Samsung Nexus S Review

The second generation Google Nexus phone has arrived in India and is called the Nexus S. This time around its Samsung that is offering the phone and promises a ‘Pure Google’ experience. The phone is available with Google’s official gingerbread 2.3. But that’s not all, the phone comes with a host of features that are set to impress. Here’s a look at the specs that make this Google phone a true masterpiece.

Nexus S Specification

• 1Ghz Cortex A8 processor.
• 512 MB RAM
• 16GB iNAND internal storage ( no micro sd slot )
• 4” SLCD countour display.
• 5MP camera rear facing with LED flash and 1.3 MP front facing camera
• Full HD playback and 480p recording
• Comes Google’s official Gingerbread (2.3)
• Gyroscope, Accelerometer, GPS, digital compass, NFC .
• WiFi b/g/n bluetooth 3.0
• GPRS, EDGE, 3G.
• 1500mAh battery (Talk time up to 6.7 hours on 3G /14 hours on 2G)

Approx. Price Rs 27,000/-

Review: 

Being a Nexus phone, I already had some pretty high expectations. The phone exceeded most of them and fell short of a minor few. The 4 inch display that this phone sports in an absolute joy to use, the contour display combined with a SLCD screen is a unique experience indeed. The feel of the screen it something I have never felt on any smatphone.

The processing power of the phone was apparent by the ease with which it handled even graphic and memory intensive tasks effectively. 3D games are awesome fun on this phone. Multi-tasking on this phone was simply fantastic with the phone not showing any signs of slowing down. The interface is stock android, without any bloatware from Samsung, aka the Pure Google experience.

An interesting addition to gingerbread is the new virtual keyboard and deserves a special mention. Typing on this device was blazing fast , and the in-built dictionary with auto-spell check and correction performs brilliantly. A small perk is the lock screen animation that makes the screen go off like an old CRT TV, small but makes it look very neat.

Picture quality is awesome with both stills and videos. The inclusion of a flash makes a huge difference compared to the other Galaxy phones that Samsung offers.

A major disappointment for me personally was that Samsung decided not to include a micro-sd slot (I mean what were they thinking, right?)

Overall this is definitely one of the best android phones out there. Plus the added advantage of being an official Google phone will entitle you to receive all android OS updates before any other phone out there. But being released so close to the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S2, a dual core phone, to buy or not buy that is the question.

Verdict: 2.3/5

Nokia E7 - Review

     Over the years, we've seen a steady stream of business and messaging-centric landscape QWERTY smartphones come and go, with HTC arguably leading the pack via its collection of Windows Mobile, Android, and WP7 devices featuring sliding keyboards and tilt-out displays. But few of HTC's offerings are as iconic or memorable as Nokia's line of Communicator clamshell phones -- starting with the Nokia 9000 in 1996, continuing with Symbian S80 models, and culminating with the Nokia E90 atop S60v3. The Nokia E7 is the latest Communicator in this distinguished series and the manufacturer's current flagship device, dethroning the Nokia N8 which continues on as the company's media mogul. A lot has changed in the six months since the N8 was introduced, including Nokia's recent partnership with Microsoft and the stunning announcement that it will be adopting Windows Phone for future high-end smartphones.

Hardware

     Let's make one thing abundantly clear: black or silver, the Nokia E7 is one gorgeous piece of hardware. It might not have the proportions of the Dieter Rams-inspired iPhone 4, but it's a handsome and refined phone that can definitely compete in terms of materials and build quality. The E7 design language mimics its N8 sibling, and consists of a flattened aluminum cylinder that features a 4-inch glass-capacitive touchscreen on one side, a glass window protecting the 8 megapixel camera and dual-LED flash on the other side, and tapered plastic covers hiding antennas and connectors at each end. From the front the E7 looks like a larger N8, but in order to accommodate the physical keyboard, the body is sliced longitudinally into two sections. The thinner "half" houses the tilt-out display and the menu key (centered below the touchscreen), the other "half" contains the keyboard, the camera, and most of the electronics. Without a camera pod sticking out the back, the E7 ends up being thinner than the N8 overall, and one of the slimmest landscape QWERTY devices we've come across.


     The E7 feels hefty in a reassuring, confidence-inspiring way -- as a point of reference, it's almost the same weight and size as the HTC Thunderbolt, but about 6 mm (1/4-inch) narrower. Fit and finish are impeccable, and so is the attention to detail: there's a machined and polished bevel surrounding the camera window in the back of the E7 and lining the edge of every control on the aluminum body. The top cap contains a 3.5 mm headphone jack, the power / profile key, a mini-HDMI port (behind a plastic door), and a micro-USB connector with a charge indicator. At the opposite end, the bottom cap hosts a microphone and a single speaker. We found a few niggles here. While the headphone jack supports stereo accessories (3-pin) without any problems, it's electrically incompatible with most non-Nokia headsets (4-pin). The speaker is very loud and clear but is positioned such that it becomes muffled slightly as soon as the phone is placed face-up on any flat surface. On the right edge of the E7 you'll find a SIM tray (that's easily removed with a fingernail), a volume slider (which feels downright awkward), and the camera shutter button. The screen-locking slider benefits from the same excellent spring action as on the N8 but lives by itself on the left edge, where it's easier to access when using the keyboard.


     The tilt-out display and physical keyboard are the stars of the show. Nokia chose a hinge mechanism similar to the one it implemented on the N97 and N97 mini. Unfortunately, on the E7 this mechanism is universally difficult to open -- almost everyone fails the first time, and risks slipping and dropping the phone in the process. We eventually figured out a sure way to operate the hinge, but it's not intuitive, and requires the (preferably symmetric) application of the right amount of force in the right spot and at the right angle. Assuming you overcome this initial hurdle, the mechanism is spring-loaded in both directions and opens / closes with a satisfying "clunk". Once open, the touchscreen rests at a 30-degree angle from the keyboard, which is equally suited for typing as it is for watching videos. The hinge, back of the display, and base of the keyboard are all cast from a suitably light, strong alloy. We didn't detect any play in the mechanism even after using the E7 for a month, but we did notice that our older review unit was easier to open than the newer one. It's worth noting that the silver model features black accents, including the touchscreen, back of the display, hinge mechanism, keyboard, camera window and flat edges of the end covers.

     I'm really impressed with the keyboard on the E7. It's one of the best we've used in recent memory -- on par with the keyboard on the HTC Arrive, but with an aligned 4-row layout instead of a staggered 5-row design. Tactile feedback is fantastic despite the short key travel and, unlike the N97 and N97 mini, the space bar is centered properly.

     The 4-inch ClearBlack AMOLED touchscreen is bright and beautiful, even in direct sunlight. Colors are vivid, and contrast and viewing angles are excellent, as you'd expect from this type of display. Interestingly, the US version exhibits a slightly warmer color temperature. Resolution is a different story, and pixel-density enthusiasts will be disappointed. With a mere 640 x 360 pixels (what Nokia calls nHD), the E7 makes even a 4.3-inch WVGA display look high definition. Of course, we realize this is a limitation imposed by software, but in this day and age of qHD devices, it misses the mark.  A sheet of Gorilla Glass protects the touchscreen and houses the proximity and light sensors, the earpiece, and a front-facing camera (VGA). 


     The E7 features almost the exact same internals as the N8: a somewhat lackluster 680MHz ARM 11 CPU, a Broadcom BCM2727 GPU, 256MB of RAM, about 350MB of phone storage, and 16GB of internal mass storage. You'll also find a complete set of radios with support for UMTS / HSPA (pentaband, including AWS), GSM / EDGE (quadband), WiFi b / g / n, Bluetooth 3.0, and AGPS -- there's even an FM receiver. Unlike the N8, there's no MicroSD card slot for additional mass storage, no Nokia 2mm charging port for legacy power sources, and no FM transmitter to annoy your friends with on roadtrips. The E7 also shares USB On-The-Go with its sibling, which allows it to host a number of common USB devices such as flash drives, self-powered hard drives, keyboards, and even optional accessories such as Nokia's ownDigital Radio Headset. Both the European and US variants ship with a USB On-The-Go adapter, HDMI adapter, stereo headset, micro-USB cable, and micro-USB charger.

     The E7 and N8 come with the same 1200mAh BL-4D battery which is not user-replaceable, and without any visible Torx screws we're not even sure how to access the battery in a pinch. In my tests, call and reception quality lived up to Nokia's usual high standards and battery life was excellent for a fully specced smartphone. The E7 handily beat our Android handsets with almost three days of light duty -- usually about 30 minutes worth of calls, a dozen text messages, three email accounts and one Twitter account being monitored and tended to (that's hundreds of messages), plus the occasional photography (with upload) and music playback each day. Note that during our battery tests we enabled WiFi, turned off Bluetooth, and powered our devices down at night. Needless to say, this is exactly the kind of endurance you'd expect from a business-centric phone like the E7.

Camera

     The E7 is equipped with an 8 megapixel EDoF (Extended Depth of Field) camera and dual-LED flash. In typical Nokia fashion the optics and sensor are top notch. This, together with superior image processing results in beautiful shots. As you can see in our sample pictures, color balance and exposure are excellent, and noise is kept under control without obliterating detail. While it's no match for the phenomenal N8, the E7 camera stands out amongst today's smartphones. There's however one massive, glaring problem -- the elephant in the room, if you will -- and that's the EDoF lens. Depth of field becomes meaningless with this camera. Sure, everything from 60cm (two feet) to infinity is perfectly in focus, but just like with a fixed-focus lens it's impossible to take closeup shots. Nokia waxes poetic about how EDoF means no moving parts, allows for a thinner device, improves shooting speed, and makes it easier for the average person to use the camera. We're reminded how the 8 megapixel sensor captures enough information that images can be enlarged and cropped without a huge impact on quality. This is all true, but we feel EDoF is too much of a compromise especially when it's combined with a decent sensor and optics. It just takes away an entire layer of creativity from the picture taking experience when compared to an autofocus lens.


     When it comes to video recording, the E7 captures smooth 720p HD content at 25fps with great results. EDoF actually helps here since most phones don't support continuous autofocus during video recording, and instead rely on a sub-optimal preset focus, user-controlled initial focus, or touch-to-focus during capture (like on the iPhone 4). While EDoF precludes closeups, a digital zoom is available with little (if any) effect on video quality. As a bonus, audio is recorded in stereo and sounds very clear. Our sample video was recorded on the E7 and then edited with the bundled video editor. Sadly, this caused the audio to get out of sync, which is a known bug. The camera interface on the E7 is pretty much identical to the one on the N8 and is reasonably easy to use. Most controls are easily accessible, and additional settings are nestled within menus. There's no built-in panorama mode, but a separate app with that functionality is available to download for free from the Ovi Store. We only have a couple minor usability complaints: the shutter key is hard to find by feel, and the camera window is flush with the body of the E7 making the glass prone to scratches when the device is resting face up on a flat surface. Overall, the E7 camera delivers strong performance, but we really hope Nokia ditches EDoF and reverts to using autofocus on future flagship products.

Software

     I'm going to be frank here: Symbian breaks what is otherwise great hardware. It's the same tired routine, a frustrating user experience that quickly becomes a burden day-to-day. Now, before you get up in arms, you have to remember that we've been Symbian users for a very long time, so we're well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this once-glorious OS. The sad reality is that when measured against the other major platforms Symbian is no longer competitive, especially at the high-end of the market, and that's even more true today than it was six months ago after the launch of the N8. Other than the firmware, the most obvious difference between the two appears to be the bundled apps. Beyond the standard set of Nokia apps, which includes the Ovi Store, the US phone came preloaded with Quickoffice, F-Secure, National Geographic, Paramount Movie Teasers, OviMapsChallenge, Climate Mission, Psiloc World Traveler, Vlingo, and topApps. The European variant also included CNN Video and E!, but lost topApps.


     Under the hood Symbian is pretty efficient which helps with battery life and multitasking, and provides adequate performance even on run-of-the-mill processors. Unfortunately the E7 often still feels sluggish, despite being faster than most past Symbian devices. The Webkit-based browser -- which used the be one of Symbian's gems -- has stagnated into oblivion over the years, and is now a complete mess. You're simply just better off installing Opera and calling it a day. Email configuration is extremely unintuitive: by default, accounts are proxied on Nokia's servers unless you decline the terms of service during setup. Only then does the email client give you direct access to your account. But it's not all doom and gloom. To this day, Symbian still provides the most comprehensive Bluetooth functionality of any mobile platform. A few apps stand out as examples of what Symbian is capable of. Ovi Maps is an excellent alternative to the ubiquitous Google Maps that supports offline navigation and provides better mapping in most parts of the world. Gravity is a fantastic Twitter client that pushes the envelope of what can be done with Symbian in terms of UI design. It takes full advantage of push notifications and even includes its own on-screen QWERTY keyboard with a portrait mode, something that's still missing from the base OS. The photo and video editors are also quite noteworthy for being powerful and easy to use. But ultimately, these are just a few shining stars in a dead constellation.

Wrap-up

     After spending several weeks with the Nokia E7, there's absolutely no doubt that the it's one of the sexiest pieces of hardware I've played with in recent months. Perhaps it's not the greatest Communicator I have ever bestowed upon, but it comes close and offers the most balanced set of features of any Symbian device to date. This makes it Nokia's de facto flagship smartphone and Symbian's ambassador for the foreseeable future. Devoted Symbian fans will likely be unfazed by the official Rs. 28,019 asking price for the E7 (unlocked and unsubsidized) and will seriously consider picking one up (or its N8 sibling), but for the rest of us the E7 misses the mark. While providing excellent battery life, proper multitasking, and some unique functionality that will please power users, Symbian remains an unmitigated disaster, with a sluggish, frustrating, and cosmetically antiquated user experience. I just can't recommend the E7, especially in light of what the Google and Apple ecosystems have to offer. Dear Nokia, please give us an E7 with a higher pixel-density display, an autofocus camera, a current-generation processor, and a tasty serving of Windows Phone. Oh, and do it soon -- the sharks are starting to smell blood.


Verdict: 3/5

BCCI asks England to play the next two test matches in India

Nottinghamshire, UK. With India losing the first test match at Lords and on the verge of defeat in the second one at Trent Bridge, BCCI has requested England Cricket Board (ECB) to shift the remaining two test matches to India in the “spirit of the game”.

In a meeting that took place during the tea break on the fourth day of second test match, BCCI officials requested ECB representatives to convince their players to travel to India to finish off the Pataudi Trophy, which consists of four test matches.

“They asked us to respect the spirit of the game,” an ECB official confirmed to Faking News, “They told as that even if India won the remaining two matches on flat and turning wickets back in India, England won’t be losing the series, hence it was a fair deal.”

Apparently Harbhajan Singh had asked BCCI to shift the remaining matches to India as soon as possible after he developed an upset stomach due to bad quality of Tandoori Chicken in England.

BCCI hopes to soothe flaring tempers of Indian fans who blame the board for overburdening the cricketers with a hectic schedule packed with random tours and IPL.

Since Dhoni’s decision of withdrawing appeal on Ian Bell’s run out had soothed the flaring tempers of English fans, BCCI asked the ECB to cooperate and reciprocate.

“They have asked for quid pro quo,” the ECB official conceded.

ECB official refused to confirm but sources inform that BCCI had also offered to “adjust” IPL dates to accommodate any professional Twenty20 league that ECB may start in the future.

With most of the English players on field trying to bowl out India in the fourth innings, ECB couldn’t talk to the senior players but sources say that the board won’t find it easy to convince the players.

“Bowlers like Broad, Bresnan or Tremlett would never agree but Captain Strauss might like the idea,” the ECB official told Faking News, “Straus and Cook have struggled with the bat and they might like to get some runs on the board with some help from batsmen friendly wickets in India.”

ECB has reportedly delegated the job to Monty Panesar to talk to English team members. Panesar, a spinner of Indian origin, could be picked for the next two matches if England agrees to travel to India to finish Pataudi Trophy.

To silence criticism and divert attention from this apparent cop-out, BCCI has requested Kareena Kapoor, the putative daughter-in-law of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, to be present at stadiums for the next two matches if they are played in India, sources say.

As seen on www.fakingnews.com - where truth doesn't hide

Top Ten iOS 5 Features

1. Notification Center – Can swipe down form top to enter notifications on your iPhone. This is a much needed feature. Apple claims they have solved the notifications issue by directing all app notifications to the notifications center.

2. Newsstand – Newsstand will be your quick access to the Magazines and newspaper subscriptions on the iPhone and iPad.

3. Twitter Integration – The new iOS 5 will include built in Twitter support. This brings integration to camera, apps an more.

4. Safari – A new better Safari delivers a better browsing experience with tabs on the iPad and iPhone. Included in the new Safari are tabbed browsing, Reading list and Reader. These last two features will allow you to sync your reading list across browsers.

5. Reminders - iOS 5 includes a to do app that allows you to check off items you need to do. This will repalce all yoru scraps of paper, as well as a good number of third party apps. Sync to iCal and Outlook.

6. Better Camera – The new iOS 5 will bring faster camera access and will finally make the volume rocker activate the shutter. You can also pinch to zoom and set focus with a tap.

7. New Mail App - in OS 5, you can control indentation, draggable addresses, message flagging, search entire message, swipe to your inbox and more.  Also, iPad will have a new portrait thumb typing system.

8. PC Free – With iOS 5, you won’t need to connect the iPhone or iPad to a PC or Mac, you will be welcomed with a new landing page and OTA software updates.

9. Game Center – Game Center gets an update that allows you to add photos, play friends of friends and recommended friends and recommended games. Game Center is Apple’s second stab at social networks. The OS now supports turn based games right in the OS.

10. iMessages – Messages comes to all iOS 5 devices. On the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users will be able to send messages, photos and videos to other iOS 5 apps.

Well, except for the iMessages, Game Center, and Newsstand, I say that Apple has 'REVOLUTIONARILY' copied the other seven from other hard-rocks of the tech-world such as RIM, Android, etc. I own a BlackBerry, and ever since I've had it, that is from OS 5, RIM brought the notifications, reminder, tasks, etc. to the growing market and popularized it. And before I forget, the Twitter integration to share whatever you do in your phone such as post a video, photo, or link, or location directly, RIM has had it all along ever since the Twitter app was introduced in the mobile. And finally the BlackBerry has introduced the swipe notification center for all its mobiles in the OS 6. Here's a snapshot: 

Thereby, ALL these features are not entirely new to the market. Its only new for Apple.

Adithya Siva

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Review

Xperia: the brand synonymous with Sony Ericsson’s smartphones for the past few years now. In this review of the Xperia Arc we go through what makes this smartphone innovative, fast, fun, and the next must-have device for any photography or movie connoisseur. The Xperia Arc is the first Andoridcellphone to implement Sony’s Bravia and Exmor R technology from their popular television and digital camera lines. Read on for our review to find out if the Xperia Arc is the next smartphone you will be selecting. 


HARDWARE 
Sony Ericsson has integrated some very innovative features usually only found in Sony’s high-end electronics. The newest advancements come from the Mobile Bravia Engine and Sony’s Exmor R CMOS camera sensor. Derived from the Sony television brand, the Mobile Bravia Engine delivers superior image quality while playing games or watching videos. The Exmor R CMOS sensor allows the 8.1-megapixel camera to capture phenomenal still photos and video in normal and low-light situations. 

The Xperia Arc gets it name from the concave rear design. The weight and dimensions of the Xperia Arc are 63x125x8.7 millimeters (2.5x4.9x0.34 inches) and a mere 117 grams (4.1 ounces). The exterior of the Xperia Arc is constructed almost exclusively out of glossy metal-flake-textured plastic, with accents of chrome. 


While the Xperia Arc may not win any top awards for groundbreaking processing power, the smartphone is still capable of handling a vigorous load of applications and tasks. The computing muscle comes from a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor. This second generation processor also has the ability to render demanding graphics thanks to the Adreno 205 GPU. The Xperia Arc combines the processor with 512MB of ROM (~300MB accessible) and 512MB of RAM. The secondary memory comes from a 8GB microSD card, which is upgradable to 32GB. 

The most impressive feature of the Xperia Arc is the 4.2-inch (106.7mm) glass capacitive multi-touch LCD. Being the first Mobile Bravia Engine smartphone, the Xperia Arc produces true-to-life colors and imagery on its FWVGA (480x854 pixels) resolution screen. The Xperia Arc is even able to playback high definition video files up to 720p (downscaling them, of course). 


The cellular radios keeping the Xperia Arc connected include quad-band GSM, along with dual-band UMTS 900/2100 (LT15i model). Other radios include Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, an FM radio, and aGPS. The sensors involve the usual Android necessary digital compass, light sensor, proximity sensor, and accelerometer. The ports are comprised of a 3.5mm headphone jack (also used as the FM radio antenna), a microUSB, and a microHDMI. The camera is capable of capturing still photos at 8.1 megapixel and video at 720p HD resolution (a bit lower than other flagship handsets early this year, which feature full 1080p video capture). The battery is a 1500mAh lithium polymer. 


SOFTWARE 
Sony Ericsson has enriched the user experience of the Xperia Arc by blending Android 2.3 Gingerbread with its proprietary Xperia user interface. 


Many default Android applications have been skinned to mimic the XPERIA UI. The included Timescape app makes it easy to view status updates and messages by just swiping a finger up or down on the panels. The Xperia Arc’s video playback is optimized with the assistance of the Mobile Bravia Engine that not only displays clear and crisp video but also allows the playback of 720p HD video files. Other software titles include Asphalt 5, Let’s Golf, LiveWare Manager, Media server, a lite version of OfficeSuite, the Sony Ericsson PlayNow app, Postcard, and TrackID. The unit we reviewed is the Chinese Xperia Arc and has a few other Chinese apps likely unfamiliar to many. 

Seeing that there are some applications reminiscent of the Xperia Play, Sony Ericsson may incorporate the PlayStation Suite onto the Arc in the near future. 



CAMERA 
Having incorporated Sony’s Exmor R CMOS sensor, which is normally found in its digital cameras, the Xperia Arc captures phenomenal still photographs along with excellent 720p HD videos. 
The Exmor R CMOS sensor is larger than most smartphone cameras, thus more light is able to be absorbed producing higher quality photos, particularly in low-light situations. The Xperia Arc’s camera also has a single LED flash. 
PERFORMANCE


The Xperia Arc is both robust at opening applications and managing tasks with little lag. Video playback is especially smooth even while playing rapid movement or screen transitions. The Xperia Arc scored higher than other comparable Android 2.3 smartphones. The benchmark results yielded average scores of; Quadrant Standard – 1658, Linpack for Android – 38.5 MFLOPS, and Smartbench 2011 – 1340.

BATTERY LIFE
Sony Ericsson must have taken a cue from the Energizer Bunny for Arc, as the battery just keeps going and going. On average the Arc was able to provide enough power for a couple of days with normal application, talk, email, message, and game use. The phone gets all this power from a capacious 1500mAh lithium polymer. Sony Ericsson claims that the battery should provide around 7 hours of talk and 400 hours of standby time.

PROS

+ Screen Quality
+ Camera
+ Battery Life
+ Thin and Light
+ Noise Cancellation

CONS

- Mostly Made of Plastic
- No microHDMI Cable Included
- Some Apps Cannot Be Uninstalled
- MicroSD Card Position

CONCLUSION

As the first Sony Ericsson smartphone to employ Sony’s television and digital camera technologies, the Xperia Arc is rather charming. Anyone who places photography and video playback at the top of their must-have smartphone criteria will be delighted with the Xperia Arc.


Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, many would agree that the Arc is both attractive in appearance and performance. That being said, it would have been nice if Sony Ericsson had manufactured the Arc with a bit less plastic.

We rate the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc a 4/5.


Adithya Siva

The Samsung Galaxy S2 Review

The Samsung Galaxy S II – successor of the popular Galaxy S and brand new flagship device from Samsung. Whenever I bought a new device, Samsung has been one of the contenders, but ultimately some things never quite appealed to me, so I ended up either getting HTC or Nokia.

Samsung sure raised some eyebrows when they announced the SGS II, sporting some impressive features like a Dual Core ARMv7 1,2GHz processor, a super AMOLED plus display, Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread and lots and lots more. Yes I was impressed too, and with the HTC Sensation being a good device, but not completely what i wanted, I thought it was time to have a closer look at the Samsung Galaxy S II. There is a lot of demand for trial devices at Vodafone Austria (one could say now it is cause Samsung sent out a ridiculously low amount of devices), so my test period has shortened to just a week, so don’t expect an in-depth review, but rather some day-to-day impressions from the week i have spent with it. Will i miss it? Will I even BUY my first ever Samsung device? Read on..

Hardware:

After the build quality disaster that is the Sony Ericsson Arc, my biggest fear was that the SGS II would be the same: super-thin and cheap build, resulting in a very unpleasant feel in hand. But, my first contact with the phone was actually a pleasant one. I took the phone out of the (very small) box and the phone actually felt quite good. Sure we still talk plastic here, but the build quality is really nice. Nothing like you could break it with some brute force. And WOW, that thing is ultra thin! 8,49mm thin that is. I felt that Samsung has hit the nail on the head with the extreme thin, yet 4,3″ big device. The feel in hand is perfect.

The front of the phone is dominated by one big piece of glass, spanning over almost the whole device, and the most breathtaking screen I have ever seen on any device. Samsung promised a lot with it’s new screen tech and boy, have they delivered. This 4,3″ super AMOLED plus brings black levels and eye-crushing colors unlike anything I have ever seen. Yes you can nitpick now, and say that its 800×480 pixels resolution is less than the HTC Sensation, but that’s pretty much the tech audience of today: “Sure the SGS II has this resolution, but device XYZ has a better one, so it’s not that good”. Pah, sure, grow up. You know what? I don’t care, the Galaxy S II screen is perfect as it is, and i don’t need the extra few pixels. Speaking of the display, this was one of the major factors why i actually skipped the HTC sensation. It is absolutely brilliant for all day to day tasks, even in sunny conditions, as I have tested last weekend. Pictures, Videos, even browsing around is nothing but fun on this gorgeous piece of touchscreen. I absolutely love it.

Underneath the screen is a physical Home button, with a capacitive menu- and back-button on either sides of the home one. On top of the screen you find the phone speaker, front facing 2MP camera and light-sensors. The whole front is kept in black, which makes the device a lot more stylish in my opinion, and in different lightning somewhere even difficult to tell where the screen ends and the device begins. lovely. Furthermore, Samsung has worked on the coating of the front, as the SGS II is not as much as fingerprint magnet, than any other device I had so far. The sides of the SGS II feature the power-/screen lock button on the right, the volume keys on the left side, a 3,5mm audio jack on top, and the microUSB charging- and data cable connector on the bottom. All very clean, the phone never feels too overloaded. I would have appreciated a physical camera button on the SGS II, but Sammy probably went with the masses here and skipped it, relying solely on a touch cam shutter button.

Turning the screen around, reveals a very welcome surprise, as opposed to Nexus and Galaxy S – the battery cover this time has a nice texture, making the device a LOT more grippier to handle. The battery cover itself is a touch of nothing on this device and is actually quite scary when pulled off, but placed on the device it sits super tight, so I don’t have issues with that. The speaker sits on the slightly raised lower part of the SGS II, being very slightly curved. It’s loud enough for your calls and notifications, although will eventually get a lot more quiet when laying on softer undergrounds. Speaker Quality was good, although slightly creaky when on full volume.

The camera on the SGS II has been cranked up to 8 megapixels, with a single LED flash. The camera shutter is operated via touch and can be either used with the big cam interface shutter button, or via touch to focus. There’s a gazillion of settings and scene modes, spanning from party pics to autumn colors and even a setting for visibility on the outside, cranking up the display brightness to a maximum, and going back to normal after closing the cam application. Nice! Videos are recorded in 1080p at 30fps, a very rare combination for mobile phones, but will eventually appear more often on those powerful high-end smartphones. The autofocus while shooting videos was actually quite usable, something that i always missed on my preferred camera phone, the Nokia N8. Interested in how the camera actually performs? Well, it surely isn’t a Nokia N8, and it never claims to be, but I gotta say, the camera was better than expected. Pictures turned out to be crisp in normal light conditions, while expectedly not reaching the good low light capabilities of the SE Arc or even Nokia’s EDoF camera units. I will be posting a post later on this week, with sample camera shots and some short video clips, showing you the video quality, in 1080p of course. 

Hiding underneath the camera, is the 1650mAh battery, which is mighty impressive for such a thin phone. It easily got me through a full day of medium to “more” usage, and even lasted 2 days when I was working in the office, where the phone is in standby a lot. As i said already in my Arc review part 1, I believe Gingerbread has a positive effect on Android phones. The battery is always one of the biggest factors on any Android smartphone, and with a device that powerful, it is clear that everyone has to step up their game and not rely on disasters like my former HTC Desire HD. Samsung is on a good way there, and if that is not enough for you, I heard that the great people over at Mugen Power Batteries are already working on replacement battery solutions for the SGS II!

The Samsung Galaxy S II is powered by a Dual-Core 1,2GHZ ARMv7 processor, bundled with 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and even a microSD card slot. In my week with the SGS II I never had any, ANY lag, crash, restart or similar like that. It felt unbelievably snappy at whatever I did, most notably when playing around with the camera. Shot after shot, is has never lagged on me, not even when processing those fancy 1080p videos.

Software:

Powered by Android 2.3.3, and with such a powerful hardware, the Android experience on the Samsung Galaxy S II was a very very pleasant one, as mentioned above. What gets people on the fence eventually, is Samsungs Android skin called Touchwiz, premiering in Version 4.0 on the SGS II. Touchwiz has always been a hot topic, with a lot of people prefering HTC’s Sense UI, due to the more cartoonish Touchwiz looks. Well, I think Touchwiz is still nowhere near the great usability of Sense (which i love to bits), but it sure has grown up. The widgets feel cleaner and more polished than before, but widgets are only half the price. I usually only use widgets from the apps I use, so i was more eager to see how the on board apps will be.

And yes, Samsung has put some thoughts into the user experience. Things i found quite nice were:

• Predictive dialing: yes, a very small feature, but important to me nonetheless. Type a name instead of the number for quicker dialing. Should be essential on every device.
• Swype included: Swype is still one of the quickest text input options for me, so having this included was certainly nice to have on the SGS, and now on SGS II too!
• More multitouch and accelerometer features/gestures: pinch to zoom is nice and all, but zooming via holding a pic with two fingers and tilting the device, or moving widgets from one page to another with tilting the device is fun to. even if it’s just to show off.
• Split view in messaging: not many people knew this when i posted the pic, but try holding your screen in landscape position and enter the messaging app!
• Hubs: Samsung included 4 hubs to the SGS II, for socializing, music, reading and games. It’s obvious what all those are for, and if you don’t wanna waste time searching for apps in the market, you’ll feel right at home here. With a flood of Twitter apps f.e., its obvious that Samsung wanted to offer a complete package here and save time searching for apps
• Allshare: Filesharing via DLNA. lovely! worked nicely with all sorts of pictures, videos etc!
• Kies Air: Kies (Sammy’s version of HTC Sync or Ovi/Nokia/PC/Elop suite) can not only be connected via Bluetooth or cable, but also via WLAN. lovely part 2!
• Photo- and Video Editor: lovely to see Samsung not ending their thoughts after shooting a pic. both editors are actually quite usable, with the video editor especially standing out. Tons of features and nice effects to slap on your photos and videos.
• Task Manager: oh yees, a built in Task Manager, giving access to yo RAM-/storage data, downloads, and of couse all running tasks with the option to kill them.
• Chat app: The chat app provides access to Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, and worked very well in a short test! (so much stuff to try, so little time!)

Sure, Touchwiz might not be everyone’s favourite, but then again, most “powerusers” rely on Custom ROMs anyways, and your average Joe will probably feel right at home with what Samsung has to offer. Samsung does not radically change the look and feel of Android, so the usability is still given. I know I wouldn’t keep Touchwiz forever on the Samsung Galaxy S II, and thanks to Samsung not being as jacked up as HTC with their bootloader politics, I know I don’t have to keep Touchwiz on!

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S II was nothing short of impressive and yes, it is in fact the best device I have ever had to chance to get my hands on. The whole combination of materials and build quality felt very premium and thankfully, the grippy new texture of the battery cover helped a lot supporting that feeling. The super AMOLED plus display is the best display I have ever seen on any device or brand, making it an absolute joy to use the SGS II, inside or outside. The 8MP camera performed surprisingly well, although an extensive camera usage will surely not keep the otherwise great 1650mAh battery of the device alive for a whole day.

The Android experience on the Galaxy S II was an okay one. Touchwiz has never been and will never be my favourite sort of Android UI, but it has grown up and felt more usable than on the Galaxy S. It’s easy to see that Samsung has spent some time on thinking, rather than playing around and it feels good. Of course that is all just my personal opinion, and I believe most users will be perfectly fine with what Samsung has done on the SGS II. The Samsung extras definitely add to the experience, with some very nice features, you probably don’t get everywhere, like the very good video/photo editor, or DLNA sharing.

It is an insane piece, this Samsung Galaxy S II. And I can’t help but admit that i have a crush on this device, a rather huge one. I know I can’t live without the ridiculously thin body and that gorgeous super AMOLED plus screen anymore. I’m sorry bank account, but next month you’ll bleed. Bring it on, amazon..

Pros

• Awesome display
• Ultra slim design
• 1080p Video recording
• Really fast

Cons

• No camera key
• Touchwiz UI

     Adithya Siva