MWC 2011: Samsung overview

Samsung Galaxy S II

The new Galaxy S II is quite a looker actually. It’s extremely thin at just 8.49mm (probably the thinnest smartphone around) and very light at 116g. It feels really elegant and you just can’t get over how thin it really is.

Samsung Galaxy S II live photos

The display is the first Super AMOLED Plus we see on a device. It supports 16 million colors and features a WVGA resolution. You can check it out for yourselves in the pictures below.

The Super AMOLED Plus display of the Samsung Galaxy S II in action

Putting the new Galaxy S II against its predecessor it really doesn’t look so big. It's certainly has a better build and the more sparing use of plain shiny plastic makes it look more sophisticated. The new industrial looking back panel provides a great grip (much as the Galaxy Ace) and its texture is really pleasant to touch.

The back of the Samsung Galaxy S II • The Samsung Galaxy S II compared to its predecessor

The Galaxy S II features what is known internally as Orion 1GHz dual-core processor. We guess it will be called Exynos from now on.

The amount of RAM is confirmed to be 1GB, which puts the Galaxy S II right next to the Motorola Atrix and way ahead of the LG Optimus 2X.

There's 1GB of RAM on board

The Galaxy S II features an 8 megapixel camera on its back. It can record video all the way up to 1080p and this time round it even has an LED flash. Strangely, in 1080p mode it's a bit zoomy much like the iPhone 4. The field of view in this mode is narrower than in the still picture mode. The 720p video mode doesn't have this issue.

The 8MP snapper on the back of the Samsung Galaxy S II

The new Super AMOLED Plus display is quoted to have an improved response time, reportedly beating LCD IPS technology. The should also reduce power consumption by 18%.

The screen's more efficient now so there's no extra stress for the battery

Super AMOLED Plus also comes with a Real Stripe matrix. Theoretically, this means images may be a wee bit sharper looking, though at first glance you won’t see the difference between the regular Super AMOLED and the Plus one. The Pentile matrix of the previous gen SAMOLED screens was the main cause for some overly geeky criticism.

We put together a short video, demonstrating the Galaxy S II user interface. It features the new homescreen widgets, the redesigned camera interface and a quick peak at the Galaxy S II flawless video playback.

Camera and video samples

Update: We got another Galaxy S II unit in better lighting and did some proper samples with it. You will find several new images and a couple of really impressive FullHD samples on the next page.

We now have a few samples, captured with the Samsung Galaxy S II 8 megapixel snapper for you. Chances are we won’t be winning many photo contests with those, but it’s the best we could do in such short time. We’ll update those once we get hold of a Galaxy S II unit in better lighting conditions.

Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II camera sample photos

And here goes a 1080p full HD video for you to feast your eyes on. Just don't forget to click that full HD button!