[Q] Good or Bad? - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Well hello bigger forums I came from the Ace family and I have plans on buying SII. I've heard good rumours about the phone and I've seen lots of interesting roms for it too (plus it's on main forum XD)
My options are HTC One X, GNote or SII and SII is quite leading in my eyes ATM.
Last question is, what is the price of SII in the US WITHOUT the contract?
Thanks for the responses guys, hope to see you soon

S24Lyfe
it depends on whether you're looking for an unlocked phone (being able to use any network) or if you wish to purchase it outright from your current service provider.
Unlocked it's about $500-600, and prices will range depending on your carrier if you want to go for option number 2.
I personally own the S2 and I can honestly say I love this phone.
Took less than 5 minutes to root, plenty (and I mean PLENTY) of custom roms being developed for it, and the hardware itself is just great (it outperforms the iPhone 4s) - I highly recommend it.
Just my two cents.

Doo:DAce said:
Well hello bigger forums I came from the Ace family and I have plans on buying SII. I've heard good rumours about the phone and I've seen lots of interesting roms for it too (plus it's on main forum XD)
My options are HTC One X, GNote or SII and SII is quite leading in my eyes ATM.
Last question is, what is the price of SII in the US WITHOUT the contract?
Thanks for the responses guys, hope to see you soon
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S2 is still a beast when compared to other mobiles you have mentioned with the exception of HD screen. If you like bigger screens and feel compact to use it go for note, else s2 with its amoled is what you need

Thanks for the opinion guys. Im planning to buy it directly from a samsung store so yeah network unlocked. Can it run tegra games without chainfire3D? or simply does it have a tegra chip in it?
Sent from my GT-S5830 using XDA

Atm i suggest u wait cause sammy is abt to release new phones and so will otha companies too and at tht time if u really feel to buy buy sgs2 ,may b ull get it for cheap...its jus a matter of dayz....cheeerz

rocky23 said:
Atm i suggest u wait cause sammy is abt to release new phones and so will otha companies too and at tht time if u really feel to buy buy sgs2 ,may b ull get it for cheap...its jus a matter of dayz....cheeerz
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I'll be going next week so I need to make decisions now.

SGS2 is still a good phone. I had it for just over 10 months and loved it.
Got a HOX now and love that just as much. HOX has the HD screen which is lovely. SLCD2 vs AMOLED. Amoled has better blacks and such but I like the SLCD2 as well. Whites are better and not prone to screen burns.
Hardware wise both are beasts. Dual Core vs Quad Teg 3. DC is still fast enough not enough optimising quad at the moment. With TEG3 you get the range of Nvidia games without the need for Chainfire.
Design wise HOX wins, it's sexy and sleek but the SGS2 is lighter and thinner. Both feel good in the hand.
UI wise, Sense wins for me personally, but TouchWiz is not as bad it has it's own feature set.
If you want the cheaper device go for the SGS2 as price is decent. You'll be happy with any of your choices. The Galaxy range of devices are far easier to root with their unlocked bootloaders if you want to go with custom roms and such and development is very active with HOX it will get active when more devs have it. I'd still rate the Note over the SGS2 as it's a beast, if you can handle the size then definitely get the note.

I agree, the note is excellent.
Sent from my electronic pocket computer using voodoo magick

Funkajunk said:
I agree, the note is excellent.
Sent from my electronic pocket computer using voodoo magick
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but it's really big which I don't find really attractive :/

Related

Samsung Galaxy S II Users - What do you say ?

Should i buy SGSII, Xperia Arc/Neo, Incredible S or wait for HTC Sensation, i will be buying a new phone in June, i hope good guidance will help me out.
Buy SGS 2 and sell me £300 .
jje
Same for me!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
buy now!
if you wait for a new phone, then the new galaxy wll be out before your contract ends and youll really really want that one!!
Good phone. high specs. but it's down to YOUR buget... do you want a expensive hih end phone? or will a phone at a cheaper price do?
Just got the SGS II. Had an S I before. SII is amazing. No lag on any games. Quadrant scores are 3500 plus or 4000 plus if you over clock it.
Its fast smooth with excellent functionality
Motorola Razer ftw
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
ila420 said:
Should i buy SGSII, Xperia Arc/Neo, Incredible S or wait for HTC Sensation, i will be buying a new phone in June, i hope good guidance will help me out.
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These threads amuse me. Here's 5 phones, pick one. And asking in the SGS2 section no less. That's like asking a bunch of Mac owners if they should buy a Mac or a PC.
Clearly you're open to a new carrier because you're choosing between 5 phones. If you had to stay with a specific carrier, that already cuts your choices down to 2 or 3 since the SGS2 and Sony handsets don't support the same 3G bands as the HTCs. Your country will factor in as well since launch availability, pricing, and local carrier discounts will incentivize some phones over others.
Those are just some of the considerations that don't even have anything to do with the phones themselves. Of those 5 choices, how many here have had 20 minutes hands-on with more than 2 of them? I haven't. Most of the opinions here will likely come from hours of aggregating editorial reviews. While those are valuable in their own way, asking a forum pales in comparison to doing that research on your own. Also, you can bet that almost no one here has played with a Sensation yet.
OP, I don't mean to be a douche but nobody here will offer a more meaningful opinion than one you could come up with on your own.
Pinkthesink said:
Motorola Razer ftw
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
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They still sell those? :S
Also OP you are asking this in a GS2 forums, 99% are gonna say gs2 just like i am
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
If you want a future proof phone say atleast for a year or two..
then the SGS 2 and Sensation are your best bet..
SGS2- you will be able to root and make sure you have the latest software thansk to XDA
Sensation - will not be able to root yet (locked bootloader) until some brilliant XDA members manages to crack it
I am considering the Sensation as I feel I hopefully wouldn't need to root it for atleast a year or two by which time somebody might have cracked its boot loader
The milestone has been out almost 2 years and the bootloader is still not cracked
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
olyloh6696 said:
Good phone. high specs. but it's down to YOUR buget... do you want a expensive hih end phone? or will a phone at a cheaper price do?
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I can get a high end phone price isnt a issue just need a phone which can last for a year or two, should be durable i am not a fan of rooting devices so i dont really need that until it is necessary to meet the techonolgy in shape of updates.
Sony phones look like toys with good feature, HTC looks solid, i have Samsung Wave at the moment though it has great features but the Bada OS which is not cracked yet, so i want to try Android now.
So far by reading reviews, user comments, watching videos i have found SGSII best but on the other hand there are people complaining about battery, sound, lag, reboots etc etc which is really confusing.
Note: I am from Pakistan so contract thing doesnt work here, i will get a Sim Free phone by paying full price of it thats why it is really necessary to do a research and ask for guidance.
How about the Google Nexus S (made by Samsung).
Always reqcieved the latest Android updates straight from Google.
Very stable.
NFC reader.
Many Custom ROMs.
Identical hardware to the Samsugn Galaxy S i9000 (4" AMOLED i9020, or sLCD i9023)
The phone feels like a phone in your hands.
No lag unlike the Samsung i9000.
About 350 Euros last time I checked.
handtec.co.uk post internationally.
Sadly, no microSD card, no FM Radio. Lacks some hardware enabled codecs for video, but still plays most and can play other formats using software decoding.
The hardware of Nexus S isnt outdated ? I guess most of the future applications will support dualcore phones.
Have mine for two days now and I must say this one of the best phones I got my hands on.
Battery life is amazing. Camera it's amazing.samsung's email client and screen is fantastic.
And 1.2ghz dual prossessor is so so fast.. Can't even compare to htc vision oc 1.8ghz cm7.
gibsonus said:
Just got the SGS II. Had an S I before. SII is amazing. No lag on any games. Quadrant scores are 3500 plus or 4000 plus if you over clock it.
Its fast smooth with excellent functionality
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and no battery )
delitero said:
and no battery )
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We get it, your battery life sucks. Take a look at your apps, because the majority of users say the battery life is great. I've done no tweaking except freezing a few hubs, everything still syncs in the background and I'm sitting on 92% now, unplugged at 7am this morning. (It's now 2:20pm here.)
I just got my sgs2, my previous phone was a desire but I miss htc sense already. But I am hoping someone will port sense to the sgs2 soon there already is a mostly working port for the sgs1

Black or White

Hey guys, feels good to be back on i9100 forums, bought an i727, and i must say, i hate that that POS phone, 1.5Ghz feels like 1.0 Ghz single core. Im going back to my old Galaxy S2 after i sell the i727. Really want to get the white one, BUT, checked Gsmarena and it says that the white Galaxy S2 has a different chipset and a different GPU, now, my question is, will i be able to flash ROMs without any problems or incapability issues? And will i see much difference between the two phones? Slower faster, better worse? Im also a gaming fan, and when i used to download games, i remember there a different .apk's for different types of GPU, finding APK's for Mali 400 was never a problem, but what about the PowerVR SGX540? Thanks a lot guys.
Checked out some benchmarks, which i know dont really mean too much, optimus 3d and bionic use same gpu and chipset, but they are worse than exynos sgs2. How significant is this?
Deniska11 said:
Hey guys, feels good to be back on i9100 forums, bought an i727, and i must say, i hate that that POS phone, 1.5Ghz feels like 1.0 Ghz single core. Im going back to my old Galaxy S2 after i sell the i727. Really want to get the white one, BUT, checked Gsmarena and it says that the white Galaxy S2 has a different chipset and a different GPU, now, my question is, will i be able to flash ROMs without any problems or incapability issues? And will i see much difference between the two phones? Slower faster, better worse? Im also a gaming fan, and when i used to download games, i remember there a different .apk's for different types of GPU, finding APK's for Mali 400 was never a problem, but what about the PowerVR SGX540? Thanks a lot guys.
Checked out some benchmarks, which i know dont really mean too much, optimus 3d and bionic use same gpu and chipset, but they are worse than exynos sgs2. How significant is this?
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In theory, there's no difference between a black GT-I9100 and a white one. What's probably happened is that the site has two different devices (the GSII, and a variant) listed as the same device. Go look up the specs of the international GT-I9100 and pick the one that matches that.
Regarding the question about compatibility, if the device really does have a different chipset and GPU, then no, you'll need ROMs and kernels that are tailored to that device's hardware - so you'd need to figure out which variant of the GSII it is.
On a personal note, I think the black Galaxy S II looks better than the white one
Thanks a lot for the reply bud. Yea i figured the ROMs wouldnt be suitable for different hardware, so thanks for confirming. I went on Bell's website (my provider) to check the specs, but obviously they dont go into such deep details. I guess i will have to ask someone who already has this phone to look up the specs in the manual or something.
I had a black one for four months, just wanna try white, to me the white one looks better
Thanks again
Deniska11 said:
Thanks a lot for the reply bud. Yea i figured the ROMs wouldnt be suitable for different hardware, so thanks for confirming. I went on Bell's website (my provider) to check the specs, but obviously they dont go into such deep details. I guess i will have to ask someone who already has this phone to look up the specs in the manual or something.
I had a black one for four months, just wanna try white, to me the white one looks better
Thanks again
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Could you link me to the page, I might be able to help
screamworks said:
Could you link me to the page, I might be able to help
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http://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Products/Samsung_Galaxy_S_II_4G_White
Saw a Nexus commercial, highly considering, but only because of ICS, but then i figured SGS2 will also get ICS, so i guess ill wait
Black verison FTW hell yeah ..!!!!
Deniska11 said:
http://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Products/Samsung_Galaxy_S_II_4G_White
Saw a Nexus commercial, highly considering, but only because of ICS, but then i figured SGS2 will also get ICS, so i guess ill wait
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So that one there looks fine, minus the fact it has LTE capabilities, which are lacking in the original GSII. I can't shed much light here, unfortunately.
That said, I think you should go with the Galaxy Nexus - the Galaxy S II is a fantastic piece of hardware, but in nearly every aspect the Galaxy Nexus either matches it, or beats it, and, more importantly, not only does the Galaxy Nexus get direct updates from Google immediately (compared to 4+ months from Samsung), but from experience, all the best development happens for Nexus devices. If it's within your means, go the Galaxy Nexus.
Nexus is 600$ here in Toronto, and thats a bit out of my price range, i mean i can definitely buy it, i just dont see/know if its worth the 150$ extra dollars. Im a heavy camera user, and having an 8mp camera is a huge plus for sgs2. Going back to 5mp....naw. My 5 year old nokia n95 8gig has the same camera. Also dont like how it doesnt have a scratch-less glass. But you definitely made me think Is the nexus really that good? And can you please expand on the updates part? Immediate updates?
PS. Cant see where you found that its LTE compatable, maybe took a wrong turn by accident?
Deniska11 said:
Nexus is 600$ here in Toronto, and thats a bit out of my price range, i mean i can definitely buy it, i just dont see/know if its worth the 150$ extra dollars. Im a heavy camera user, and having an 8mp camera is a huge plus for sgs2. Going back to 5mp....naw. My 5 year old nokia n95 8gig has the same camera. Also dont like how it doesnt have a scratch-less glass. But you definitely made me think Is the nexus really that good? And can you please expand on the updates part? Immediate updates?
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In the long run, it's worth it. Believe me on that.
On the camera, yeah, it's a bit of a step down, but 5MP is by no means a bad camera, and the shutter speed of the Galaxy Nexus is lightyears ahead of the Galaxy S II. Plus, lense technology in smartphones has come a long way since the days of the N95 - so while the sensor might be the same resolution, the picture quality is just amazing.
The glass on the Galaxy Nexus, while not 'Gorilla Glass', which keep in mind is just a marketing term for chemically strengthened glass, is still very scratch resistant. As long as you take care of your device as you would any expensive device, it'll be fine. As a precaution, I'd still apply a screen protector though - but I do that with even my Galaxy S II, no matter how scratch resistant it is. Plus, the curved glass is so much more ergonomic and pleasant to use (and looks downright sexy).
About the updates...
When Google finishes developing updates for Android, i.e. once they've finished the coding and testing, they release it for Nexus devices only, so the Nexus One, the Nexus S, and the Galaxy Nexus - any other phone has to have the code ported to it by it's manufacturer, a process which takes months. So, the Nexus devices always get updates first, months before any other device.
All this, plus the fact that there's no carrier bloatware, and a 720p HD screen, etc. makes it one killer device!
Got too carried aay with the new years. I checked out a loooot of videos on the Nexus, i really like the software, but the speed doesnt impress me, that lag between transition from portrait to landscape...i kid you not, my N95 did it faster and in this one review they were complaining a lot about the camera. Huuge, no no for me. Its quite pricey, and the reason being is, ICS. If other phones start getting ICS, this phone will drop in price like craaazyyy. I found a good S2 for 400, and now the margin increased to 200$ between S2 and the nexus, and to tell you the truth i dont think the nexus is 200$ better.
Deniska11 said:
Got too carried aay with the new years. I checked out a loooot of videos on the Nexus, i really like the software, but the speed doesnt impress me, that lag between transition from portrait to landscape...i kid you not, my N95 did it faster and in this one review they were complaining a lot about the camera. Huuge, no no for me. Its quite pricey, and the reason being is, ICS. If other phones start getting ICS, this phone will drop in price like craaazyyy. I found a good S2 for 400, and now the margin increased to 200$ between S2 and the nexus, and to tell you the truth i dont think the nexus is 200$ better.
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Well hey, it comes down to what suits you
Best of luck with it all!
screamworks.
screamworks said:
Well hey, it comes down to what suits you
Best of luck with it all!
screamworks.
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Do you approve my logic?
ICS is pretty much made for SGS2, maybe a month or so and it will be ready to use.
Deniska11 said:
Do you approve my logic?
ICS is pretty much made for SGS2, maybe a month or so and it will be ready to use.
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Now that NITZ is fixed in XXKP8, and the CyanogenMod 9 team have solved a lot of the camera issues, etc., I think you're about right with a month for a decent daily driver - but Samsung won't have an official ICS ROM until around April.
Personally, I'd go the Galaxy Nexus, but the Galaxy S II is still a monster phone, so go with whatever you prefer.
Get a pink SGS2. Stylish
In all seriousness tho, if you're choosing (or not) a phone based on the colour of the handset, you really should be asking yourself what the hell you're doing on XDA in the first place
screamworks said:
Now that NITZ is fixed in XXKP8, and the CyanogenMod 9 team have solved a lot of the camera issues, etc., I think you're about right with a month for a decent daily driver - but Samsung won't have an official ICS ROM until around April.
Personally, I'd go the Galaxy Nexus, but the Galaxy S II is still a monster phone, so go with whatever you prefer.
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I dont mind waiting for an official, but if the one on xda is worthy, ill get that. Speaking of the fix, im quite amazed xda already got roms, i mean...how long ago was the phone released? Thanks a lot for your input anyways man.
MistahBungle said:
Get a pink SGS2. Stylish
In all seriousness tho, if you're choosing (or not) a phone based on the colour of the handset, you really should be asking yourself what the hell you're doing on XDA in the first place
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Lol, the things xda keeps enforcing are: dont spam and read previous posts. Not only are you posting a garbage/useless reply, but you also dont know where i am coming from because you failed to read.....anything from this thread. My question was wether i need a diiferent rom, if the s2 had different internals.
I guess you'd better report me to the mods then.
Edit to add - You were told in the first reply to your OP that you were mistaken re: differences in specs between different coloured handsets. If you'd bothered to do your research properly (even Wikipedia would have given you the differences in hardware between the SGS2 "variants"), you would have known this already :-|
Deniska11 said:
Lol, the things xda keeps enforcing are: dont spam and read previous posts. Not only are you posting a garbage/useless reply, but you also dont know where i am coming from because you failed to read.....anything from this thread.
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on my family there are 3 sgs2, 2 blacks and my sgs2 white, al of them gt-i9100 with same specifications and the same performance, it only changes with the different version like the lte.
Deniska11 said:
I dont mind waiting for an official, but if the one on xda is worthy, ill get that. Speaking of the fix, im quite amazed xda already got roms, i mean...how long ago was the phone released? Thanks a lot for your input anyways man.
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Well, considering that with Gingerbread, I run CyanogenMod 7 instead of Samsung's ROM, I think I'll end up going with the CyanogenMod 9 ROM over Samsung's anyway
The Galaxy S II, at least in Australia, launched in May last year. If you're referring to the Galaxy Nexus, it'd be about a month or so, give or take two weeks. But the source code was out about a week or two before the Galaxy Nexus shipped, and has been out for around two months or so, again give or take a bit
I might be getting one sometime in the next few weeks. I was just wondering, is anyone using an InvisibleShield, or BSE or any other skin on their white Galaxy S II?
I'm curious as to how it looks, if it makes the white look less... white.
Gonna buy mine sometime soon too. I dont think it makes a difference, my friend has a white iphone with a ghost screen protector, it lookes exactly the same. MAYBE just a tiny little bit less...white

S2 vs GNexus?

Hi!
I already asked this question at GNex forums, but I thought I could as well ask you guys too.
So, I'm buying a new phone. I'm not new to Android scene, but I've never actually had a high-end phone(well technically these both are last-era high-ends, but what ever...). So please guys, tell me why should I or why should I not buy S2 instead of Galaxy Nexus!
As far as I know, Nexus has better screen(larger and extreme resolution!), but S2 is more powerful. Though I've heard that Nexus' OMAP4 chipset is better than S2's Exynos. On the other hand Mali-400 is better than PowerVR...
Nexus would cost me 30€ less(GNex=370€ & S2=400€), that ain't a game changer though.
So tell me your opinions! So far I'm kinda gravitated on GNex due to the screen... Also it's the cheaper one of those two.
One thing that is a plus for S2 is larger community in XDA. I bet there are two times more roms for S2!(BUT, Nexus has alot of roms too, including CM9, AOKP, MIUI, Paranoid etc.)
Thanks!
ArmorD said:
Hi!
I already asked this question at GNex forums, but I thought I could as well ask you guys too.
So, I'm buying a new phone. I'm not new to Android scene, but I've never actually had a high-end phone(well technically these both are last-era high-ends, but what ever...). So please guys, tell me why should I or why should I not buy S2 instead of Galaxy Nexus!
As far as I know, Nexus has better screen(larger and extreme resolution!), but S2 is more powerful. Though I've heard that Nexus' OMAP4 chipset is better than S2's Exynos. On the other hand Mali-400 is better than PowerVR...
Nexus would cost me 30€ less(GNex=370€ & S2=400€), that ain't a game changer though.
So tell me your opinions! So far I'm kinda gravitated on GNex due to the screen... Also it's the cheaper one of those two.
One thing that is a plus for S2 is larger community in XDA. I bet there are two times more roms for S2!(BUT, Nexus has alot of roms too, including CM9, AOKP, MIUI, Paranoid etc.)
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think that GNex will always have Google's native support. That's a plus for that one.
They're two beautiful phones. Very powerful.
I probabbly take the GNex, but, here's your choise
Also, you can wait and go for a better phone, like HOX, or SGSIII.
Greetings!
ArmorD said:
Hi!
I already asked this question at GNex forums, but I thought I could as well ask you guys too.
So, I'm buying a new phone. I'm not new to Android scene, but I've never actually had a high-end phone(well technically these both are last-era high-ends, but what ever...). So please guys, tell me why should I or why should I not buy S2 instead of Galaxy Nexus!
As far as I know, Nexus has better screen(larger and extreme resolution!), but S2 is more powerful. Though I've heard that Nexus' OMAP4 chipset is better than S2's Exynos. On the other hand Mali-400 is better than PowerVR...
Nexus would cost me 30€ less(GNex=370€ & S2=400€), that ain't a game changer though.
So tell me your opinions! So far I'm kinda gravitated on GNex due to the screen... Also it's the cheaper one of those two.
One thing that is a plus for S2 is larger community in XDA. I bet there are two times more roms for S2!(BUT, Nexus has alot of roms too, including CM9, AOKP, MIUI, Paranoid etc.)
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love my s2. I'd say go with the s2 if it was between those two.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
go with nexus you will get awesome hd screen (300+ppi not bat ! ) official updates from google first hand (no need to flash unofficial roms to get the latest) total google experience (also you will get rid of that awful touch wiz)
and its cheep..
but......
here are some cons
no sd card (it only gonna fell if you going to buy 16 gb version)
ok video recording (in that case s2 is winner)
that's it i won't find any more cons in nexus but lottssss of in s2 that's why i am also going to buy nexus (but i am going to wait for thier next version may be moto nexus ......)
good luck .
Well, i have never used a nexus but i can write some pros for the s2
1.HUUUUGE community for roms and mods
2.Easily rootable
3.Easily modifyable
4.Good hardware
5.Pretty much impossible to brick
6.Probably has the best kernel for any phone ever. The siyah kernel.
But at this point in time , personally if i were getting a high end droid, i would get the S3 or Htc One X
But i personally recommend the s2
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
I'm make it easy for you...
http://www.youtube.com/results?sear....0.0.0.483.1708.2-1j3j1.5.0...0.0.Gm8Af6ooc00
id buy the sgs2 over the nexus any day , no micro sd slot means i couldnt buy it if i wanted too , theres just not enough memory for my needs
also samsung sgs2 has a genuine 2000mah battery avalible
for me the sgs2 is only beaten by the sgs3 , id even rate the sgs2 more then the htc one x due to the one x having no removeable battery and no micro sd slot
horses for courses but sgs2 wins everytime for me
Hi i would go for gnex
Cuz of google support and cuz im pretty sure gnex will get gelly been inshallah
Bigger screen better resolution
And for me i have some problems with my sgs2 like over heat
So i would go for gnex if i had to choose again between them
I'd say go for gnex it got a better future i think
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Wanted the Gnex but only good thing about it is google support but the sII just pwns it in every other way... sad to say...
I own an s2 but not much experience with the gnex. S2 is good, when it works properly, but I suspect gnexus would be less hassles.
S2 isn't bad on paper but I miss the Nexus experience I enjoyed on my Nexus One.
PS. 2100mah genuine extended batteries exist for gnex, too.
Thanks guys! A s you see, i choose S2. It wad a hard decision, but I'm happy with this! I knew nexus would have been good, but i really think it wouldn't be any better than S2! This phone's performance is just mental! And it's fun to say Mali
And there was a campaign price for S2 due to there newly opened electronics store near me, I paid only 333 euros! Even cheaper than the Nexus!
Thanks for answers!
Edit. Damn You 8 thanks/ day
Edit 2. I hate you SlideIT keyboard!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Galaxy S II still worth it?

So here's the thing.. I would like the Galaxy S III of course, but it has it's obvious faults, and without a scheduled upgrade from my provider I just don't think it's worth the 700+ dollars I would have to shell out.. So my thought was to buy a used Galaxy S II for around 200-300$ to tide me over until either HTC or Samsung release near perfect devices, or until the next Nexus whenever that is, do you think this would be worth it? Is development slowing down or staying the same and is 200-300$ worth it until and would it last until the next nexus or HTC/Samsung flagship?
Thanks in advanced for your opinions
Of course, S2 is still a great phone.
I will never switch for the S3, not that S3 is not better, just the S2 does everyting that S3 does..maybe S4 will give me a reason to switch.
im the kind of person that only switches cellphone or any other electronics when its really worth it, a big step ahead, or else I don´t think its worth it.
S4 will have 14 nm chipset
http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/samsung-20nm-14nm-chip-production/
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
syndragon said:
Of course, S2 is still a great phone.
I will never switch for the S3, not that S3 is not better, just the S2 does everyting that S3 does..maybe S4 will give me a reason to switch.
im the kind of person that only switches cellphone or any other electronics when its really worth it, a big step ahead, or else I don´t think its worth it.
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Well I've got the Desire Z right now so it would be a pretty big jump.. but yeah I'm thinking if I can get this phone for cheap at least it will be a good jump and a nice holder until my carrier gives me a free upgrade next year ?
hikarugo said:
S4 will have 14 nm chipset
http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/07/samsung-20nm-14nm-chip-production/
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
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Dam that's amazing.. The only thing is I need the rest of it to be worth it too :S The problem with the S3 are the pentile (not a BIG deal obviously, don't care that much) the pink problem, the blacks problem, the screen being easily cracked, etc :/ maybe the S4 will blow me away
I also want a lot of dev community since for some reason the Desire Z had a TON and it would be weird not having it and like stupid amounts of ROMs
S2 is still a strong phone. No other devices offer significant improvements over what it does.
I thinks that there's not so much difference between Galaxy SII and SIII. The big difference to me is the design of the phone. Hardware of SII is actually very strong.
I don't know if the S3 has better battery life... but in other subjects S2 is not that far from S3... And the price now is very accessible as well...
SII is still great! We have a official ics which sucks but cm9 is pretty sick and stable for daily use. Oh and there are some really great roms and kernels out there.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
syndragon said:
Of course, S2 is still a great phone.
I will never switch for the S3, not that S3 is not better, just the S2 does everyting that S3 does..maybe S4 will give me a reason to switch.
im the kind of person that only switches cellphone or any other electronics when its really worth it, a big step ahead, or else I don´t think its worth it.
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Click to collapse
+1.I upgraded from x10 as s2 was worth it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
You're looking to do exactly what I'm in the middle of doing. About 3 or 4 months ago I bought a relatively new SGSII for $300 due to my Nokia N97 breaking down about half way through my contract. It is an amazing phone and my first which is running Android. I have done lots of mods and flashed lots of roms and have really enjoyed it. At the end of the year my contract expires so the SGSII is going to my fiancée and I am going to upgrade to an SGSIII or a Galaxy Note II or the next Nexus. The SGSII is definitely a great phone with lots of support by all the great themers, modders and rom builders on XDA. Definitely recommend it.
Well I guess it really depends on the use you make of your phone.
SGS II is an excellent device on many aspects, but if you plan on playing the most recent games, for instance, I'd say the SGS III's quad-core will be more... "comfortable"?
As far as I'm concerned, I'll stick with my SGS I as long as possible, the engagement with my carrier goes to Feb 2013... Maybe SGS IV will be announced by then. Argh!!
IF you are out budget the S II is still a strong phone. Another advantage if you choose S II over other phone is community. S II has the biggest market in all Android phones and of course S II / Samsung 3rd party developers are just awesome!
noneabove said:
Well I've got the Desire Z right now so it would be a pretty big jump.. but yeah I'm thinking if I can get this phone for cheap at least it will be a good jump and a nice holder until my carrier gives me a free upgrade next year ?
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Click to collapse
Well, then its up to you, either S2 and S3 will be a big jump.
So only you know if the aspects that make S3 slightly better than S2 its worth the extra money.
IMO S2 is the best phone out there. Yes, S3 and One X are more powerful, but are the worth 600€? S2 can do exactly all the same things as those two, play HD games like Modern Combat 3 and NOVA 3 without any notable lag!
Currently, I believe S2 has the biggest community in XDA(well, it's separated to many "divisions" here, due to many different models[US Carrier specific and i9100G], but cause it's so popular, why wouldn't it be good?)
Yes, S2 is worth it. Here, it costs two times less than an S3.
last week i played with the SGS3 and the SGS2 ( a updated one ( ICS ) of a friend )
i did not notice any BIG differents between the 2 phone's
so i got myself a SGS2 and saved me 300 euro's.
ArmorD said:
IMO S2 is the best phone out there. Yes, S3 and One X are more powerful, but are the worth 600€? S2 can do exactly all the same things as those two, play HD games like Modern Combat 3 and NOVA 3 without any notable lag!
Currently, I believe S2 has the biggest community in XDA(well, it's separated to many "divisions" here, due to many different models[US Carrier specific and i9100G], but cause it's so popular, why wouldn't it be good?)
Yes, S2 is worth it. Here, it costs two times less than an S3.
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I agree. The s2 has the best xda family in my opinion. Just look at rr or Rootbox thread. And it is probably going to not be outdated for another year or two
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Same here buddy...
I wont switch to galaxy s3 from galaxy s2...
But if anyone want to buy a new phone its obvious if u can spend money and get galaxy s3,then buy that otherwise S2 is still a good phone sold more than 28million..
I think the development wont stop just because of S3..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Thanks for the advice guys! I will definitely be monitoring kijiji closely looking for one that's at least less than 300$ and maybe even less than 250$! Hope I find one soon!
No. Its display has low life. When people asked Samsung why did they change display in SGS3, they said that its because the samoled+ has low life and faster degradation of image quality.
For instance, some phones already had yellow tint on 30% brightness. Some have started to develop it now.
its display is great. But battery life is poor. With one charge, you will hardly be able to use (total hours of usage) it more than 8 hours given battery is new.
samoled+ is marvelous display but you will find running your phone at low brightness due to battery concerns. Whats use of such a phone then?
No wonder SGS3 has a different display.
Stock rom gave me bs battery life with my usage about 5-6 hrs but go custom with UV and UC i get 8-10 hrs! Use a little less and i get 14 hrs and im using the 1650 mh batt

What made you pick the S3 over the competition?

Hey guys/gals,
I'm literally counting the days til my upgrade, however with phones like the One X and a few others which i can't think of off the top of my head. Rather than asking VS. questions which will be answered by biased views or perhaps answers which don't answer the why i'll ask it like this.
What was the feature that made you buy the phone over the other phones on the market, what is your favourite feature which made the phone a defo puchase?
Thanks to all that answer this for me.
Mainly the processor, big ass screen and clearly the brand Samsung. HTC are good but from past experience I know that what they seem to offer is not always what they actually have to offer. Other phones are just out of the question, like nokia pure view since I would rather buy a camera than buy that phone (though I already have a DSLR so I don't need one). And to be honest I normally pick phones right away and then find everything there is to know about them. I just told myself that now is the time and this is the phone I want to buy.
what is your favourite feature which made the phone a defo puchase?
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- Huge community with lots of ROM's and customizations
- Large AMOLED screen (only had good experiences so far)
- Cool addon features such as Smart Stay
- Perfect USB OTG support
- Large battery
- Samsung-branded. (No issue with their devices so far)
- Powerful 4core SoC
Thanks for the input so far guys, its not a case I'm doubting the s3 but I'll probably get lumbered with a 24month contract and I don't want to miss out on another phone due to blindly buying the s3
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
If I had a Galaxy Nexus as your signature suggests I would have skipped the S3, I don't think the incremental benefits merit a 24 month tie in. Or you could upgrade now and when the next gen handsets are released your S3 and GN should raise enough to buy whatever tickles your fancy.
For me it was the SD card slot and removable battery. Also I was concerned about all of the screen scratch talk with the one X.
On AT&T, the One X looks to be the better performer but couldn't get past the issues above.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
diablous said:
Thanks for the input so far guys, its not a case I'm doubting the s3 but I'll probably get lumbered with a 24month contract and I don't want to miss out on another phone due to blindly buying the s3
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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Contract ????? £500 PAYG unbranded CPW .
jje
Because the One X is inexcuseably flawed with the lack of replaceable battery and memory slot and traditionally rubbish battery life, and even though the S3 is also flawed most of it is just software problems that can be bodged up after the fact.
SIII doesn't have any serious competition imho. It is the best phone in the market at the moment hands down. If only my other decisions in life are that easy
diablous said:
Hey guys/gals,
I'm literally counting the days til my upgrade, however with phones like the One X and a few others which i can't think of off the top of my head. Rather than asking VS. questions which will be answered by biased views or perhaps answers which don't answer the why i'll ask it like this.
What was the feature that made you buy the phone over the other phones on the market, what is your favourite feature which made the phone a defo puchase?
Thanks to all that answer this for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I chose this phone because it is the successor of the previous best android device, the Samsung galaxy s 2. Things could only improve with the galaxy s 3.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Frostfree said:
If I had a Galaxy Nexus as your signature suggests I would have skipped the S3, I don't think the incremental benefits merit a 24 month tie in. Or you could upgrade now and when the next gen handsets are released your S3 and GN should raise enough to buy whatever tickles your fancy.
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Click to collapse
I totally agree. Especially the fact that the nexus is about to get jelly bean, it's gonna be a brand new phone. Yes the S3 is the best phone out right now ( in my opinion) but the nexus is also fantastic and I miss that phone sometimes.
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To be honest I believe that there soon won't be a device (including Samsung) that will be let's say 2 or 3 times faster, better, etc. that the SIII. Quad core processors came out now so next year probably they will continue to distribute them. Plus custom roms or the SIII will get better, these guys at xda do a better job than any company out there, they are users that make upgrades for users and know what we exactly need. Software is never an issue it can always be upgraded, modified unlike hardware that is something that is hard to replace in a phone. So when I look for a phone I mainly look at the hardware, for the hidden potential of the phone. And to be honest Samsung SIII is the fastest phone currently on the market and we all know well that it has the most juice in it.
barondebxl said:
I totally agree. Especially the fact that the nexus is about to get jelly bean, it's gonna be a brand new phone. Yes the S3 is the best phone out right now ( in my opinion) but the nexus is also fantastic and I miss that phone sometimes.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
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The Nexus always gets the latest OS first but as soon as the Galaxy S's get upgraded you just get stuck with a phone that's always worse than the equivalent Galaxy S, and I'd never buy a phone just to get an OS a few months early because I'd quickly realise the mistake I made.
barondebxl said:
I totally agree. Especially the fact that the nexus is about to get jelly bean, it's gonna be a brand new phone. Yes the S3 is the best phone out right now ( in my opinion) but the nexus is also fantastic and I miss that phone sometimes.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
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+1. If you have a Nexus already, I agree that it will feel like a new phone with JellyBean on it.
I am still getting the S3 though. I will be new to Android so will have a bit of learning to do, and JellyBean is supposed to be coming to the S3 in Q4, so by then I'll be ready for it and I think it will make the S3 super-super-swishy (from the mere super-swishy it is now).
For me, replaceable batteries & memory cards are a must, so that basically blew many other phones out of the picture. Good camera, USB OTG, MHL-ing to use it as a games console, proper HD screen, good battery - all of these things sold it too me.
No iThings for me. I don't want to get tied into any restrictive iContract with iEULA, not shackled to iTunes, titchy screen, etc etc.
I was happy with my Windows HTC HD2 (before I bricked it). Hoping buying a Samsung flagship model on Android (with the massive user group that's gathering behind it and seemingly fast updates OTA from Sammy) will mean this phone will function well out of the box, and function amazeballs with a few custom tweaks & mods.
Hopefully I will get my UK blue this week :cyclops::victory:
Screen size and speed
Already running Jellybean, but like people have said you can change Software you can't change hardware and one thing i do miss is the S2 camera I had, so the Samera on the S3 is one of my big reasons.
Thanks to everyone who has posted so far.
What competition?
My last phone was an HTC Desire, and since I was displeased with the HTC Sense UI, I just decided that my next phone would be a Samsung. And the S III just happened to be the best phone out there.
hox has too weak battery in my case, so its a no-competition thing actually
next close to perfect phone is still good old i9000
The hype about it - I figured that with all the talk there would be loads of custom roms developed for the phone. I signed up for a two year contract and I wanted a phone that could last two years which this should do well with that processor. Had a Nexus S before and considered buying a Galaxy Nexus, but 16GB internal and no option for external SD just didn't appeal to me.

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