T-Mobile Galaxy S II review

T-Mobile has had a long relationship with Android and Google, but was the last carrier in the universe to bring out the Galaxy S II.   Long rumored as the Hercules, many a smartphone fan wanted and waited to see just what T-Mobile could do with Samsung's newest "game-changing" phone, and now we know.  Make it bigger.  Make it with more Gees.  Make it their own.

How does this new and improved different version of the hardware compare to the phone many around the globe already know and love?  There was a lot of worrying about things once people found out that Samsung had to change a few things to provide something that worked on T-Mobile's new 42 Mbps network.  Already impressed with the performance of the Galaxy S II based on reviews and time spent with the international version, these were valid concerns -- it was a lot to live up to.  Keep reading to see what I think.

The Hardware
   
The first thing you'll notice about the Galaxy S II is the size.  It's big, but it's thin and light.  The two compliment each other, and it's not difficult to hold and operate.  This is going to be more apparent if you're coming from another big phone that wasn't so thin and light.  The shell itself is about the same size as the EVO 4G -- the original "big" phone, and the phone itself is just about as thick as a AAA battery.  You'll have the same issues with one-handed operation (meaning sometimes your thumb just won't comfortably reach where you need it to reach), but in practice it isn't as difficult to adjust to as I feared. 

 

The design follows much the same path as the rest of the Galaxy S II line.  It's a thin (notice that word keeps cropping up here) black slab, with a gorilla glass front and a textured plastic back, but T-Mobile's version has a metal band around the entire edge.  This really goes a long way to make this version fell less plasticky and Samsung-ish that the rest of the Galaxy S II line.  The volume and power button are made of metal as well, and fit right in with the rest of the phone's "style" -- it looks and feels very nice. 

   

 

Your volume switch is on the left side, power on the right -- as we're all used to by now from Samsung.  On the top of the phone is the headphone jack (a standard 3.5mm) and a secondary noise cancelling microphone, and if you work your way to the bottom you'll find the primary mic and a microUSB port.  There are no surprises here, everything is as we're used to, and everything works well.  Even I am getting used to the placement of the power button on the side of the devices, and I hate it when things change.

 

 

The back of the phone is a one-piece battery cover, with no fancy antennae or trickery built into it.  You'll find the 8MP camera (and it's quite a nice one, keep reading) back there, and if you open the cover you'll see exactly what you would expect to see -- the battery, the microSD card slot, and the SIM card slot.  You can get to both without removing the battery, but to be safe always shut the phone down when inserting or removing the SIM card.  Interesting note is once again we see the battery is labeled as an NFC device.  We've asked Samsung for the full details, but since they haven't responded we have to make an assumption here -- the NFC tech is built into the battery, and data is sent and received through one (or more) of the battery contact points. 

Operation and usage

When I review a phone I shut my trusty Nexus S off and switch over to the phone I'm working with full time (thank you Google Voice).  I collect my mail and my messages, read my Twitters and Google+, play my games and surf the web just like I normally would with my very own phone.  I think this is the best way to determine how well (or not so well) the phone would work for me.

The Galaxy S II did everything I wanted it to do, and had room for more.  NFC works exactly as intended, though it's a bit more sensitive to placement than the Nexus S is -- probably because of the lack of an antenna on the battery cover.  Calls were clear enough, nobody complained that I sounded different or they couldn't hear me and things sounded fine on my end -- normally, via the speaker, or with Bluetooth. 

   

The GPS functioned flawlessly, connected fast and tracked me just fine.  Navigation went off without a hitch, using both Google's built in feature or Telenav.  Wifi signal was fine, working anywhere in my house or yard that I would expect it to.  I don't think there will be any radio or antenna issues with either Wifi or GPS on this one.

  

Battery life was stellar.  The Galaxy S II out of the box sees the same battery life, doing the same things, as I do with a pretty customized Nexus S.  It packs a beefy 1850mAh battery, and Samsung has been doing things long enough to squeeze as much juice out of it as they can.  The HSPA+42 radio also works well.  42Mbps network areas are few and far between, but I live close to a 21Mbps network area, so I could compare.  And to double check my findings, I asked a pro we all know and love -- Mickey Papillion.  T-Mobile stopped listing their network speed with numbers (yeah, that's crazy, but what can we do?), and I live in an area with "Fast Mobile Web" -- this could mean 14.4Mbps or 7.7Mbps.  I don't know because T-Mobile stopped telling us numbers before they rolled out the network here.  I'm assuming nothing here.  In the picture above, you see the network speeds from my house in the green box.  They are respectable, but not spectacular.  I'm happy with them.  In the red box you see speeds from the 21Mbps area.  These look like they are packing another G, and have great ping times.  According to Mickey, they should.  The 42Mbps modem should perform better in any HSPA+ area than radios with slower speeds.  The ping times are better on the faster network, but also better from the faster modem.  Confused yet?  Put it this way -- if you live in a "Very Fast Mobile Web" area, you will love the network speeds you get with the Galaxy S II.  If you live in a "Fast Mobile Web" area, they will be better than what you're using now, but not as spectacular.  If you live in an EDGE area, it's time to move.

Specifications

The nerd version:

• 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon APQ8060 CPU with Adreno 220 GPU
• 1GB RAM (784 available at boot)
• 2GB application storage
• Android 2.3.5
• 2MP front facing camera
• 8MP rear camera with 1080p recording
• TouchWiz 4
• 4.52-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus display
• Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity sensor
• microSD card slot (expandable to 32GB)
• 42Mbps HSPA+ 4G speeds (42Mbps download, 5.76Mbps upload)
• 802.11 b/g/n Wifi, A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and EDR
• 1850mAh battery
• NFC

The hardware is also listed as GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and HSDPA 1700/2100 compatible.  T-Mobile does not advertise this phone as usable on any network other than their own.

The Software

There's not much to say here that hasn't been said alread.  The software is the same exact TouchWiz 4 we've seen on three other Galaxy S II phones.  Exactly.  This isn't a bad thing any more, as Samsung has given TouchWiz an internal makeover that makes it quite awesome.  It's still a bit colorful, but extra functionality comes with and everyone likes that.

You've got up to seven homescreens to customize with a full gamut of included TouchWiz widgets and shortcuts, as well as thousands more available in the Market.  Everything I normally download and use worked without a hitch, including games that often give other phones a bit of trouble.

 

 

The app drawer is chock full of crap, as you'd expect from any T-Mobile Android phone.  It's the price you pay to save $300.  Some of it is good (Telenav, Allshare, Kies air), some of it is bad (My Account, Social Hub, IM), and some of it is ridiculous (411 & More, Bonus apps, T-Mobile Mall).  These are all baked into the system, don't take up precious app space, and don't seem to have an adverse effect on battery life.  Ignore them, drop them in a "craplications" folder in your app drawer, or root and make them disappear.  The one thing that's missing?  Wifi calling.  A lot of us on T-Mobile love it, and for some reason it wasn't included.  T-Mobile -- I'll trade you a 411 (and More!), a T-Mobile TV, and a Blio reader app for Wifi calling -- Deal?

The specifics:

Android 2.3.5 and TouchWiz 4.0, running atop the 2.6.35.11 kernel.  As shipped, the baseband is T989UVKID and build is GINGERBREAD.UVKID.  I've been checking every day for updates (we often see them right away with new models) and nothing yet. There has really been no reason for one that I can find.  No lockscreen bugs, no AP Mobile widget eating away at the battery, no radio wonkiness, or anything else that we've seen on other Galaxy S II models.  I'm sure something will pop up, it's software after all, and bugs happen.

The Camera

If Samsung changed the camera for this version of the Galaxy S II, you can't tell.  It's easy to use, delivers excellent pictures (for a cell phone), and is pretty fast.  It's not on par with a Nokia, or even HTC's new cameras, but then again Samsung isn't touting it as such.  They are giving you something you'll find fun to use that takes great pictures -- what more could we ask for?  It's also the first cameraphone I've used for any length of time that had a panorama function worth a damn, seamlessly stitching together less than perfect scenes.  The obligatory shot:

Click me to enlarge

The still camera in normal mode works just as easy.  No need to fiddle with anything (though you can if you're inclined, or have the time before taking a picture) -- just point it, keep your finger off the lens, and tap the button.  The only thing lacking would be a dedicated camera button.  Here's a few stills you can click and blow up to check out.

 

 

 

 

The front facing camera doesn't do near as well.  Of course it's only 2MP and a cheap sensor, but i expected it to be a bit better than what we're used to because of the resolution bump.  It's perfectly fine for video chatting -- which makes the fact that Google Talk isn't able to use it suck even more.  It's one of the things that really irked me, because including it (and Wifi calling) would make this the perfect phone, and I'd call it a total 10.  Click the pic below for an example of the front facing shooter.

Posted in: samsung