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Samsung Galaxy S2 review

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Verdict:

A fantastic display and dual-core processor make the Samsung Galaxy S2 one of the top Android handsets

Review Date: 14 May 2011

Price when reviewed: £436

Best monthly deal: From £29.00 a month (Handset FREE)

Buy it now for: £245
(see more store prices)

Supplier: http://www.purelygadgets.co.uk

Reviewed By: Richard Goodwin

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

User Rating

ExpertReviews Award

21/11/11 - Having re-tested the S2 using our new video battery life benchmark, we have upgraded it to five stars and awarded it a Best Buy

Samsung continues to go from strength to strength with its first dual-core phone - the Android 2.3.3-equipped successor to last year’s Samsung Galaxy S. Its impressive specification includes a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 Super AMOLED plus display, 8-megapixel camera, a dual core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of internal storage, microSD-support and Samsung’s updated TouchWiz 4.0 UI.

The Galaxy S2 is also one of the thinnest phones available at 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm. It weighs just 116g and is perfectly proportioned with smooth rounded edges. It's a big phone, but, unlike HTC's Desire HD, it doesn't feel particularly large in your hand despite its huge 4.3-inch display.

Like its predecessor, the Galaxy S, the S2 is made almost entirely out of plastic, save for the Gorilla Glass front panel and metallic chrome edging. It still feels like a good-quality phone, though, and the plastic helps cut down on its weight.

There’s one physical Home button on the device, which is flanked by two touch buttons for Menu and Back. One aspect we particularly liked is that to wake the phone you simply press the Home key. There’s no fiddling around on top for an unlock button and this makes handling the phone single-handed much easier.

There's a microUSB port on the bottom for charging and syncing with your PC. In our video playback battery test, its 1,650mAh battery lasted an impressive nine hours and 43 minutes. This puts it on a par with similar phones, such as the Motorola RAZR

On top there's a 3.5mm jack plug which will work with any set of headphones. There’s no HDMI-out as on LG's Optimus 2X, unfortunately, so you'll have to make do with the Galaxy S2’s DLNA capabilities for sharing content wirelessly across a home network.

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Model & Tariff	Mins & Texts	Handset cost	Contract length	Monthly cost	Available from
Samsung Galaxy S2 29.00	600 free minutes Unlimited free texts	£0.00	24 months	£29.00	More info
Samsung Galaxy S2 29.00	600 free minutes Unlimited free texts	£0.00	24 months	£29.00	More info
Samsung Galaxy S2 29.00	600 free minutes Unlimited free texts	£0.00	24 months	£29.00	More info
Samsung Galaxy S2 29.00	600 free minutes Unlimited free texts	£0.00	24 months	£29.00	More info
Samsung Galaxy S2 29.00	600 free minutes Unlimited free texts	£0.00	24 months	£29.00	More info

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User comments

HDMI Output

I understand that there is an official Samsung micro USB MHL to HDMI adapter cable that allows the GT-i9100 to display video on a television.

By Filosofer on 23 May 2011

my thoughts on the Galaxy S2 (2 months use)

I chose the Ericsson w995 2 years ago and finally decided i was forced to convert to the dreaded touchscreen phones- mainly due to most phones on market now r touchscreen other than the de-evolution i call blackberry. i was able to compare in the flesh a friends iphone4 and anotha friends galaxy s. i could tell straight away the galaxys screen looked brighter and more vivid and was slightly bigger? obviously both said their android vs apple piece and i witnessed the common debate in the flesh for the first time! lol i ended up opting for the galaxy s2/android over rhetorically iphone and am glad for a number of simple but important reasons.
Glxy-S2 will send any files i choose on bluetooth - a standard thing for a modern phone to b able to do - not for the iphone! Its true!
The colours and resolution of the Glxy-S2 are beautiful, photos and videos are crystal clear, and even in portrait view its possible for my man thumbs to type out a tx or mail wid relative accuracy although landscape is easier.
The amount of apps on offer on the android market is ridiculous! nearly all are free just with an advert banner at the top or bottom, but if u opt to pay a pound or so u can get them adfree.
Apps could be anything u ever think of, from email Facebook twitter to heartrate monitors, spirit levels and eloctronic drumkits!
U basically start of with an empty 12 gig phone with a few built in apps i.e. settings taak manager clock camera etc and an android market app that when clicked takes u to the android market /Surprise!lol here u can type in anything u want from hd games (amazing btw there near enough ps2 quality games) to pocket motion farts, to scientific calculators!
From what i can tell from my friend although the iphone offers a feeling of exclusivity apple block certain things and ultimately shoot thereselves in the foot. i mean my friend told me that he downloaded a torrent app for his s2 and was able to use it just like he would on his desktop!
The battery lasts a day and a half wid normal call txt use, but if ur using gps or playing games a lot then its a lot less but still reasonable.
Overall i have had no regrets and still 2 months in and i still addicted! great apps foe kids learning 2.
U wont be disappointed with this phone!!

By Urbanite984 on 1 Jul 2011

Samsung Galaxy s2 Has Defeated ITs Comptetors

Galaxy S2 has defeated its competetor fully like iphone 4 and so much advantages over it and has some little bit missing things . To read more click :
http://bit.ly/nuy1eE

By Hateman on 17 Jul 2011

Should i buy this phone or not

well this is very insteresting thing about this mobile because apple has been launched it apple iphone 4 so and apple has unique and largest app store then other but still you can buy this mobile or read more at : http://bit.ly/nuy1eE

By Hateman on 17 Jul 2011