Samsung Galaxy S 2

After all the rumours, set-backs and speculations surrounding the official release of the Samsung Galaxy S 2, it was finally confirmed by Samsung for release on 1^st May in the UK.
We got our hands on Samsungs new superphone, the successor to the hugely popular Galaxy S – the Galaxy S 2.

The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up the S2 is how incredibly light it is, and thin too. To put it into some sort of perspective, compared to my iPhone 4, the S2 felt half its weight. Samsung have managed to make the S2 0.8mm thinner and 21g lighter than the iPhone 4. Compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy S, the S2 is 1.4mm thinner and 3g lighter.

Samsung have improved upon the Super AMOLED screen that was in the original Galaxy S, using a new ‘Super AMOLED Plus’ capacitive screen in the S2. Our Samsung rep at the Gadget Show stand informed us that it is the brightest screen you’ll find on a mobile phone, and we’d be inclined to agree with him.

The 4.3-inch display is very bright, colours are vivid and defined and the crispness of the image is quite incredible. Super tough Gorilla glass has been used to protect the screen from scratching and damage should the phone be dropped.

We tested viewing a movie that was preloaded on the handset, check the image below for an insight into what we saw.

Movie Playback on the Galaxy S2

Android Gingerbread works very well with the 1.2GHz Exynos Dual-Core processor used in the S2, we found there to be absolutely no delay or lag in loading content from the 16GB onboard storage. Scrubbing (rewininding/fast-forwarding) a video backwards or forwards was very quick, and the video continued playing with zero delay.

Samsung were hoping to show off the DLNA capabilities of the S2 with a Smart TV and the All Share app, but unfortunately on the day we visited they were having technical difficulties involving interference from other stands – understandable given the sheer number of gadgets using DLNA in close proximity! The Allshare technology does look very promising however, as does Samsung’s new app which allows you to control your Samsung TV using your Samsung Smartphone as a remote.

Our Samsung rep also confirmed that the handset will definitely see a May 1^st release here in the UK, and that the delays were due to finalising the product, testing, and trying to cram in some extra apps and functionality ahead of release.

What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy S2? Will you be pre-ordering one now, or getting one on release day? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment.