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The MacBook Air: Thoroughly Reviewedby Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/13/2008 12:00 AM EST
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bsozak - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkFor the price difference between the two it seems hard for me to justify the SSD version, though intuitively it would seem like the advantages would be greater. The odd thing to me is the number of people who claim to really notice the difference, even though the benchmarks don't seem to be that drastically different in a lot of areas.
I also wonder if the type of SSD makes a difference? I've heard great things about Runcore SSD which has some really good pricing here - but if I end up dropping that kind of coin for moderately better performance, I don't think I'd be too happy. Reply
bsozak - Monday, January 18, 2010 - linkThat link didn't seem to take, so let's just try this: http://bit.ly/6Yz3cU">http://bit.ly/6Yz3cU Reply
steveyballmer - Tuesday, July 08, 2008 - linkIt is amazing to me that so many people can't seem to see through the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field! Everytime he gets up at one of his sissy-boy "conventions" he performs cheap magic tricks for the faithful, sometimes he even drags well meaning journalist along with him!
The platter he is serving on in this picture is a "Macbook" (even though it's thinner than a magazine) Hot Air.
Think about it, you are getting less for more! Skinny for plenty! Scrawney for money! Slim for uh, um, I can't think of a rhyme but if I could it would be something bad.
Big is better! They have the iPhone, we have a CoffeeTable!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com">http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com Reply
pink78 - Friday, April 11, 2008 - linkI've heared that next-gen MacBook pros are to recieve the multitouch trackpad: http://www.maconair.com/next-gen_macbook_pros_to_g...">http://www.maconair.com/next-gen_macbook_pros_to_g...
is that true?
RedWolf - Thursday, February 21, 2008 - linkThe start of the review comes off as a bit too pro-apple. It was quite thorough and by the end, I didn't feel the same pro-apple bias. I thought the comparison to the Ferrari was excellent. The MBA is a luxury. If you can't afford two laptops you should get a more practical laptop and skip the MBA.
I was dissappointed in the lack of a mention of Windows on the MBA. My Dell Inspiron 700M is getting a bit old and I'm looking for a replacement. I have a need to run windows regularly. How does the MBA run windows in bootcamp? Does the drive sharing work?
I can see the MBA working for people who have the money to spend on a third computer (second laptop) and for anyone who does a lot of typing but needs a laptop that can be carried around. I can also see it working for my wife (the primary user of our 700M). She wants something that is light and easy to carry around the house. One of my biggest complaints about my 700M is the cramped keyboard. A full size keyboard would be wonderful. Reply
AnnonymousCoward - Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - link1 button trackpad? Lame! Reply
kac77 - Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - linkI feel the review was good overall. But really I think the MBA was put in the most positive light as possible. Everyone says it's a niche product, well what niche is that?? Once you start to go deeper the whole niche theory, or "Its not made for you" aspect starts to appear rather light in common sense. Lets look at the supposed markets:
College Students
OK the MBA could possibly work it here. However, how many of you had two computers when at college? The MBA really does require a companion PC in order to assure the buyer that he/her can reinstall the OS if problems arise. In addition, having 1 USB port in college would be insane. When I was in College mine got a thorough work out. I transferred files to and from via USB drives, logging onto the network, installing software which was apart of the class. That one USB would be a hindrance no matter how you look at it.
Traveling Managers (Marketing or Sales I presume)
These people use their laptops even more than college people do. They are designing presentations. Most of them require the need to VPN into their office network in order to retrieve misc files they might require. They are downloading email often from remote locations so having 3G capability would be mandatory. Since there isn't a express port or PCMIA slot they are stuck with WIFI?? Trust me on this the sales guy isn't sitting in Starbucks in order to download his/her email or work on the latest spreadsheet.
These points are what I'm talking about. When you just scratch the surface it appears fine but when you go deeper the lack of ports, no drive, no 3G, no Ethernet, (and no, being in IT I am not going to have the Marketing department change their own battery or hard drive) I think it makes the MBA become more of a product you get to do small work on a weekend when you happen to want a latte.
Finally what wasn't touched on at all, transferring files from the host PC. Most likely you are going to want to put some music on your computer, or just sync those files that you need for work. I've heard reviews from other sites that this process can take way more than 2.5 hours more like 5 or more. Some weren't even able to complete the process without using the Ethernet dongle. In addition, you can't use the one USB port with the Migration Assistant. Just how much weight would have been added to put on FireWire anyway???
The overall thing with this device is that in order to achieve a baseline of functionality you are conceivably carrying around an Ethernet dongle, possibly the Super Drive (probably not in college, but most definitely if you are traveling) a USB extension cord, plus some sort of 3G device if you really want to be mobile. Once you are carrying around all of these things have you really saved any weight? With 3G this product really would have made some sense. The argument to looking forward where all information is on a network somewhere or at home would have held some weight. Without it the product comes off as trying to sell a drowning man a glass of water.
This device really has one market …the CEO. This is a person who checks email at home or in the office isn't really going to be accessing the VPN much from a remote location. Having 1 USB port would be fine. He isn't doing the presentations, someone else usually is. At best while on the go he's taking notes. For this person this device makes perfect sense but for anyone else I just don't see it.
MacTheSpoon - Saturday, February 16, 2008 - linkThanks very much, this was a really comprehensive, excellent review! Reply
Phrozt - Friday, February 15, 2008 - linkTwo comments about the benchmarks, one question about the battery.
First, about the battery. It's been said that one of the shortcomings of the iPhone is that there are a limited number of times the battery can be charged. Does the Air suffer this same fate? Obviously this would have less of an impact than the iPhone situation, because the battery can clearly be removed and therefore replaced, but I'm still wondering about it's limits (especially after the mention of the 8 hour bug).
As for the benchmarks, I think something needs to be said about the differences of expectations in real world use (in regards to the SSD vs. stock HDD argument). You said that you noticed everything starting/working quicker w/the SSD, but the benchmarks showed that in write situations, it showed an obvious disadvantage. I think it's important that you stress real world expectations in this situation. The more you use a computer, the more your expectations change. You *want* a program to start up at the snap of your fingers, but you *expect* saves/exports/transfers to take a long time. Therefore, from a real world useability standpoint, the SSD would be much better experience, because it improves in the areas where you have high expectations, and only falters in areas that you already have low expectations.
Finally, about the usage tests. All three of these tests are heavily read reliant with almost no writing. Since the SSD takes longer to complete write projects, and therefore more energy overall to complete the process, I would be interested to see what the usage time would be if you were to script out a process that included a lot of PDF/image/file conversions/saves.
All in all, a very good, in-depth and objective review. Wonderful job. Reply
totenkopf - Friday, February 15, 2008 - link"Thinner and lighter" only covers about two thirds of ultraportable, It's still basically the same footprint... how is that helpful? Can you not handle two extra pounds and the oppressive thickness of the mac book? When you open it up it's the same size as the rest of the mac books! If you take an old walkie-talkie cellphone and make it lighter and slimmer and than call it ultra portable... IT STILL DOESN'T FIT IN YOUR POCKET! , They completely missed the point of the ultra portable! The asus eee can operate as an extension of your desktop by allowing you to write, surf and accomplish minor tasks away from your primary machine. Yes, it is not the most comfortable on the eyes or the hands... It's not supposed to be! Apple was afraid to make the necessary sacrifices to make a true ultra portable computer.
As a thin laptop it's a failure! No removable battery? What if i want to use some optical media on a train/bus/plane? I have to plug in some stupid portable optical drive? that isn't convenience that's a tragedy. I don't care how nice the display looks if i'm looking at a machine with worse specs than a $700 cheaper mac book. Once again, Apple is selling form over function... that's right, you get nothing extra for your money, just the envy of other iNerds.
And to the author: describing it as a ferrari is laughable. True, it isn't fit for use as your primary machine, but isn't it supposed to perform better than your primary machine? I'd call it the mac book "airhead". It's like that blonde, oxygen thief piece of arm candy you always wanted to make you look good around your friends!It doesn't actually do anything very well, but at least it's inadequate for everyday use. Reply
Brau - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link"The SuperDrive won't work on a regular USB port as it draws too much power"
Wrong. The MBAir Superdrive uses standard voltage and draws a normal 500ma of current. (See AppleInsider indepth MBA review). Apple has apparently simply chosen not to provide the driver that would allow this drive to work on other Macs, as it will still show up as a USB drive but can't be used. What remains to be tested is whether the MBAir Superdrive can even be used to import a burned CD/DVD on another MBAir once it has been initiated to a first machine. If it fails this test then it would indicate hardware based authentication ala Microsoft & Vista. Reply
Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkYou are correct - it looks like the power draw is identical to any other USB optical drive. I don't see any indication of any hardware based authentication tied to the drive, although I haven't specifically tested it.
Take care,
Anand Reply
Brau - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkWow. Thank you very much for looking into it. IF you do get a chance to test out the drive on another MBA, I'd sure like to know the result. I'm really hoping they haven't invoked any limitations similar to Remote Disk under the assertion that people could use it to share media content.
Brau Reply
Xenoterranos - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkBravo Anand. I loved the review, and it reminded me of why I started reading Anandtech in the first place.
I honestly couldn't care less about the Macbook Air, but the review was top notch. Reply
mlambert890 - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkSo Anand...
Seriously.. the Mac koolaid is making you drunk.
Youd be "blown away" if Dell and Gateway took away the removable batteries from their existing thin and lights (they dont make ultraportables, and neither does Apple), made them thinner, and removed a bunch of ports and the optical drives?
Were you "blown away" by the Sony X505? Or how about any of the MANY PC based notebooks that are a LOT smaller and lighter than the MBA?
I guess not. They're not that nice white color with the Apple logo and arent held up by Jobs at the Mac expo.
Are PC guys really getting THIS desperately bored that now we're going to join the flocks swooning over any crap Apple chucks into the marketplace?
At least be honest man. If the MBA had a Dell or Gateway logo you would TEAR IT APART for lack of ports, too large of a footprint, weight that was mediocre since there is a BIG list of sub 3lb PC notebooks and.... NON REMOVABLE BATTERY. Reply
mlambert890 - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkNot to be picky but, well, *PC* reviews are always picky. There is NO WAY the MBA is an "ultraportable"
Its HUGE in terms of the dimensions that mean something - LxW. It is a THIN AND LIGHT.
Im typing this on a Fujitsu P1610. THAT is an ultra-portable - 9.1x6.5x2.2lbs
13x9 is massive. My Sony SZ had similar dimensions and I couldnt open it in a cramped coach seat on a plane.
People keep talking about how "the MBA is for special people - you dont get it". MANY of us *do* "get it". There are ALOT of travelers like myself who have been using notebooks in this space for YEARS.
Apple has given us yet another ~13x~9x~3lb notebook. The only difference is this one is THINK (useless) and has NO REMOVABLE BATTERY (big problem)
I keep seeing Mac lunatics ranting about how the battery *IS* removable because you can surgically remove it. Its funny because thats pretty directly counter to the argument of "only special people use this type of notebook" since those "special people" are executives and road warriors who NEED TO SWAP BATTERIES WHILE ON A PLANE and also need to open the thing on a plane.
Sorry to all the drooling Mac-o-philes, but the MBA is a miss. Reply
Griswold - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkBut but... its only 10 tiny screws of varying sizes that need to be removed to change the battery - anyone can do that on a plane!
;) Reply
Souka - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link13.3" screen and 3lbs...
Why not a
faster laptop
heckuv a lot more durable (proven)
2.2lb (26% lighter!)
upto 4GB of ram
upto 200GB SATA HD, not old school PATA...
Wi-fi a/b/g/n + EVDO broadband (Verizon or AT&T...you can choose!)
you can CHOOSE what CPU, RAM, an HD you want....
fingerprint reader
hardware based security encryption (if you set it up and lose your laptop the data is %100 safe)
choice of 4 or 8 cell battery....carry an extra and change without taking 10 screws out...or upgrade at any time
can be purchasd in tablet-form...uber cool
Oh yeah...prices start at hundreds less than Macair
what am I talking about?? Lenovo X61...and other laptop makers are in the SUB 3lb market....
True...Lenovo's development is way more experienced at ultra-portables than Apple... and I do say the Apple is "pretty" and sleek... but if I had a kid in college, I'd spend the $$ on a Lenovo laptop as I know it'll take the abuse much better than the Macbook air and heckuv lot less likely to be stolen...
My $.02...
OccamsAftershave - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkAnd a X61 with a Penryn, 100GB HD and Ultrabase+DVD is $1600 vs. Air+DVD $1900.
Only comparison negatives: with an 8 cell X61 is 3.3 lbs and resolution is XGA, not WXGA+.
(And the 4 cell weighs 2.7 lbs. not 2.2 lbs.) Reply
lopri - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - link
This wasn't going to be my ultimate work machine, I wasn't going to be running Photoshop on it, I just needed it to do some basic writing and web browsing. In many senses all I needed was a notebook-sized iPhone.
What happened to the special, customized, and powerful Core 2 Duo CPU that Intel designed just for Apple? Reply
aliasfox - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkIt may be 50% faster than the 1.2 GHz ULV processors in most other ultraportables, but that also means it's also about 50% slower than most mainstream high end CPUs (2.2 GHz and up).
Slow hard drive doesn't help either. Reply
sprockkets - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkI don't get it. I can use my Pioneer laptop slot loading burner on an external enclosure and it be powered solely via the one usb port and works just fine, even while writing to dvds.
For that matter, I can do the same with notebook laptop drives. Rarely do I need both usb ports connected in order for it to work. Reply
sprockkets - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkOnly about 16mbits per second on the xfer rate on wireless? Wow. Were you using n? Reply
JarredWalton - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkI don't know what Anand used, but I've seen everything from 3MBps to 12MBps on an 802.11n network... all with laptops in the same room, and many using the same chipset (Intel 4965AGN). Overall, N tends to feel about half as fast as 100Mbit Ethernet - or about twice as fast as 802.11G. Router choice unfortunately still has a major influence on 802.11N performance. Reply
Imaginer - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkIt is what the overall feel and message of the article indicates to me. It is a bit expensive, non-expansive, lacks most utility to be used in most mobile situations, and it is purely for computing on the bare minimum.
Kind of like that so called weekend car. I don't think I myself will have ANY need for such a device. Give me a powerful desktop and a versitle yet remaining non cumbersome notebook anyday.
Most people in the market for a laptop usually would use it like their normal away from home computer and because of this, the air really disappoints. (not that I would invest in a new computer anytime soon). Reply
jedmitchell - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkhey, so good review overall -- kept it very even handed considering the difficulty of reviewing a niche product like this. one hardware point I'd like to mention though is the info you give on the X3100. certainly the idea behind it is that as an integrated controller it won't provide very fast graphics, but there's a trick here: most of the things it's not rated to run... run. at least on the older macBook (santa rosa). final cut pro, maya, and photoshop actually all run pretty seamlessly on the X3100, both in OSX and windows (fcp is more memory/drive limited there than GPU). the only small problems are in windows where the X3100 drivers by intel are actually lacking several openGL 2.0 features present in apple's version.
the X3100 even plays older games on windows without much trouble -- I can run the Orange Box games at 1024x768 with high quality settings and see a fairly regular 30fps, less a few texture memory glitches. anyway, it would be interesting to see how that performance in the same chipset scales from the macBook to the air. Reply
jdwango - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkHowever I wish you had also tried to install Windows XP/Vista via boot camp and reported your thoughts. Reply
joey2264 - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkThis would be a fairly good review if you would just mention the fact that most of the sacrifices Apple made to create the Macbook Air simply weren't necessary. If you look like at a notebook like the Fujitsu Lifebook S6510 of the Lenovo X300 this becomes clear. Looking at these two notebooks, it is obvious that each of the manufacturers could have come up with a 13.3 in, 1 spindle notebook that didn't make hardly any other compromises (decent keyboard, decent port selection, replaceable battery, upgradeable memory, standard 2.5" hard drives (Lenovo could have probably fit a 2.5" hard drive in there if they had used a 13.3" screen, with the requisite larger footprint, although it would have been a little heavier), etc). Reply
michael2k - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkThe S6510 you mention is heavier (by a pound) and nearly twice as thick! It is much more comparable to a MacBook (5 pounds and an inch thick vs 4 pounds and 1.42 inches thick).
The X300 is also not available yet, so a comparison will have to wait until we find out about price and build quality. Reply
mlambert890 - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - linkOK, so then the Sony TX, the Fujitsu P7k, the Toshiba Portege, the Dialogue Flybook, the Panasonic Toughbook, the Dell XPS1210, the Sony SZ, The LG XNote....
There's a pretty long list of notes that are smaller and ligher or as light or slightly heavier with a lot more features than the MBA.
The MBA is THINNER. Last I checked thinner is a BS feature. When someone can explain to me WHY thinner means ANYTHING beyond looking cool at Starbucks, maybe Ill be interested.
The Sony X505 was pretty much the same situation as the MBA except it had a removable battery and more ports and that was 3 years ago. I think the MBA was like .2" thinner than the Sony *at its thinnest point* and about the same at the thickest.
The MBA is big news for the cult of Mac which lately is including PC sites like this. Reply
michael2k - Friday, February 15, 2008 - linkFujitsu P7230: Too slow (one core at 1.2GHz vs two cores at 1.6GHz), half as much ram (1GB vs 2GB) for the same price
Dell XPS 1330: You can't get a 1210 from Dell.com (one pound (33%)heavier) for 2/3 the price
Sony TZ250N: You can't get a TX from Sonystyle.com, too slow (2 cores at 1.2GHz vs 1.6Ghz), too expensive ($600 more)
Sony SZ750N: Too big and heavy (1 pound (33%) heavier and twice as thick) for the same price
You argue against thinner: Thinner is only a measure of weight. Compare to 3 pounds (2.7 to 3.2 pound) and you already eliminate the toughbook, the Dells, the Portege, and the SZ. Compare to the CPU speed and you eliminate the Fujitsu and Sony TZ.
So what is left? The Lenovo X300, which is still more expensive, but for that extra expense you get an optical drive. Reply
mattbull08 - Monday, February 18, 2008 - linkactually a lot less "cool" but a much better option would be a panasonic T5 thicker but lighter than the MBA but with twice the battery life... and that last is really important in something you always carry and use all day, anything which can't go a full day without a charge is just not worth the expense (I know the T5 will do a UK->West Coast flight on a single charge).
The only real loss is less performance (do you really need it on the road??) and nowhere near as nice a screen.
Really depends on what your usage is... but I'll get a T5 when my current notebook goes thanks.
blumenbach - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link"OK, so then the Sony TX, the Fujitsu P7k, the Toshiba Portege, the Dialogue Flybook, the Panasonic Toughbook, the Dell XPS1210, the Sony SZ, The LG XNote."
The only one in this list that could compare with the MBA is the Portege, and even here it feels and looks like a plastic toy in comparison to the MBA. The display isn't near as sharp or bright on the Portege, and it's much slower. I owned the Sony, and Anand's review is right on: the cramped keyboard and tiny display made it a definite chore to use ergonomically.
So, yes, just like the MP3 player (iPod) and smartphone (iPhone) Apple has taken the ultralight class, studied what others have done, and have set a new benchmark by redefining what is possible with these devices. Reply
themadmilkman - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link"Redefining what is possible with these devices?" That's taking it a bit far, and I'm a rabid Apple fanatic. The MBA is a first effort, and just that. I spent a good amount of time playing with one at the Apple Store yesterday, and the only thing I can say about it is that it is simply too large. I can do without the ports, the external drive, the non-removable battery, etc., since none of those things really affect how I use my laptop. But if the MBA were reduced to an 11" or even 12" screen with a slightly smaller bezel around the screen, I would buy one. Until then, it's worth it to just carry the extra two pounds and buy a MacBook. Reply
ninjit - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkRegarding the 8 hour time-to-charge you noticed a few times. Did you calibrate the battery when you first got the Macbook Air.
I've seen similar behavior on Macbook Pros before, when new or after buying a new battery - and it's almost always because the user failed to collaborate the battery initially.
It's one of those simple things that manufacturers tell people to do (for good reason in this case), but most ignore. Reply
Omega215D - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkI noticed that you missed the page down and page up buttons. I have to say that I like scrolling with the trackpad much better. Place two fingers on it and slide downward makes this a nice feature.
To me the LED backlighting made the blacks a little richer and less prone to showing bleed like the regular LCD on the MacBook, did you feel this way too? I wished that LED backlighting is available for the regular MacBook like the one I just bought.
I like the way Apple did keyboard lighting on the Air than the one on the MacBook Pro. Black keys with lighting works much better than lighting on silver keys in my opinion. This being said I get by just fine using the light from the screen to illuminate my keys.
On a final note, there's no need to miss the right click button on the track pad, I just set the pad to accept clicks and allowed for two finger tapping to be a right click. I find it pretty difficult to go back to other laptops. Reply
Omega215D - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkI noticed that you missed the page down and page up buttons. I have to say that I like scrolling with the trackpad much better. Place two fingers on it and slide downward makes this a nice feature.
To me the LED backlighting made the blacks a little richer and less prone to showing bleed like the regular LCD on the MacBook, did you feel this way too? I wished that LED backlighting is available for the regular MacBook like the one I just bought.
I like the way Apple did keyboard lighting on the Air than the one on the MacBook Pro. Black keys with lighting works much better than lighting on silver keys in my opinion. This being said I get by just fine using the light from the screen to illuminate my keys.
bpurkapi - Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - linkWhen I first heard rumors of the Air I was excited. But seeing that there is no opportunity to upgrade it is worthless to me. For $1800 the ability to upgrade should be standard. This makes me really enjoy the smaller and more affordable EEEpc. If the purpose is just basic internet and note taking the EEE is a much better choice for a college kid, then the overpriced Air. I see the air as a status notebook, at 13.3 it is not really an ultra portable, yes it is light but the form factor is not that portable. I believe the size of the EEE is about as small as one can go without serious drawbacks. I think the Air will sell like the iTV. I just wonder why Apple would release this subpar product following the iPhone? You would think it would have been a tablet and actually had a smaller form factor. As of now the Air is worthless compared to other portables. Why would anyone buy this when the Macbook has better specs and is only 2 pounds more. The thinness of the Air is a gimmick and really doesn't provide much more portability. Reply
Griswold - Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - linkBut its a clear winner! This is why:
http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=macbookcommodor...">http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=macbookcommodor... Reply
Mathue - Thursday, February 14, 2008 - link""EEEpc. If the purpose is just basic internet and note taking the EEE is a much better choice for a college kid""
I dunno, the EEEpc is way too small. In my job on the road, field and office I need a light machine that has REAL keys. My fingers are large since I do actually do 'work' in addition my eyesight isn't what it once was. The tiny screen on the EEEpc might as well be an iPhone with the text size. And for heavens sake, if the 'Surf' EEEpc has a RAM slot, darn-it, put a door on it so you don't have the pull the machine apart! I also, much as I dislike it, must have perfect Word, Excel and Powerpoint compatibility, (Watching a colleague running Ubuntu on a Thinkpad July of last year for a pre-made company presentation was painful) the OEM linux 'office like' application doesn't give me that, at least there is office on the Mac. And don't say run XP on one of those, I deal with enough XP foibles as it is then to have to run it on a 7" screen with cramped keys. As it is the Air probably barely fits for me, but the EEEpc just goes way too far size wise and is even less of use. Reply
brianb - Friday, February 15, 2008 - linkI can't wait for Anandtech to review the Lenovo X300 and do a side-by-side comparison:
I still think the main disadvantage of the MB is the 4200 RPM PATA. If I were a business user, the HD speed would drive me insane with all the documents and spreadsheets I may have to edit on the plane, train, etc.
Bunkerdorp - Tuesday, March 01, 2011 - linkSee above the disk and the connector on the mainbord.
My harddisk crashed and question is are there cables to connect this disk to a sata disk?
Perhaps I can recover the data but I can not find a cable or connector for this dis.
Perhaps you knpw a solution.
Thans very much. Reply


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Samsung Galaxy S 2 (International) Review - The Best, Redefinedby Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/11/2011 11:06 AM EST
- Posted in
- Samsung
- Smartphones
- Galaxy S II
- Exynos
- Mobile
132 Comments
Back to Article
VivekGowri - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkI literally cannot wait to read this article, and I similarly cannot wait for SGS2 to launch in the US. Reply
ImSpartacus - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkYou guys don't get early access to drafts? Reply
niva - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkI own an original Galaxy S, until it's been proven that Samsung updates to the latest Android within a month after major releases I will not buy anything but a Nexus phone in the future (assuming I even go with Android). By the time that decision has to be made I'm optimistic there will be unlocked WP7 Nokias available. Reply
Havor - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkSeriously , whats the problem, I was running 2.2 and 2.3 when they came out, could have them sooner, I just dont like to run roms with beta builds.
So you never heard of Rooting and Custom Roms?
Its the nature of companies to have long and COSTLY eternal testing routs, done mainly by people with 9 to 5 jobs, as delivering buggy roms is bad for there name, but then so is not updating to but its lots less hurtful, as most people dont care or know any better.
Next to that if your phone is a phone is customized with extra crapeware by your provider it can be that it takes months before you get a update even do Samsung delivered one a long time ago.
The rooting scene is totally different, its done by nerds with passion for what they do, and yes the early/daily builds have bugs but also get mouths quicker reported and fixed by the scene.
And imho are the final updates just as stable as the factory builds.
Dont like how your Android is working?
Stop bitching and fixed your self, its not that hard, as it is a OS platform, just make sure you can root your phone, before you buy it.
The following website explains it all.
http://androidforums.com/galaxy-s-all-things-root/ Reply
vision33r - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkIf it's your personal phone, you can do whatever you want. However like some of us here with jobs that let us pick phones. One requirement is the phone has to be stock and no rooting allowed.
Samsung is about the worst of the 3 makers in terms of software updates. Reply
niva - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkSeriously calm down, I've heard plenty about rooting and custom roms but phone hackery is not something I'm interested in right now. I don't have the time or energy for it. I shouldn't have to manually go through rooting and updating my phone, especially when security issues are involved.
I like the way 2.2 is working on the SGS. I bought this phone from a friend who upgraded and it's not something I would've paid the retail price for. I've not run into anything so far that's made me actually bother with the rooting and manual upgrade process. I've not read into rooting the phone or updating it, but I'm sure if I get into it this will take me a long time (hours/days) which I shouldn't need to sacrifice to run the latest version of the OS.
From the political standpoint the blame is both on Samsung and T-Mobile apparently in terms of getting the new revisions out.
From my personal standpoint I despise all companies who do not use the default Android distro, running skins and secondary apps, on the phones they ship out. While some of the things they do are nice, it slows down their ability to keep up with android revisions.
On the other hand, my wife's Nexus (original one) updates faster than internet posts saying Android 2.3.x has been rolled out. It's friggin awesome. She had one problem with battery draining really fast after a recent upgrade but I managed to fix that after a couple of hours of forum searching and trying different things.
So it's simple, if I will buy another Android in the future, it will be a Nexus phone, where I know from personal experience that everything works in terms of having the latest and greatest. Notice the Nexus S is made by Samsung, it's for the most part identical to the phone I have, yet gets the updates immediately and doesn't have the known security problems I'm exposed to. Reply
ssj4Gogeta - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkWell, the international version got 2.3.3 around ~3 months ago here (and earlier for other countries). Reply
poohbear - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkvision33r u dont know what you're talking about. People bitch and complaina bout software updates, but how are the quality of those updates? when its updated too soon there are bugs and ppl complain, updated later ppl complain about the wait times. I remember last year Motorola said they're not updating their XT720 to android 2.2., they're leaving it at 2.1. S korea Motorola was the only branch that decided to do it, but guess what? 2.2 was too much for the hardware in the XT720 to handle, and it ran slooooow! XT720 users all over complained about it, but the reality is the phone couldnt handle it. 90% of smartphone users want something stable that works, they dont care about having the latest and greatest Android build. So if Samsung errs on the side of quality and takes more time to release stable quality software, then all the power to them! Reply
anishannayya - Friday, September 23, 2011 - linkActually, if updates are your hard-on, then you'd likely be looking at Motorola in the future (due to the Google acquisition).
The entire reason why the Nexus lines of phones are quick to get updates is because the are co-developed with Google. As a result, these phones are the ones the Google developers are using to test the OS. When it is ready to go, it is bug free on the device, so Samsung/HTC can roll it out immediately.
At the end of the day, any locked phone is plagued by carrier bloatware, which is the biggest slowdown in software release. Just buy an unlocked phone, like this one, in the future. Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkIt's awesome to see this article finally
I'm glad François Simond aka supercurio contributed to the article
Btw that slot on the left is for the hand strap which is very popular in asia for accessory attachments Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkBtw you can launch search by holding down the menu button Reply
Aloonatic - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkJust curious, but have MS given up on the smartphone market? Or have I just missed out on all the new (or soon to be release) WP7 devices?
At this rate, I'm just going to have to go with Android and a SGS II, even though I'd love a WP7 phone, but what there is out there are just all old handsets, and I'd have to change carrier to get one now too, as T-Mobile (UK) don't seem to sell them at all any more!?!?!?111! Reply
dagamer34 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkIf I had to guess, OEMs are working on their new handsets, but want to load them with Windows Phone 7.5, which only RTMed officially a few weeks ago.
My best guess is we'll see some more phones around October or so, with a Galaxy S II shaped WP7 device. Reply
Aloonatic - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkWell, October is what I figured too, but... We're already over a week into September and there still aren't any "coming soon" 7.5 devices to be seen anywhere, so I'd be surprised if October (as in the start of October) is anything but wishful thinking.
It starting to seem like MS just aren't that bothered. Where's the "ooh, look at this coming soon phone" stuff? The SGS 2 like WP7 phone has been mentioned all over the web for months, but there's nothing remotely official, and with only the odd photo shopped image from net dreamers.
It's a shame, as I'm not a fan of Apple, their products or how they behave. And I've tried Android and been annoyed by their poor updating system, where too many companies have been allowed to let year old hardware languish at the back of the update queue (if it's lucky) while the new devices get all the attention and you're left with juddering menus and in some cases shocking security holes.
Maybe it's just me, and my problem, for hoping that WP7 might offer a solution to my woes, but MS are just leaving this all waaaaaaayyyyy too late. By the time they get to the party someone will be handing them a bin bag and asking them to help clear up. Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkWhat do you mean? It was in the video presentation for the mango announcement month or two ago
right around :40 he whips it out of the pocket. I guess he couldn't wait to use it as his daily phone Reply
Aloonatic - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkOh, so they have a few units the they showed on a video presentation that who saw exactly?
Yes, I may have been exaggerating slightly before (and I know that that doesn't stand on geek boards) and we've all (well, a reasonable percentage, as I am sure that at least 1 person reading this hasn't) seen the "leaked" video that no one *wink wink* should video and get out.... But really, there's nothing to be seen here. Those videos are no more proof of a finished product than a concept car at a motor show.
I'm just disappointed that they hare dragging their feet on this product, and really don't seem to care either. Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkThis was posted on a lot of major tech blog/news sites. As for devices, there are quite a few announced devices but they're all waiting for the mango update Reply
vision33r - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkSamsung phones are outdated in one quarter. They release small updated features to the same platform.
The Galaxy line had 4-5 different variant versions within the same year.
This makes update very difficult for them and also buyer confusion.
I'll stick with HTC, since Samsung takes forever to fix software and issue timely updates. Reply
ph00ny - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkwhich device outside of the US carrier branded ones didn't get updates as soon as HTC devices? In fact, which android device manufacturer doesn't release 4-5 different variants within the same year? Reply
aegisofrime - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkHad mine here in Singapore for about 3 months now, and you Americans will be joining the party with plenty of custom ROMs and kernels to choose from :)
So yeah, welcome to the party!
This forum will probably be your new best friend now:
(Galaxy S II Original Android Development) Reply
dagamer34 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkOn pg 15, Galaxy S uses a SGX 540 GPU, not 530. Other than that, great review! Reply
Synaesthesia - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkStaggering review, you really are the most comprehensive and scientific reviewer around, bravo!
Samsung have really impressed with this phone, in terms of how much effort they have invested in the hardware and software. One thing still stands out for me, the battery life. While good, it still doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone 4, as shown on the charts. Reply
LostViking - Saturday, September 17, 2011 - linkWhat do you mean?
Its about 30% worse when web browsing (mostly because of the much larger screen I reckon), but better in the other tests.
If you are one of those old timers who actually use the phone for talking the SGSII is about 30 better ;)
When I am low on battery, and don't have access to a charger, that's usually what I would prioritize. Reply
xdrol - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkFor me the mentioned Cat 5 limit looks reasonable - you don't get user-level 2.0 Mbps because of the overhead of the PDCP/RLC/MACd protocols (about 15% -> 2.0 Mbps is 1.7 Mbps for IP). Reply
wilky76 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkAlot of people that have the Samsung Galaxy S2 are suffering from framerate problems when using either 720p or 1080p in low light including myself.
What basically happens is when the camera tries to focus in lowlight the framerates drop to around 13fps, then jump back upto around 30fps again, basically making any HD video recording useless in low light because of the stuttering, the only fix that is known is to drop the exposure to -2 as this stop the stuttering, or use 480p when indoors or poor light.
Some folks have returned their SGS2 because of this problem, only to receive another with the same problem.
There has been a couple of camera firmware updates on Samung own app site, which to this date still hasn't sorted the problem out & in some cases people that weren't suffering from this problem, now have it after updating the camera firmware.
Can any of you guys at Anandtech test your SGS2 in low light with either 720p or 1080p to see if the mobile you received for reviewing also suffer from this problem.
But what is strange is that not everbody has the framerate problem, so it could be due to which sensor you get with your SGS2, and could proberly be sorted with a firmware update eventually.
Anyways people with this problem and there is a few can be found in this post over at XDA
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1... Reply
DrSlump - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkHi, i have exactly the same problem with my samsung galaxy s2.
I got casual stuttering (a frame loss) during normal light conditions and severe stuttering under low light conditions.
As soon as the firmware raises the sensor gain to match the detected light, the framerate goes down to 25fps and when autofocus occours the framerate goes down to 13fps, and then returns back to 25fps when the autofocus is finished.
I olso noticed that when i try to frame a tv or a monitor, severe banding occours. Even taking a video when the light source is a tv or a monitor, banding occours. Seems like the isp isn't able to compensate the frequency of the light source.
In a lot of situations it's impossible to take a video due to the severe stuttering :(
Any one of you has these problems? How to solve it?
I would like to ask to the autor:
did you notice some problem with the display? There is a thread in the xda-developers forum that speaks about the yellow tinting or faded out left side of the screen. Please can you report about this problem? Reply
B3an - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkWhy dont you just admit it's the best phone around hands down? :) Not just the best Android phone. It's clearly miles superior to the outdated iPhone 4.
Shame you yanks have had to wait forever to get it, only to get 3 different versions that dont even look as good and have ridiculous names. I've been using a GSII since April and it's just unmatched. Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkThis yank got it on the UK launch day and i've been enjoying it since Reply
steven75 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkIt's not better in battery life, audio quality, display resolution and sharpness, or the many ways that iOS is better (AirPlay, app selection AND quality), immediate OS updates, etc).
Gread Android phone though for those interested in 4.3" displays, which definitely isn't everyone. Personally, I'd wait for the Prime. Reply
steven75 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkOh and outdoor display brightness, which even at 100% isn't a match for iPhone, but then it's even capped at 75% for temp reasons. Reply
ph0tek - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkFirst of all Android is better than iOS in so many ways that i'd be here all day listing them..... and the same goes for this phones hardware compared to the iPhone so i wont even bother!
Secondly the S2 might have a slightly lower display res but it has better response times, infinitely better contrast, vastly better blacks, more vibrant colours, plus superior viewing angles. And all this on a screen that isn't stupidly tiny. It's clearly better overall.
Everyone who i've shown to this phone to instantly says the screen is the best they've seen, even iPhone users.
With the battery theres not much difference, it has longer battery life for talk time than iPhone, and also longer battery when using hotspots, while displaying Flash content too! Yes you can view the WHOLE web on this.
I find it very amusing that you even try to compare the iPhone to this. Theres simply no comparison. Like comparing a ferrari to a skoda. Just makes you look stupid. Reply
niva - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkWhy are you arguing with an iFanboy? Reply
LostViking - Saturday, September 17, 2011 - linkYou could argue that the SGS 2 is better (for me it wins hands down), and you could argue that the iPhone 4 is better.
Some people get sever rashes all over their body by using products not made by Apple ;)
For those people the original iPhone beats the SGS 2 and all future Android devices easily :) Reply
jjj - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkhard to like any new phone now when Krait and A15 are around the corner. Reply
killerroach - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkRemember... there's ALWAYS something around the corner. Reply
jjj - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkActually there is rarely something like this around the corner.This time we got both new cores and a new node (and the jump from 40/45 nm to 28 nm is pretty big). Reply
3lackdeath - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkNice phone but WP7 is faster and smoother. Reply
OBLAMA2009 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - link400x800? no thx Reply
MacTheSpoon - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkWhat a staggeringly awesome review. I am really impressed. The audio section--wow.
I sure wish the screen were brighter and the audio better on this phone, but I have to put it on my short list. Reply
Piyono - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - link"There, Anand and *I* played with..." Reply
tipoo - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkThe iPhone 4 always scores near the bottom of the 2.0 test since its native resolution is so high, but I'd be interested to know how it does with the resolution independent 2.1 test? Reply
B3an - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - link...but the iPhone 4 is already in the 2.1 tests which are all run at 1280x720 so it's equal on every phone... and unsurprisingly it's the worst performer. Reply
Lucian Armasu - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkThe iPhone 4 has a GPU that is one generation older than the one in the first Galaxy S phone. So that's the main reason why it performs the worst in all these GPU tests. Reply
LostViking - Saturday, September 17, 2011 - linkYou can do the math already.
If you calculate the pixel ratio (width * height) between the iPhone and the others you can correct the numbers. Reply
3lackdeath - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkWhen are you guys going to start adding WP7 to the Comparisons list WP7 is soooo lacking in your reviews.
It has been out for a while now you know, a long long time did i say long?. Reply
shamalh108 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkHi Brian.. first off thanks for the great review..its quite honestly the best I've read on the SGS2..
As an SGS2 user i need to just testify to my experience of the AOS bug..
This bug or its effects aren't actually experienced by me while the phone is actually in use, but actually results in a dramatic use of battery when in suspend.. it is intermittent so it won't occur all the time but over the last month I've been able to identify it using battery monitor pro.
what i find is that in the morning when unplugged i can put my edge data on and then leave the phone in standby for up to two hours and see no drain... if i then proceed to use the phone for about 20min and note the battery percentage , i then lock the phone and leave it in standby again with edge data enabled and push email... after closing all tasks but the battery percentage will drop by up to 10% in those two hours while battery monitor pro reports an estimate usage of 100+ mah ..compared to the same running conditions it was in when just unplugged and consumed almost no power. this isn't always the case though sometimes the phone will only drop 2% or less per hour with the battery monitor pro reporting usage of 25~35 mah ... As you can see this bug actually affects standby time more than nonstop usage and that is probably why the benchmarks havent been affected.. also im not sure if its normal but when the phone is experiencing the high usage and i look at the process cpu usage the events and suspend process are consuming around 15~20% cpu... this checked immediately after unlocking the phone using watchdog task manager pro.
while i understand all the measurements are estimates .. i really feel the effects of this as with the same usage i can't be certain if ill get the 14hours battery life i need or 10.. what is the normal power consumption for an android phone in suspend as I've noticed my brothers HTC desire consistently consumes 10~15mah in standby with a similar set up..
again thanks for the great review..
my international SGS2 is running stock with no root , XXKF3 . Reply
willstay - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkI have been using SGS2 for two months now and this is my 3rd Android. In the past, I always flashed closest to stock ROM, now after 2 months, I think google should consider touchWiz kindof UI as default. It is really minimalistic with just few tiny bit feature that makes it way better than stock - folders and page scrolling where I can put important apps in page 1, system apps in page 2 and so on.
One consistent touchWiz feature to swipe contacts left for message and right for call is a must have.
I must be having over sensitive eye that comfortable brightness level I use during day (indoor) is zero and for evening and night, I am using app called "Screen Filter" to make it dimmer. (I know this is only me - for my laptop I had to hack drivers to make it dimmer than allowed normally).
When idle, processor goes back to 200 MHz and normally with wifi off, cellular net off, SGS2 lives through the night depleting only 1% of the battery. When I only use it for phone and sms, I get two days. Most of the time when I have access to desktop, I turn off wifi and push mail. My usual battery indicator runs as follows - fully charged before going to sleep - 99% when I wake up - I turn wifi and push mail on and by the time I move out to office it is 97% - wifi off in office but sometimes on when I move out of my desk to run SIP client and get my desk extension routed to phone and by lunch time it is 90% - push mail on and cellular net on during lunch time 86% - when I reach home it is from 80 to 75% - that is when my phone gets highest load of games, browsing, wifi, pushmail until I plug for charing around 11 pm and before I plug in it is usally 30%. For comparison, the lowly Nokia 1280 I am using for backup ran for 15 days in single charge and there was still 1/5 bar left in it.
"light weight seems to imply a certain level of cheapness" - people will soon start to understand weight has no correlation with quality and when devices grow bigger and bigger, they will appreciate lighter weight design.
As for me, this is my first Samsung and I am impressed!! Unfortunagely SGS2 has short life it seems - I am so impressed with this light weight, thinness, SAMOLED+, touchWiz that I am getting SG-Note at whatever cost when it comes out :) Reply
shamalh108 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkhey willstay.. wow ! please help me , how are you getting such astonishing battery life ? what Rom are you on ? is your phone used at all during the day ? i simply can not get that kinda standby consumption between my few use periods during the day.. i love my phone and right now its just the battery life that's frustrating me.. why are the reports so varied .. any info you have would be welcome :) Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkI'm also getting a full day of usage like the user above. I ran stock rom forever until i ventured over to the some of the newer custom roms and i'm getting slightly less battery life with the newest sensation 1.6 rom (2.3.4) compared to stock and cognition 1.07. Reply
willstay - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkI am using default ROM but flashed kernel for rooting. I guess it must be rouse app. I've found Location And Security -> Use Wireless Networks eats up around 7% of battery through night (which otherwise is only 1%). Sometimes service called MediaService (after I've played songs through Btooth) eats up around 25% through sleep hours. Once I used very nice network bandwidth monitoring app to find individual data usage, it was sipping 25% during sleep hours (I install this app only when I need it). Pushmail on low signal cellular network eats battery like hell - my phone gets warm at the back. Interestingly, always-on low light digital clock of app NoLED eats only 20% through night. For most of the bug related drainage, flushing RAM helps.
If I were you, I would temporarily uninstall few apps at a time to find the culprit. You may be able to short list possible apps through battery usage tool of the phone too. Reply
shamalh108 - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkThanks alot, going to do that today, however if you read my post above im not sure its an individual app causing it. Maybe i should root so i can wipe the battery stats and recalibrate, besides that im also going to purchase the offical extended battery from samsung, i dont mind losing slight slimness:) Reply
ph00ny - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkI didn't even bother with rooting for a month or two until i wanted to try out chainfire plugins. Even in stock form, battery life was great. certainly better than my captivate.
One thing to understand about SAMOLED screen is that it uses 0 power on black pixel and more power on white pixels. So maybe try out a darker themed wall paper and also check to see if you have widgets that have tendency to use up more juice than an alternative
Also for an example, samsung's stock music app uses roughly half of Google's music app power consumption. It gets worse with spotify (offline mode of course) Reply
Remeniz - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkThe trick is to adjust the power saving features to suit and make sure very little is going on in the back ground. I only run GPS if I need too and the WiFi gets turned off when i'm out and about, unless I know i'm in a WiFi zone and want to browse the www.
I get at least a days use out of my SGS2. Reply
supercurio - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkNote:
"When idle, processor goes back to 200 MHz"
Idle - screen on or an using a wakelock to keep the device on its the case.
Otherwise the whole CPU is turned literally OFF − everything frozen in RAM.
And in this situation, the baseband, Wi-fi chip or an external timer will wake up the CPU and restore Linux kernel in a working state when needed, like if you received a new mail, or a phone call.
I precise that because most people believe the CPU stays ON all the time but it's the opposite, with standard usage, the CPU is ON only a fraction of the day. Reply
Lucian Armasu - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkBrian, I don't think it's fair to compare the "tablet" version of A5 with the "smartphone" version of the Exynos and all the other chips. Even Nvidia's Tegra 2 has either 50% or 100% higher clock frequency for its GPU in the tablets, compared to the one in smartphones.
It's very likely that all tablet chips are more powerful than the smartphones ones, and for all we know the iPhone 5 GPU will only one 1 GPU core instead of 2 like in the iPad 2, or they'll be clocked at a lower frequency.
I know you'll review the iPhone 5, too, but I think you're setting a too low expectation for the Exynos and the others compared to the "A5 chip". You know what I mean? You should've at least thrown a Xoom or a Transformer in there to see how it fairs against the Tegra 2 phones.
I hope at least you'll correct this in future reviews. Great review otherwise, though. Reply
privater - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkAn iPad 2 can run sun spider 0.9 with 1980 score (4.3.5)
If the Exynos is superior on every aspect of A5, the result is difficult for me to understand. Reply
Lucian Armasu - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkJust as I mentioned above, it's not fair to compare the tablet versions with the phone versions of the chips. All the latest smartphones get around 4000 in the Sun Spider test, but all tablets get around 2000 in that test, so even on the CPU side, it's still not a fair comparison. Reply
Mike1111 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkGreat review!
But why are you so late with the review of the INTERNATIONAL version? I mean I would get it if you decided to wait for the US versions, but waiting almost 4 1/2 months and then publish a review of the international version only a week before the US versions get released? Seems strange to me... Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkBrian said in the other reviews comment sections that he was waiting to get ahold of a review unit. I did offer mine if he was nearby but he's nearly on the west coast and i live in the opposite side of the country Reply
shamalh108 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkAnother pity is that even games from gameloft which are supposed to be adapted to the SGS2 cause significant heating of the phone.. for example the Asphalt 6 available for free in Samsung Apps .. it would be great if more games were coded to make better use of the SGS2 gpu ... Reply
mbetter - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkNice looking phone but after my last Sprint Epic turned out to be such piece of crap, I'm not getting burned again. Reply
jmcb - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkSadly....this happened to me from the old Win Mo days with the Omnia 1. I kept up with the GS 1 and now the GS2...and I give Samsung credit for whatever pros the phones have.
But like with any phone manufacture...a bad experience can have a lasting effect. And for me it was something simple: build quality and reception. Both were bad with the Omnia 1 IMO. And ever since....I've been leery of Samsung phones.
But...all n all the GS2 looks like more of a winner than the GS1. Reply
warisz00r - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkEh, your loss. (you and the poster you're replying to) Reply
steven75 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - link...still doesn't have functioning GPS? Yikes! Reply
WinProcs - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkThe GPS now works very well. It finds the satellites faster than any other smartphone I have tried including the iphone 4. Navigon is preloaded onto the phone (in Australia at least). The earlier version of Navigon had some problems on the Galaxy S. That appears to be fixed with the latest software version. The S2 has never had a problem with the GPS.
I loaded Litening ROM and find that the phone is faster than original and battery life is much better too. I charge it every night but it is normally sitting at about 65-70% after an normal days use.
I had an iphone and a Galaxy S before the S2. It is better than both of those. Reply
ph00ny - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkAre we reading the same article?
"GPS works this time around, and works well. I took the SGS2 on a 7-hour long road trip with me and used its GPS continually with no issues."
Every review since the release has made it a point to check this and mentioned it clearly since the SGS1 debacle. Reply
Reikon - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkYou missed the subject of the comment. He's talking about the original SGS, not the SGS2. Reply
JMS3072 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkDoes Hulu work using the Desktop user agent? Reply
Astri - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkGreat review as always, but i was expecting to get more information about the famous color banding problem.
Yes, the device is super etc etc, but its a pity to not be able to see everything on 24bit Reply
supercurio - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkHi Astri.
In some conditions yes on Galaxy S II you can perceive gradient banding or suboptimal dithering.
The reason is not hardware at all, Super AMOLED+ controller and display work on higher bit-depth than 24bit, Gingerbread uses 32bit surfaces by default.
You can see 3 situations with degraded gradients:
- pre-dithered to 16bit or lower gradients or images
- web browser (automatic 16bit dithering)
- some games using 16bit without dithering instead of 32 on other phones.
Every available mDNIe preset apply a sharpness filter between the GPU and the screen itself. Of course, it doesn't play well with the 3 type of content listed before.
I reverse-engineered mDNIe controller registers to build a screen tuning app. Give a try to the dev snapshots: https://market.android.com/details?id=org.projectv... - root required.
The current version is basic but I'll offer complete rendering configuration in the end.
To avoid banding, use "Native" preset: as its named: no effect applied. Reply
Astri - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkGreat work, the difference is obvious! Cant wait for the release
thanks for your reply. is good to know that is not hardware issue. it gives us hopes for quality gradients in future sw updates Reply
supercurio - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkI'm glad it works for you ;)
Don't expect Samsung to change the screen rendering in an update because if some would prefer "Native", others would not after loosing some perceived sharpness even if it's an artificial one that creates halos and artifacts.
Anyway the app is here, and free! Reply
Jon Irenicus - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkYour audio section scared me about the audio quality, is there any chance the US sprint variant will use a different DAC? or get a tweaked version of the Yamaha DAC? Reply
supercurio - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkFrom dumps I received AT&T and Sprint versions are exactly the same for audio.
T-Mobile, I'm not sure yet, I got some dumps from an non released device with a separate Yamaha headphone+speaker driver that looked like a potential T-Mobile Galaxy S II.
No idea about the DAC itself today. Reply
Gnarr - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - link"TouchWiz 4.0 is a much cleaner, less claustrophobic, and considerably less garish experience."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claustrophobia Reply
DeciusStrabo - Monday, September 12, 2011 - link"something feels claustrophobic" isn't an uncommon phrase for saying something feels small, cluttered and cramped. Reply
jigglywiggly - Sunday, September 11, 2011 - linkTHIS IS THE MOST INDEPTH REVIEW FOR A PHONE EVAR Reply
Omid.M - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkAnd their childishness?
Look what they've done to the American versions of the SGS2. Childish, for wanting their own "version" of an amazing phone. Why mess with a great thing? Oh, because you don't want to just compete on service--as you should--you want "exclusive" features on your version of the phone?
Wish I was on AT&T so I could import the Int'l version.
I'm honestly amazed at your 180. I recall you being a little "so what?" about the SGS2 (this is way back before summer 2011) and now it looks to be your favorite smartphone (I think). And we know you're a harsh critic :)
I hope we get to see soon what the SGS3 might look like: will Samsung keep with the Exynos SoC and add LTE to compete with Krait? What will the next gen Mali GPU look like? Next Gen SAMOLED? So curious...and yet, we know an SGS3 wouldn't reach America for at least another 18 months...hopefully, VZW customers won't be let down by a Nexus Prime (and that includes bloat).
The addition of Supercurio (Francois) is perfect; you have a talented dev who is passionate enough to explain to the layman how things work. He's helped me on more than one occasion when I had a Fascinate :)
Great work, Anand, Brian, and Francois. One of the best reviews I've ever read on any product. No question.
@moids Reply
ph00ny - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkAgreed. My main reason for purchasing the international version this time around was to receive more timely updates along with less restrictions.
As for next gen, there is already a LTE version of SGS2 and ARM already announced the next gen Mali graphics quite some time ago. Regardless, no one knows if samsung will use mali's gpu on the SGS3 and hopefully the SGS3 will come in an ATT compatible flavor when it's released Reply
Brian Klug - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkI definitely admit that I was very *meh* about the phone after seeing it at MWC. It clearly has come a really, really long way, and now it's my absolute favorite Android device because of all those reasons outlined above - just incredible smoothness and huge performance. :)
-Brian Reply
kreacher - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkI was disappointed to see that there is no mention of the screen 's inability to display 24bit gradients while Samsung claims its a screen capable of displaying 16M colors. Reply
supercurio - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkSee my answer for Astri.
Maybe you only checked a gradient in Web Browser or a specific app that forces 16bit surfaces.
Each app has the ability to choose how the rendering is done in this regard.
Internally, the Super AMOLED controller works in much more than 24bit in order to proceed to complex color-space conversions between the a digital frame buffer and an analog, very large dynamic range OLEDs. Reply
lemmo - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkGreat review, and incredible detail on the audio quality. Shame the SGS2 has taken a step backwards on audio. Any info on the likely spec for the audio on the Samsung Nexus Prime?
Also, any recommendations on reviews of best smartphones for audio quality? cheers :) Reply
supercurio - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkThanks for the feedback!
I really need it in order to improve next review.
Organize it differently for better readability, maybe evaluate other aspects as well (like recording)
I have no info about what's in Nexus Prime but I'd like to :P
If somebody can send me a report: https://market.android.com/details?id=org.projectv... I'll study it.
Best devices I know in terms of audio quality:
- with Voodoo Sound: Nexus S, Galaxy S family, Galaxy Tab 7".
- with or without Voodoo sound: Asus Transformer
- soon with Voodoo Sound: Galaxy Tab 10.1 (incredible power stage for the headphone amp)
- iPhones/iPad: clean DAC but boring headphone amp (unable to drive many cans to adequate levels)
And.. many I don't know! (yet?) Reply
lemmo - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - linkThanks supercurio, very helpful. I'll keep looking for more info on the Nexus Prime.
Shame none of the other phones/tablets you mention have got the right spec for me.
In practice, do you think the 'average user' will notice the poorer audio quality on the SGS2? Reply
yellowchilli - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linka very very good read thank you
i've owned the sgs2 since its EU launch..it's interesting to see the slight differences/improvements samsung has put into the US release (e.g. the power button, camera ui) Reply
mcquade181 - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkI've had my SGS2 here in Australia for two months now and on a recent snow trip noticed some deficiencies compared to my friends Nokia N8. We both use the same provider (Telstra 3G on 850MHz):
1. Whilst travelling there were periods where I completely lost reception whereas the N8 still had a signal and was able to make calls. This suggests that the SGS2 is a bit lacking in cellular sensitivity (and note that the N8 is not all that flash either when compared to the old Nokia N95).
2. In our snow accomodation I could not get a reliable WiFi signal from the local hotspot whereas the N8 could (it was marginal, but it did work).
3. Bluetooth on the SGS2 is unreliable with some devices. It keeps disconnecting after a few minutes.
That said I do like my SGS2 and is better in many other ways to the Nokia N8 - in particular earphone volume and call clarity where the N8 is deficient. Of course android has a much wider selection of available apps than does the Nokia, although surprisingly ALL my favourite apps are also available for the Nokia.
Regards from down under, Graham Rawolle. Reply
willstay - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkWhat a coincidence. After two Androids, I actually bought N8 and later sold it to get SGS2. Before Belle, swype was only available in landscape and my must-have apps are not there for Symbian. Reply
jcompagner - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkyes that is the only drawback i also can find of the SGS2..
Wifi reception is really not up to standards. Reply
kmmatney - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkI'm not happy with the battery tests - they don't show real life usage. I'd still like to know what happens with the battery if you just leave the phone in your pocket for most of the day, or what happens if you leave it in standby overnight. All of my co-workers complain about battery life with their Android phones, and all want to get iPhones the next time around. The batteries seem to drain excessively with the phones doing nothing, and they are often dead when they go to use them. Who cares if you can browse the web for 7 hours or whatever...I just want the phone to be ready to use if its been sitting on my desk for half the day, or if I forget to charge it overnight. This is way more important - at least for someone like me who travels. (actually, I work a lot in wafer fabs around the world, and crappy reception in the fabs often drain battery quickly).
I guess it will depend on what Apps are installed, and you use push notifications, but it would be useful to have a test where you charge the phone, and then let it sit for 8 hours doing nothing, and then report the battery life. The older Android phones seemed terrible at this, while my iPhone 3GS is great.
This phone looks awesome, but I would need this information before I would consider buying it. Reply
Mugur - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkWell, for most Android devices I've tried (I currently own 3), if you just leave them doing nothing overnight (even with wifi on on some of them, but no 3G/HSDPA, no GPS etc.) the battery drain is like 2-3%. Of course, if some app or push email or an updating widget wakes them, the drain could reach 20-25%.
You just have to play a bit with the phone and find out what is mostly consuming your battery, even get one of the "green" apps on the Market. Through experimentation, I'm sure most people (excluding the really heavy users) will get 50% more time of the battery. Reply
wuyuanyi - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkIt must be the final answer for my pending problem.my GS II has this problem and I has been very annoyed.the CPU current produce a EMI on the output circuit ,for the BT earphone DOESN'T play such hiss and noisy.apprecite it to solve my problem rather than suspect whether it is my own case. but the next question is how to solve it ? can we manual fix the shield or , generate a noisy that is against the noisy --with reverse wave?
sorry for my poor ENGLISH Reply
awesomedeleted - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkThis is a fresh copy of my current phone...Samsung Infuse 4G...which came out in May. I hate the newer Galaxy S round home button thingy too. What's so special, the name? Reply
awesomedeleted - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkAlthough I now notice a few small differences in hardware, such as 1.2Ghz Dual-core A9 vs. my Infuse's 1.2Ghz Single-core A8, and the 1GB RAM. Reply
supercurio - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkInfuse 4G is a Galaxy S "repackaged" with a Galaxy S II look, screen and probably camera sensor for AT&T. Reply
bmgoodman - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkSo I understand that the audio quality of this phone is a step down from the original galaxy. My question is how big a step down? For a non-"audiophile" who just wants to connect the headphone jack into the AUX port on his OEM car stereo to listen to his variable bit rate MP3 (~128 bps IIRC) music collection, is this something that's likely to disappoint? Is it a notable shortcoming for a more typical music fan? Reply
supercurio - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkNo doubt cars are in general a noisy environment.
Furthermore its very rare to find cars benefiting from good speakers and implementation, resulting in far from linear frequency response, left/right imbalance, resonance in other materials etc :P
Trained ears or sensible people are capable of detecting subtle difference in sound like nobody can imagine ^^ but I don't think it will Galaxy S II DAC issues described will make a noticeable difference when listening to music while driving a car for most people.
Note: I have no idea how was the original Samsung Galaxy phone on this regard, but its a regression over Galaxy S.
Headphones.. that's something else because even cheap ones (price doesn't matter) can provide some low distortion levels and let your perceive fine details. Reply
Deusfaux - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkIt is there and does work, speaking from experience with a Nexus S. Reply
Deusfaux - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkAn HTC I used did it best though, with integrating the feature right into the browser settings. No special URL strings needed to access functionality. Reply
aNYthing24 - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkBut isn't there a version of the Tegra 2 that is clocked at 1.2 GHz? It's going to be at that clock speed in the Fusion Grid table.t Reply
jcompagner - Monday, September 12, 2011 - linkWhen i am already using it for months and months now, and i am already thinking maybe next month or 2 i will replace it with its successor the Nexus Prime or what ever it may be called...
Again here the complains about no updates.
What are you people complaining about, please...
Samsung releases, yes not officially but they are real samsung releases, quite often roms
for example here are the SGS2 once's:
A few releases per month, i am now on the latest one (2.3.4 of August 12)
If you look there to other phones you also will see many updates of all the latest phones of samsung.
So it is very easy and you dont need to root if you don't want to, just flash these roms. and you have a updated samsung made rom. (but yes 'leaked') Reply
Reikon - Monday, September 12, 2011 - link"Vellamo produces its scores directly from frame counters, so what you're looking at is a direct representation of how fast these devices scroll through the three web tests above. The Galaxy S II is 20 - 35% faster than the Photon 4G and 45 - 100% faster than the EVO 3D."
You mixed up Photon 4G and EVO 3D, either in the table or the comment under it. The data shows the SGS2 20-35% faster than the EVO 3D and 45-100% faster than the Photon 4G. Reply
Stormkroe - Saturday, September 17, 2011 - linkI thought I was the only one noticing this too. I'm also concerned with the adreno missing from the 2.1 off screen render tests, as well as pointing out that it would definitely be beating the S2 in GL 2.0 Pro if resolutions were normalized there. Feels like the whole thing was meant to really set the mali on a high horse. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great, just not "double the speed of the competition" when you throw the entire lineup in the mix. Reply
poohbear - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkNice to read this review finally, it is indeed an awesome piece of hardware. Im not even sure the iphone 5 will be able to compete? guess we'll find out next month! Reply
PWRuser - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkIs the SGS2 memory the newer 30nm LPDDR2 1066 or the 800 one found in older phones? Reply
QWIKSTRIKE - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkWhen will you do a Sprint review with CDMA antenna signal repsonsiveness Reply
Olrac - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkJust for those who would like to know I am running The galaxy s2 overclocked to 1.6Ghz and its rock steady no crashes or freezes does not even get much warmer
Linpack Single Threaded = 74 average and Multithreaded = 114
Revolution rom with ninphetamine 2.1.3 kernel Reply
lamecake - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - linkJust for comparision.. I have a HTC Sensation clocked at 1.6ghz with a Sense based rom. It's actually perfectly stable to 1.78ghz here but 1.6 should be no problem for any sensation.
Linpack Single Threaded = 58 average and Multithreaded = 95
Pyramid3D 7.4.0 with faux123 0.1.4 kernel.
CM based roms just popping up, so anxious to see how a non-sense rom compares to the SGS2. Reply
Pessimism - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkis not a coin cell battery. it is a supercapacitor, sort of a cross between a capacitor and a battery, they use them as a buffer between the phone and battery Reply
lchen66666 - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - linkRumors of iPhone5 indicate that iPhone5 will have the iPhone4 form. If this is realy, that would quite disappoint me. I will definitely consider GSS2 when I upgrade my old iPhone3GS. I was hoping iPhone5 comes with 4"+720P display+some other improvement(new camera chip, new design of antenna, and new CPU). 4" seems to be the sweet spot to be the smart phone(not too big, and not too small). If Apple doesn't have much improvement in the display. The faster CPU is not that useful.
The review is very detail. Not very happy with a couple of things on GSS2. Resolution is not high enough for a 4.3" display. Audio quality is not good. Seems like GSS2 has very good camera chip for video and photo. Really like it. From your other review, I got impression that Super ALMOD plus display is much better than IPS. From this review, seems like SALMODE+ is similar to SIPS display used on other smart phones. I haven't seen Samsung SALMODE+ display in person. Reply
numberoneoppa - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - linkGuys, that mysterious notch you write about is not for straps, it's for phone charms, and it's arguably my favourite feature of samsung phones. (In korea, phone charms can be used for more than just cute things, one can get a T-money card that will hang here, or an apartment key). Reply
Tishyn - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - linkI spend hours every week just browsing through reviews and tests comparing devices and vendors. This is one if the most interesting and most comprehensive review I've read for a veery long time.
I especially enjoyed the rendering part and how it relates to the ultra mobile device market. Thumbs up! Reply
milli - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - linkBrian / Anand, why are you so reluctant to test chips from this company? ZiiO tablets, sporting the ZMS-08, are available for a while now and i'm sure Creative would send you the new Jaguar3 tablet (ZMS-20) if you guys would ask for it.
The ZMS-20 has 26 GFlops ... faster than anything you've tested till now. The ZMS-40 coming in Q4 doubles that number!
I'm an old school IT technician and I for one don't understand your lack of interest. The GPU's in these chips are based on technology that Creative acquired with the 3DLabs purchase. Reply
rigel84 - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - linkJust a quick tip: You can take a screenshot by pressing the power and home button at the same time.
If you double tap your home button it will bring the voice talk feature.
While watching video clips just press the power button to disable the touch sensitive buttons.
Swipe your finger to the left on contact name to send him a message
Swipe you finger to the right on the contact name to dial the contact.
To see all the tabs in the browser just pinch inside twice :)
If you experience random reboots when you drop it on the table, or if you are leaning towards things or running, then try to cut a piece of paper and put it under the battery. It happens because the battery shortly looses connection to the pins. If you check XDA you can see that many people has this problem, and I had it too. I was experiencing many random reboots whenever I had it in my pocket, but after I pit a piece of paper below the battery they all disappeared.
A few things...
- GPS is horrible if you ask me. Unless I download the data before with gps-status then it takes ages. Mostly 15-30 seconds with 2.3.3 (no idea if the radio got updated in the release)
- Kies AIR is HORRIBLE! It's on pair with realmedia's real player from 10 years ago. Crash on crash on crash and sluggish behavior.
- I don't know whether it's the phone or not, but I've been missing a lot of text messages after I got my Galaxy S2. I'm on the same net, but along with the poor GPS reception I'm suspectiong the phone :(
- There is a stupid 458 character limit on textmessages, and then they are auto-converted to an MMS message. There is a fixed mms.apk on XDA (requires root) or you can download something like Go SMS Pro (still free) on the market, which removes this stupid limit. Reply
ph00ny - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - linkOdd
I haven't seen any posts about the battery disconnect issues and if you've been browsing the xda forum, probably saw my thread about dropping my phone on concrete twice...
As for Kies AIR, i've used it twice and my expectation was low to begin and it wasn't that bad. Some things were definitely slow but it's a good start
-GPS for me has always been solid. I even used it on multiple trips in less than ideal location, not a single glitch even with shoddy cell reception. Reply
ciparis - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - linkI've been using Sprint's SGS2 (Epic 4G) for less than a day, but already there are some annoying points which I'm surprised aren't mentioned in this review:
1) The digitizer lags behind finger movement.
In the web browser, when your finger moves, there is a disconnected rubber-band effect before the screen catches up with your finger. This is visible in the browsing smoothness video as well, and it's very noticeable in actual use. Coming from an iPhone 4, it feels cheap and broken.
2) Back/Forward navigation often ignores the previous scroll point.
If you spend some amount of time reading a page you arrived at from a link (it seems to be about 10 seconds or so), hitting back doesn't take you back where you were previously reading from -- instead of returning you to the page position where the link was, it drops you at the top of the page. This makes real web usage tedious. On the Sprint, the timing seems to be related to when the 4G icon indicates sleep mode: hit back before the radio sleeps and you are returned to the right spot. In actual use, this rarely happens.
3) The browser resets the view to the top, even after you've started scrolling.
When loading a page, there's a point in which the page is visible and usable, but it's technically still loading (which can go on for quite a awhile, depending on the page). It's natural to start reading the page and scrolling down, but typically the phone will randomly jerk the scroll back up to the top of the page, sometimes several times before the page is done. This is unbelievably annoying.
I suppose expecting an Apple level of polish prior to release is unrealistic, but Samsung seems hell-bent on positioning themselves as an Apple-level alternative; even the power brick looks like they took the square Apple USB charger, colored it black, and slapped their logo on it. The point being, they're inviting direct comparison, and it's a comparison their software team isn't ready to deliver on -- certainly not out of the box. Reply
ciparis - Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - linkHow are you supposed to use this phone if the keyboard is covering up the text fields, there's no "next" button to get to the next field, you can't see what you're typing, and there's no button to make the keyboard go away?
Case in point: go to Google News and click on Feedback at the bottom of the page. There's no scrolling room at the bottom, so the keyboard obscures the fields; I was unable to send feedback to Google that their news site was opening every link in a new bowser window on a mobile phone (...) despite my account having the preference for that set to "off", because I couldn't navigate the form fields. Reply
mythun.chandra - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - linkJust realized there are no numbers for the Adreno 220 in the GLBench 2.1 offscreen tests...? Reply
sam46 - Saturday, October 01, 2011 - linkbrian,please tell me which one of these smartphones is the best.i wanna purchase one of them so,pls help me in deciding. Reply
b1cb01 - Wednesday, October 05, 2011 - linkI love the green wallpaper on the first page of the review, but I can't find it anywhere. Could someone point me to where I could find it? Reply
Deann - Friday, October 07, 2011 - linkMaybe I misunderstood, but if you take a look at this swedish website the Samoled + looks much better than the Amoled: http://www.appsandroid.dk/joomla/skaermtest-af-htc... Reply
aritai - Saturday, October 08, 2011 - linkYou may want to consider counting number of web pages browsed before battery exhaustion and report those as well. Perhaps even calculate a "joules per page viewed" as part of your power metrics. (i.e. it may be that running at max benchmark rate on a more powerful system displays twice as many pages - and that these systems are being penalized for not being as slow as their competitors - where in terms of raw energy usage they would last longer than their slower competitors if asked only to do the same amount of work). Reply
Paulman - Thursday, October 20, 2011 - linkI just started reading some comments about upgrading the Galaxy S II to 2.3.5 of Gingerbread, and people are reporting improvements in the sound quality. They were quite surprised! Do you think one of you / Francois can take the time to look into it? Thanks. Reply
san3536 - Friday, October 28, 2011 - linkHi
I am planning to buy a Samsung Galaxy S2 in US and to use it in India.... is it possible that way to use it in different country ? i would like to know what are specifications to be asked for the same like unlocked & International etc ... does unlocked mean just it can be used on any network only in US or else where or is international version mandatory ? please inform the disadvantages of using the phone in India which is brought in US ...like any of phone functions wont work etc .. Reply
Naengmyun - Monday, November 21, 2011 - linkMe and about a gazillion of my GS2 owners are experiencing problem connecting to our home WiFi networks. Everything, including visitors' laptops, iPads, Android Tablets, smartypwns, netbooks and even the kitchen sink connect seamlessly to my Great Home WiFi Network. But not the GS2! Amazing. Everyone's playing the blame game for now~provider says it's the router, router tech support says it's the phone, Samsung says it's me, phone carrier wants to know if I'd be interested in their latest unlimited plan.
Anyone else having trouble with GS2 WiFi connectivity?
Bibm Reply
Ravil - Saturday, November 26, 2011 - linki bought the samsung galaxy s2 from sri lanka for LKR85,000/= on the 4th of november 2011 with android 2.3.3 and i have some issues with it.
1) screen issue
when the phone is on the lowest brightness level the left part of the screen has a yellowish tint and i took it to the sri lankan warranty agents THE PHONE COMPANY four times and they replaced the screen and now its worse now the whole screen has a yellowish tint.
2) signal issue
the signal is unstable signal bars are at 2bars sometimes 3bars sometimes full and when i connect to the in ternet it connects from hsdpa and edge, when i'm not connected to the internet it shows the 3g icon, the above mentioned warranty agents THE PHONE COMPANY replaced the motherboard but i still have the issue.
3) no NFC
i don't have NFC (near field communication)
pls help me with these issues can samsung replace the whole phone and give me a new one?
my email address is firstname.lastname@example.com Reply
sgxsingapore1 - Friday, February 03, 2012 - linkSingapore Exchange (SGX) is working with Singapore's first futures brokerage on a professional traders development programme,SGX Singapore : Live News & Updates from SGX Singapore .These were among the most active shares in the market <a href="http://sgxsingapore.com/">SGX Singapore</a> Reply
sgxsingapore1 - Friday, February 03, 2012 - linkSingapore Exchange (SGX) is working with Singapore's first futures brokerage on a professional traders development programme,SGX Singapore : Live News & Updates from SGX Singapore .These were among the most active shares in the market SGX Singapore Reply
sgxsingapore1 - Friday, February 03, 2012 - linkSingapore Exchange (SGX) is working with Singapore's first futures brokerage on a professional traders development programme,SGX Singapore : Live News & Updates from SGX Singapore .These were among the most active shares in the market <a href="http://sgxsingapore.com/">SGX Singapore</a> Reply
Jedi2155 - Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - linkI have an Epic 4G (Original SGS), and I have to say the audio quality is horrendous compared to an iPhone, Creative Zen X-Fi, and my home X-Fi on my PC. Nothing compares, especially since I hear some clear static even though nothing is playing pointing to poor isolation. To say that the original SGS phones were good sound quality (my sister's also has the same Epic 4G with same issue) would be hard to swallow based on my personnel experience. Reply
rawrmien - Tuesday, April 03, 2012 - linklove this phone. the only thing im waiting for now that ive finally gotten one is the galaxy 3 which will be amazing. anyways was looking for advice on a pouch for this phone. i was looking at this one (link below) but was wondering about some suggestions.
http://www.accessorywiz.com/fonus/black-leather-si... Reply
yanagiba - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - linkhi brian,
is it possible to replace just the button battery cell in galaxy s2 beside entire motherboard?
still hoping, my gs2 button battery cell ( the samsung service centre sai
d it's name is 'backup battery' got rust because of extreme heat since i flashing roms too much.
thx Reply