Personal review Samsung Galaxy S2
I’ve got a Samsung Galaxy S 2 for about two months now, so somehow I think I can have a proper opinion about this phone. First of all, I want to mention that I am in most of the cases a tipical business user of a smartphone. Second, I have never used an iPhone before, only Android and old Windows Mobile and Symbian based phones.
Before having this gadget, I used for almost 18 months a HTC Desire. So I can make a comparison between the two UI, festures, etc…
I read a lot about what Android phone to buy next so that’s why I came to this one. Before starting with pros and cons, briefly I want to argue why I am not (yet) an iPhone user:
a) it’s relatively heavy for my taste
b) don’t allow widgets (i.e.: I am using calendar and to-do lists a lot, and I want to have them on my fingertips only by opening the screen, without entering in any other third application. On Samsung I have this widget which automatically brings appointments from Google Calendar and places them directly on my home screen)
c) multi-tasking not working as I want (I want to hear music/radio, while chat with messenger and browsing; or I have a voice recorded in the background and in the mean time I want to email, chat, etc)
d) everything goes trough iTunes, not allowing me to put directly on the computer
e) not having an external mini SD card (this doesn’t bother me very much though)
Now, back to our Samsung Galaxy S2:
I will start with Cons because considering that this phone is a hit or the main competitor of iPhone, it shouldn’t have too many Cons, yet it has (in my opinion and usage style):
1) Even though before buying it I read a lot of reviews that the battery is good, well, in reality it isn’t that good as in an iPhone (but it’s better than on HTC Desire)
2) Can’t send long SMS – if I want to send an SMS longer than 160 chars, normally the phone should split in multiple SMSs but this phone forces me to send it as MMS which is VERY VERY frustrating. I called Samsung and they told me this is the phone, it’s nothing to be changed about it.
3) I can’t set the unlock screen timer, if I want to appear only after 30 seconds of inactivity for example. It’s just by default setup on 3 seconds and that’s it. It’s annoying
4) every 4-5 days it’s freezing after I am having a phone call (I hope this is a software problem and with the next update will be fixed)
5) it doesn’t have a LED for alert when I have a lost call or message. There are some applications on the market for this, but they are all bad jokes…
6) On the contacts place where it’s the menu Keypad, Logs, Contacts, etc…when I am on Keypad (by default) I want the contact I want to call to appear as I type (as it was on HTC Desire or Windows Mobile phones), somehow I want the functionality of “Contacts” to be the same in “Keypad” place.
As for the Pros I like:
1) it’s veryyyyy slim and light
2) very fast
3) excellent screen
4) nice pictures with the camera
5) widget UI
6) very good integration with google apps, email, etc
In conclusion, I am happy though to use my Samsung Galaxy phone, but if iPhone 5 will solve many of the “Cons” of Samsung, and my “Cons” of iPhone, I would happily join Apple-club next year (when iPhone5 will be cheaper I suppose).
