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Samsung Galaxy S II for AT&T review


Introduction

Today, we have the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II at the start line. Out of the U.S. trio of power- droids, it comes closest to the original, having kept its slim line and measurements, while changing its face in a subtle fashion.
Since its launch a few months back, the Samsung Galaxy S II has become the performance benchmark for an Android smartphone. The I9100 achieved this by trouncing every competitor in terms of specs, performance, and style, and prompted us to call it the “brightest star” in our review back in May. The title we gave it has been well justified since then, as the phone recently reached 10 million units sold.
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Samsung Galaxy S II official photos
The specs of the AT&T Galaxy S II are identical to the I9100, promising us the same mind-blowing performance. The Super AMOLED Plus screen is yet to be bettered by the competition, and so is the Exynos chipset of the droid.
With the bar set so high already, it is time to see if the AT&T Galaxy S II will live up to the high expectations set by its I9100 DNA.

Key features

  • Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support
  • 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
  • 4.3" 16M-color Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution
  • Android OS v2.3.4 with TouchWiz 4 launcher
  • 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset, 1GB of RAM
  • 8 MP wide-angle lens autofocus camera with LED flash, face, smile and blink detection
  • 1080p HD video recording at 30fps
  • Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n support
  • GPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass
  • 16GB internal storage, microSD slot
  • Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
  • Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
  • Charging MHL microUSB port and TV-out (1080p) support
  • Stereo Bluetooth v3.0
  • Great audio quality
  • Extremely slim waistline at only 8.9mm and low weight (122g)
  • 2MP secondary video-call camera
  • Full Flash support and GPU-acceleration for the web browser permit 1080p flash video playback
  • NFC support (optional, not without a software update)
  • Document editor
  • File manager comes preinstalled
  • The richest video format support we have seen

Main disadvantages

  • All-plastic body
  • No dedicated camera key
  • Super slim body has poor grip when taking pictures
  • Non-hot-swappable microSD card
As you can probably notice in this section, with the AT&T Galaxy S II, Samsung has stuck with the philosophy that things should not be changed, unless they can be made better. In the case of the hardware, there has been no necessity to do so.
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The Samsung Galaxy S II for AT&T live shots
Don’t be surprised if this review sounds somewhat familiar to you. Like we mentioned above, the Galaxy S II for AT&T is almost an identical copy of the I9100, save for the button arrangement at the front of the device. Following now, is the hardware inspection of the droid.

The retail package has a notable omission

The Galaxy S II comes in the standard orange-colored AT&T box, which is quite compact. Inside, along with the phone, you will find a wall charger, a USB cable, and AT&T booklets. An MHL adapter is also to be found in the package. Oddly enough however, headphones and microSD card are notably missing.
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The retail package of the Galaxy S II for AT&T
While a lot of people these days are opting for aftermarket headphones to go with their smartphones, we believe that, for a premium smartphone and its retail package, they are a must have. Same goes for the microSD card.

Design and construction

In terms of measures, the Galaxy S II for AT&T mirrors the I9100 with 126 x 66 x 8.9mm. Compared to the I9100, the U.S version has put on 5 grams of weight. At 122 grams however, it would still qualify as light, given the set of features which it offers you.
Samsung Galaxy S II ATT&T 
The AT&T Galaxy S II sized up against the Epic 4G Touch and the T-Mobile G2X (LG Optimus 2)
Compared to its sibling for Sprint Wireless – the Epic 4G Touch, the Galaxy S II for AT&T is a lot more pocket friendly. You should keep in mind though, that the CDMA Galaxy S II has a bigger 4.5” screen, along with a battery, rocking the impressive 1800 mAh.
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The AT&T Galaxy S II is considerably more elegant than its Sprint Wireless relative
Plastic is the dominant material in the construction of the droid, but this is not a bad thing. Similarly sized, metal clad droids tend to be much heavier, so we are willing to compromise in this department. Besides, there is just enough metal in the device to give it a premium look along with its entire front being adorned by Corning Gorilla Glass.
The 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus of the smartphone is nothing short than a thing of beauty. Since its launch in the I9100, the unit has become the one to beat in the industry. Interestingly enough however, we are yet to see a better one on the market. You can find more about its performance here.
Below the screen, much like with all the U.S. bound Samsung droids, you will find four touch-sensitive buttons. Gone is the hardware button of the original Galaxy S II.
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The touch-sensitive keys under the screen
The earpiece, ambient light and proximity sensors, as well as the 2MP front-facing camera unit are located in the area above the screen.
Samsung Galaxy S II ATT&T 
There’s the video-call camera, the ambient-light and proximity sensors, and the earpiece on top of the display
The left side of the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II features the volume rocker. The volume keys double as zoom lever in camera mode.
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The volume rocker on the left
Unfortunately, all there is on the right is the power key. A dedicated camera key would have been a welcome addition. We find virtual shutter keys to be less than ideal.
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Once again we don’t get a camera key on the Samsung flagship
The 3.5mm audio jack is located on the top of the smartphone.
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The 3.5mm audio jack is all you’ll find on the top
The microUSB port at the bottom is used for both data connections and charging. Not only does it support USB host but it also comes with MHL enabling HDTV-out connectivity with the proper adapter.
MHL is a way of using both microUSB and HDMI through the same port. It makes sense, especially provided an HDMI port could’ve been near impossible to put in a phone this slim. The downside is you need an adapter to use a regular HDMI cable with this one.
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The microUSB port looks as usual, but the MHL support adds a whole new dimension to it
The mouthpiece completes the bottom of the droid.
The back of the AT&T Galaxy S II is where the 8 megapixel Full HD-capable camera lens is located. Right next to it is the LED flash, which will probably see more use a flashlight and video-light than a still-camera assist.
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The back of the Galaxy S II for AT&T
The loudspeaker grille is also on the back of the device. It is located on the slightly elevated chin at the bottom.
Removing the paper thin battery cover reveals the SIM compartment, the 1650 mAh battery and the microSD card slot. The card slot can take microSD cards of up to 32GB, which can give you a maximum total storage of 48GB. The bad news is the memory card isn’t hot-swappable.
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The microSD card is not hot-swappable
The 1650 mAh battery made it easily through a day of heavy usage. In case you are not a smartphone junkie, you might be able to squeeze out an extra day out of your Galaxy S II. Such performance is in line with the current offerings on the market.
Handling the Galaxy S II for AT&T is a pleasure. The textured plastic prevents accidental drops, while the slim body allows you single-handed use despite the relatively large size of the body.
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The phone handles well for its size

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Samsung Galaxy Note preview: FIRST LOOK


Introduction

They used to be big, later they became redundant. As soon as smartphones were ready to offer the same features, PDAs were on the way to becoming extinct. With a device like the Samsung Galaxy Note though, one can't help but wonder if they're making a comeback.
It's got a big touchscreen for reading and entering text, with a stylus for jotting down notes and sketches, with powerful hardware that beats most phones in processing power and features. Sounds like a new-age PDA to us.
Samsung Galaxy Note Preview Samsung Galaxy Note Preview Samsung Galaxy Note Preview Samsung Galaxy Note Preview 
Samsung Galaxy Note official photos
The screen is part of the new HD SuperAMOLED line and boasts the impressive 1280x800 pixel resolution. It uses a PenTile matrix, but with 285ppi you can't really tell. Stretching over a whopping 5.3 inches, it makes browsing those web pages an almost tablet-like experience.
The Samsung Galaxy Note shares the Exynos chipset with some of its Galaxy siblings, but it's the one with the 1.4GHz dual-core CPUs. We've already had a look at its performance and we can say it's blazing fast.
If it's becoming hard to keep track of all the features, here's the gist of the Galaxy Note specs in summarized form:

Samsung Galaxy Note at a glance

  • Form factor: phone/tablet crossbreed
  • Dimensions: 146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm
  • Weight: 178g
  • Display: 16M-color 5.3” Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of WXGA resolution (1280 x 800 pixels)
  • OS: Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, TouchWiz UI
  • Chipset: 1.4 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, 1GB of RAM, Exynos chipset
  • Camera: 8 MP autofocus camera, 1080p video recording, LED flash, 2 MP front-facing camera
  • Memory: 16/32 GB internal memory, expandable via a microSD card slot
  • Connectivity: quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and quad-band (850/900/1900/2100 MHz) UMTS with 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi direct, Assisted GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, microUSB connector
  • Battery: 2,500mAh
  • Misc: S Pen, Gyro sensor, accelerometer sensor for auto rotation, ambient light sensor, Adobe Flash Player 10.3 support, DivX/XviD support, TV-out (adapter required), optional GLONASS, optional NFC
The Samsung Galaxy Note packs the same camera as the Galaxy S II, giving you 8MP stills and FullHD video recording. If the image quality is on par, the Note should easily beat its tablet competitors in the photography department.
One important area is portability - Samsung have made the device as small as possible (there's hardly any bezel around the screen) but 5.3" is pretty big. Figuring how to carry the Galaxy Note around will be a challenge, but if you find a way you can leave your phone at home - the Note has top of the line droid specs and full phone functionality too.
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The Samsung Galaxy Note at our office
Well, we've got our cargo pants on and we'll try and find room for the Samsung Galaxy Note.

The Samsung Galaxy Note measures 146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm and weighs 178g. That puts it halfway between a phone and a tablet in terms of size, but it's surprisingly light.

Design and display

The Samsung Galaxy Note has a 5.3" SuperAMOLED screen of WXGA (1280x800) resolution. That's 16:10 aspect ratio, which is close enough to the HD aspect (16:9) to fit videos just right but it's a bit wider, which comes in use when browsing the web.
Samsung Galaxy Note Preview 
Screen size comparison: Galaxy S II vs. Galaxy Note
SuperAMOLED offers great contrast (theoretically infinite), saturated, lively colors and 180-degree viewing angles. It's not a 'Plus' model, which means it uses PenTile (2 subpixels instead of 3 per each pixel). But the very high pixel density - 285ppi - puts pixels so near the edge of human vision that you have to stare closely to barely make out the PenTile grid.
For comparison, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 display has 196ppi, the Galaxy S II has 217ppi, HTC Sensation XE - 256ppi and the iPhone 4 offers 326ppi.
Samsung Galaxy Note Preview 
The 5.3" SuperAMOLED of the Galaxy Note is impressive
We took some close-up shots of the screen of the Galaxy Note along with the Galaxy S II and iPhone 4 to illustrate the difference. The photos are shot at the same magnification, so you get an idea of how the different pixel densities affects the amount of fine detail in the visible image.
You can see the PenTile matrix of the Galaxy Note, but its pixels are closer in size to those of the iPhone 4 than those of the Galaxy S II so the "grid" look typical of PenTile is practically invisible on the Note's screen.
 
Close up shots of the
Plus, users will typically hold the bigger screen farther from their eyes, which increases the perceived pixel density further.
We mentioned that the theoretical contrast is infinite - that's because black pixels are completely switched off (that is, they give off zero light). In practice, reflections limit that to a finite number, but it's usually several thousands, well above any display that uses a backlight.
Samsung have gone through a lot of effort to make their SuperAMOLED technology as non-reflective as possible and they've done a pretty good job of it. Outdoor viewing is good, but there's another problem, brightness.
The 5.3" screen on our test Samsung Galaxy Note is rather dim. We don't have a retail version, so it might be a pre-production issue that will be fixed. This is probably the case, since we didn’t have this problem with the bigger, 7.7" SuperAMOLED on the Galaxy Tab 7.7.
We won't be doing brightness measurements this time around, we'll wait for the retail units to come out and include the results in our review.

The rest of the body

The Samsung Galaxy Note uses portrait orientation by default and packs practically the same set of controls as the Galaxy S II. This is a Gingerbread device, not Honeycomb like the Tab 7.7, so that's no surprise.
Above the screen you have the proximity and ambient light sensors, along with the 2MP front-facing camera. On the other side of the screen is the hardware Home button plus the capacitive Menu and Back keys on its side.
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The usual set of sensors above the screen and the hardware controls below it
There's an earpiece on top and a mouthpiece at the bottom, so you can use the Galaxy Note as a phone. Holding it with one hand is not particularly comfortable but we'll get back to that in a minute.
At the bottom, next to the mouthpiece is the standard microUSB port (hooray!), which leaves a quadruple life - it's a data and charging port, TV out port too (via MHL) and supports USB On-The-Go.
The bottom is also where the S Pen lives, - that's what Samsung calls the active stylus of the Galaxy Note.
On top of the device, there's just the 3.5mm audio jack and another microphone.
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Mic pinhole microUSB port and S Pen at the bottom • 3.5mm audio jack and another microphone on top
The sides of the Samsung Galaxy Note are pretty barren - there's a volume rocker on the left and a Power/Lock key on the right and that's it. They are thin and barely protrude, so they're not the easiest buttons to press, but it's not a major problem either.
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Volume rocker on the left • Power/Lock key on the right
We complete our hardware inspection at the back where we find the 8MP 1080p-video-capturing camera accompanied by an LED flash. The back also houses the single loudspeaker of the Galaxy Note.
We have the usual complaint here: the camera lens is not protected from scratches and fingerprint smudges and the loudspeaker gets muffled when you place the Note on a level surface. But most manufacturers seem to ignore such issues more often than not.
The back cover is made of finely textured plastic (very similar to that of the Galaxy S II), which is nice to the touch and great at hiding fingerprints. You can see the back of the Note compared to the back of the Galaxy S II and how the two stack up size-wise.
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Size comparison: Samsung Galaxy Note vs. Samsung Galaxy S II
Popping the back cover open reveals the 2,500 mAh battery. Samsung are mum on the battery time.
Also here is the SIM compartment, next to the microSD card slot, neither of which are hot-swappable as they're blocked by the battery. How Samsung could put the microSD card slot there on such a huge device is beyond us. They have more than enough room to put the slot in a more convenient location.
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The 8MP sharpshooter and the loudspeaker at the back • 2,500 mAh battery under the cover
The Galaxy Note is a monster compared to regular phones - but then again, it's not exactly a phone. It's thin (9.7mm), light (you wouldn't guess it weighs 178g) and the rounded edges help ergonomics.
But still, one handed use is a problem - your thumb most likely can't reach every point on the screen (certainly not comfortably) and unless you have big hands, you can't easily wrap your fingers around the Note to hold it without fear of dropping. Two-hand thumb typing is absolutely spot on, however.
Pocketability is an issue too - you can certainly slip in into your pocket (the thin frame helps a lot here), but a lot of people won't find that solution acceptable. Still, most coat pockets or purses will find enough room for the Galaxy Note, which is worth having around with all that screen real-estate.
Samsung Galaxy Note Preview Samsung Galaxy Note Preview 
The Samsung Galaxy Note held in hand


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