Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II review: Brightest star

13 May 2011
It looks like the point where it all ends. A galaxy outgrowing its own limits. An explosion of energy and speed. An overdose of smartphone power. A phone that makes you love the smell of Android in the morning. The likes of Samsung I9100. Update: Samsung Dive overview added...

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  • M
  • My review
  • PSd
  • 21 Aug 2011

the very best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LNL56Aae08&feature=feedlik

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • 4cS
    • 21 Aug 2011

    Samsung could of made a thin version of galaxy s2 and a normal version with bigger battery life. I know I would choose the one with longer battery life.

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      • Tina
      • utu
      • 18 Aug 2011

      Anonymous, 17 Aug 2011my chosed samsung g2 mostly because of its low weight coz i... morefirst of all i dont feel like replying to someone anonymous...second i dont think that taking a 8.45 mm to 10 or 11 mm in a phone would Actually make it THICK or HEAVY...

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • tAx
        • 17 Aug 2011

        Tina, 16 Aug 2011samsung has made ALMOST an excellent phone. ALMOST. i dont ... moremy chosed samsung g2 mostly because of its low weight coz its thin. sorry

          • A
          • Akhilesh
          • vIf
          • 16 Aug 2011

          uk27, 31 Jul 2011I bought this phone on 23rd of this month. First and gre... moreif you connect MW600 with SGS 2 then pls. let me know because i am not able to connect.

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            • Tina
            • utu
            • 16 Aug 2011

            samsung has made ALMOST an excellent phone. ALMOST. i dont get why they are so obsessed with getting it so thin. ????? WHY???? has anybody from u heard ever complaints about smartphones being thick??? i've never heard such complaints. what is the only BIG COMPLAINT u can hear all the time about smartphones? is it that its too thick??? no, all smartphones suck because of battery life. those smartasses in samsung were so clever to create the worlds thinest smartphone but WHY ???? why did not they dedicate some extra 2mm for the battery??? some extra 2mm would at least triplle the size of miseralbe 1650mah battery and would triple the gaps between charging.
            has any body heard complaints about smartphones being too heavy??? i have not. so some extra 20-30 grams would not make a difference.

              • B
              • Behdad
              • 3DV
              • 15 Aug 2011

              i saw one of the most stupid hands-on video in this review... removing the sim car and battery while phone is still on and working?
              absolutely stupid work.

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                • AnonD-17831
                • pEZ
                • 14 Aug 2011

                One thing this or basically all Android phones lack is proper backup. So far it seems only solution is to hack (root) is the only answer. Only then i can use titanium backup or similar appz to backup my program and its settings.

                A few other things i dont like about GSII is the "low" resolution. Compared i iPhone4 it isnt all that good for browsing. The text get pixely. dont get me wrong the screen is amazing for movies but not for text.

                A few other things that its bad at is the battery charging takes forever, almost 3 times longer compared to iPhone + battery doesn't last so long. Another disappointing Android feature i see is that stuff like copy/past/text select are not consistent throughout the phone. Very annoying.
                Sure this is the best android phone right now but coming from iPhone4 i cant help compare how poorly Android still is. Even comparing same applications between Android vs iPhone show how badly they work on Android (ex: TuneIn Radio, IGN ...)

                My list is long but i think you get the picture.

                  • u
                  • uk27
                  • 2SR
                  • 31 Jul 2011

                  AnonD-13851, 14 Jul 20111-Stop Kies (pressing the Home key) 2-Choose settings , th... moreYou have to download Kies from the samsung site and install it on the windows pc first. and do the rest.

                    • u
                    • uk27
                    • 2SR
                    • 31 Jul 2011

                    Tina, 05 Jul 2011Peter n Other s2 admirers if u like every thing about the s... moreYes. I agree. Battery life is poor. Should have been better, considering the opening of the back cover a delicate process if a second battery is an option.

                      • u
                      • uk27
                      • 2SR
                      • 31 Jul 2011

                      Jota, 05 Jul 2011I don't know why no one talks about the horrible color band... moreYes. I think the images are over-saturated on the display. When transferred to PC, they are not TRUE to the saturation found on the phone display. Apart from the fact that digital zooming is useless, almost.

                        • u
                        • uk27
                        • 2SR
                        • 31 Jul 2011

                        I bought this phone on 23rd of this month.

                        First and great disappointment is, there is NO phone number display along with names which i badly want. Even cheap phones have this feature. (Funnily only cheap phones have it). This would have been a great help in copying phone numbers to paper or while making calls from the land phone. It will also help to remember phone numbers.
                        Other niggles:
                        The phone is very slippery, in my opinion.
                        Lack of a dedicated camera button is bad. This will make the volume button press inadvertently.
                        Micros SD card slot is not hot swappable. I have to take not only the back cover but the battery also to get the MSD card.
                        The bundled pouch is very protective, but less useful. It is difficult to the use the device when the call comes or to use the camera fast. I will be using it without the pouch sooner.
                        To add insult to injury, NO USB on the GO adapter is available here.
                        The supplied earphone is a joke. There is no pause button. While listening to music,if a call comes, we have to stop the music.
                        Mono bluetooth headset will not support audio/music; only calls will be supported.
                        Therefore I bought 'Sony Ericsson's MW600' stereo bluetooth headset today, which has almost everything I need. It can pair with 3 devices and has built-in FM radio too.
                        Now, the positive sides:
                        I am happy with it anyway.
                        Excellent display. Good call quality. As a phone very good, except for the phone number display...
                        I like to use the device for reading pdf files,but it is difficult to keep the reader minimised, as it is often get closed or if i reopen it afterwards, the settings ie, the previous reading session is changed. Is there a solution, can I retain the last read setting intact?
                        I would like to know, is there any way to send attachment using the e-mail like gmail or rediffmail?



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                          • AnonD-13496
                          • Xuk
                          • 22 Jul 2011

                          I had some issues with my battery draining, but after the 2.3.4 update it all got fixed, I did the update from here, http://www.phonesarchive.com/tutorials/update-samsung-galaxy-s2-gt-i9100-to-android-gingerbread-234-xxkg2.html

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                            • AnonD-10064
                            • K7g
                            • 21 Jul 2011

                            yeah it's a very good phone,they did not rush it's software good specs among other phones,but the quality build is the real rush build in plastic!the specs are copycat,while built in quality is rushed.

                              • E
                              • Ezee
                              • vGF
                              • 15 Jul 2011

                              Confused .., 05 Jul 2011i have read many reviews for SE Xperia Arc and for SGS2 .. ... moreSamsung Galaxy S2..Download full HD wallpaper and watch that wallpaper in Samsung Galaxy S2 & Sony Erixsson Arc or any Sony Ericsson..You will see the difference..Trust me..

                                • A
                                • Ajab
                                • uvj
                                • 15 Jul 2011

                                alvin, 12 Jul 2011Hi all, Can anyone tell me how to send and receive data ... moreCan anyone tell how to use macromode on gs2?

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                                  • AnonD-13851
                                  • pXK
                                  • 14 Jul 2011

                                  alvin, 12 Jul 2011Hi all, Can anyone tell me how to send and receive data ... more1-Stop Kies (pressing the Home key)
                                  2-Choose settings , then Wireless and Network, then USB something (I´m not using the GS2 right now...sorry!)
                                  3-Wait a bit for thr computer to register the 2 cards (8/16GB internal and the External SD, if any)
                                  4- Transfer files

                                    • a
                                    • alvin
                                    • vLy
                                    • 12 Jul 2011

                                    Hi all,

                                    Can anyone tell me how to send and receive data via USB cable on the Samsung galaxy S2 ? usually when we connect the usb cable to the pc , we get options like data storage nd stuff like that , well i don't get such an option with the galaxy s2. Any help wld be highly appreciated. Thanks a bunch in advance

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                                      • Fongy
                                      • Gjj
                                      • 11 Jul 2011

                                      Your Beloved Peter, 05 Jul 2011You don't get it. As most junior developers do. I do not... moreNo offence, but personally I think you're barmy...
                                      Life's waaaay too short to even be remotely angry about things like lock screens...
                                      To be honest, it slides (as opposed to having a slider) and it tells the date / time...
                                      I rarely see it because it's unlocked in a flash...
                                      If anything, I think HTC are going the wrong direction by allowing feeds, etc on a lock screen - that must surely eat battery... possibly proven by how bad the Sensation's battery fares...
                                      Anyway..
                                      Glad we can all agree that this phone is by far the best out there, and it's going to take something very special to beat it...
                                      ;)

                                        • p
                                        • philippines
                                        • v0q
                                        • 09 Jul 2011

                                        so yeah i got mine this week. overall experience is mind boggling!! i previously used nokia n81, nokia N95, then samsung omniaII, samsung wave and then this galaxy s2... and all i can say is what an upgrade this is!!! had some hands on with htc and iphone4 and i can truly say gs2 is the best choice at least for me. android is great os for me. advantages are the screen, sound (with earphone only because in loudspeaker my wave was louder and clearer), customization, eyecandies and the speed specially during web browsing...way faster than my officemate's pc in playing you tube haha!! i have downloaded 70+ apps and counting... cant contain myself.
                                        some negative would be (as they say) the plastic design (which i covered with a casing, problem solved),and the very pitiful box it came with, i couldnt believe it could contain the 4.3" phone i paid for...doesnt have a usable instruction guide. Also there's something weird about the sms converting to mms when its too long like 4 msgs long and you cant turn it back. maybe theres something i shd tweek on the settings. im yet to read (using my gs2 ofcourse hehe) the guidebook i downloaded. so there, hope i dont encounter much problem and i doubt i will. if any1 knows what to do about the sms converting to mms, will truly appreciate. thanks