If Sprint released the Evo3D and SGS2 and Photon on the same day which would you pick?

[you2]

You shoudl read what some of the driod lovers say and the comparisons of droid x to sg1; btw you confuse different issues and totally mis-state the codec situation.
-
Yes tegra is more efficient with some bit rates than other due to the instruction set it supports; but that does not automagically mean that you have to re-encode your videos and that is a different issue than codec.
-
Yes the stock player on some phones will support some codec others will not.
-
So tell me do you have a large (or even small) selection of videos that will run perfectly fine on the Evo3d and stutter on the photon (the photon is the only tegra phone in your list) ?
-
Mind you there are many very good reasons to dislike the Photon but please don't spread FUD.
-
Btw I deliberately did not mention rockplayer; but rather moboplayer.

I doubt that the audio and reception would be so significantly better on the Photon that it would be a deciding factor. And unless the battery lasts three or four days, which it won't, it's not going to be a big differentiator. None of these features are making consumers flock to Moto devices. I don't know why the Photon will be the audio/reception/battery powerhouse none of the its brethren are.

The codec thing is huge because with you don't have to re-encode files for the device. That's literally hundreds of hours a year saved from not having to re-encode files. With Tegra2 devices, you have to re-encode HD files to lower bitrates. Playing files with Rockplayer (which can't handle even 720p files) or VLC is not the same as using the native palyer -- the system player is the one that typically outputs via the HDMI port. And most of the "players" on the market are just skins for the default player. Plus, I use the system player on the Galaxy Tab, and it's got a lot of great features like screen lock, 4 way orientation, and bookmarking and auto-saving your place in the file. If you actually don't use the video player, then you might not get the codec thing. If you're used to wasting your time using Handbrake, you might not get the codec thing.

Removing a phone from consideration because the features don't interest me makes perfect logical sense. Why would I waste my time considering a phone I'm not interested in?

 

[Cobravision]

HD means 720p or 1080p video. The Samsung devices are preloaded with multiple codecs and multiple containers and because the S2 doesn't use the Tegra2, it can playback files encoded at high bitrates. If you want to split hairs go ahead, but the upshot is, you can load 720p and 1080p mkv files encoded with H.264 codec. These files would have to be re-encoded to play on a Tegra2 device like the Photon. This is not FUD, these are the facts. The Moto phones also don't play files encoded with xvid, divx, and wmv natively. The S2 can, because Samsung loaded those codecs and also has the capability of playing back avi and mkv containers. You don't have to re-encode everything to .mp4 for playback.

Again, this is not FUD. This is reality.

HTC typically doesn't support much of anything natively, but I'm not talking about the Evo 3D with regard to codecs. The S2, however, will play these files out of the box and will play them beautifully.

Once again, these are facts, not FUD. I have no idea why you accuse me of FUD anyway.

 

[you2]

Because I keep saying you can install moboplayer or similar and it will play these videos just fine; and you keep going back to the device defauilt software.
-
Anyways I'm sure tegra 2 can handle a resonable bit rate @ 1080p on the photon. Yes it does struggle on the 10.1 inch tablets at higher bit rates. Yes some encodings work better under tegra 2.
-
Yes the samsung has a lovely cpu/gpu as well as a nice display and while some of the software is not so wonderful (as installed) certainly media is a strong point for samsung.
-
Yes h.264 is a weak point for tegra and 10mb/s streams will have trouble (I doubt anyone is playing 10mb/s streams on their phone).

HD means 720p or 1080p video. The Samsung devices are preloaded with multiple codecs and multiple containers and because the S2 doesn't use the Tegra2, it can playback files encoded at high bitrates. If you want to split hairs go ahead, but the upshot is, you can load 720p and 1080p mkv files encoded with H.264 codec. These files would have to be re-encoded to play on a Tegra2 device like the Photon. This is not FUD, these are the facts. The Moto phones also don't play files encoded with xvid, divx, and wmv natively. The S2 can, because Samsung loaded those codecs and also has the capability of playing back avi and mkv containers. You don't have to re-encode everything to .mp4 for playback.

Again, this is not FUD. This is reality.

HTC typically doesn't support much of anything natively, but I'm not talking about the Evo 3D with regard to codecs. The S2, however, will play these files out of the box and will play them beautifully.

Once again, these are facts, not FUD. I have no idea why you accuse me of FUD anyway.

 

[hakujin]

Why do you make this claim; my understanding is the amoled tends to be veyr low powered relative to conventional lcd variants; and the samsung processor likewise seems to be relatively low power relative to the snapdragon... so why do you think the evo3d will have better battery life ?

That's what I heard. Like stated, a 2 day phone vs 3vo 1 day.

Jury's out on what the power profile of the newer RGB SAMOLD+ is, and same for this new 3vo display - and I don't know if Photon has older or newer or what there.

There's been one report published in a UK blog showing much better standby power duration on the Sensation over the SGS2. Can provide link if you've not seen that one.

Until we see this all tested on the 3vo, it's all speculation, imo.

PS - That Sensation battery claim is likely to be in one of these reviews, along with others that claimed opposite results -

http://androidforums.com/htc-sensation/337374-htc-sensation-reviews.html

I'm def. leaning toward 'opposite results' being more accurate based on consensus; and chalk that one positive case as an outlier. I've read more than one review citing the SSG2 as a two day phone, and even if the 3vo is marginally better than Evo 4g, that's likely to be more power hungry than SSG2.

Do you not feel there isn't much credibility to all the tout/hooplah toward Exynos 4210 and Samsung's Orion processor power design and samoled? I can find a lot of warranted issues w/ Tegra platform (imo, Nvidia SoC design is a fledgling in this realm). Nevertheless, this buzz has really peaked my interest too!

Also, don't we have tech history related to OLED Color Patterning Technology and power savings. It would appear to me OLED has already proven itself as an energy saver relative to comparable lcd gen. Dually, in my (very NON) scientific experience, wifeys moment seems to go much further on a charge than my Hero. Never mind huge potential for CyanogenMod render effect tweaks w/ are absolutely worthless hack on LCD. . I'm hugely curious as to how long the SSG2 will go w/ all off or Green/Blue/Red only pixels lit.

We should wager. I have $20 in on better battery life going to the SSG2 or I'll eat crow.

Lastly, I don't see the 3D tech work the knock to camera. Non-rhetorical question: how good -- realistically -- will 3D be (based on tech already out that does this) compared to full fledged movie theater stereoscopic 3d (reald)? I ~still~ find the latter novel, and slightly gimmicky, so I'm really not expecting much in the way of glassless technology at this point; at 24fps no less.

 

[hakujin]

HD means 720p or 1080p video. The Samsung devices are preloaded with multiple codecs and multiple containers and because the S2 doesn't use the Tegra2, it can playback files encoded at high bitrates. If you want to split hairs go ahead, but the upshot is, you can load 720p and 1080p mkv files encoded with H.264 codec. These files would have to be re-encoded to play on a Tegra2 device like the Photon. This is not FUD, these are the facts. The Moto phones also don't play files encoded with xvid, divx, and wmv natively. The S2 can, because Samsung loaded those codecs and also has the capability of playing back avi and mkv containers. You don't have to re-encode everything to .mp4 for playback.

Again, this is not FUD. This is reality.

HTC typically doesn't support much of anything natively, but I'm not talking about the Evo 3D with regard to codecs. The S2, however, will play these files out of the box and will play them beautifully.

Once again, these are facts, not FUD. I have no idea why you accuse me of FUD anyway.

Say it ain't so (but please say it is)! I remember the Moment having some mpeg4 codec native to allow mpeg 4 xvid/.avi playback, though I flashed too quickly to try and mitigate its many other problems, and never got an opportunity to take advantage of it.

The market media player options are horrendous and run non optimized in cpu. This is one sour point on Android that really saddens, particularly coming from Window Mobile and TCPMP which played back xvid even on lowly my lowly ~160mhz SDA. The irony is the geometrically opposed to anything GPL:iOS platform has xbmc, i.e. the holy grail.

So Samsung will include support for x264 in mkv container?! This is HUGE as it would put that fantastic gpu to good use. Exynos is sufficiently capable where Tegra 2 FLOPs with anything at or over 720p H@L5.1 h.264. This is unacceptable.

Because I keep saying you can install moboplayer or similar and it will play these videos just fine; and you keep going back to the device defauilt software.

Haven't tried but heard it lags on 720p H.264 mkvs (at least most hw) like all the others (e.g. Rockplayer, etc.) due in part to lack of acceleration/optimizations support in Android API codec framework. To this end, I HOPE Samsung codecs will fare better and hopeful Google mitigates this problem in future versions as it has been one of my one and only gripes of the Android System over earlier Windows Mobile.

Anyways I'm sure tegra 2 can handle a resonable bit rate @ 1080p on the photon. Yes it does struggle on the 10.1 inch tablets at higher bit rates.

Sure, as long as it's baseline profile, which means re-encode as virtually everything on the web is high profile.

Yes h.264 is a weak point for tegra and 10mb/s streams will have trouble (I doubt anyone is playing 10mb/s streams on their phone).

Nope merely, 5-7Mbps HP x264 mkvs which Tegra 2 will not play stutter free. I can't point you to videos of the Xoom's lousiness in this depart. Even the iPad 1 out performs it in playback, how sad is that?!

This would make a SSG2 (coupled with HDMI), and that cushy 32GB (plus micro SD), a mobile HTPC of sorts for on the go. I for one would LOVE THIS IMMENSELY.


Of course, if the GPS is broken, it's all a rub, and fool me TWICE! :/



EDIT: BTW, going to check moboplayer today, but very cynical that 640x272 xvid will struggle on 710mhz where it plays fine on nearly 1/4 that speed previously on WinMo 5.5 and where even xvid-hd will play stutter free on my archaic xbox 1 (i.e. the big black one). sad...

 

[Cobravision]

The GPS on the S2 isn't as broken as it is on the S, but it's still not as good as the GPS on any HTC device. They did a GPS test between the Sensation, S plus, and S2, and the S2 was the least accurate. However, it did lock quickly, something the Galaxy S phones were having difficulty pulling off.

Samsung threw in multiple container and codec support on the Galaxy S phones and the Galaxy Tab. I've never had a problem playing 720p mkv files on the Galaxy Tab. It's like butter.

I forgot to mention that the native player has SRS Mobile Audio that mixes the 5.1 surround audio for stereo headphones.

You2, are you personally confirming that Tegra2 devices will play all 720p mkv files via Moboplayer? Everywhere I read, they say it's still slow and not smooth.

 

[EarlyMon]

WifelyMon's Shift blows battery life of Moment away. By about 6 or more hours. Proving what?

I simply maintain that SAMOLED+, NON-pentile, is new and must be known before deciding we know it acts like earlier technologies.

 

[Cobravision]

The Moment has insanely bad battery life. I don't know if that is because of the SAMOLED screen, but the Moment is such a hunk of garbage it's hard to say that's the chief problem.

That said, the energy efficiency of SAMOLED screens are grossly overstated. If you use a lot of black backgrounds, you may see some battery savings. But in the real world, where most webpages use white backgrounds, SAMOLED will actually worsen battery consumption. But the reviews of the S2 units in Europe are stating the S2 is a two day phone with "typical use". The way I use my device it will probably be more like a one day phone, but compared to my Evo, I'll take that in a heartbeat.

Just to clarify an earlier point - mkv container and 720p H.264 support was included in the Galaxy S.

 

[drexappeal]

Sneak Peak Best Dynamic Dual-Cores of Summer: HTC EVO 3D vs Sensation 4G vs Motorola Photon vs Droid Bionic - WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

Didn't get to read it, but here's a comparison of the super phones.

 

[hakujin]

oops. pls. delete.

 

[hakujin]

WifelyMon's Shift blows battery life of Moment away. By about 6 or more hours. Proving what?

I simply maintain that SAMOLED+, NON-pentile, is new and must be known before deciding we know it acts like earlier technologies.

Is that really comparable gen? :/. Have OLED expectations largely been a wash?

The Moment has insanely bad battery life. I don't know if that is because of the SAMOLED screen, but the Moment is such a hunk of garbage it's hard to say that's the chief problem.

Eek! Besides the broken GPS in ours, I guess it must be a prototype or my 24 hour on mod use Hero is even stinkier garbage. I tend to think not tho. Moment usually carries her 2 days, running DL05 Beta 6 Froyo, no bloat .

That said, the energy efficiency of SAMOLED screens are grossly overstated. If you use a lot of black backgrounds, you may see some battery savings. But in the real world, where most webpages use white backgrounds, SAMOLED will actually worsen battery consumption..

News, thanks. But what about w/ Cyanogen color render effect? I'm wondering if the SSG2 will yield me maybe even 3 days on camping trip, with maybe only 2G only for the most part (3G radio off)...

Just to clarify an earlier point - mkv container and 720p H.264 support was included in the Galaxy S.

Tegra 2 SoCs can play 720p h.264. But can it play high profile (i.e. NOT baseline)? That's the crux. Baseline is rarely used.

The GPS on the S2 isn't as broken as it is on the S, but it's still not as good as the GPS on any HTC device. They did a GPS test between the Sensation, S plus, and S2, and the S2 was the least accurate. However, it did lock quickly, something the Galaxy S phones were having difficulty pulling off.

Layman's terms, I don't see GPS in color. It either gets a fix on location and works or does not to me. Does the SSG2 work and get fix? I usually turn off WiFi location, and use GPS status, if that matters My Hero has been buggin out lately in this regard. It's always been an issue for me on Gingerbread, not so on Froyo.

 

[Cobravision]

Yes, the Galaxy Tab can play high profile. The files I view have overall bitrates from 3600-4700 kpbs. So it is not limited to baseline. Actually, I only watch high profile videos on it, with AC3 audio and everything. Considering the Galaxy S has the same chipset and lower res screen, it should be able to do it as well.

Any pixel with color requires one or more of the subpixels to light up. So black means none of the subpixels are lighting up, ergo no power being used. But white requires all three to light up, and bright white pixels will consume more power on SAMOLED than on LCD. When laptop review did their battery tests, they had a script opening a series of web pages until the battery gave out. The Galaxy S series, with SAMOLED screens did worse than the Evo (and the Evo was awful, clocking in at under 5 hours). That was due to the majority of web pages having white backgrounds. The brighter you drive a SAMOLED screen, the worse it is with battery consumption. The 4.3" S2 screen will undoubtedly use more juice than the 4" screen on the original S.

In any case, there are a lot of other efficiencies in the S2 including processor idling that extend battery life. So whether or not the SAMOLED screen is better with the battery or actually worse than LCD, the phone itself is able to economize regardless. 3 days on a camping trip with all radios off is doable, but it really depends on what you're doing with it. My SGT in airplane mode loses 3-5% a day. But it's still only going to last for about 7-8 hours of video playback.

 

[hakujin]

i'm familiar with how SAMOLED works (at least, to that extent). I was speaking toward cyanogen render effect. in using it, the the entire screen can be made, green, blue or red. Even white backgrounds, as you mentioned, will be displayed as such. This is a tweak purposefully for SAMOLED, and I wonder how battery life fares with it.

Your galaxy tab sports PowerVR SGX 540 yes? Tegra 2 does not support high profile. The reason for this being horsepower is highly unlikely, but nevertheless, Nvidia has publicly acknowledged this 'problem', and also it has been stated (directly or indirectly) that they can't fix this w/ a driver or fw update.There is a video online somewhere which shows playback of planet earth opening scene of ep1, I believe only 720p H@L5.1 h.264 and it was choppy on tegra 2 tablet, but I can't find it right now and Game of Thrones is on.

 

[drexappeal]

Galaxy S2 Killers: Motorola’s Shiny Droid Bionic & Photon 4G : Online Social Media

 

[drexappeal]

Android Kings: Motorola Photon 4G vs Samsung Galaxy S2

 

[stlc8tr]

I also love the qHD resolution, but as a certain moderator is prone to repeating, resolution is the least important factor in evaluating a display. I completely believe that the 800 X 480 SAMOLED+ screen looks better than the qHD display on the Evo 3D.

I'm of the completely opposite opinion as resolution is the most important thing for me. As long as it's a decent display (e.g. non-pentile), having more pixels to display web pages, emails, etc. is much more useful than anything else. That's why the 3D is still the leading contender while I'm fairly sure that the Photon is out of the running because of the pentile display.

 

[Cobravision]

The 4G WiMAX capable Motorola Photon 4G has Sammy's dual-core Android beat in a couple of areas. For starters Motorola Photon will have 540x960 pixels resolution compared to Samsung Galaxy S2’s 480x800 pixels resolution*, dual LED flash versus single on the S2**, larger 1700mAh battery (S2 has 1650mAh)***, built-in kickstand****, enterprised tailored security alongside enterprise apps courtesy of new MOTOBLUR*****, Webtop app (can connect to a lapdock just like the Motorola Atrix 4G)****** and lastly, it is a world phone which means the consumers have international GSM roaming so that they can access their email, calendar and contacts from anywhere*******.

* Resolution itself does not define which screen is better. Every review comparison I've read ranks the S2's SAMOLED+ screen over any qHD LCD screen. Better contrast, richer colors, and better viewing angles trump the bump in resolution of qHD.

** Is this a joke? Let's see how the respective cameras perform before we start with the LED flash wars.

*** Is this a joke pt 2? A measly 50mah increase in battery size is something to sneeze at. In any case, let's see which phone lasts longer with real world usage. A 3% bump in battery capacity is pretty much a push in my book.

**** Kickstand is a nice feature, I won't knock it. But I'd rather have the super slim form factor of the S2 over the kickstand.

***** Not really earthshaking, but a nice feature, I guess.

****** Not much of a feature -- the dock costs more than a netbook that gives you more functionality.

******* This is a good feature and essential for frequent travelers. I, however, don't need it.

Of course, the S2 is thinner and lighter, has a nicer screen, has multiple container and codec support, 1080p video capture, and a more powerful chipset.

 

[viber]

I like the idea of a higher resolution display as long as the hardware offsets the difference with penalty free performance. I'm going to wager that is part of the S2's raw performance formula. Big hardware + less pixels gives big benchmark numbers.

Based purely up the Atrix, I have reservations about the Photon; I don't like the Tegra2 at all. I think the Atrix is just a bad phone altogether.

However, I'd like to think Motorola has learned something since then, and has streamlined Blur, and improved overall hardware/software efficiency and performance.

And Kudos to Sprint for putting together such a great lineup with enough distinction between products that there truly is something for everyone. People have been asking for a world phone, and here it is with the Photon.

 

[you2]

Two contraditioncs:
3600-4700 kpbs is signficantly less than 10mbps.
The resolution of the 7inch galaxy tab is significantly less than the xoom.
You never said which galaxy tab you have but if it is 7 inch wifi version it is significantly slower than tegra 2.
-

Yes, the Galaxy Tab can play high profile. The files I view have overall bitrates from 3600-4700 kpbs. So it is not limited to baseline. Actually, I only watch high profile videos on it, with AC3 audio and everything. Considering the Galaxy S has the same chipset and lower res screen, it should be able to do it as well.

Any pixel with color requires one or more of the subpixels to light up. So black means none of the subpixels are lighting up, ergo no power being used. But white requires all three to light up, and bright white pixels will consume more power on SAMOLED than on LCD. When laptop review did their battery tests, they had a script opening a series of web pages until the battery gave out. The Galaxy S series, with SAMOLED screens did worse than the Evo (and the Evo was awful, clocking in at under 5 hours). That was due to the majority of web pages having white backgrounds. The brighter you drive a SAMOLED screen, the worse it is with battery consumption. The 4.3" S2 screen will undoubtedly use more juice than the 4" screen on the original S.

In any case, there are a lot of other efficiencies in the S2 including processor idling that extend battery life. So whether or not the SAMOLED screen is better with the battery or actually worse than LCD, the phone itself is able to economize regardless. 3 days on a camping trip with all radios off is doable, but it really depends on what you're doing with it. My SGT in airplane mode loses 3-5% a day. But it's still only going to last for about 7-8 hours of video playback.

 

[Cobravision]

Two contraditioncs:
3600-4700 kpbs is signficantly less than 10mbps.
The resolution of the 7inch galaxy tab is significantly less than the xoom.
You never said which galaxy tab you have but if it is 7 inch wifi version it is significantly slower than tegra 2.
-

4000kbps is considered high profile. Baseline is more like 1200kpbs. If you're throwing 10mbps as some cutoff, that's FUD on your part. None of my videos are encoded that high, and as a practical matter, 10mpbs is probably overkill for HDTV much less a qHD screen. So if you want to argue that a Hummingbird device is in the same boat as a Tegra2 device because neither can handle 10mpbs, that's FUD. That fact that Tegra2 can't handle >1.5mbps means it's a step down.

And yes, the Hummingbird chipset on the 7" SGT is slower than the Tegra2, yet it can playback 4mbps videos. That's a sad commentary on the Tegra2.

And I agree with stlc8tr -- if the Photon has a pentile matrix screen like the Atrix, I wouldn't even consider it in the running.

 

[apinkel]

I'm very interested which screen is better when it comes to surfing the web, reading emails, etc.. I just can't get a feel for that in the video reviews. The better contrast ratio of the AMOLED screen comes across but there's just not enough resolution in a youtube clip to know if the added resolution of a qHD screen significantly improves readability with text.

That's an area where I'll need hands on to make a final determination.

 

[heavychevy]

I'm very interested which screen is better when it comes to surfing the web, reading emails, etc.. I just can't get a feel for that in the video reviews. The better contrast ratio of the AMOLED screen comes across but there's just not enough resolution in a youtube clip to know if the added resolution of a qHD screen significantly improves readability with text.

That's an area where I'll need hands on to make a final determination.

I was wondering this as well, my problem with the Samsung is that on the official DEMO video, it didn't resize the words to all fit on the page when the guy used the copy and paste feature. Maybe it does actually do that, but it didn't do it on that video. Anyone know if the galaxy browsers do that, or is if at least Dolphin browser will do it on there.

I had all but changed my mind to get a "Within" yesterday after seeing the comparos with the Sensation (the Galaxy screen looks far better to me) until I read through the SII forums and saw all of the problems, plus the blogs noting all of the users having problems, plus my wife's epic having problems. With Samsungs slow support system, seems like too much of a hassle for me.

I'm still on the fence though.

 

[you2]

I have a tegra 2 device (do you?). It can play 1080p @ 2mb/s fine. Btw I think you missed part of comment on the wifi version of the 7 inch display. It lacks the faster GPU of the g3 version.
-
Anyways this is my last post on the topic. I fully acknowledge that tegra 2 devices have issues with high bit rates at 1080p and the instruction set is non optimal for certain encodings. I also will state that MY tegra2 device can play 1080p streams fine; BUT since I like to keep the streams below 4GB (and often 2GB) I've only encoded a few test streams; as the bit rate used for those relatively small file sizes will produce higher quality streams at 720P (or lower).
-
I think it is time to close this debate. You clearly don't have a tegra 2 device and I fully acknowledge that tegra 2 instruction set is non optimal for some encodings.

4000kbps is considered high profile. Baseline is more like 1200kpbs. If you're throwing 10mbps as some cutoff, that's FUD on your part. None of my videos are encoded that high, and as a practical matter, 10mpbs is probably overkill for HDTV much less a qHD screen. So if you want to argue that a Hummingbird device is in the same boat as a Tegra2 device because neither can handle 10mpbs, that's FUD. That fact that Tegra2 can't handle >1.5mbps means it's a step down.

And yes, the Hummingbird chipset on the 7" SGT is slower than the Tegra2, yet it can playback 4mbps videos. That's a sad commentary on the Tegra2.

And I agree with stlc8tr -- if the Photon has a pentile matrix screen like the Atrix, I wouldn't even consider it in the running.

 

[ArmageddonX]

I'm very interested which screen is better when it comes to surfing the web, reading emails, etc.. I just can't get a feel for that in the video reviews. The better contrast ratio of the AMOLED screen comes across but there's just not enough resolution in a youtube clip to know if the added resolution of a qHD screen significantly improves readability with text.

That's an area where I'll need hands on to make a final determination.

This is sort of what happen to me. I had been watching video reviews and browsing the forums for several weeks and I had decided that an AMOLED screen was a "must have" feature for me.

So I went and spent a couple hours in-store with a qHD-LCD (Droid X2) and a Super AMOLED Plus (Droid Charge). I discovered I much preferred the brightness and resolution on the qHD-LCD. Also (on a personal level) I felt the sA+ was over saturated & looked unnatural.

Keep in mind I came to this conclusion on a personal level as everyone should as well. These are just my opinions. Also keep in mind the X2 is a PenTile qHD-LCD, and while impressive, the "rgb" qHD-LCD in the Evo3D should be even better.

 

[you2]

Not 100% sure but if you are talking about the zoom/reformat feature to make text fit on a page; as far as I know that is a local HTC modification. It is super nifty and I'm surprise it has not not yet been copied by google and other folks.
-
I've not seen a consistent pattern of issues on the S2. A few folks seem to have recharge issue and a few folks seem to have hardware issue but it is far different than with the S1 where nearly everyone has GPS issues.
-
Probably the most consistent issue I've seen with the S2 is weak reception (mostly for wifi).
-
I am interested in which issues you've seen with the S2. The problem with blogs/user boards is that there will be a certain number of devices that have hardware issues (qa) and a certain number of user issues (people who don't know what they are doing) and the difficult part is weeding out design issues from QA and user issue (I'm willing to ignore QA issue because I can always exchange the device).
-
The GPS issues on the S1 (plus sprint adding a keyboard) were deal breakers for me. The S2 looks more promising though I'm a bit concern abuot antenna (reception) issues.
-
This is not to say that the S2 has other serious issues; I just haven't found enough commonality to recognize them yet.

I was wondering this as well, my problem with the Samsung is that on the official DEMO video, it didn't resize the words to all fit on the page when the guy used the copy and paste feature. Maybe it does actually do that, but it didn't do it on that video. Anyone know if the galaxy browsers do that, or is if at least Dolphin browser will do it on there.

I had all but changed my mind to get a "Within" yesterday after seeing the comparos with the Sensation (the Galaxy screen looks far better to me) until I read through the SII forums and saw all of the problems, plus the blogs noting all of the users having problems, plus my wife's epic having problems. With Samsungs slow support system, seems like too much of a hassle for me.

I'm still on the fence though.