Thursday 26 April 2012

(Hardware) Samsung Galaxy S 2.

Once again keeping to my promise that id pretty much review anything ever created by man that i can get my hands on I turn my attention to the Samsung Galaxy S 2.

Now i don't currently have and predisposition towards any brand when it comes to consumer gizmos, ive used an iPhone and ive used android, hell ive even had a whirl on one of the new Nokia Lumias running WP7 and trying to find a favourite is rather difficult and probably depends on the kind of person you are.

This phone, as everyone and their aunt will tell you, is currently the best selling Android phone on the market and most peoples favourite go-to device for comparisons with the iPhone 4S.
Thats true but you wont see any comparison here because I believe on judging something technical by its own merit, sure you can review a game and compare it to rivals etc but I believe that something mechanical has a feel to it all its own and that you do a disservice to it by comparing it with anything.
Besides the only phone I can get for a direct comparison is the antique Nokia 3210 I keep in the Draw of Eternal Rest in the kitchen.

The version of the SGS2 I hold is currently running Ice Cream Sandwich, which is a rather huge leap from when it was running Gingerbread, the other delicious sounding "Flavour" of Android.

For the uninitiated it holds within its monolithic black exterior:-

a SuperAMOLED plus capactitive touchscreen (For the un-nerdy: Colorful Shiny Shiny Swishy Screen)
a Dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex A9                        (For the un-Nerdy: Thing that make phone work Fast)
1GB RAM                                                       (For the un-Nerdy: The phones Braaaaaains!)
16/32GB Storage                                             (For the un-Nerdy: Where you put stuff)
MicroSD Slot (upto 32GB                      (For the un-Nerdy: Little slot for little card of MOAR Stuff)
Bluetooth                                                          (For the un-Nerdy: Makes phone talk to other things)
Wifi                                                                  (For the un-Nerdy: Internetz!)
8MP Camera with autofocus and flash               (For the un-Nerdy: Its a damn Camera......)

And a whole lot of smaller stuff that i cant be bloody arsed to type out, put it this way, if you've owned a reasonably smart phone since 2005 then this phone can do all that small stuff i haven't been bothered to write about.

Now the first thing you`ll notice when you hold this phone in your hands (assuming you've turned it on) is how bright and colourful the screen is, it has a wonderful range of colour that seems to just jump right out at you, also the blacks are true blacks, none of this namby pamby fake black you've been hearing about, oh no! this phone has blacks that if stared at long enough will suck you straight into Satans grinning black maw.
You may detect sarcasm within.
Just because the phone is able to display a certain standard of blackness should not be a selling point for anybody, yes it is a good screen but is that really a handset seller for you?

The touch-screen is nice and responsive and considering the battering mine gets on a daily basis its very durable.
It must also be noted that the touch-screen is quite a pain when it comes to fingerprints though, attempting to wipe them off will only lead you to create rainbow-like smears on the screen itself, this is something that truly bothers me, I don't expect to view my book through a kaleidoscope.

Android itself is a very zippy OS, everyday usage of the internet (assuming you've downloaded a sensible browser and not the clunky thing it comes with) and the booting up of applications is fast and almost immediate, the integration of the horribly renamed "Google Play" is excellent.
However there are things about Android that im not particularly sure should be there at this point in the OS`s life.

Chief amongst my complaints with Android is the level of poor applications, i personally try to avoid the Free App category altogether these days because of the level of poor apps aping popular apps, general sleaze-ware and suspected malware.
The Apple infrastructure comes under attack from all comers but i have to say that in this area I couldn't honestly tell you that the Play Store is at the level of the App Store.

The Camera is responsive and pretty good if your into that sort of thing but a quick scout of the internet will find you many phones with a far more advanced camera but thankfully it does come equipped with a good LED flash so unlike it predecessor its capable of running well in the dark.

So what else is there? i could have written a piece the size of Engadget`s usually review posts but I don't feel the need.
The phone connects to the internet well, the OS upgrade was a good thing, Bluetooth works very well and ive experienced no problem with GPS or dropped calls.

So that wonderful big ol` question.

Should you buy it?
No.

Why? well the new one will be out fairly soon so you`ll be throwing money at a product soon to be relegated in terms of its position in the crowded Android market (hah, get it?....oh) and the price drop that will inevitably follow will be quite substantial.
Of course there is a market for cheaper phones and this one is certainly among the best you`ll be able to buy, its fast, easy to use and i find Samsungs TouchWiz interface very intuitive.
                                                   
                                                                       BUT

Phone tech is a sector in which new advancements in chip size and speed occur more and more frequently, NVIDIA posted a graph lately comparing the graphical power of Desktops, Consoles and Mobiles in which the Mobiles have powered up to par with the current (if horribly outmoded) console generation.
Very soon this handy and capable little phone will be forgotten as its big brother comes storming onto the scene and I just cant justify you guys throwing your money at something that will cease to be relevant very very soon.







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