Samsung Galaxy S2: Release Date, Review, Specs and Price

The Samsung Galaxy S2 (Galaxy II) is Worlds Thinnest Smartphone, loaded with Android mobile operating system. The Samsung Galaxy S2 is the successor to the critically acclaimed Samsung Galaxy S, featuring:

• 1.2 GHz Dual-Core SoC Processor
• Samsung Exynos Processor (GT-I9100 model) or Nvidia Tegra 2 Processor (GT-I9103 model)
• 1GB RAM
• 10.9 Centimetre (4.3 inches) WVGA Super AMOLED Plus Display
• 8 Megapixel LED Flash Camera with HD 1080p videos recording
• USB Host (OTG) Function Support
• Upgraded version of Android, officially known as TouchWiz 4.0
• Enhanced Accessibility with Multi Touch Gestures and Clean Widget Arrangements
• It also supports Mobile High-definition Link (MHL), which allows up to 1080p uncompressed video output with HDMI while charging the device at the same time.

Samsung Galaxy S2 Review

Here uner is Cellulare Magazine's excellent Samsung Galaxy S2 Review Video showing the power of this new Android smartphone with dual-core processor:

Samsung Galaxy S2 Specification (Hardware)

Samsung Galaxy S2 uses a 1.2 GHz Dual Core ARM Cortex-A9 processor depending on two SoCs. For additional details of hardware inside is given here under:
Exynos 4210
Samsung’s own Exynos 4210 SoC was previously codenamed Orion clocked at 1.2GHz.and was the source of much hype concerning a dual-core successor to the previous Hummingbird powered single-core Samsung Galaxy S. The Exynos 4210 uses ARM‘s Mali-400 MP for its GPU which is a change from continuing to use PowerVR‘s GPU which was featured in the previous Samsung Galaxy S.

Tegra 2
Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC uses Nvidia’s own GeForce ultra-low power (ULP) for its GPU. Nvidia Tegra 2 supports the Tegra Zone application and service which is intended to give Android users an enhanced gaming experience by allowing users to download games that have been well optimized for Tegra 2 powered devices. This has been marketed as “console-quality gaming” by Nvidia. Tegra 2 also features support for hardware acceleration for Flash and Javascript within websites, and is one of the first SoCs to be natively supported by Android 3.0 (a.k.a Honeycomb).

The Exynos 4210, unlike Tegra 2, features support for ARM’s SIMD engine (Media Processing Engine, a.k.a NEON instructions) and this may have a significant performance advantage in some cases over Tegra 2 in critical performance situations such as accelerated decoding for multiple multimedia codecs and formats (e.g., On2′s VP6/7/8 or Real formats).

At the 2011 GDC, ARM’s representatives were able to demonstrate playback in stereoscopic 3D on their Mali-400 MP on the Exynos processor at a 60Hz frame rate. They went on to state that an increased frame rate of 70Hz would be possible through the use of HDMI 1.4 port.

Memory
The Samsung Galaxy S2 features 1GB of dedicated RAM (in either Mobile DDR or possibly DDR2 by Samsung) and has 16GB of internal memory. It is not certain whether Samsung will manufacture the 32GB versions due to higher costs. Within the battery compartment of the device, there is an external microSD card slot that can support up to 32GB of additional storage memory.

Screen
The Samsung Galaxy S2 uses a 4.27-inch (108mm) WVGA Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touch-screen which is covered by Gorilla Glass, a special crack and scratch resistant material. It is believed that not all regions would receive the Super AMOLED Plus model.

Camera
This device features an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, on the back, that can record videos in full high-definition 1080p at a 30Hz frame rate. There is also a front-facing 2-megapixel VGA camera for video calling.

Connectivity
The Samsung Galaxy S2 is one of the earliest Android devices to natively support NFC. This follows on from the Google Nexus S which was the first de-facto NFC smartphone device.

Samsung has also included a new high-definition connection technology called Mobile High-definition Link (MHL). MHL has been noted as being “connection agnostic” in that it can use virtually any interface connection, such as those of HDMI or USB, for sending high-definition uncompressed 1080p video and audio from a mobile device. The main specialty of MHL is that it is optimized for mobile devices by allowing the device’s battery to be charged while at the same time playing back multimedia content. For the Galaxy S II, the standard Micro USB port found on the bottom of the device can be used with an MHL connector for an HDMI connection to an external display such as a high definition television. The mobile device can then draw power from the external display on MHL-supported displays. Currently there are no MHL-supported televisions available but this is expected to change by the Q4 of 2011. On the side of the MHL connector is also standard charger input to still supplement battery charging while outputting multimedia.

A standard 3.5mm TRS headphone jack is available and is located on the top-side of the device. The Micro USB connection port is located on the bottom-side of the device.

Samsung Galaxy S2 Accessories
There are optional separate accessories for this device, which will include, a dock connector for battery charging and audio-visual output, a separate MHL cable which makes use of the device’s Micro USB port for HDMI output and then a USB OTG adapter for use with external USB devices such as USB flash drives.
Amongst the accessories discovered, is also a special stylus pen for use on the device’s capacitive screen

Samsung Galaxy S2 Specification (Software)

Android 2.3
The Samsung Galaxy S2 will ship with Android 2.3.3 (a.k.a. “Gingerbread“) installed.

User interface
The phone employs the latest proprietary Samsung TouchWiz 4.0 user interface. It follows the same principle as TouchWiz 3.0 found on the previous Galaxy but adds new improvements. It also has a new gesture based interaction with the web browser which allows for zooming in and out of a webpage by pressing on the screen with two fingers and moving the device back and forth in a cradle-like movement. This is testament to the Gyroscope and accelerometer used within this device.

There have been improvements to the widgets drawer and layout in how many widgets can be added and how they are presented. Additionally there is new optional gesture-based control on TouchWiz 4.0 for the movement of widgets between screens, by allowing the device to be held and moved from side to side to scroll through home screens. This gesture-based management of widgets is a new optional method next to the existing method of holding and swiping between home screens.

Bundled applications
Four new Samsung 'Hub' applications were revealed at the 2011 Mobile World Congress:

Social Hub

Which integrates popular social networking services like Facebook and Twitter into one place rather than in separate applications.

Readers Hub

This hub provides the ability to access, read and download online newspapers, ebooks and magazines from a worldwide selection.

Music Hub

An application store for downloading and purchasing music tracks on the device. Samsung has teamed up with 7digital to offer this service.

Game Hub

An application store for downloading and purchasing games. Samsung has teamed up with partners including Gameloft to offer this service.

Other applications

More applications include Kies 2.0, Kies Air, AllShare (for DLNA), Voice Recognition, Google Voice Translation, Google Maps with Latitude, Places, Navigation (beta) and Lost Phone Management, Adobe Flash 10.2, QuickOffice application and ‘QuickType’ by SWYPE.

Samsung has also taken steps to include Enterprise software for business users, that include Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, On Device Encryption, Cisco’s AnyConnect VPN, MDM (Mobile Device Management), Cisco WebEx, Juniper, FUZE meeting and secure remote device management from Sybase.

Media support
The Samsung Galaxy S2 comes with support for many multimedia file formats and codecs. For audio it supports (FLAC, WAV, Vorbis, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MID, AC3, XMF), video codecs (mpeg4, H.264, H.263, DivX HD/XviD, VC-1) and video formats (3GP (MPEG-4), WMV (Advanced Systems Format), AVI (divx)).

There is no official mention of whether the video codecs and formats of (Sorenson codec, MKV, FLV) will be supported in this device as like they were in the previous Samsung Galaxy S.

Up to 1080p video resolution playback is supported both on Exynos and Tegra 2 respectively, although unlike the Exynos 4210, Tegra 2 has been stated to not support ‘high profile’ encoded h.264 video.

Samsung Galaxy S2 Release Date

Huge buzz continues to flare across the US with regard to when exactly the Samsung Galaxy S2 will finally land on home soil. While the majority of rumor round-ups have reached something of a consensus regarding a Verizon release in July, the latest leaks are now also pointing toward a Samsung Galaxy S2 full touch 4G coming to the Sprint network.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 release date has also been pegged for July, which is likely to spark a rather ferocious battle for supremacy, given the S2’s already impression reception in the UK.

Samsung Galaxy S2 Price

It appears that the best price for the Samsung Galaxy S2 in the UK is from O2, coming in at £29 per month based on a two year contract depending on what extras you desire from the carrier. Three UK seems to be the next cheapest where you can snap up the Galaxy S2 for £30 pre month on a 24 month contract. T-Mobile offers the Android handset for free for £35.75 per month again on a 2-year agreement. Orange UK offers the Samsung Galaxy S2 as a free handset when purchasing their Dolphin 40 plan, which costs £40 per month when signing up for the usual two-year contract. Vodafone unfortunately comes last, as although you can still get the Galaxy S2 as a free handset, Vodafone asks £36 per month for the device on a 2-year term.

In U.S, While initial reports back in early April indicated the Samsung Galaxy S II would be priced somewhere north of $800, it appears as though things are finally heading south towards the much more reasonable area of $600 to $699.