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Official user reviews thread
- Thread starter maerlim
- Start date
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- Tags
- samsung galaxy s2
AndroidDazed
Newbie
I got my GSII yesterday morning, so I haven't even had it for a full day yet, but I must say that this phone is incredible and it blows away all expectations in every way possible. I can't say enough good things about it.
Now mind you, this is my first android device and it comes after 3.5 years of carrying around an iPhone 3G - so I'm upgrading from relatively old dinosaur technology to cutting-edge NEW tech and thus I may not be the best comparator out there - however, I'm super impressed.
I can't believe what I've been missing all these years with android. I'm thrilled to be out from under Apple's arrogant umbrella, and to have so many options and tweaks available to me to set this thing up exactly how I want it.
Not to mention, this phone is incredibly fast and smooth. It rivals my laptop with page loads and smoothness. I can't say enough positive about it.
And as far as battery life is concerned, I was a little worried after reading these forums for the last few months, but I must say that battery life is quite good. From 100%, I played with the thing for a few hours last night, surfing the web, changing settings, customizing, etc. and it only went down to about 85%. I then again charged it before going to bed and it got back up to 100%. When I awoke this morning, the indicator bar didn't budge from the top, and when I went to the detailed view it said 94%.
Now mind you, this is my first android device and it comes after 3.5 years of carrying around an iPhone 3G - so I'm upgrading from relatively old dinosaur technology to cutting-edge NEW tech and thus I may not be the best comparator out there - however, I'm super impressed.
I can't believe what I've been missing all these years with android. I'm thrilled to be out from under Apple's arrogant umbrella, and to have so many options and tweaks available to me to set this thing up exactly how I want it.
Not to mention, this phone is incredibly fast and smooth. It rivals my laptop with page loads and smoothness. I can't say enough positive about it.
And as far as battery life is concerned, I was a little worried after reading these forums for the last few months, but I must say that battery life is quite good. From 100%, I played with the thing for a few hours last night, surfing the web, changing settings, customizing, etc. and it only went down to about 85%. I then again charged it before going to bed and it got back up to 100%. When I awoke this morning, the indicator bar didn't budge from the top, and when I went to the detailed view it said 94%.
Tasmin
Well-Known Member
Grabbed mine on the way in to work this morning, so I haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet. But initial impressions:
It downloaded and installed ~20 apps from the Google servers when I entered my account info and told it to retrieve them in an eyeblink.
The UI is crazy fast and smooth. This is the first version of TouchWiz that has tempted me to stay with it for a while.
I used it to check traffic before I pulled out of the AT&T parking lot. It locked on and showed me traffic conditions in less than 10 seconds (I turned wifi off first so I wasn't pulling from the store's signal).
Because I haven't had a chance to tweak it out yet, it keeps making off the wall notification noises periodically. Fortunately, my boss (with whom I share an office) finds this almost as funny as I do, so the phone is even providing comedic relief throughout the day! Truly the full package
But seriously, I am coming from the Captivate. I had one of the better units (no major problems except the extreme GPS suckage) once I installed a custom ROM. Still, even my beloved Cappy in it's prime couldn't begin to compare, much less compete.
It downloaded and installed ~20 apps from the Google servers when I entered my account info and told it to retrieve them in an eyeblink.
The UI is crazy fast and smooth. This is the first version of TouchWiz that has tempted me to stay with it for a while.
I used it to check traffic before I pulled out of the AT&T parking lot. It locked on and showed me traffic conditions in less than 10 seconds (I turned wifi off first so I wasn't pulling from the store's signal).
Because I haven't had a chance to tweak it out yet, it keeps making off the wall notification noises periodically. Fortunately, my boss (with whom I share an office) finds this almost as funny as I do, so the phone is even providing comedic relief throughout the day! Truly the full package
But seriously, I am coming from the Captivate. I had one of the better units (no major problems except the extreme GPS suckage) once I installed a custom ROM. Still, even my beloved Cappy in it's prime couldn't begin to compare, much less compete.
AndroidDazed
Newbie
I wasn't previously aware of any mention of an FM tuner, but after y'all pointed this out, sure enough it claims on the AT&T site that an FM tuner feature should exist.
After thoroughly searching through this thing, I can attest that there isn't one.
After thoroughly searching through this thing, I can attest that there isn't one.
My first android phone.
I got the phone Sunday 10/2 from a Best Buy Store.
Upgraded from an iPhone 4 and man I must say this was definitely an upgrade.
The phone itself is super lightweight, the screen size is perfect, and the look and feel of the phone is really nice in your hands. I have had every single iPhone since the first one came out, and have always jailbroke my i-devices but with the GS2 there is so much freedom that iphones don't have, I haven't came across a reason to root it yet. It has done everything I want it to right out of the box.
The screen is very very nice, yes it's a lower resolution than the iphone4, but it makes up greatly with the vibrant colors and the larger size that I really don't notice the lesser pixel count. I can really enjoy watching videos now instead of looking at a 3" screen.
The phone is also very very fast, as in it can load apps, webpages, videos and music at a surprisingly fast rate. I no longer have to sit and wait for a YouTube video to load while in the middle of the video, it just loads right up on the GS2. It's nice to actually have a "real" web-browser with flash support too.
The Market place was a little different for me, I was used to having a large amount of apps to choose from. The Android market does have allot more free apps, and the ability to try-before-you-buy type apps are pretty cool.
The battery life for me hasn't been so good partially due to the fact that I can't put the phone down. It's like I keep finding new things about the phone, or downloading apps that I'm wearing out the battery just cause I'm using the phone so damn much. But The battery does last a good amount of time with normal everyday use.
Overall this phone has far exceeded my expectations and definitely want to stay on android for along while. I would recommend this phone to anyone thinking of moving from and iPhone or any other at&t device just because of the amount of freedom you have and the speed of this phone is amazing.
I got the phone Sunday 10/2 from a Best Buy Store.
Upgraded from an iPhone 4 and man I must say this was definitely an upgrade.
The phone itself is super lightweight, the screen size is perfect, and the look and feel of the phone is really nice in your hands. I have had every single iPhone since the first one came out, and have always jailbroke my i-devices but with the GS2 there is so much freedom that iphones don't have, I haven't came across a reason to root it yet. It has done everything I want it to right out of the box.
The screen is very very nice, yes it's a lower resolution than the iphone4, but it makes up greatly with the vibrant colors and the larger size that I really don't notice the lesser pixel count. I can really enjoy watching videos now instead of looking at a 3" screen.
The phone is also very very fast, as in it can load apps, webpages, videos and music at a surprisingly fast rate. I no longer have to sit and wait for a YouTube video to load while in the middle of the video, it just loads right up on the GS2. It's nice to actually have a "real" web-browser with flash support too.
The Market place was a little different for me, I was used to having a large amount of apps to choose from. The Android market does have allot more free apps, and the ability to try-before-you-buy type apps are pretty cool.
The battery life for me hasn't been so good partially due to the fact that I can't put the phone down. It's like I keep finding new things about the phone, or downloading apps that I'm wearing out the battery just cause I'm using the phone so damn much. But The battery does last a good amount of time with normal everyday use.
Overall this phone has far exceeded my expectations and definitely want to stay on android for along while. I would recommend this phone to anyone thinking of moving from and iPhone or any other at&t device just because of the amount of freedom you have and the speed of this phone is amazing.
Droid_Genius
Android Enthusiast
This phone is great, Touchwiz 4.0 is my favorite skin now and the fact that ATT let me uninstall their apps and can side-load without hack! Its like a Holiday
CrimsonPride
Android Expert
I am also a user coming from a captivate, and also a good captivate, only had the phone a day but i have a pretty good idea about it. i loved my captivate the entire time i had it, until last week my power button went dead and had to replace it. and on a side note att's customer service charged me $333 for calling and ordering the phone, and wouldnt "price match" the in store or online price, i called 10 times trying to get an explanation but no one could give me one
onto the review, the phone is very good, actually surprisingly good. i have purchased adw and launcherpro but im still on touchwiz, its very smooth and looks good.
the feel of the phone is good, i dont even like picking up my captivate anymore because it doesnt feel as good. the gs2 is real solid and compact but very light at the same time
the camera is amazing as well. i can take pictures in nearly complete darkness and the picture comes out very natural looking and cant even tell a flash was used
everything is also very responsive. i believe this has truly brought the smoothness of iphones to android.
and let me not forget the screen, very beautiful. again the feel of the screen is good, i never liked the feel of the screen on motorola phones as, to me, they felt somewhat plastic. and the gorilla glass is good as always, owned my captivate since release day and there is only 1 small scratch that is visible. and i never had a screen protector on my phone, and hardly ever had a case on it
finally all the applications run smooth, especially the internet. again its iphone smoothness on android which is really the only thing iphone had over android until now
the only thing i have not been able to test as of yet is sound quality, which was extremely good on the captivate. I know the sgs2 has a very loud external speaker, which is good however
i really have found no negatives to this point. i truly believe it is the best phone on the market currently. i would recommend it to anyone, as touchwiz is easy to use it may be easier for people to pick up as compared to different skins on android.
onto the review, the phone is very good, actually surprisingly good. i have purchased adw and launcherpro but im still on touchwiz, its very smooth and looks good.
the feel of the phone is good, i dont even like picking up my captivate anymore because it doesnt feel as good. the gs2 is real solid and compact but very light at the same time
the camera is amazing as well. i can take pictures in nearly complete darkness and the picture comes out very natural looking and cant even tell a flash was used
everything is also very responsive. i believe this has truly brought the smoothness of iphones to android.
and let me not forget the screen, very beautiful. again the feel of the screen is good, i never liked the feel of the screen on motorola phones as, to me, they felt somewhat plastic. and the gorilla glass is good as always, owned my captivate since release day and there is only 1 small scratch that is visible. and i never had a screen protector on my phone, and hardly ever had a case on it
finally all the applications run smooth, especially the internet. again its iphone smoothness on android which is really the only thing iphone had over android until now
the only thing i have not been able to test as of yet is sound quality, which was extremely good on the captivate. I know the sgs2 has a very loud external speaker, which is good however
i really have found no negatives to this point. i truly believe it is the best phone on the market currently. i would recommend it to anyone, as touchwiz is easy to use it may be easier for people to pick up as compared to different skins on android.
NoMoreSymbian
Member
Replaced my Captivate with the SG2 and it's quite a step up in performance. Also rooted it and got rid of a lot crap apps.