So glad to see it's not a PenTile. TouchWiz still begs to be rooted, unfortunately. I hope the carriers have sense enough to ask for all 4 buttons on their models.
I wouldn't mind them dropping the search button. I don't see the point in having it. It's not a basic function. Perhaps that's just cause I rarely use search though.
I used to think the same thing for about the first 9 months I owned my phone. Then one day I basically had an epiphany, and began using it probably 30-40% of the time that I wake my phone up from sleep mode.
IMO, a significant reason for owning an Android phone is because of the Google, Universal Search functions.
The Galaxy S II button layout is precisely the same as my UK Galaxy S - I think it is only the US variants that have a different button layout.
As MWC is held in Europe and all European carriers will have the World version of the Galaxy S II (i.e. not a Customised version as released by US carriers) it makes sense that the buttons are laid out as shown at the show.
To be honest I like the physical home button on the Galaxy S I and am pleased it has translated over to the Galaxy S II. I have not really missed the search button.
Of course we can, but for those who want a thick battery, you can get a new back and battery. The rest of us can make due with a spare battery and a thin phone, or just 1 battery. No reason to go after those who just want a big battery when you're already extremely competitive in that dept (best standby time of any Android phone last year). People who are in constant use of the device wouldn't really be greatly assisted by 1800mAh and the decreased profits that it'd give Samsung.
I chose a Samsung cell phone a while back and took it back when it required charging every second day (tried 3 different batteries and two phones before giving up). My previous LG and the new LG both last a week between charges.
Unless all other manufacturers silently upgraded the battery on their phones (rather unlikely if you ask me) Samsung already has one of the biggest batteries with 1650mAh. Sure making the thing 1cm thick and putting a 3000mAh would be nice for some but it would make the phone lose competitiveness in too many other areas.The SGSII will really be the best in all hardware aspects again. Battery included.
Never have I been happier to be a NVIDIA fanboy... I was expecting the Orion to blast Tegra 2 out of the water.... Clearly not the case here. I was surprised by Flash performance. The reason why I'm getting a dual core is to have smooth flash in the web browser, with smooth scrolling. Clearly, a Tegra 2 is the phone to have.
I'd like to see OMAP4 jump in the contest. I heard it has a somehow "better" or "more completely used" Cortex A9 than Tegra 2. I don't know much about it's GPU though, or how I should expect Flash to behave. I do know, though, that the Optimus 3D was ridiculously smooth in all video demos.
I also want the final verdict on the Optimus 3D experience. Is the screen visibility handicapped when not in the 3D sweetspot, or is the 3D effect just lost (so it because a perfectly usuable 2D phone)?
Seems clear to me that the SGX540 is still the chip to have. The Tegra is clocked way higher, has way faster memory and holds a tiny lead.
The main issue here of course is battery life, none of the figures matter without measuring how they affect battery life and working out some performance per watt metrics.
Samsung really has the optimal button layout. I wish all Android phone manufacturers followed suit. The search button is pointless in my opinion, especially since long-pressing the menu button brings it up. But I guess Google, the search company that it is, has to have one in their own reference designs...
I prefer capacitive button, kinda like how the Desire HD does it, but I'd prefer SE's set of physical buttons to Samsung's capacitive/button-pad mashup.
I'm ambivalent, the Galaxy S2 has the screen and SoC I want but I don't like the button setup (the button-pad, lack of two-stage campera button), back (the Nexus S looked better) or the lack of HDMI.
I'm looking forward to what HTC brings into the mix, if they can avoid cheaping out on the camera and audio parts they may end up the way to go.
I think it's time to drop some of the slower phones from the benchmarks - the SunSpider benchs are especially hard to read now that the top-end phones are 400% faster than the bottom ones.
Frankly if you don't have Android 2.2 benchmarks on phones like the Droid Incredible which are currently running 2.2, I would either run new benchmarks or if that's not possible I wouln't bother including them in the benchmark charts. It's really an apples to oranges situation and those dated benchmarks aren't doing any good, at least if you're looking to compare relative CPU performance.
I agree, while I realize that users of the phones may be stuck on older OS versions due to vendor issues, these comparisons are not fair to the phones. For example, I am still running a Nexus One with CM7 build 43 (last nights build of 2.3.2) and I get in 4200 to 4400 range on the SunSpider benchmark. The Rightware BrowserMark was in the 44K area. This shows the Nexus One and I am sure many other phones in a very different light.
I actually completely agree. As it stands, we're a bit strapped when it comes to what to do about phones that the carrier or manufacturer have requested be returned. Those are things like (unfortunately) all the Droids and most of the earlier phones. We do have a number of other devices that for whatever reason haven't been updated (carrier, e.t.c.)
Going forward we're likely going to be able to hang onto things and update as they update the software. Eg the Fascinate, myTouch 4G, G2, Optimus 2X, those are all ones we're hanging onto to compare properly.
just a thought, some 1 correct me if im wrong if the sgs2 has the new Super AMOLED Plus display at res of 480x800 ( the same sgs1), will it look better/sharper? because it has bigger 4.3in screen unlike the 4in screen for the sgs1 ,so the pixels per inch on the sgs2 will be LOWER than the sgs1?
The international Galaxy S also has the exact same button layout, with a missing search button. You bring up the search bar by pressing and holding the menu button. That may also work the same way on the S II.
Hey Anand, excellent writeup. Did you know that extended cell phone usage can lead to hair loss? Never mind, you don't have any more to loose anyway...
I can't even consider buying another Samsung again being they they haven't even finished the promised v2.2 for the Galaxy S models already in the hands of their customers. v2.3 is already out and Samsung customers are still sitting on v2.1. Very unethical.
I think you are confusing samsung with sony erricson, as I have a galaxy s, currently running android 2.2.1, it has been running 2.2 froyo since last november
I think you are confusing Carrier Specific version of the Galaxy S, released in the US, with the 'Standard' Samsung Galaxy S used in the rest of the world.
The 'Standard' / Word Galaxy S is on firmware revision 2.2.1 at the moment (and has been on 2.2 for quite a long time), whereas the US Carrier models appear to be held back to 2.1.
I strongly suspect that this is due to the carriers not being bothered to modify the standard Samsung firmware for their custom Galaxy S hardware revisions.
I seriously doubt that it's the carriers. LG, HTC, Motorola... they have had Froyo on their phones for 4-6 months now, while Samsung phones are universally stuck (in the US) with whatever OS version the phone came with? I seriously doubt this has anything to do with the carriers and has more to do with Samsung. Even one vendor updates the OS on what is one of the most popular phone lines in the US and they would be the go-to carrier for the Galaxy S and the others would be there with egg on their faces.
There is no justifiable reason why the carriers wouldn't release an updated Galaxy S, particularly since they received the original OS loads from Samsung back in September (5 months ago).
Its both the carrier and Samsung....like soilnear mentioned, look at HTC, Motorola in the US.
Look at the Droid 1 vs the Milestone. The Droid one has been taken care of very good with updates. Look at the Milestone update situation.
Its the same phone, the Droid 1 is just the US version. And it doesnt explain how HTC phones are updated the best outta all the Android manufactures, US and overseas.
I'd like to hear more of it... Presently it seems that Samsung made the sacrifice in thermal management in order to to cram a larger screen, dual-core application processor AND a beefier battery into the super-thin shell.
The button layout looks the same as the International version of the Galaxy S phone (i9000). It is also the same as the Bell Mobility Samsung Vibrant (i9000M) phone.
What I'm curious on is whether it uses the same Wolfson WM8994 audio module as the i9000. I'm VERY happy with the audio quality of my i9000 when listening to music (especially after installing a custom ROM with Voodoo Sound).
As an owner of a Samsung Captive.... which does have a great looking and feeling metal back, and just as thin as the other Samsung Galaxy S phones...(I'll call GS1) they need to REALLY WORK on functionality.
I love the AMOLED screen... and would love to see a "retina resolution" version of AMOLED.
The GS1 phone is ALREADY wider and taller than I like, and I have fairly large hands for a guy. Its harder to get in and out of pockets and requires a bit of stretching of the fingers.
Design flaws of pretty much ALL GS1 phones.... all fixable.
1 - STOP trying to make the phone SO DAMN THIN! I'm still more comfortable with my previous old dumb-phone which is thicker, but smaller area.
2 - Making the phone thicker means making the battery bigger... which an Android phone can use!
3 - The 4" screen is fine, but work on making the bezel around the screen SMALLER.
4 - FIX the STUPID SOFTWARE that can only be downloaded from Samsung's website... you know, so you can possibly allow your Windows7 computer talk to the phone... but guess what? IT DOESN'T WORK. KIES is crap. Windows can't even see the phone as a regular "flash drive" - we get driver errors. WTF?! How hard is this? My old SONY dumb phone talked just fine with Windows.
5 - How about the ability to UPDATE the current GS1 phones to FROYO? Android 2.2 has been out for how long? It supposed to fixes so many problems with GS1 phones... where is it?
6 - (Part of the thinness problem) - The WEAK rear facing SPEAKER makes my Samsung a HORRIBLE alarm, which I need. My old SONYs were far louder and they vibrated. Put the speakers on the FRONT - top part of the phone or at the bottom (ala iPhone). Make them a bit bigger with more power.
7 - Physical buttons for HOME, Menu, Search... Makes for feeling the HOME button much better.
8 - Don't make th bottom look like the top. I'm constantly having to re-orient the phone.
9 - The side power-button on the Captive sucks. Its flush. But on other GS1 phones, they made it slightly larger which makes a difference.
Perhaps they need to learn how to make a better phone... before making a wider-bigger un-wielding phone that has old flaws.
Other than the screen... there isn't much to like when it comes to actually using a GS1 phone. And yet, it is considered among the best of the Android phones.
You could always try flashing a Custom ROM such as Darky's (http://darky.ficeto.com/) on your Captivate - it would at least allow you to upgrade to Android 2.2.1 & solve all the issues you may have on the software side.
It really surprises me how many people seems to complain about the US Galaxy S phones being stuck on 2.1, but do not seem to know about / wish to try some of the (excellent) Custom ROMs out there. I thought Anandtech visitors were pretty tech-literate!?
Normally, I'd agree with you. However, going with a custom, hacked ROM that's not 100% supported in a device that I can't live without for an extended period of time (if something goes wrong), and if something does go wrong, there's not much I can do to fix it, flashing it to 2.2.1 while interesting and tempting, ultimately falls flat.
I don't know who Darky is. I don't trust people that I don't know. While the site may have been vetted, I don't want to put my own security in the hands of someone that I have no recourse with. Before you say "but thousands of other people have done it", or "I've heard it's perfectly safe", or "I haven't seen any problems with it", have you fully explored every last dark corner of the device? Have you looked at the source of the custom ROM that Darky put together to ensure that it's not doing something nefarious?
If all of that seems "paranoid" to you, it is. However, my personal data (I use it to log in to Facebook, google, twitter, and just about everything else) is very important to me. Do I trust Samsung or AT&T to do a better job holding on to that? No, but there is at least recourse with them.
You are correct - it is your device & data, so you should be careful, especially if it is vital to your work and also if you have not tried something like this before.
Having said that I have used many custom ROMs for a number of different phones on different OSes and not had any unfixable issues with them. I have actually created a few custom ROMs myself for my previous device (a Samsung i8910), so I have a good appreciation of the process and risks or lack thereof.
The good thing about Android is that is really extremely difficult to 'brick' a device and also rather straightforward to back your data up before flashing any firmwares.
I realise it is not for everyone, but I am surprised by the number of comments on Anandtech with relation to the Galaxy S about how annoyed they are that Android 2.2 has not been released for the device (for at least for US variants), and it seems that none of the posters have explored the custom ROM scene. I am genuinely surprised that on a fairly high tech site like Anandtech that this is the case.
Incidentally, I am currently using Darky's version 9.2 on my International Galaxy S and am very pleased with it, hence the recommendation. It is perhaps the most highly regarded of the Custom Galaxy S ROMs for a good reason.
As a customer of a $200(on contract) phone device from a higher regarded product from the #1 largest company in S.Korea which is a major player in the electronics business.
WE SHOULDN'T NEED TO USE HACKS TO FIX OUR DEVICES!
I'm reading up on Darky... some are having battery issues. The site isn't exactly clear of what you're getting. The feature list is good. Its still a hack of mixing 2.2 and 2.3 together.
- No warranty, if it bricks a phone - Samsung or at&t or whoever is going to fix it?
- Trust? Who is Darky? Are his servers secured from external hackers? Who does he work for? He could be a really nice guy, but he is able to do the job of thousands?
- No hack is going to fix the physical design flaws of the phone. Kies is still useless crap (nice word for it) The speaker is still weak and the phone is generally a pain to use. In ways, more so than my previous slider.
I'm wishing I went with the SONY phone, I didn't because it didn't have a AMOLED screen... the USB-charge connector has a stupid cheap rubber cover that is a pain to open and it came with Android 1.6!?! But guess what? SONY has released the 2.2 for that phone already.
Gee, how hard is that?! Sony is much newer to Android than Samsung is.
I agree that the US situation is very poor with respect to the Carrier customised Galaxy S variations.
Personally I believe it to be the carriers fault and not Samsung's- we know that 2.2.1 is available in the rest of the world's Galaxy S devices, so it is not as if they can't get the base firmware from Samsung. I think the main issue is that the US variants are carrier modified, and so they will have to port those modifications (different button layout, camera differences, memory differences, baseband differences etc) to 2.2. This will require significant network revalidation, be very expensive and only really matter to a fairly small percentage of their users.
To your other points:
Kies - I am not sure why you would want to use this? I don't think I have ever used Kies, and can;t see why I would need to.
Hack of 2.2 and 2.3 - This is true - it does use a custom built 2.2 kernel and incorporate a number of 2.3 packages. This, in my opinion, is a good thing as long as stability is kept, as you get new features (such as the excellent 2.3 keyboard) early. Personally I have not found any stability issues whatsoever.
Battery issues - I think you will find that the vast majority of users (and all users who are technically competent) find that battery life is better then the generic Samsung firmwares.
Reliability - I would be surprised if anyone has managed to brick a Galaxy S unless they pulled the power or a cable during a firmware update. People with little experience who have messed something up may think they have, but the situation is almost always recoverable.
Trust - I suppose you can trust who you like, but Darky (like all modders) is just another user like you and I who has decided to improve on Samsung's firmware. The custom firmwares I have created were purely done for my own interest and to improve upon the base phone that I had been supplied. There are always other modders who will look at the content of these firmwares to improve on them or see how they do something, and if something looks suspicious it will soon be picked up by the modding community.
If you wish to hear Darky talk about his firmware, then you can always listen to TechTalkUK's podcast:
Looks like the Captive is not on the compatibility list for Darky... it requires Froyo to be be installed.... or at least about another 5 tools to install.
This is the kind of crap that should get Samsung sued. 2.2 was promised. It fixes a lot of problems with their own products.
1. The Captivate is certainly supported - see the ODIN edition. 2. You don't need to have FroYo installed when using the ODIN edition.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with ODIN, it is the Samsung built application that is used to flash a specific firmware onto your device. In essence you download a firmware, run ODIN, select it & hit Flash (slightly more complex than this, but it is the essence)
The other way to flash firmwares on Android devices is to boot into recovery mode (e.g. 2e on the Galaxy S or CWM if you have it installed) & select a zip file to flash. This method is, in my opinion, more complex but more common as it is a generic android way of changing your firmware.
Once again, I am surprised that people on Anandtech are worried about flashing the firmware on their phones - I think I have reflashed every device I have owned since my Sony Ericsson T610 in 2003. I agree it is a hassle to reinstall all you apps and backup all your data, but if I were stuck on a US 2.1 device I know what I would do ... I purposefully changed to a Custom Firmware from a generic Samsung 2.2.1 firmware!
I've been checking out the screenshots. I want many of those features.
I want to customize the phone into something better. I want more useful info on the desktop than what comes default on my at&t Samsung (could be worse... verizon) - My dumb Sony had more useful info and didn't require unlocking it to view alarm & time info... stuff like that.
Forgive me as this is mostly off topic, but it has to do with your benchmark tests.
I own a dell streak, and after months of waiting for 2.2 OTA, I flashed a custom rom. It was like a new phone, more specifically performance drastically improved. According to the quadrant graph, even with 'stuff' running, it exceeds the nexus one 2.2 (top of quadrant tests). No overclocking/perfmod.
I am not sure what you policy is regarding custom ROMs/OS given it is not what it came with, not officially supported, voided warranty.
I do want to say thanks for including the Dell Streak on your benchmarks and enjoy the site.
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62 Comments
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anexanhume - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
So glad to see it's not a PenTile. TouchWiz still begs to be rooted, unfortunately. I hope the carriers have sense enough to ask for all 4 buttons on their models.Alexstarfire - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I wouldn't mind them dropping the search button. I don't see the point in having it. It's not a basic function. Perhaps that's just cause I rarely use search though.bplewis24 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I used to think the same thing for about the first 9 months I owned my phone. Then one day I basically had an epiphany, and began using it probably 30-40% of the time that I wake my phone up from sleep mode.IMO, a significant reason for owning an Android phone is because of the Google, Universal Search functions.
Brandon
mwarner1 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
The Galaxy S II button layout is precisely the same as my UK Galaxy S - I think it is only the US variants that have a different button layout.As MWC is held in Europe and all European carriers will have the World version of the Galaxy S II (i.e. not a Customised version as released by US carriers) it makes sense that the buttons are laid out as shown at the show.
To be honest I like the physical home button on the Galaxy S I and am pleased it has translated over to the Galaxy S II. I have not really missed the search button.
Acrono - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I think some of the screen resolutions on that table of physical comparisons are wrong.VivekGowri - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Fixed the Atrix 4G, the rest looked right to me.zorxd - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
From samsung's web sitehttp://galaxys2.samsungmobile.com/html/specificati...
Quad-band UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
125.3X66.1X8.49mm
4.3" WVGA SUPER AMOLED Plus (not 4")
1GB RAM
VivekGowri - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Thank you, updated :)sarge78 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Also from the website...Samsung Dual Core Application Processor*
* May not be applicable in some regions.
Guess it's not quite ready yet, some markets could get a tegra 2/Hummingbird SoC.
fujii13 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Samsung, stop trying to win the "Thinnest phone in the world" award and just give me a bigger damn battery. Thanks.zorxd - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
the battery is a bit bigger, 1650 mAhfujii13 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Yeah but you could imagine how much bigger it could be if they left the thickness the same?alovell83 - Thursday, February 17, 2011 - link
Of course we can, but for those who want a thick battery, you can get a new back and battery. The rest of us can make due with a spare battery and a thin phone, or just 1 battery. No reason to go after those who just want a big battery when you're already extremely competitive in that dept (best standby time of any Android phone last year). People who are in constant use of the device wouldn't really be greatly assisted by 1800mAh and the decreased profits that it'd give Samsung.GTVic - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I chose a Samsung cell phone a while back and took it back when it required charging every second day (tried 3 different batteries and two phones before giving up). My previous LG and the new LG both last a week between charges.rcocchiararo - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
and you went with a dumbphone, i guess ? or do you keep your new phone untouched ? :PDarkstriker - Monday, April 18, 2011 - link
Unless all other manufacturers silently upgraded the battery on their phones (rather unlikely if you ask me) Samsung already has one of the biggest batteries with 1650mAh.Sure making the thing 1cm thick and putting a 3000mAh would be nice for some but it would make the phone lose competitiveness in too many other areas.The SGSII will really be the best in all hardware aspects again. Battery included.
TareX - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Never have I been happier to be a NVIDIA fanboy... I was expecting the Orion to blast Tegra 2 out of the water.... Clearly not the case here. I was surprised by Flash performance. The reason why I'm getting a dual core is to have smooth flash in the web browser, with smooth scrolling. Clearly, a Tegra 2 is the phone to have.I'd like to see OMAP4 jump in the contest. I heard it has a somehow "better" or "more completely used" Cortex A9 than Tegra 2. I don't know much about it's GPU though, or how I should expect Flash to behave. I do know, though, that the Optimus 3D was ridiculously smooth in all video demos.
I also want the final verdict on the Optimus 3D experience. Is the screen visibility handicapped when not in the 3D sweetspot, or is the 3D effect just lost (so it because a perfectly usuable 2D phone)?
djgandy - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Seems clear to me that the SGX540 is still the chip to have. The Tegra is clocked way higher, has way faster memory and holds a tiny lead.The main issue here of course is battery life, none of the figures matter without measuring how they affect battery life and working out some performance per watt metrics.
y2kBug - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
The USB connector seems to be on the bottom, right? What about the headset one? No HDMI, right?mongo lloyd - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Samsung really has the optimal button layout. I wish all Android phone manufacturers followed suit. The search button is pointless in my opinion, especially since long-pressing the menu button brings it up. But I guess Google, the search company that it is, has to have one in their own reference designs...Exodite - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I don't know about that, personally.I prefer capacitive button, kinda like how the Desire HD does it, but I'd prefer SE's set of physical buttons to Samsung's capacitive/button-pad mashup.
I'm ambivalent, the Galaxy S2 has the screen and SoC I want but I don't like the button setup (the button-pad, lack of two-stage campera button), back (the Nexus S looked better) or the lack of HDMI.
I'm looking forward to what HTC brings into the mix, if they can avoid cheaping out on the camera and audio parts they may end up the way to go.
A5 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I think it's time to drop some of the slower phones from the benchmarks - the SunSpider benchs are especially hard to read now that the top-end phones are 400% faster than the bottom ones.Altemir - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
LG Optimus 2x hasn't AMOLED!!! Please, correct table.Brian Klug - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Fixed! Dunno how that crept in there...-Brian
Jellodyne - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Frankly if you don't have Android 2.2 benchmarks on phones like the Droid Incredible which are currently running 2.2, I would either run new benchmarks or if that's not possible I wouln't bother including them in the benchmark charts. It's really an apples to oranges situation and those dated benchmarks aren't doing any good, at least if you're looking to compare relative CPU performance.GreenEgg - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I agree, while I realize that users of the phones may be stuck on older OS versions due to vendor issues, these comparisons are not fair to the phones. For example, I am still running a Nexus One with CM7 build 43 (last nights build of 2.3.2) and I get in 4200 to 4400 range on the SunSpider benchmark. The Rightware BrowserMark was in the 44K area. This shows the Nexus One and I am sure many other phones in a very different light.Brian Klug - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I actually completely agree. As it stands, we're a bit strapped when it comes to what to do about phones that the carrier or manufacturer have requested be returned. Those are things like (unfortunately) all the Droids and most of the earlier phones. We do have a number of other devices that for whatever reason haven't been updated (carrier, e.t.c.)Going forward we're likely going to be able to hang onto things and update as they update the software. Eg the Fascinate, myTouch 4G, G2, Optimus 2X, those are all ones we're hanging onto to compare properly.
-Brian
r1chy - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
just a thought, some 1 correct me if im wrong if the sgs2 has the new Super AMOLED Plus display at res of 480x800 ( the same sgs1), will it look better/sharper? because it has bigger 4.3in screen unlike the 4in screen for the sgs1 ,so the pixels per inch on the sgs2 will be LOWER than the sgs1?rcocchiararo - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
samsung said that since they no longuer use the pentile pixel matrix, its now 12 vs the old 8 subpixels, so its sharper.time will tell.
Filiprino - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
In Barcelona there's HSPA+ on the networks of Vodafone and I think that Movistar has it enabled too.Brian Klug - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Awesome information! I was wondering this myself and wasn't sure. The two Galaxy S II phones I touched were on Vodafone ES.-Brian
ssj4Gogeta - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
The international Galaxy S also has the exact same button layout, with a missing search button. You bring up the search bar by pressing and holding the menu button. That may also work the same way on the S II.rcocchiararo - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
i only get the task manager doing that.ssj4Gogeta - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Long pressing the _menu_ button (to the left of Home), not the Home button.tnseoaos - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Optimus 2X's Memory is not 8GB intergrated, but 16GB intergrated.wolfman3k5 - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
Hey Anand, excellent writeup. Did you know that extended cell phone usage can lead to hair loss? Never mind, you don't have any more to loose anyway...glpdx - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I can't even consider buying another Samsung again being they they haven't even finished the promised v2.2 for the Galaxy S models already in the hands of their customers. v2.3 is already out and Samsung customers are still sitting on v2.1. Very unethical.keithwalton - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
I think you are confusing samsung with sony erricson, as I have a galaxy s, currently running android 2.2.1, it has been running 2.2 froyo since last novembermwarner1 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
I think you are confusing Carrier Specific version of the Galaxy S, released in the US, with the 'Standard' Samsung Galaxy S used in the rest of the world.The 'Standard' / Word Galaxy S is on firmware revision 2.2.1 at the moment (and has been on 2.2 for quite a long time), whereas the US Carrier models appear to be held back to 2.1.
I strongly suspect that this is due to the carriers not being bothered to modify the standard Samsung firmware for their custom Galaxy S hardware revisions.
solinear - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
I seriously doubt that it's the carriers. LG, HTC, Motorola... they have had Froyo on their phones for 4-6 months now, while Samsung phones are universally stuck (in the US) with whatever OS version the phone came with? I seriously doubt this has anything to do with the carriers and has more to do with Samsung. Even one vendor updates the OS on what is one of the most popular phone lines in the US and they would be the go-to carrier for the Galaxy S and the others would be there with egg on their faces.There is no justifiable reason why the carriers wouldn't release an updated Galaxy S, particularly since they received the original OS loads from Samsung back in September (5 months ago).
halcyon - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
EU carriers have shipped 2.2 in 2010 and 2.2.1 in 2011.It *is* the US carriers.
Sorry to say, but US carriers are the only ones lagging behind.
jmcb - Thursday, February 17, 2011 - link
Its both the carrier and Samsung....like soilnear mentioned, look at HTC, Motorola in the US.Look at the Droid 1 vs the Milestone. The Droid one has been taken care of very good with updates. Look at the Milestone update situation.
Its the same phone, the Droid 1 is just the US version. And it doesnt explain how HTC phones are updated the best outta all the Android manufactures, US and overseas.
All the blame cant be on the US carriers.
warisz00r - Monday, February 14, 2011 - link
I'd like to hear more of it... Presently it seems that Samsung made the sacrifice in thermal management in order to to cram a larger screen, dual-core application processor AND a beefier battery into the super-thin shell.Devo2007 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
The button layout looks the same as the International version of the Galaxy S phone (i9000). It is also the same as the Bell Mobility Samsung Vibrant (i9000M) phone.What I'm curious on is whether it uses the same Wolfson WM8994 audio module as the i9000. I'm VERY happy with the audio quality of my i9000 when listening to music (especially after installing a custom ROM with Voodoo Sound).
softdrinkviking - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
I noticed a lot of complaints about stability with previous samsung phones. Any comments about stabilty with the galaxy s 2?Belard - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
As an owner of a Samsung Captive.... which does have a great looking and feeling metal back, and just as thin as the other Samsung Galaxy S phones...(I'll call GS1) they need to REALLY WORK on functionality.I love the AMOLED screen... and would love to see a "retina resolution" version of AMOLED.
The GS1 phone is ALREADY wider and taller than I like, and I have fairly large hands for a guy. Its harder to get in and out of pockets and requires a bit of stretching of the fingers.
Design flaws of pretty much ALL GS1 phones.... all fixable.
1 - STOP trying to make the phone SO DAMN THIN! I'm still more comfortable with my previous old dumb-phone which is thicker, but smaller area.
2 - Making the phone thicker means making the battery bigger... which an Android phone can use!
3 - The 4" screen is fine, but work on making the bezel around the screen SMALLER.
4 - FIX the STUPID SOFTWARE that can only be downloaded from Samsung's website... you know, so you can possibly allow your Windows7 computer talk to the phone... but guess what? IT DOESN'T WORK. KIES is crap. Windows can't even see the phone as a regular "flash drive" - we get driver errors. WTF?! How hard is this? My old SONY dumb phone talked just fine with Windows.
5 - How about the ability to UPDATE the current GS1 phones to FROYO? Android 2.2 has been out for how long? It supposed to fixes so many problems with GS1 phones... where is it?
6 - (Part of the thinness problem) - The WEAK rear facing SPEAKER makes my Samsung a HORRIBLE alarm, which I need. My old SONYs were far louder and they vibrated. Put the speakers on the FRONT - top part of the phone or at the bottom (ala iPhone). Make them a bit bigger with more power.
7 - Physical buttons for HOME, Menu, Search... Makes for feeling the HOME button much better.
8 - Don't make th bottom look like the top. I'm constantly having to re-orient the phone.
9 - The side power-button on the Captive sucks. Its flush. But on other GS1 phones, they made it slightly larger which makes a difference.
Perhaps they need to learn how to make a better phone... before making a wider-bigger un-wielding phone that has old flaws.
Other than the screen... there isn't much to like when it comes to actually using a GS1 phone. And yet, it is considered among the best of the Android phones.
I'm not impressed.
mwarner1 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
You could always try flashing a Custom ROM such as Darky's (http://darky.ficeto.com/) on your Captivate - it would at least allow you to upgrade to Android 2.2.1 & solve all the issues you may have on the software side.It really surprises me how many people seems to complain about the US Galaxy S phones being stuck on 2.1, but do not seem to know about / wish to try some of the (excellent) Custom ROMs out there. I thought Anandtech visitors were pretty tech-literate!?
erple2 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Normally, I'd agree with you. However, going with a custom, hacked ROM that's not 100% supported in a device that I can't live without for an extended period of time (if something goes wrong), and if something does go wrong, there's not much I can do to fix it, flashing it to 2.2.1 while interesting and tempting, ultimately falls flat.I don't know who Darky is. I don't trust people that I don't know. While the site may have been vetted, I don't want to put my own security in the hands of someone that I have no recourse with. Before you say "but thousands of other people have done it", or "I've heard it's perfectly safe", or "I haven't seen any problems with it", have you fully explored every last dark corner of the device? Have you looked at the source of the custom ROM that Darky put together to ensure that it's not doing something nefarious?
If all of that seems "paranoid" to you, it is. However, my personal data (I use it to log in to Facebook, google, twitter, and just about everything else) is very important to me. Do I trust Samsung or AT&T to do a better job holding on to that? No, but there is at least recourse with them.
mwarner1 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
You are correct - it is your device & data, so you should be careful, especially if it is vital to your work and also if you have not tried something like this before.Having said that I have used many custom ROMs for a number of different phones on different OSes and not had any unfixable issues with them. I have actually created a few custom ROMs myself for my previous device (a Samsung i8910), so I have a good appreciation of the process and risks or lack thereof.
The good thing about Android is that is really extremely difficult to 'brick' a device and also rather straightforward to back your data up before flashing any firmwares.
I realise it is not for everyone, but I am surprised by the number of comments on Anandtech with relation to the Galaxy S about how annoyed they are that Android 2.2 has not been released for the device (for at least for US variants), and it seems that none of the posters have explored the custom ROM scene. I am genuinely surprised that on a fairly high tech site like Anandtech that this is the case.
Incidentally, I am currently using Darky's version 9.2 on my International Galaxy S and am very pleased with it, hence the recommendation. It is perhaps the most highly regarded of the Custom Galaxy S ROMs for a good reason.
Belard - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
As a customer of a $200(on contract) phone device from a higher regarded product from the #1 largest company in S.Korea which is a major player in the electronics business.WE SHOULDN'T NEED TO USE HACKS TO FIX OUR DEVICES!
I'm reading up on Darky... some are having battery issues. The site isn't exactly clear of what you're getting. The feature list is good. Its still a hack of mixing 2.2 and 2.3 together.
- No warranty, if it bricks a phone - Samsung or at&t or whoever is going to fix it?
- Trust? Who is Darky? Are his servers secured from external hackers? Who does he work for? He could be a really nice guy, but he is able to do the job of thousands?
- No hack is going to fix the physical design flaws of the phone. Kies is still useless crap (nice word for it) The speaker is still weak and the phone is generally a pain to use. In ways, more so than my previous slider.
I'm wishing I went with the SONY phone, I didn't because it didn't have a AMOLED screen... the USB-charge connector has a stupid cheap rubber cover that is a pain to open and it came with Android 1.6!?! But guess what? SONY has released the 2.2 for that phone already.
Gee, how hard is that?! Sony is much newer to Android than Samsung is.
mwarner1 - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
I agree that the US situation is very poor with respect to the Carrier customised Galaxy S variations.Personally I believe it to be the carriers fault and not Samsung's- we know that 2.2.1 is available in the rest of the world's Galaxy S devices, so it is not as if they can't get the base firmware from Samsung. I think the main issue is that the US variants are carrier modified, and so they will have to port those modifications (different button layout, camera differences, memory differences, baseband differences etc) to 2.2. This will require significant network revalidation, be very expensive and only really matter to a fairly small percentage of their users.
To your other points:
Kies - I am not sure why you would want to use this? I don't think I have ever used Kies, and can;t see why I would need to.
Hack of 2.2 and 2.3 - This is true - it does use a custom built 2.2 kernel and incorporate a number of 2.3 packages. This, in my opinion, is a good thing as long as stability is kept, as you get new features (such as the excellent 2.3 keyboard) early. Personally I have not found any stability issues whatsoever.
Battery issues - I think you will find that the vast majority of users (and all users who are technically competent) find that battery life is better then the generic Samsung firmwares.
Reliability - I would be surprised if anyone has managed to brick a Galaxy S unless they pulled the power or a cable during a firmware update. People with little experience who have messed something up may think they have, but the situation is almost always recoverable.
Trust - I suppose you can trust who you like, but Darky (like all modders) is just another user like you and I who has decided to improve on Samsung's firmware. The custom firmwares I have created were purely done for my own interest and to improve upon the base phone that I had been supplied. There are always other modders who will look at the content of these firmwares to improve on them or see how they do something, and if something looks suspicious it will soon be picked up by the modding community.
If you wish to hear Darky talk about his firmware, then you can always listen to TechTalkUK's podcast:
http://www.techtalkuk.com/2011/01/16/techtalkuk-po...
Mike
synaesthetic - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
I won't buy an Android phone that I can't root and flash a custom ROM to.That's the whole POINT of Android!
If I wanted something that "just worked" out of the box, I'd buy a goddamned iPhone.
jmcb - Thursday, February 17, 2011 - link
'I wont buy an Android phone that I cant root and flash a custom ROM to.Thats the whole POINT of ANDROID!"
No thats not the whole point of Android... the problem is some ppl think it is..
Rooting and custom ROMs are an added bonus, luxury.
Belard - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
Looks like the Captive is not on the compatibility list for Darky... it requires Froyo to be be installed.... or at least about another 5 tools to install.This is the kind of crap that should get Samsung sued. 2.2 was promised. It fixes a lot of problems with their own products.
mwarner1 - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
A few points:1. The Captivate is certainly supported - see the ODIN edition.
2. You don't need to have FroYo installed when using the ODIN edition.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with ODIN, it is the Samsung built application that is used to flash a specific firmware onto your device. In essence you download a firmware, run ODIN, select it & hit Flash (slightly more complex than this, but it is the essence)
The other way to flash firmwares on Android devices is to boot into recovery mode (e.g. 2e on the Galaxy S or CWM if you have it installed) & select a zip file to flash. This method is, in my opinion, more complex but more common as it is a generic android way of changing your firmware.
Once again, I am surprised that people on Anandtech are worried about flashing the firmware on their phones - I think I have reflashed every device I have owned since my Sony Ericsson T610 in 2003. I agree it is a hassle to reinstall all you apps and backup all your data, but if I were stuck on a US 2.1 device I know what I would do ... I purposefully changed to a Custom Firmware from a generic Samsung 2.2.1 firmware!
Belard - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
Thanks...I've been checking out the screenshots. I want many of those features.
I want to customize the phone into something better. I want more useful info on the desktop than what comes default on my at&t Samsung (could be worse... verizon) - My dumb Sony had more useful info and didn't require unlocking it to view alarm & time info... stuff like that.
My biggest concern is fracking up the phone.
ssj4Gogeta - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Kies 2.0 has fixed most of the issues.Belard - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
I've downloaded the latest Kies 1.x from Samsung about 3-4 weeks ago, so I'll give it a worthy try.Belard - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
Nope... the latest Kies available from Samsung's website is from Sept 2010 and its 1.x.kablunkie - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Forgive me as this is mostly off topic, but it has to do with your benchmark tests.I own a dell streak, and after months of waiting for 2.2 OTA, I flashed a custom rom. It was like a new phone, more specifically performance drastically improved. According to the quadrant graph, even with 'stuff' running, it exceeds the nexus one 2.2 (top of quadrant tests). No overclocking/perfmod.
I am not sure what you policy is regarding custom ROMs/OS given it is not what it came with, not officially supported, voided warranty.
I do want to say thanks for including the Dell Streak on your benchmarks and enjoy the site.
Mart_L - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
When are Anandtech going to retest this phone?The results are all outdated and incorrect, I own the phone and it scores allot higher than this early version.
Mart_L - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - link
To give you guys an idea how incorrect these results are these are what I get on my Galaxy S II
GLBenchmark 2.0 - Egypt no FSAA = 40.5 fps
GLBenchmark 2.0 - FSAA = 37.1 fps
GLBenchmark 2.0 - Pro no FSAA = 59.7 fps
GLBenchmark 2.0 - Pro FSAA = 57.9 fps
It's actually hitting the 60 fps cap in the second test so the PRO test is useless.