Samsung Galaxy S II - Still Cake!

In the spring, I managed to drive one day a raw-raw product SGS II engineering sample, and then I did not experience enthusiasm. Everything was with him, but somehow the gadget did not catch me, and that’s all. There wasn’t even the most overwhelming highlight in it - solid high technology ... Several months passed, the raisins did not disappear, but all the roughnesses were smoothed out, and now it is rightfully the most technologically advanced smartphone to date. For him it would not be a sin to give 25 thousand, well, a maximum of 28, but no more. And the official price, meanwhile, is 31990!

Design

Apple was not in vain suing Samsung for having “copied” the design of the latest iPhone! The Galaxy S II is actually very similar to an apple cell phone. On the other hand, what modern smartphone with a large display does not look like it? They are all on one face. But these two models, if not peered, and the truth, can be easily confused. Both have a slim black case, a large display and a large button underneath.

The difference becomes noticeable only after the gadget falls into the hand. The second Galaxy is made of plastic, which means it is much lighter than a glass-metal iPhone. And it’s thinner, and there is an opinion that because of this it is not so convenient in the hand. In any case, I get used to this ratio of size and weight only now I get it - a month after the start of testing.



In addition, the back panel of this Samsung is not as austere as that of the iPhone: in the lower part there is a protrusion for which a finger comfortably clings, in the upper part there is an impressive module of an eight megapixel camera, and the cover itself is textured, which makes me incredibly happy - the gadget in hand does not slip at all.

And the buyer will probably like the concept: despite the fact that the case is entirely plastic, it is assembled in good conscience, you can’t hear any squeaks even during attempts to twist the smartphone, and in general it gives the impression of a quality thing even before it starts Shine super bright display.

Display

The Galaxy S II screen tears to shreds all the displays that are now on the market, unless they are also made using Super AMOLED Plus technology. The last word in the name is, in my opinion, pure marketing (according to the subjective feelings of the standard “amoled”, if it differs for the better, it is only a little), but in this case, marketers can forgive the desire to emphasize the coolness of the screen. It can be so bright that in direct sunlight, not only the contrasting text remains readable, but the colors seem almost untouched. And I'm not exaggerating, really!

Oh, yes, I almost forgot to say about resolution ... The matrix has a resolution of 480x800 pixels - not the highest figure, but these are honest pixels, not the PenTile matrix, where the same subpixel belongs to two whole pixels at once. Separate points here, if you do not peer specifically, are not noticeable. And in the end, what's the difference, how many pixels are there if the display is just cool?

Iron

Samsung, like HTC (or maybe vice versa), did not install NVIDIA in its top-end smart mainstream hardware and built it on the basis of its own Exynos chip, known until recently under the name Orion. Firstly, it made it possible to distinguish the device from a number of others on the same platform. And secondly, this system on one chip turned out to be so cool that in software tests it tears all competitors into small pieces.

This is due to the fact that the chip includes a dual-core Cortex-A9 processor operating at a frequency of 1.2 GHz, a gigabyte of DDR-2 RAM and a Mali-400 video subsystem, which can handle a stereo picture in FullHD resolution.



For lovers of counting parrots, I provide the Quadrant benchmark screen, but all the rest can only say that nothing ever hindered me. Although I'm lying! The Cut the Rope game hung up, taking with it minutes for two and the whole system, but this is some kind of game error, which the developers agreed with in response to my bugreport. (By the way, if you have SGS-II owners among you, and the software update has not yet been released, then I know how to solve the problem - it turns out that you just need to cut down the music and other sounds in the application!)

True, all this power has one side effect: the gadget sometimes heats up so that it is difficult to hold in your hands - it gets so hot! Moreover, some strict dependence could not be identified. It happens that top-end hardware reminds itself literally out of the blue, when, for example, an email client is launched and nothing more. And it also happens that heavy three-dimensional games make the device only slightly warm.

Camera

The pictures taken by the eight-megapixel Galaxy S II camera are some of the best among smartphones. They are not even afraid to open on the big screen.


Two Chertanovskys is great in full resolution


Monastery on the Volga in full resolution


Nose of the ship "George Zhukov" in full resolution


Kozmodemyanskiy house in full resolution


Sunset on the Volga in full resolution


Nizhny Novgorod pedestrian bridge in full resolution


Nomobile version 3.0 in full resolution

But the video, despite high resolution Full HD and lack of grain, the output is not the best due to problems with autofocus.

Software

The smartphone runs Android 2.3 with the TouchWiz 4 shell, which makes the system oh-o-very similar to Samsung's own software platform. Firstly, it’s good for those who suddenly decide to buy a powerful android phone instead of a regular touch phone, and secondly, they fix the Android interface flaws that are still present in version 2.3. Personally, I really liked the set of “toggle switches” inside the top panel: in a couple of clicks, you can turn Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, sound and auto-rotate the screen on or off without having to crawl through the wilds of the menu. And besides, we were pleased with branded widgets, the size of which can be dynamically changed directly on the desktop, the "Applications" menu, divided into separate pages, and, of course, the ability to take screenshots by combining the lock key and the button under the display.



Separately, it is worth mentioning that the smartphone easily digests any multimedia content. Too lazy to convert Full-HD movie to MKV format? Yes and no need - the handset is able to play such a file. You can even with subtitles.

Battery

The battery here is lithium-ion at 1650 mAh. This is slightly more than the “average for the hospital”, but in combination with the AMOLED display (which, as you know, is the main energy consumer) allows you to achieve stable 12 hours of operation with particularly dense use when the smartphone is used instead of a computer.

Little things

At first, it was wildly enraging that the power and lock button is on the right side, because the vast majority of such devices usually have it at the top, but in the end I got used to the fact that the volume control keys were placed on the left because of this, and not right.



What could not get used to is the location of the speaker. There are two openings on the ledge of the rear panel through which the sound should supposedly go out. And he regularly does this when the gadget lies vertically in his hand. It is worth turning it into landscape mode or, say, putting it on the bed, and it becomes like a fish - the speaker is tightly closed with a palm or blanket. Therefore, rather than accidentally miss an important call, it is better to put the phone face-down, hoping that the surface is flat, and the half-millimeter protrusions of the shiny edging are enough to prevent the display from being scratched.

Competitors

The ideological opponent of SGS-II is of course the fourth iPhone, and HTC Sensation among smartphones on the same platform. All three devices are really good. Ask me which one to choose and I won’t be able to answer. So it goes…

Summary

I have said more than once that the Galaxy S II at first did not impress me at all. But I must admit that over time, I was imbued with great respect for the developers of this gadget. For a long time so powerful, technological devices did not appear on the market. Yes, it does not have the notorious zest, and what can I hide, it frankly looks like an iPhone 4. But, damn it, this thing has never bothered me, it digested any content and allowed you to work comfortably with any, even the most difficult sites! I do not care that smart is faceless, I still take it! Only not in the Euroset and not in the Messenger, because 32 pieces is expensive even for such a pipe.

TTX

OS: Google Android 2.3.3 + TouchWiz 4.0
Processor: dual-core Samsung Exynos, 1.2 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
Main memory: 16 GB + microSD up to 32 GB
Screen: Super AMOLED Plus, 4.3 ", 800 x 480
Communications: 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0
Ports: micro-USB, 3.5 mm
Cameras: 8 MP, flash, autofocus + 0.3 MP for video calls
Navigation: GPS, GPS
Battery : 1650 mAh
Dimensions: 125 x 66 x 8.5 mm
Weight: 116 grams
Price: 31,990 rub.