this phone can process and "build" quickly. I use Lookout for security to protect the phone and flashlight app well.... so I have a flashlight. Skype for video calls and chrome to phone to quickly send webpages to my phone.I also have the amazon app store running to get that daily free app.

I like this phone and do recommend it. A huge improvement over the Optimus V, way better then the iPhone 3G and 3Gs, I dare say it's equally as good as the iPhone 4S if not better because it's NOT a glass front AND back. I think the 4S stands for "Shatter". You think Apple would have fixed this design but no they just added new insurance because they know you are going to break it. The only benefit to the iPhoen 4s is the camera is a bit better AND you miss out on apples new "send a card" app.... ;) Get this phone, you won't regret it.

Galaxy S II versus iPhone 4S? Can't go wrong with either October 17, 2011

Reviewer:  Esc. 

After being an iPhone / iOS user for a year and a half and as an Android / Atrix user for only 6 months (thankfully without a contract extension), I used that saved upgrade subsidy on getting a SGS2. After following the rave reviews overseas about it, and after enjoying the developer friendly Android OS, I figured this would be the phone I would use for the next few years. Overall, it is an absolute gem of a phone that has little nuances here and there.

When compared to an Atrix 4G, it's absolutely night and day. All the hype over Samsung's AMOLED Plus screen is no joke. The colors are absolutely brilliant in comparison to Motorola's Pentile display. Moving about the screen is silky smooth, with no lag at all. Going back to the Atrix, you can tell the motion from screen to screen just isn't as sweeping. The camera differences are amazing different, both in pictures and in video. Color in the pictures taken by the SGS2 is just much crisper and deeper, especially with black colors, in comparison to the Atrix. However, I'm not using the full 8 megapixel size, as it's not 8MP Wide. I've stuck to the largest widescreen resolution of 6MP W. The hardware does not disappoint, with most work (loading apps, word docs, flash) being done very fast.

When compared to an iPhone 4S (got to play with my wife's iphone this weekend), this is where you find that it's very evenly matched. Both OS's operate smoothly, their cameras capture great images at 8 MP, their videos are just as well. It's on the configuration side and the battery life that makes the difference. Siri aside, the life on the iPhone 4S will completely outdo the SGS2 by far. I have widgets running for Facebook, MLB, Weather Channel, along with pushing my work email, and using adjusted brightness will kill your battery really quick. The SGS2 adjustable brightness also seems to act really weird, dimming and lighting itself very often and very noticeable. On the positive side, the configurations on the SGS2 is extremely diverse. From white balance and stability control on the cameras, to different sounds for email notifications and text notifications, you can tell that Samsung aimed the SGS2 to be configured to make it suitable to the owner, and not have the same recognizable tones or feel that the iPhones have. While it does take some time to get the configs just right, you tend to have a feeling that once your done, you won't confuse your SGS2 for anyone elses. The other thing to think about is the size and feel of the phone. The iPhone seems like a brick to me, with the screen looking so tiny compared to the SGS2. However, with the plastic feel and the lightness of the SGS2, I fear dropping it and ending up with a broken phone. It would probably be smart to get an otterbox for it, but then you end up with a brick. The other thing is, for my height, the iPhone feels small, where for my smaller wife, it fits perfectly. It's all based on what you're comfortable with.

To summarize, when comparing the SGS2 to a few other Android phones out there (namely for me the Atrix), the SGS2 shines and appears incomparable due to its outstanding hardware and feature offerings. When it comes to an iPhone 4S, you're probably better off choosing which OS you're more comfortable with and sticking with it. Where my wife is absolutely happy with the feel of her iPhone, I can say just the same for the SGS2.

Near perfect phone October 5, 2011

Reviewer:  John Winters 

My first foray into the smartphone world has my friends extremely jealous. I have played around with other people's smartphones for years, and never saw one as close to perfect as this one is. Great battery life, beautiful screen, wickedly fast processor (has set a record in quadrant benchmark), decent reception and call quality, and a strong gps that locks on my indoor location even in windowless rooms without the assistance of wireless networks! About the only thing that is missing is an LED notification light, but that is easily remedied with the Marketplace App "NoLED," which does the trick nicely. I have also used the very buggy Epic 4G Touch on Sprint, and the form factor on this phone is superb -- not too big and classically simple aesthetics.

hard knock down to Iphone November 15, 2011

Reviewer:  Vishal Singh "Vishal"  (New Jersey ,USA) -

Does Samsung Galaxy S2 beats Iphone 4 or 4S? My answer is Big 'YES'.

I'm using this phone from past 3 weeks and I don;t miss my Iphone at all. Samsung Galaxy S2 is loaded with features and technical specs.Lets differentiate Iphone 4S with Samsung Galaxy S2.

Specs Iphone4/4S Galaxy S2
Processor 800 MHz 1.2 GHz
Core Dual Dual
Memory 512MB 1 GHz
Screen Resolution 960 X 640 480 x 800
Display Ratina Super Amoled +
Back Camera 8MP with flash 8 MP with FLash
Front camera 1.3MP 2 MP
Video recording 1080P(FULL HD) 1080P(Full HD)
Weight 140 Grams 116 Grams
network 3G 4G
Capacity 16GB 16 GB
SD support NO Yes 32GB Micro SD card slot available to expand
Screen Size 3.5inch 4.3 inch
Video format ITUNE limited No conversion required, upload any format directly to phone
(conversion required)

Other features:

Samsung galaxy support animated live wallpapers. E.g It has animated wallpaper which changes animation based on weather. if its cloudy,moving clouds dispalyed on screen, if rain, you will see drops on the screen, if snow then snow flakes falling on animated wallpaper which gives phone very cool looks and so as for night and day.

It has proximity sensor which is very useful when you are on call. Touch screen is not effective on call which means if screen touches on your cheeks its non-responsive and calls wont cut or go on hold. You can disable this feature.

The phone has motion sensor which helps like, if you are in meeting and your call rings, flip the phone with screen down and its on mute. similarly tilt, pan and swing options behave differently .

The phone support DLNA technology, So if you connected to wireless at home and have DLNA supported TV or home theater system then you can stream Video, Audio and pictures Directly to your TV in full HD. the app used id ALL share. This is awesome feature which blew u off. no more wire connection.

No software required to upload download any music or video. Phone comes with Kies air app which gives you an URL. Open this URL on your browser and you can access phone data through browser.
Edit/upload/download contacts, music, calls, bookmarks, videos,messages etc etc ..

Video quality is awesome , no conversion required. Whatever format you have dump on phone and play it in full screen. you can change screen size.

Audio interface is similar to Iphone but best is it has auto and manual equalizer. It shows bar while playing a song which help skip songs fro few secs

Camera quality is very good. It has feature to select scene and take paranormic shots.

Battery life is very good as it has power saving mode which controlls your phone and help consume less battery. Stand by time is 16 days, talktime/Audio play is approx 16 hrs. battery drain very fast if playing games or watching videos.

Android market has almost all apps what Apple has.

Screen apps are customization for effects like Weather or clock.

Phone has inbuild GPS navigation system, So no need to buy 3rd party navigation.

Install apps like Go SMS pro which works as front interface and helps avoid SMS charges. If you receive any SMS, It will receive in GO PRO SMS and you wont be cahrged for receiving or sending any SMS to your friend.

Web Browser support flash, so open any website with ease which plays all video formats.

It far better than Iphone on drop test. Check yourself on youtube.

Office exchange has better security options than Iphone. It give you view option like real Microsoft outlook. Out of office settings which is not in Iphone.

Screen resolution is very good. It has gorilla screen which is scratch proof. Colors are vibrant. You will love watching movie on it.

So overall a very good work done by Samsung. If you are looking for an alternative other than Iphone than Go for it without doubt.

Best phone in market, I must say.

Good work Samsung... Cheers!!!!!

No Complaints here October 6, 2011

Reviewer:  Fer 

Overall the phone is great, the phone is really fast, the screen is gorgeous, and its customization capabilities are great as well. Very smooth, light weight, and great looking. To say the least the best Android phone out there at this time. Would and have recommended it to people I know. In my case I had been waiting for this phone for some time now to hit the states, it finally did and has not disappointed me at all. Enjoying my purchase and not regretting it one bit.

pros
Screen size and display
Android 2.3.4
Processor speed
8mp camera

Cons
The only two issue I've found with this phone, is the same that others mentioned. The lock screen is not working properly (easily fixed with a free app at the android market) also its a bit tricky to sync gmail with this phone (also fixed with an app)
Hope this review helps.

a review for engineers October 28, 2011

Reviewer:  Sida Wang  (Toronto, Canada) -

I would have bought this phone INSTANTLY if it was released in the US/Canada in like May, when it was released to Asia and Europe. Now almost 6 months later, it might seem to make more sense to wait for the Galaxy Nexus, but I still bought this phone, and I am absolutely loving it. Seeing that there are not much review for the engineer, so here it goes:

1) Swype is AMAZING. It took me 30sec to learn and type faster than with the normal keybaord. But even the normal keyboard is easier to type on than my blackberry-like device with a full physical keyboard.
2) This is almost as powerful as the highest end 5 year old laptop. Not quite, but almost there... With 1G of RAM and 1.2G dual core.
3) Google ecosystem: Gmail, google calendar (syncs multiple calendars, if youd like to see your friend's shared calandar, or maintain multiple calendars yourself), google task, google talk, google finance etc. All of these are automatic once you link your google account with the device. The ecosystem is generally very nice, fairly open, and can easily exports to and interoperates with other systems.
4) Lots of great free apps. But perhaps slightly less uniformity, and worse precision on the appstore search than Apple's.
5) Samsung Kies air is actually pretty impressive. You instantantly turn the off into a webserver and can access things on the phone wirelessly.
6) Turns into a wifi Hotspot without having to do anything
7) Widgets! - customize your screen
8) Its Linux. You can run a terminal, and run it as a ssh server. You can see and access the underlying system. I can check and modify my jobs running on the clusters. Lots of the familiar Unix programs runs here: like top, cd, cp, df etc. You can also ssh into this phone from a computer. This is incredibly fun if you are a computer scientist/engineer.
Vs. Galaxy Nexus
I actually waited 3 weeks (quite a lot to ask myself, I have an incentive to sign with ATT asap) until the Galaxy Nexus information came out. Then it became clear that a) Nexus is probably not coming to ATT anytime soon, and 2) it is not obviously better 6 months later. I decided to go with the original phone that I was waiting for. You can compare the specs at say phonearena or something, but I just want to point out a few things that people may not necessarily pick up from the specs easily:
1) The Nexus probably does not have SD slot
2) The Nexus is huge, and its screen uses PenTile, so its 1280x720 res is comparable to 824x480 in GS2, granted, that is still better, but no longer significantly.
3) The GS2 actually uses a better graphics chip, making me wonder how the Nexus is supposed to drive a higher res screen with a bloated pixel count that is less sharp, and what are the tradeoffs driving that decision. Is it just to say weve got the highest res screen?
4) the GS2 uses the famous Gorrila glass which protects against scratches
5) The Nexus has a curved display, whereas GS2 is flat

Granted, if the Nexus is out right now on ATT, ill still get it if just for the new Android 4.0 and parting with ATT crapware. But I am very happy with this device as well.
Vs iPhone 4S
I cannot really argue against the value of the iphone 4S, but the GS2 is 50$ cheaper if you want the base model, and much cheaper if you want the extra-storage by buying microSD yourself (and more portable).
The iPhone 4S has an objectively better screen with denser pixels, but the GS2 screen is very nice, brighter and 0.8'' (~2cm) longer in the diagonal.
The iPhone 4S has a better camera.
iPhone4S is smaller, but that also means smaller screen.
Most importantly though, is the software: this is an Android, and it let you do pretty much whatever you want to it. And that is really fun. Of course, if you are rich enough to pay for everything, and feel comfortable of being locked into the iCloud ecosystem, then Apple does give you a smoother ride.
Complaint: the microUSB charger male that came with the phone is too short, so I had to shave the plastic a bit for it to reach all the way in, and the male still did not connect well. So I bought another cord for 2 dollars and fixed the problem.
General theme: Android still is not quite as smooth as iOS, but that is the price you pay for being a flexible and open system... i guess? The core is still very reliable though.

So thanks Amazon for having this for 150$.

4 stars for the charger problem. It got me worried, because it would be much harder if it was the female's issue that they don't connect, instead of the male's.

Its about time October 4, 2011

Reviewer:  Houtex80  (Bayonne, NJ) -

After waiting months for this phone to come out, its finally here. So far I am impressed with its super slim design, vivid display, and more than ample computing power. I get service where my previous phone never did and call quality is great. I am hoping the battery life improves after the initial power cycling. So far I have around 1 hour 40 minutes display on time during a 12'30" overall on time before the connect battery charger notification appears (this is without wifi or gps on). Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase and I look forward to future custom ROMS like cyanogenmod for this device.

Much better than iPhone 4 October 12, 2011

Reviewer:  Bob 

I used to have iPhone, including iPhone 3G and 4. They work great, but the screen is way too small. I have been waiting for iPhone 5 for several months. However, only iPhone 4S came out. It doesn't have the large screen I want. Eventually, I ditched Apple. Did quite some research of Android phone. Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T) is on the top of my list.

Got the phone. It meets my expectation.
- It is light. Lighter than iPhone 4. Someone may consider it feel cheap due to its weight, but I looks solid.
- The screen is nice. I think the color is better than iPhone 4. It is more saturated. There is no complaint about the screen size. Huge difference while surfing internet.
- The camera flash is bright, really bright.
- It is fast. Much fast than iPhone 4 when I try them side by side. No comparison with iPhone 4S.
- Battery is not as bad as in some review. As long as you don't use it "extensively", it is good enough for daily need.

In summary, great phone. Just recommend it to one of my friend, who is also pissed off by Apple's iPhone 4S. It seems that another Apple customer will change boat.

---------------------Update after one month of use----------------------

Now, it comes to the best part. I live in an area with poor ATT coverage. I only have Edge at home. With both my iPhone, I can't make any phone call longer than 10 minutes. It dropped the call with no exception. The new Samsung Galaxy gave me a big surprise. In the last month, it never drop a call for me. I mean "Never". The voice is much more clear than iPhone. It is still on Edge most time, but I can also get HSPA+ sometimes.

At one of my favorite resteraunt, the coverage is not good either. With iPhone, I can call, but the quality is poor. I can't have data. There is no comparison between Samsung and iPhone. At exact location, Samsung can get HSPA+ most time. Finally, I can enjoy the internet while eating my favorite meatballs.

In summary, you can go wrong with Samsung. If you area has poor coverage, Samsung is a much better choice than iPhone.

Not perfect, but pretty fantastic October 5, 2011

Reviewer:  Andrew J. Martindale 

Had mine since day 1. Believe it or not, this is my first smartphone and I couldn't be more pleased.

Pros:
Call quality is excellent. Calls are clear and seem to cancel some of the background noise.
Beautiful screen. Screen is vibrant, bright, and clear.
Fast. This is perhaps the only piece of electronic equipment that responds on command. No lag.
Intuitive. Android is easy to use. Having never used a smartphone there isn't a significant learning curve.
Light-weight. Some may complain that the build quality is lacking, but I appreciate the light-weight design. Light as a feather compared to the iPhone 4.

Cons:
Phone lock. Known issue with the lock screen. You can bypass without PIN, etc.
Battery life. Relative to other smart phones it may not be bad, but it will take getting used to charging every night.

Still relatively new so some issues may arise that haven't already become obvious. Until then I can recommend this phone without reservation.

Badass phone. October 19, 2011

Reviewer:  Flet 

*****Updating review as of 11/2/2011*****

This just in- After about 20 days my phone had a USB malfunction. I plugged it in to charge one night and it went hay wire. After that, it thought it was always connected to USB and could not be connected to my computer. When powered off, it showed it was charging (even when not connected) and could not be turned back on without being connected. After doing a full reset and confirming with samsung tech support that the phone needed to be warrantied i contacted Amazon since i was still within 30 days. I spoke with a rep Tuesday 11/1 at 6PM EST. They overnighted me a new phone that arrived at my desk at 10AM today 11/2. Moral of the story is that Amazon is killing it. 17 hours and a brand new phone was in my hand. That's pretty rocking service.

My new phone has bit of wiggle room on the battery now which is a bit of a bummer but i just shimmed it and I'll live with it cuz i don't want to have to dump everything and start over yet again.

I'm still backing this phone completely and chalking the USB issue up as a fluke. As long as this new one keeps going I'm still happy with the phone. I plan on getting the Otterbox case since it has plugs for the USB and headphone ports, which will keep crap out of there that i think was the cause of my issue.

******************************

***Original review****

I've had this phone for a little over a week and I'm loving it. First off, i ordered it mid afternoon on Friday 10/7. I received an "item has shipped" email on Saturday. The phone arrived at my office Monday morning. Nice work Amazon!

The phone itself is ridiculously thin and light. so thin that it's actually almost awkward to hold and text its so narrow. The back cover definitely feels cheezy but i got a rugged case for it anyway so not worried about that. So far everything is buttery smooth, i don't think I've experienced any real glitches or freak outs worth noting. No lagging, no stalling, no freezing, just silky smooth operation all around. Pinch zooming is quick and responsive, web pages load as fast as your connection will allow them to, all the internal navigation is super quick as well. Still learning my way around all the features and working on picking up more fun/useful apps but I'm glad i went this route vs. the iphone4 bargain for $99. The customization of Android is just too good to pass up. Don't like the keyboard? download a new one. Wanna text a bazillion words a second? give swype a try. Want to know what programs you have running? check out your task manager. Wanna kill some of them? clear your ram? go for it. Delete those crappy ATT bloatware programs? you can do that too.

Battery life is actually pretty decent. Sitting connected to wifi at work all day, texting fairly frequently and thumbing through some random apps and web here and there, I'm at about 50 or 60% battery life when i get home. From there i tend to use web and apps more heavily and I'm usually at about 30% when i put it on the charger at bedtime. I set the "power saving mode" to start at 70% and i generally run the screen brightness on auto or at minimum since i can it just fine inside anyway. Yesterday I pulled it off the charger at around 9am and turned wifi off while at work. only sent a few text all day and was only briefly on facebook to post a pic. I was at 80% battery at 11PM when i got home. You can definitely make the battery last 2 days with light use, especially if you shut it down at night when not using. I also set my email sync to manual so it's not hogging data and battery all day trying to stay updated. I'm not a business user so i can get away with that.

I've only played around with the camera a little but pic and video quality looks really good. Flash is super bright but doesn't wash things out unless you're really close to it. images are crisp and cam snaps fast, no blur from a shaky hand or anything. front cam takes decent shots too, haven't tried video calls yet though.

I'm glad ATT went with the 4.3" screen, not too big but big enough to watch a video and see all the details, and fit enough web page on there to actually read for a bit without scrolling all over the place. This phone is definitely a little bulky compared to my old samsung 'dumb' phone but it's not cumbersome by any means. I hardly notice it my pocket anymore.

The only thing that kinda bums me out is that it doesn't have a dedicated HDMI. I know there is a micro USB to HDMI adapter but that's just one more part to buy. would be nice to just plug it straight in.

Overall I would highly recommend this gadget. You won't be disappointed.

Nirvana October 10, 2011

Reviewer:  the-J0ker  (Clinton, ut United States) -

I've used smartphones and pdas for about a decade now. Not one has gotten me more excited. My last phone was an iPhone which was a fine phone. Switching to this phone made my iPhone seem rather pathetic. The sheer number of "cool" features is just outstanding. Some of my wow factor comes from Android, but the hardware is just amazing.

Pros:
-The screen (size and AMOLED)
-Device size (nice and thin)
-Standardized power port
-Wireless syncing. No need to hook up to computer.
-Call quality
-Voice Control
-Extremely responsive
-Android market has been great
-The camera is really good

Cons:
-Gets warm after bit
-Can drain battery quickly if you're a heavy user
-Can really use your data plan if not careful

Nice phone but poor battery life December 7, 2011

Reviewer:  akreader 

I recently received my Galaxy SII and so far I have been pretty happy with it. My favorite thing about this phone is that it is VERY light--I never even notice that I have it in my pants pocket! For me this is a huge advantage over the iPhone, which can sometimes feel like a brick.

So why only three stars? Because the battery life is terrible. I don't even use my phone that much. It seems like my phone can hardly make it through the day even with only a few texts, a couple short phone calls, and a little bit of time on the web. I think the battery life would be a significant problem for someone who uses their phone quite a bit.

A Major Dissapointment! May 17, 2012

Reviewer:  Bigmac  (Florida, United States) -

We had the Samsung Galaxy and that worked pretty well so when I saw the ads for the Galaxy II with bigger screen, faster processor, and more features I was excited. At first it worked well, but then I had constant problems with Swype-no matter how I adjust the settings-Swype almost always chooses the wrong words. If I talk into the mic to use speech recognition again it almost always uses the wrong words.

Aside from that the battery life is pathetic. Within one month the battery would last only three hours on a charge. Sprint told me I would have to call Samsung, but Samsung said they never replace batteries even if it is one day old and defective. Don't think this kind of lousy service would happen with Apple.

In addition, the phone is having constant brain farts where it freezes up for no reason-and sometimes they can last ten minutes. I also has brain farts while texting where you try to Swype a letter on the left side of the keyboard and it will not recognize it.

Finally, the reception is much worse than the Galaxy one and so is the volume control to the point of barely being able to hear someone. The Iphone may not have the large screen but I'd rather have quality than a big heap of garbage that has all sorts of bells and whistles-most of which do not even work!

An Amazing Phone! November 9, 2011

Reviewer:  C. Geary  (San Jose, CA United States) -

I am thrilled that I waited for this phone & not picking another. It is so cool! My manager watched what I can do with it & now he wants one. I can do on it almost anything that I can do on a PC desktop, and there's a lot of things I can do way better. The voice recognition software is impressive. I spoke the infamous word "antidisestablishmentarianism" and it spelled it correctly. I don't want to draw out this review since there are so many positive ones already, but I do want to clue everyone in on two issues to be aware of. First, the battery life. I'm intrigued by the extremes in reviewers' experiences. I, in fact, saw my battery drain way faster than my old phone, but then again, my old phone didn't have the huge screen like the Samsung. I have to plug my Galaxy S2 in at every chance I get. It seems like it's a lot like an auto gas tank... the gauge drops a whole lot faster after it hits the half-way mark. I've tried dimming the screen, cutting off gps, bluetooth, & wifi, even installed the Juice Defender app, which has helped, but still can't last a day on one charge. I can say this - I can make my battery last by not using the phone. This battery life issue is the only reason I didn't give this phone a 5-star rating. I don't consider it a major flaw & the phone's capabilities far overshadow this negative. I bought an extra battery, but found out this is not the right way to go. I should have bought the dock/spare battery charger, which can charge both the spare & the battery in the phone at the same time & includes a spare with the package. It does take a long time to charge my in-phone battery - 4 hours minimum with the wall charger & the phone turned off. Next is the data plan. Watching videos will eat up your data plan in just a few days. And because ATT has a lag between what you use and when they post usage data, you may think you're ok when you're not. I went from having only used 68 Meg one day to 1906 Meg the next with most of the month left to go on my 2 Gig plan. So be aware of this when you pick a data plan & be careful.

P.S. 01/23/2012: I'm now able to make my phone's battery last 2 days with 2 changes to the settings. 1)turn off the screen lock/timeout. Yes, I know that makes the phone insecure, but I'm not a person who ever sets my phone down anywhere other than in my pocket. This alone increased my battery life 25%. 2) find a black desktop screen, the more black the better. I have to admit, I switched to the "microbes" animated desktop screen, but the massive amount of black way overcompensated for the animation - saved another 25% of my battery life. I'm still thrilled with my phone after 3 months. Bought Christmas presents with it using Amazon for some last minute emergency gifts & only took about 5 minutes - my wife was amazed how fast I could do that. The ATT 2 Gig data plan still bugs the heck outta me, especially since ATT didn't even have 4G available in my area until last week, and now they want to change their data plans because people are using too much data? I don't hear other providers complaining about this, so get on board, ATT.

Best phone in the world October 24, 2011

Reviewer:  J. W. Bauer "axo409"  (ohio) -

When I bought my iPhone I thought I was getting a pocket computer but I didnt, way to many features missing. The Galaxy S2 is a pocket computer. I love all the things I was missing from my iPhone. widgets, shortcuts, text reflow on web pages, voice talk, most apps are free, removable battery, sd card slot. can change keyboard, browser, lock screen, etc, etc. I bought a battery(OEM)from ebay for 25 bucks and an external charger for 10 bucks on newegg and I dont have to worry about battery life. my brother still has an iPhone and is mad because he cant change out his battery which is not much better than my S2's. After seeing my S2, He's getting an S2 when he sells his iPhone. Take the reviews with 2 and 3 stars with a grain of salt because it's just Apple freaks trying to stop you from getting the better phone. Hey just for fun, google "macs get viruses", "macs crash more than windows 7" and "iphone ripped off LG prada" and stop being gullible

The best phone for video watchers ! October 22, 2011

Reviewer:  Spar128 

I got the Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T version) 3 days back and have been playing around with it for a few days. In summary: this product is absolutely mindblowing, especially for people like me who watch a lot videos from internet. I already have a iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch latest generation(which has retina display). The major feature i was looking for in my next phone was capability of playing Adobe Flash Videos which account for majority of the videos i want to watch online. iPhone does not play flash videos. I heard good reviews about Galaxy S II and went and checked out the AT&T and T-Mobile versions. I played Cars 2 HD trailer from MegaVideo on both phones and i found AT&T version playing smoother than the T-mobile version. So i chose AT&T.

The Super AMOLED Plus display technically has less resolution than iPhone Retina display. So i was expecting a display which is little worse than iPhone. But i was totally wrong !!! I compared both phones side by side and played the same video. You can not believe the difference in quality. Galaxy S II blows iPhone out right away. The Galaxy colors are so rich,vivid and natural so that the iPhone display will seem to be pale and sub-standard in comparison!! I will share some side-by-side snaps later. The Galaxy display is much bigger (4.3 in) as compared to iPhone(3.5 in).

The phone in general is zippy and very responsive. Android OS offers more control and customizations as compared to iOS. I installed MX Video Player app which is really awesome. Any video file you can download can be played with the MX Player. It can stream any downloadable video and play them on the fly(you dont have to wait for the entire download to complete). Also the browser has builtin flash player and you can watch flv(flash) videos on all sites in full screen and vibrant colors(which is what exactly i wanted). Since i switched from iPhone, i am still learning to do things in the android way - but it is turning out to be easier than i thought. I transferred all my contacts from iPhone to Android (thanks to Google Sync).

Since i watch a lot of videos, my battery drains pretty fast - i will need more days to test the battery life more accurately.

In short, this is one of the best investments i have done so far and i am really happy that i chose Galaxy S II over iPhone 4S :-)

Will update the review after few weeks of usage

Excellent Andriod Phone February 1, 2012

Reviewer:  InDepthOf 

Update(2.2.12):
Had it at 5 stars but recently the phone just won't connect to the network so I can't send/receive calls/texts. I tried calling AT&T and they couldn't give me a solution. I had to contact Samsung and they finally told me to send it in for repairs but I also contacted the seller and they offered a refund, which I am going to get instead because chances are, the error will probably happen again and I just don't want to deal with it.

For starters, this is the first Android phone I have ever owned. I've owned Android tablets, but there is hardly any difference except one can make calls/texting.

Anyway, to start off I really love it so far! I tested it out for 1 day so far and the battery actually lasted me for around 10 hours or so! I didn't really do anything too heavy on it to drain it much but I will see just how long it actually lasts. I see the battery life going really well. Way better than the previous phones I have owned.

This phone is fast! It's beautifully designed, and has an excellent camera with LED flash. Being able to record in full HD is really awesome. I have yet to try to go to a concert and see how well this works!
16GB of memory and expandable to microSD up to 32GB.

Speech-to-text is really awesome, overall the voice commands do well.

The phone is really light, and the AMOLED screen looks amazing!

Only con I can think of right now is that I can barely hear people when calling and I don't put the speakerphone on. I don't know if it's like that or if I have a faulty phone? But when placed in speakerphone it sounds excellent.

Fantastic, apart from battery life January 15, 2012

Reviewer:  Lucas 

Overall the phone is absolutely fantastic. It does everything you want a smartphone to do and it does it smoothly, efficiently, and easily. I've been waiting to get a smartphone and I always knew I would never get an iPhone. The Samsung Galaxy SII is a step above the prior generation without a doubt. The front camera looks gorgeous at 2 megapixels, the back camera is great (although photos will look better on the phone than on your computer due to the screen).
The Gingerbread operating system is smooth, looks beautiful and works very very well. And the phone will be able to easily update to the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system which Android should release in a few months.

But, as with all good things, the phone is not perfect. There is one glaring flaw: the battery life. It's terrible, plain and simple. With moderate usage, the battery will last a day. Definitely nothing more, and if you're not careful, you can easily accidentally kill your battery by the evening. The phone is maybe a little too powerful and roughly half the battery use is simply due to the operating system - having nothing to do how much you use it.

If you're looking at this, you're also looking at the HTC Vivid - AT&T's other 4G LTE phone. Even with the problem of battery life (the HTC Vivid reportedly has better battery life), everything else about the Samsung Galaxy SII is better than the HTC Vivid. For the same price, go with the Galaxy SII over the HTC Vivid.

A very worthy upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S January 31, 2012

Reviewer:  Adam Kotschi "Adam J. Kotschi"  (Hawaii United States) -

The Samsung Galaxy S II is a wonderful, worthy upgrade over the Samsung Galaxy S (AT&T Captivate). The screen is a large, bright 4.3" Super Amoled Plus variety and is simply fantastic to look at. Perfect black levels and fluid motion.
The device itself uses Gorilla Glass and is very durable, well at least the front is, the back is a cheap, flimsy plastic cover over the battery, Sim, and Micro SD card slot. The phone is thin and relatively light. It uses a 1.2GHz Dual Core Samsung processor that is very quick and snappy. It runs Android 2.3.6 and Samsung has already promised to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS - 4.0.3) hopefully around March or April (AT&T dependent).
The software is very quick and reliable and I have had very few problems with crashes or Force Closes.

The "4G" is of the H+ variety and not of the LTE true 4G.

impressive upgrade from my android 2.1 phone February 23, 2012

Reviewer:  techmannn "techmannn" 

Gingerbread on the phone offers new features that I like a lot. Custom EQ on the music player (finally) and lots of good options about automatic power saving. Everyone seems to complain about battery life but folks that's what happens when you have an 4G LTE phone. If you disable "data" in "settings" when you dont need data, then your battery life will not be a problem again. Unless you use web all of the time, that simple fix should solve the issue. You'll still have voice and text all of the time, just not web.

Display is more than bright enough to see in outdoor sun

Complaints? None really, except I miss physical buttons on the bottom -- much easier to feel them and then click without having to look down. Now the buttons are flat and have lights, but the lights arent lit until you press. That is backwards design. Also the case is far too smooth for such a big phone. You'll want a case that offers some grip to the phone or it will slip out of your hands.