Samsung Galaxy s2

[poofyhairguy]

I heard the native SMS app on the ATT S2 can't customize the bubbles and the background.

Is that true?

That is true. Some ROMs have it themed, or you can switch to a client like GOSMS that has themes (that is what I did).

What do you feel about the battery life? The main bad thing I heard about the S2 is the battery life.

Compared to my iPhone it is not quite as nice, but it will get you through a day especially if you buy the Juicedefender app.

The real issue with the battery is that it takes forever for them to charge compared to other devices. Samsung believes fast charging wears down batteries.

My solution? I bought this:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-CGPK00.../dp/B005LGUEE0

Comes with an extra battery. When mine is drain, I just switch them out.

As an upside, I also no longer care about battery life as much. I stopped using Juice Defender and I use live wallpaper (two big no-nos usually).

 

[kyrax12]

I'll go deeper than that, as I don't think the Skyrocket is anywhere near the real SGS2s.

Before I even start the bottom line is that the Skyrocket should be avoided.

The Skyrocket is basically the T-Mobile version of the SGS2 with LTE.

What that means practically is that it has a worse CPU (clock-for-clock) and a WAY worse GPU (games run slower, less video file playback compatibility) than the normal AT&T SGS2. It also has a larger screen with the same resolution, which means worse pixel density. The Skyrocket cannot leverage the normal SGS2 community, meaning it will get ICS last. Finally it eats batteries like Lamia ate children.

I have tried to be open about it- I even got a guy to test my sample files with it to see what paper can't tell you. But facts are facts- the Skyrocket is shit. Hence why the main AT&T SGS2 developer calls it the Shitrocket.

Just to be clear:
So basically the skyrocket is 50$ more than the S2 and is slower in comparison? Serious?

It just have the capability for LTE?

Man...

 

[AKShockwave]

Just to be clear:
So basically the skyrocket is 50$ more than the S2 and is slower in comparison? Serious?

It just have the capability for LTE?

Man...

Network speeds would be faster, but the phone itself would be slower.



And as for battery life, I have the normal at&t s2. I've had the phone since it came out in october. I've been using it today since 9 this morning. It's now 7 pm and I have 70 % battery life left. Now all I've really been doing on it today is browsing the web on and off, but for typical usage the battery life is fine to get you through a day. I charge it every night though. For me it really only hits below like 30 % when I've been using it all day and it's late at night.

Overall the phone is great and I'd really recommend it. It's super fast and I've had very few problems with it. The only real glitch that I've had is the 4 main buttons on the bottom have sometimes just stopped working. They light up when touched, but do not vibrate and do not do anything. This has only happened a few times and simply turning the phone off and back on fixes it. It's almost certainly a software problem though, so installing a custom rom or something might fix it.


The only thing I want more of out of this phone is the ICS update. I'm getting impatient waiting for it to come out, either as a rom or otherwise.

 

[Fire&Blood]

After doing some research on the phone I have decided to get the phone when my upgrade comes in, which is about one month from now.

One of the reasons why I want the phone is because it is apparently the fastest phone out right now and the super amoled plus screen with gorilla glass. I only seen super amoled on a captivate and a vibrant and I was in love! If there is a level beyond super amoled then it is going to be some delicious eye candy for me when I get the phone.

One of the bad things I keep hearing about the phone is the really bad battery life. I done a lot of research and this seems to be the consensus.

What do you guys think of it?

I have AT&T so it will be the AT&T version.

There is no better Android phone subsidized by AT&T than the SGS2 and it may stay that way until September next year.

 

[soccerballtux]

Just to be clear:
So basically the skyrocket is 50$ more than the S2 and is slower in comparison? Serious?

It just have the capability for LTE?

Man...

the CPU is actually just as fast. The main benefit of the Exynos is it's an out of order architecture so the CPU doesn't stall as much waiting for data from memory.
Clock for clock it's about 25% faster than in order variants such as the one used in the Skyrocket.
What's 1.25*1.2ghz?
1.5ghz. Which is the clockspeed of the Skyrocket.
A large benefit of the Skyrocket is the cores can be clocked independently, so your main core that's handling the foreground app can run full speed while the 2nd core can clock down to 200mhz to handle swapping stuff out of RAM.

So the Skyrocket should have better battery life under low to moderate loads than the Exynos based non LTE S2, but remember you've got an "LTE" modem in there which will consume more power (Will it?) so it cancels out.
So that brings it down to:
1. LTE
2. GPU
If you want better GPU, get the non-LTE version.
If you want LTE, get the Skyrocket.

 

[Ksyder]

sort of on topic yet off, is there really no widget for the default music app?
I see there are controls on the notification bar, that is good.

 

[Ryaxnb]

There is no better Android phone subsidized by AT&T than the SGS2 and it may stay that way until September next year.

The nitro has a higher res (720P), superior (IPS superbright) screen, LTE, similar CPU speed (higher clock, lower efficency balances out), and a bigger display (4.5 vs 4.3). The battery life is crap, the GPU is weaker, but overall it's a bettter phone if you compare spec by spec.

 

[kyrax12]

The nitro has a higher res (720P), superior (IPS superbright) screen, LTE, similar CPU speed (higher clock, lower efficency balances out), and a bigger display (4.5 vs 4.3). The battery life is crap, the GPU is weaker, but overall it's a bettter phone if you compare spec by spec.

I want to read comics on my samsung galaxy S2 though.

Would the super amoled plus on the samsung galaxy s2 be better than 720p resolution??

 

[Fire&Blood]

The nitro has a higher res (720P), superior (IPS superbright) screen, LTE, similar CPU speed (higher clock, lower efficency balances out), and a bigger display (4.5 vs 4.3). The battery life is crap, the GPU is weaker, but overall it's a bettter phone if you compare spec by spec.

720p is the only consistent advantage. No LTE in the 100 mile radius and majority of the country for that matter, CPU is not balanced out with the higher clock and it's obvious in using the phone, GPU is crap and it's a bulkier phone.

 

[Occ]

I want to read comics on my samsung galaxy S2 though.

Would the super amoled plus on the samsung galaxy s2 be better than 720p resolution??

I just read Alan Moore's run of The Swamp Thing on mine. Worked fairly well. Most of my complaints have more to do with the comic app I was using than the screen.

 

[ImDonly1]

The nitro has a higher res (720P), superior (IPS superbright) screen, LTE, similar CPU speed (higher clock, lower efficency balances out), and a bigger display (4.5 vs 4.3). The battery life is crap, the GPU is weaker, but overall it's a bettter phone if you compare spec by spec.

Nitro has bad battery life. Worst phone on ATT because of that. And SAMOLED+ is better than IPS, which the non-LTE SGS2 has (SAMOLED+)?

 

[poofyhairguy]

And SAMOLED+ is better than IPS, which the non-LTE SGS2 has (SAMOLED+)?

Exactly. I don't know how anyone can say IPS is a better phone screen tech than SAOMLED. Maybe a 720p IPS is better for some people than a WVGA SAMOLED screen, but a 720p SAMOLED will wipe the floor with the LG's screen.

The main problem with the LG phone is that you have the same 720p growing pains that GNex users will have, without the huge GNex community to lean on. Same basic issue with the HTC Rezound- 720p sucks without ICS.

 

[kyrax12]

is the Samsung Galaxy s2 still the fastest phone in the world right now that is released?

 

[Fire&Blood]

is the Samsung Galaxy s2 still the fastest phone in the world right now that is released?

Within Android, yes. The line is somewhat blurred by G Nexus but with ICS port coming, SGS2 will reestablish itself as the top phone. Impressive for a 8 month old phone. No better AT&T subsidized Android phone out there. Unless you insist on features such as LTE, 720p display or a keyboard.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Exactly. I don't know how anyone can say IPS is a better phone screen tech than SAOMLED. Maybe a 720p IPS is better for some people than a WVGA SAMOLED screen, but a 720p SAMOLED will wipe the floor with the LG's screen.

The main problem with the LG phone is that you have the same 720p growing pains that GNex users will have, without the huge GNex community to lean on. Same basic issue with the HTC Rezound- 720p sucks without ICS.

because IPS has accurate colors? why do people want IPS panels and want color calibration on their LCD monitors? why do consumers love glossy screens and over saturated RGB?

why do consumers want bass heavy boomy low quality earbuds like Beats audio whereas audio enthusiasts like more accurate balanced sounding devices?

 

[kyrax12]

Within Android, yes. The line is somewhat blurred by G Nexus but with ICS port coming, SGS2 will reestablish itself as the top phone. Impressive for a 8 month old phone. No better AT&T subsidized Android phone out there. Unless you insist on features such as LTE, 720p display or a keyboard.

I can get an upgrade in about one month.

I hope SG II will be worth it!

I am hoping the phone will last me 2-3 years

 

[Fire&Blood]

I can get an upgrade in about one month.

I hope SG II will be worth it!

I am hoping the phone will last me 2-3 years

The phone is worth it and it should be good for the contract duration. Do note that most models receive annual refreshes, depreciating previous ones.

However, it will be hard to get a better phone subsidized by AT&T for some time to come, it will likely take SGS3 to dethrone the SGS2.

 

[Raduque]

Adreno 220 is a good GPU. It's not as fast in raw throughput as the Mali400, but you're not really going to see any visual or FPS difference in games.

What's the most stressful non-Tegra2 Android game right now? Shadowgun, maybe? It runs equally well on both my Exynos SGS2 and on my Snapdragon S3 myTouch4G Slide.

And by that, I mean neither device drops frames or has stuttery gameplay.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

The SGS2 solved every complaint I had about the previous Galaxy S (I had the Vibrant).

It's fast, it's stable with a beautiful screen. Everything runs really well on it. The battery is great. I did find some slight lag though once, I was playing a game and an call came in, the screen went blank for about 4 seconds before the "Incoming Call" screen came up.

I do have a couple of complaints, though they are minor ones. Sometimes, mostly in games, the touch screen acts weird. I'll tap to select something, the selection will light up and nothing will happen. For example, I was playing Blood and Glory and wanted to go to the Store screen. I pressed "Store" and the button lit up, but nothing happened. Did that 3 times in a row, then the 4th time, it loaded the store screen.

The other complaint is fairly typical of Samsung devices: the GPS is less than perfect. It's more than usable (it actually maintains lock with satellites, and doesn't suffer from the wandering cursor), but it can only get as accurate as 14-15ft indoors and 9ft outside. Compare my myTouch 4G Slide from HTC, it does 9ft indoors and 3ft outside.

Overall though, great device.

Awesome phone. Coming from a captivate it kills it in every way. Only downsides are its not a nexus phone, and doesn't have a 720p screen.

My battery is awesome on CM7 and on Unnamed. Keep in mind, because of its lower res, it should have a longer life span, compared to similar specs with a high res.

Im a huge phone nerd, and when it comes to phones, ill spend whatever, but i honestly could not pass up the SGS2 for 50 bucks with a contract.

Even if the Gnex was close in price it would be a tough decision, so right now, until the SGS3 comes out, this is the phone to get.

The nitro has a higher res (720P), superior (IPS superbright) screen, LTE, similar CPU speed (higher clock, lower efficiency balances out), and a bigger display (4.5 vs 4.3). The battery life is crap, the GPU is weaker, but overall it's a better phone if you compare spec by spec.

dont forget about carrierIQ too. This phone looks disgusting btw. AMOLED is unmatched. LTE is unnecessary right now (my phone flies on HSPA+)

battery life is pretty important to me (and most people)
dev support is better (look how popular the captivate was, it already has ICS pretty much)
4.3 is even pushing it for me. I wanted the Gnex so bad, but i almost cat imagine going bigger.

 

[kyrax12]

Awesome phone. Coming from a captivate it kills it in every way. Only downsides are its not a nexus phone, and doesn't have a 720p screen.

My battery is awesome on CM7 and on Unnamed. Keep in mind, because of its lower res, it should have a longer life span, compared to similar specs with a high res.

Im a huge phone nerd, and when it comes to phones, ill spend whatever, but i honestly could not pass up the SGS2 for 50 bucks with a contract.

Even if the Gnex was close in price it would be a tough decision, so right now, until the SGS3 comes out, this is the phone to get.



dont forget about carrierIQ too. This phone looks disgusting btw. AMOLED is unmatched. LTE is unnecessary right now (my phone flies on HSPA+)

battery life is pretty important to me (and most people)
dev support is better (look how popular the captivate was, it already has ICS pretty much)
4.3 is even pushing it for me. I wanted the Gnex so bad, but i almost cat imagine going bigger.

speedwise on the S2. Has it disappointed you yet?

 

[Aph2]

I dropped my Galaxy S II on the ground and busted its display today. Thinking about going with the Skyrocket when I get my new phone on Friday. From what I gather from this thread, the CPU's are comparable, LTE is a plus, and the GPU is the only problem.

With that said, I don't play any games, so I don't care for that. But I hear ICS is going to use the GPU to draw the screen. Is the Skyrocket's inferior GPU going to be a problem in this regard? I really, really want smooth and slick UI changes, and the SGSII has that. I refuse to lose this feature. Should I go with the Skyrocket being confident that my UI experience is not going to be degraded, or just pick up another SGSII?

 

[kyrax12]

I dropped my Galaxy S II on the ground and busted its display today. Thinking about going with the Skyrocket when I get my new phone on Friday. From what I gather from this thread, the CPU's are comparable, LTE is a plus, and the GPU is the only problem.

With that said, I don't play any games, so I don't care for that. But I hear ICS is going to use the GPU to draw the screen. Is the Skyrocket's inferior GPU going to be a problem in this regard? I really, really want smooth and slick UI changes, and the SGSII has that. I refuse to lose this feature. Should I go with the Skyrocket being confident that my UI experience is not going to be degraded, or just pick up another SGSII?

I thought Gorilla glass is heavily resistant to blunt damage within reason.

 

[Aph2]

I thought Gorilla glass is heavily resistant to blunt damage within reason.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, it slipped out of my hand, and landed screen flat down on concrete. It wasn't just a scratch The screen is properly cracked.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I dropped my Galaxy S II on the ground and busted its display today. Thinking about going with the Skyrocket when I get my new phone on Friday. From what I gather from this thread, the CPU's are comparable, LTE is a plus, and the GPU is the only problem.

With that said, I don't play any games, so I don't care for that. But I hear ICS is going to use the GPU to draw the screen. Is the Skyrocket's inferior GPU going to be a problem in this regard? I really, really want smooth and slick UI changes, and the SGSII has that. I refuse to lose this feature. Should I go with the Skyrocket being confident that my UI experience is not going to be degraded, or just pick up another SGSII?

Trading a horse for a donkey, if you go from SGS2 to Skyrocket.
Contrary to the popular belief, higher clock on the Skyrocket does not compensate for the weaker CPU. Even if one were to overclock the Skyrocket 10%, that does not translate to a 10% increase in performance.

GPU isn't only beneficial in games, even if one never plays games, benefit of a better GPU is there throughout most if not all usage. Better maneuvering throughout the UI, better browsing, wider compatibility of video codecs and better playback.

Even without LTE, phone's networking is the most advanced aspect of smartphone usage. One should compare a 5Mbps connection on a decent desktop vs. a much faster network on a underpowered computer to grasp that. And then there are restrictions and flaws of LTE networks and associated plans to further diminish value of LTE. Personally, I would wait for 2nd gen of LTE chips before considering them. Set aside the limited availability and LTE's impact on battery for a moment, >50 Mbps speed tests are cute, if one wants to ignore those speeds exceed SD cards transfer rates. And then there are carrier caps...

 

[Aph2]

Trading a horse for a donkey, if you go from SGS2 to Skyrocket.
Contrary to the popular belief, higher clock on the Skyrocket does not compensate for the weaker CPU. Even if one were to overclock the Skyrocket 10%, that does not translate to a 10% increase in performance.

GPU isn't only beneficial in games, even if one never plays games, benefit of a better GPU is there throughout most if not all usage. Better maneuvering throughout the UI, better browsing, wider compatibility of video codecs and better playback.

Even without LTE, phone's networking is the most advanced aspect of smartphone usage. One should compare a 5Mbps connection on a decent desktop vs. a much faster network on a underpowered computer to grasp that. And then there are restrictions and flaws of LTE networks and associated plans to further diminish value of LTE. Personally, I would wait for 2nd gen of LTE chips before considering them. Set aside the limited availability and LTE's impact on battery for a moment, >50 Mbps speed tests are cute, if one wants to ignore those speeds exceed SD cards transfer rates. And then there are carrier caps...

Thanks, man. I'm set on another SGSII. And maybe grippier hands.