Just like it promised, Samsung has unveiled the official successor to the Galaxy S – the Galaxy S II (I9100) – in a pre-MWC announcement. It also unveiled the Galaxy Tab II, of which we have more coverage later on in this article, on the next page.
Featuring a new type of display technology – Super AMOLED Plus – the Galaxy S II has a 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass covered screen (800×480)that Samsung assures the world is much better than the IPS panel (or Retina Display) of the iPhone 4. The phone’s screen bezel is also extremely thin when compared to the massive display.
Also new, is the use of a dual-core CPU as the brains for the unit. Samsung has not officially mentioned what this processor is, but it is apparently not the Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC, instead, it is one of Samsung’s self-developed Orion SoC processors, which recently received the Exynos branding. According to reports, it is probably the Exynos 4210 dual-core SoC that was just previewed a short while ago. It also has a solid 1GB of RAM onboard.
The Samsung Galaxy S II is also making headlines as the thinnest smartphone in the world, measuring in at 8.49 mm in width (we assume this is at its thinnest point). This makes it even thinner than the previous slim champs – the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, and the LG Optimus Black. The ultra-slim quotient shoots through the roof, when one looks at the measly weight of the phone – 116 grams.
The Galaxy S II, just as expected, runs on Gingerbread, and touts a new and improved UI customization – TouchWiz 4.0. The new interface will also have four new hubs, called Reader, Game, Music, and Social, for specialized UI interactions. There’s also a 3-axis gyroscope onboard, for enhanced gaming interactivity. An NFC (Near Field Communication) chipset will also be available in some models. Also to be noted, is the 21Mbps HSPDA connectivity mentioned.
[RELATED_ARTICLE]Samsung has also put in some new security features, trying to attract enterprise users to their fold. Features include remote lock, remote wipe, remote app shutdown, and remote locator. Before you take a look at the specifications below, know that the Galaxy S II has an 8MP camera that’s capable of 1080p video recording, and, also sports a 2MP front-facing camera for video-calling.
The Samsung Galaxy S II is only scheduled to release in parts of Europe and Asia by the end of this month, and global availability should follow soon after. Apart from the specifications, do also check out the video below, detailing the new hubs, and other software features.
| 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 |
| Dimensions | 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm |
| Weight | 116 g |
| Display | 4.3 inches, 480 x 800 pixels, Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours |
| Camera | 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization; video 1080p @30fps; secondary 2MP camera |
| OS | Android OS, Gingerbread (v2.3) |
| CPU | Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, Orion chipset |
| Memory | 1GB RAM |
| Storage | 16GB/32GB internal, expandable with microSD card |
| GPRS | Class 12 (4 1/3 2/2 3/1 4 slots), 32 – 48 kbps |
| EDGE | Class 12 |
| 3G | HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v3.0 HS, v2.0 microUSB, OTG, GPS with A-GPS support |
| Audio support | 3.5 mm jack, stereo FM with RDS, MP3/WAV/eAAC /AC3/FLAC formats supported |
| Video support | MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.26 formats supported |
| Battery | Standard battery, Li-Ion 1650 mAh |
Read on to see the new revealed specifications and images of the Galaxy Tab II tablet…
Samsung Galaxy Tab II
[RELATED_ARTICLE]The Samsung Galaxy Tab II was also unveiled in the pre-MWC announcement, with few new details. As you can see by the above image, the Galaxy Tab II runs Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). It has a 10.1-inch screen size (1280×800 pixel – WXGA resolution), offering a new form factor for those not excited by the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab.
Other features unveiled include an 8MP rear-facing camera capable of 1080p HD video capture, a 2MP front-facing camera for video-calling, stereo speakers, a width of 10.9mm, and a weight of 599 grams. The tablet will apparently also be capable of encoding/decoding 1080p HD video onboard.
