The Skyrocket was released was released back in November 2011 as an AT&T exclusive, and it ran Android 2.3 Gingerbread right out of the box. It was eventually updated to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and now owners are able to take advantage of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean by downloading the update either over-the-air or via Samsung Kies.

The Galaxy S II Skyrocket wasn’t a huge change over the original Galaxy S II, but it does offers a larger display at 4.5 inches over the Galaxy S II’s 4.3-incher. The Skyrocket also comes with 4G LTE that the Galaxy S II unfortunately lacks. The Skyrocket also sports a slightly faster processor at 1.5GHz and double the internal storage space.

Jelly Bean will allow Skyrocket users to take advantage of some of the great new features of the new Android OS, including Google Now, improved notifications, and smoother performance thanks to Project Butter. This may be the last update that the Galaxy S II Skyrocket receives, so savor the moment while you can.

The Galaxy S II 4G is now available in Titanium in addition to white. The handset is priced at $369.99, and can be used as a mobile hotspot for an additional $15 per month. You can nab the Virgin Mobile version of the Galaxy S II 4G from the carrier itself or from a retail store; you’ll have to head over to Radio Shack, however, if you want the Titanium version.

Virgin Mobile USA’s Director Mark Lederman offered this statement. “[The] Samsung Galaxy S II adds tremendous value to Virgin Mobile’s all-smartphone lineup. Coupled with our affordable unlimited data & messaging plans starting at just $35 per month, this is an ideal package for those who think they have to go to postpaid carriers for the hottest devices and to save money.”

The Galaxy S II 4G features a 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus display. Inside you’ll find a 1.2GHz dual-core Exynos processor. There’s an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera, as well as a microSD card expansion slot that supports up to 32GB. The handset features Bluetooth 3.0 and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. You can check out our review of the device here.

[via Virgin Mobile]

The BlackBerry Armstrong has been tipped as being one in the same with the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900, a device that mixes touchscreen action with a full QWERTY keyboard. There’s a set of new colors for the Galaxy S II – strangely enough – though we must assume that this is mis-typed and means the Galaxy S III which has been getting several colored cases to carriers across the USA recently.

UPDATE: The Samsung Galaxy S II Color is a device in and of itself, bringing on what appears to be specifications replicating the Galaxy S II’s original release on T-Mobile. The BlackBerry device has been confirmed (so to speak, leaked) as the BlackBerry Curve 9315 with a 2.44inch 320 x 240 QVGA display, 1450mAh battery, Blackberry 7.1, 3.2 megapixel camera on the back. The images below also include the Huawei Summit, more than likely the most disappointing phone in the series. The BlackBerry image comes from @evleaks as well.

There’s also a Huawei Summit which will likely be either a smartphone or a mobile hotspot – we’re guessing the first since Huawei has been coming on strong with a variety of mid-market smartphones this summer. The Samsung Toba will likely be another data-connected version of a device they’ve got out in wi-fi only at the moment, and the HTC Windows Phone 8X will more than likely be extremely similar to its international edition.

What we’re seeing here is a set of release dats that places each of the devices either in late October or early November, with the Windows Phone 8X hitting on the 14th of November, the Samsung Toba coming on the 7th of November, and the Optimus L9 coming on the 31st of October. The Samsung Galaxy S II or III with refreshed colors will be coming on the 29th of October, the BlackBerry device on the 24th, and the Dell BMW will be out on the 14th of November.

The download made its way to light on RootzWiki, and was posted anonymously. Users need a couple requisite files/drivers before they can post the update to their phone, but all those pieces are available from the same site. Because it’s Samsung, there isn’t a huge change to the user interface (Samsung uses a custom Android UI called TouchWiz), however enhancements like crisper animations, auto-folders, and better app management are in full effect.

The rollout of Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, has been slower than expected at best. At worst, it’s been a mess. The first two devices that tried to push out Ice Cream Sandwich – the Nexus S phone and the Transformer Prime tablet – were met with screen freezes and system crashes. It looks like things are finally starting to come together, with manufacturers fully committing support for the update. Of course, by the time everyone gets upgraded, Android 5.0 will be here…

[via AndroidCommunity]

This week’s announcement of the 20 million mark comes after quite a few different variations of the Galaxy S II have been announced and released throughout the USA and abroad, including but not limited to the AT&T Galaxy S II, the longest name in the book Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, and the T-Mobile version of the Galaxy S II. There’s also an X variant, an LTE version, and of course the Pink version announced very recently as well. There’s so many Galaxy S II device out there right now it’ll make your head spin.

There’s also a next generation to be excited about – the Galaxy S III. We’ve heard only great things about this next step in the most popular Android-based smartphone line on earth, including but not limited to a higher definition screen, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and the next generation of Samsung Exynos processors with four CPU cores. The launch of the GSIII is likely to take place right at a time when Apple is looking to start the march to the iPhone 5 – the war continues!

BONUS just to remind you how awesome this line of devices has been thus far, take a look back at our own Chris Davies unboxing of this device in a rally car. You’re gonna love it!

This ad spot and the rest from Samsung in the past few weeks have all been leading up to the big one set to roll out during the Superbowl. While they never technically say the word Apple or iPhone, it’s quite clear what’s going on here. Apple fans wait in line in the cold midwestern weather to get a chance to purchase the next generation iDevice while Samsung customers prod them with sticks. And when I say prod them with sticks, I mean show off their Galaxy S II smartphones.

You can take a look at our history with the Samsung Galaxy S II, you’ll find that there are many more models than just one, and they’re available on many different networks as well. Now that the first line of Galaxy S II devices are out, we expect there to be some alternate names tossed around with the same Samsung power under the hood, as was the plan with the original Galaxy S throughout 2009 and 2010. What will you choose?

The situation we’re talking about here is if you’re suddenly, as Jean-Ralphio says, flush with cash, and you don’t want to roll with Verizon for one reason or another to pick up the new king of Samsung devices, the Galaxy Nexus. You’ve got another option here, and it’s a doozie: the Galaxy S II. There are one whole heck of a lot of options for you here, and they’re basically all good. Let’s start with the greatest video of all time showing off the original Galaxy S II as it exists in its international form – this is Chris Davies giving the phone an extreme unboxing inside a rally car.

And that’s it. That’s all I should have had to show you, but there’s more. When you consider picking up the international edition of this device, you’ll be doing so from an international source and you’ll be picking it up off-contract. More than likely you’ll be getting one that works on AT&T / T-Mobile bands but make sure before you pull the trigger. Have a peek at the overview Davies gave this device to get a less insane look – sort of!

Next take a peek at what’s to come – Ice Cream Sandwich. I bet you thought the Galaxy Nexus was going to win out in this category without fail, yes? Turns out, and you shouldn’t be surprised by this, the Galaxy S II (AT&T version, in this case) will be getting the update to Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012! It’ll probably have Samsung’s custom user interface TouchWiz over the top of it, but the guts will still be there of course. What you’re seeing here is our hacked version running a very, very early build in vanilla form:

One of the other devices you might be considering at this point is the also very enticing HTC Sensation as carried by T-Mobile. It should be rather clear to you that the Galaxy S II is the best, and you can ask me any day of the week, choice for AT&T for a smartphone right this minute, but on T-Mobile you’ve got a competition on your hands. Have a look here as Davies runs down the differences between these two monsters in-hand all the way back in May of 2011 when they were both out internationally only.

But wait! There’s also a bigger version of the Galaxy S II on AT&T, right? Yes indeed there is! It’s called the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, and it’s got the same specifications as the original Galaxy S II shown in the Ice Cream Sandwich video above, but the screen size is bigger AND the processor isn’t the same Samsung-made Exynos. The amount of pixels in the display is the same as the smaller display on the Galaxy S II AT&T original, so you’ve got a less pixels per inch here. You might even be convinced to buy the HTC EVO View if you watch the brief comparison at the end of the video:

Finally you really need to see the quality at which you can capture video here, this camera being the same no matter which Samsung Galaxy S II model you decide upon, complete with 1080p resolution for HD capture. Your Galaxy S II also captures 8 megapixels of HD photo glory, this evident in every single one of the reviews we’ve got of these wonderful devices. Straight out of england, here’s your proof:

The Galaxy S II in its many forms is available at every major carrier in the USA other than Verizon today, they opting for the Galaxy Nexus instead of picking up a Galaxy S II of their own. Have a dip into the timeline here for our many various looks at the Galaxy S II lineup in full hands-on quality!

This device is being called the Samsung GT-I9500 Universal, and its details are rather incredulous. While the renderings appear really quite crisp and certainly in line with what we’ve seen from Samsung lately, specifically with the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Players, the magic inside might be too far-fetched to be realistic. Behind a 5-inch HD Super AMOLED 1280 x 720 pixel resolution display you’ll find a 9mm thick body and a 12 megapixel camera on the back with both LED flash AND Xenon flash. Weird stuff to be sure!

Then there’s a front-facing 2 megapixel camera, availability of 32 or 64 GB internal memory, and a microSDXC slot for memory expansion. This device is said to come with a stylus like the Galaxy Note, but doesn’t appear to have the same onboard slot for carrying said pen like its big cousin does, USB 3.0 capability, and 4G LTE connectivity in its first iteration. Also onboard is a quad-core Samsung Exynos 4412 1.5GHz processor, and the whole thing works with TouchWiz 5.0.

And it all works with both Android and Bada OS. That’s just too strange to be realistic – why on earth would anyone want such a thing? Also we’ve never seen a display like this outside of conceptual renderings as a bezel allows for the display to have some overlap around the edges – how this will work is outside my understanding. Finally, before you cut up the idea of this device because of the buttons at the bottom of the display running against what’s recommended for Ice Cream Sandwich, know that Android 4.0 does have the ability to easily run with these buttons still in-tact.

We’ll either find this device to be real relatively soon or the name Galaxy S III wont pop up again until early 2012. The possibility also exists that this device is close to what we’ll see in the USA release of the Galaxy Note. We’ll see! Thanks for the tip, Alex!

UPDATE: Per Concept Phones:

“Samsung Russia just contacted us and said this is not a real phone. Here’s what they said: “The mock-ups, published in the article on Concept-Phones.com, were posted in the “Imagined Phones” section of “Samsung Phones Owners’ Club” group on VKontakte.ru. This section contains unofficial artworks and designs, created by group members, and are products of pure imagination, sometime even a joke”.” – Concept Phones

To see the rest of the concepts, check out the gallery they speak of at VKONTAKTE.RU, and enjoy the conceptual fun!

[via Concept Phones]

If you ask any one of our staff here at SlashGear, they certainly wouldn’t say that TouchWiz is the least pleasing of all the custom user interfaces that Android device manufacturers have implemented on their products, but you wont find a single person who wouldn’t rather simply have the original stock Ice Cream Sandwich as presented in the other Samsung hero device at the moment: the Galaxy Nexus. That’s why you’ll find more than a couple Android superfans out there today freaking out over the idea that they wont get their precious Vanilla-flavored Ice Cream Sandwich on the official update to their Galaxy S II units come early 2012.

This build is called Android 4.0.1 I9100XXKP1 and is a custom ROM at the moment for those of you looking to flash it to your device. Should you choose to run this ROM, know that it is by no means a final build, and not a lot of things work at the moment. For those of you looking to be a bit adventurous, you can access the download over at SamMobile (password: samfirmware.com) — and note, for those of you not into the whole hacking world, that this will void your warrantee more than likely. Good luck, everyone!

[via Blogsdna]

Before you go any further, you’ve got to get into what Samsung’s whipped up to excited you about ChatON, namely an interactive movie experience known as Chataway [experience it here] – it’s full of action and excitement and full-screen awesomeness. Once you’re into it, you’ll have no choice but to download ChatON in one way or another, more than likely on your Galaxy S II device or whatever you’ve got on the bada OS, probably the Wave 3. Then check it out: here’s why you’re going to use ChatON for all your group-chatting needs.

Once you’ve signed into ChatON with your phone number (no additional account signing in needed), you’ll be on your way to group chatting in an easy to use, theme-customizable environment with all your colleagues and friends. Multiple platforms can join in, and outside of chatting in a group, you’ll have your own Profile page that allows you to leave a status, update your contact information for your ChatON contacts to see and use, and work with your Interaction Rank list of friends — the people you interact with most will appear here for easy access. Below this is “Buddies Say”, a place where people can leave messages direct to a profile outside a chat.

Inside a Group Chat you can add messages including everything from a simple bit of text to an animated hand-drawn animated message. Once media is added to the chat, it stays in the chat’s “Trunk” where any subsequent chatters in the group can access it. Photos, video, audio, animated hand-made messages created with ChatON itself, and again, letters and numbers. “Still texting? Check out ChatON.” That’s what Samsung says – believe it.

Check out the “CHAT AND SHARE YOUR LIFE” infographic in the gallery below to see the full history of the development of ChatON, then get it for yourself. For those of you using a bada device such as the Samsung Wave 3 now or in the near future, you’ll have ChatON installed right out of the box. For those of you using Android, you’ll be able to download the application right this second from Samsung Apps or through the Android Market. You’ll find that the optimal specifications for your Android device to have is a WVGA 480 x 800 pixel resolution display and Android 2.2 Froyo or 2.3 Gingerbread running on it. You can also access this whole platform from a browser window — that feature is coming soon to ChatON.com.

We’ll be doing a hands-on review of this application and ecosystem, so called because of its multiple operating system usability. Stay tuned or feel free to grab the app for yourself now.

[via SamsungTomorrow]

The Galaxy S II on T-Mobile features a 4.52-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 1080p Full HD video capture, and support for T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ data speeds. The device is expected to come running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread.

The white Galaxy S II will be priced the same as the original black version at $229.99 with a new two-year service agreement and after a $50 mail-in rebate. However, it appears that the white version will be available only through T-Mobile’s online store.

[via TMoNews]

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus runs a dual-core processor from Texas Instruments, the OMAP4, clocked at 1.2GHz for each CPU core right out of the box. This device is running Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich in as vanilla (aka untouched by Samsung or any carriers for the interface) as possible, this showing off Google’s vision for the most advanced mobile operating system on the planet. What you’ll find in the benchmarks is that while this device may be the hottest handset on the market right this second, it’s not necessarily the best at taking tests.

NOTE: the image above is taken from our review of the Philips Fidelio AS851 working with the Galaxy Nexus right out of the box, the both of them.

The scores you see here don’t necessarily mean that the device is more or less powerful than any other in any more than a very general way, but you can get a basic idea of what its capable of by comparing the numbers to those we’ve collected in each of our reviewed devices found in the upper right-hand column of your browser. You can instantly see how well this device does against the common Samsung Galaxy S II score in CF-Bench, noting that while Java and Overall scores beat out the GSII by a narrow margin, the Native score remains on top for the Galaxy device. What this tells us is that the two devices are surprisingly similar in their ability to take this same test even though they use processors from different manufacturers.

The rest of the tests, without getting in to too much detail, basically put this device and its built-in web browser up there with the top tier of mobile devices out today without placing it 100% clearly at the very top. That spot is still reserved for the upcoming ASUS Eee Pad Transformer PRIME with the first quad-core mobile processor on the planet: the NVIDIA Tegra 3. We’ll see how that continues to add up against the Galaxy Nexus SOON we hope!

Also be sure to check out the rest of our ongoing hands-on series with the Galaxy Nexus as well as Ice Cream Sandwich to round out your tasty day, and be sure to ask us any questions you’ve got on either one!

More Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (first features feature)

Galaxy Nexus Unboxing & Hands-on:

The iPhone, since it was released with a mostly glass chassis, hasn’t exactly been known for its rough and tumble ability to stay in perfect condition. Instead the glass on the front and the back are in place because, heck, how many times do you drop the thing a day anyway? When it comes down to it, there’s just about 1 billion different cases you can put on the current model (that being the iPhone 4 / iPhone 4S figuration, and unless you’re massively clumsy, you’re probably not going to be tossing it around on accident in the nude.

Then there’s the Galaxy S II. Though there are several different models of this Samsung device out there now, they all share a few of the same traits: mostly plastic and covered on the front with Corning Gorilla Glass. You’ve probably heard the name Gorilla Glass before, and in fact we’ve even seen the stuff being demonstrated by the pros back in November of 2010. Since then the glass made by Corning hasn’t changed much, so feel free to have a look at that demo below as well – taped straight from Pepcom:

The Galaxy S II has now moved about 10 million units according to Samsung. Together the Galaxy S II and Galaxy S smartphones have moved 30 million units around the globe. That makes this one of the most popular smartphone series anywhere. The sales numbers continue to grow for the S II as well with Android fans still flocking to the high-end device.

Samsung attributes the success of the S II to the Super AMOLED screen and speedy APU. The S II is apparently the second most popular smartphone in Korea and is the most popular device in at least ten other countries. How long do you think it will take the S II to match the sales numbers of the original Galaxy S?

[via Android Community]

Apple isn’t only coming down on Samsung in the tablet department, they’re also trying to chop down some Androids in the 4G LTE department – though Verizon isn’t having any of that. And of course they wouldn’t! Devices don’t get banned here in the USA, do they? Why yes, yes they do. When Apple sues a group and says that they “slavishly” copied their own designs, well, then, the courts listen. Just a few weeks ago, Apple sought to ban ALL Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets across Europe, now they’re coming for the states.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh noted after a hearing today on October 13th, 2011, in San Jose, California, that she would deny Apple’s request for an injunction simply based on one of Apple’s “utility” patents. Koh didn’t note whether or not she would grant injunctions based on three other Apple “design” patents. The utility patent ruling hasn’t been made formal, still noted by Koh as “tenative,” but she did not that her final order would be made “fairly promptly.”

This case, for those of you that would like to know, is operating under the title “Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846″ in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, USA.

[via Rueters]

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Glass speak in the past few weeks, last time he spoke we found out the true name of the Nexus Prime and that we would be “seeing it in shops sooner than [we] think.” Now this fellow is letting us know that the Galaxy Note will be perfect for all the XY chromos out there amongst us. Will the smartphone/tablet stack up particularly for girls? Read Glass yourself:

“The Galaxy Note is really good for the female market,” said Glass describing the device as “a merger between smartphones and tablets. To have a handbag and be able to put a 5.37-inch phone in instead of a 10.1-inch tablet is something that I think will capture the female market.”

And how will Samsung aim to do that?

“We will be looking at special propositions for the female consumer. There are different colour waves, thoughts and propositions that we hope to unveil later this month.”

Ohhh fantastic! All kinds of colors, that’s what we love to hear! Though I’m CERTAIN we’ll be hearing about this one for a while again, just like the last time we got a feminine-positioned device with Android. Remember it’s name? HTC Ladyfone. No wait, HTC Rhyme. What we’re seeing here is the unfolding of a more conscious smartphone market. First we’re going to have to wade through all the hot pink, and eventually we’ll be back and black and holding a device that’s perfect for everyone. Or does that already exist?

Thus far we’ve only got prices on the Galaxy Note for the UK, a release date of November 17th and SIM-free preorders open at £479 + VAT, according to unlocked-mobiles.com.

Samsung Galaxy Note hands-on:

Samsung Galaxy Note inking, video editing & more:

[via T3]

This certainly is a Galaxy S – styled device, but it won’t be coming with the newest version that we’re seeing on the USA Galaxy S II lineup. That said, it has just about everything else – oh except the dual-core processor, you’ll still be using a 1GHz single-core Hummingbird here. This will be the second Samsung device to be capable of using its 4G LTE network, and with Android 2.3.x Gingerbread, you’ll be up to date on the Android front. This is currently the only device on Verizon’s LTE network to feature a keyboard, and a… classic looking keyboard at that.

The display is 4-inch and WVGA Super AMOLED Plus, meaning it’s certainly bright enough to beat the competition, but should you place it next to any of the Galaxy S II units out there (three of the, starting this week,) you might fall short. That said, there are, again, some added security features you’ll see mentioned briefly in the video promo, and this device is inexpensive at $149.99 attached to a 2-year contract starting October 13th. Certainly not meant to win any races – made to fill out some holes in the Verizon lineup instead.

Also remember to check out the sale pack this week via AmazonWireless for Verizon – all devices for a penny. Yes, a penny!

This newest version of CyanogenMod now supports nearly 70 devices with more on the way. Newest entrants into the world of Cyan including such gems as the HTC Desire S, the HTC Incredible S, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, T-Mobile G2X by LG, Motorola Cliq, and the entire line of Sony Ericsson XPERIA devices. The entire line of Sony Ericsson XPERIA devices have been added thanks to the FreeXperia and the newly supportive Sony Ericsson crew, having just pledged their involvement in the modification of XPERIA devices through the future.

This newest version of CyanogenMod includes enhanced Bluetooth support for mice as well as tethering, app launching gestures, brand new lock screen widgets, a completely rewritten LED notification system, and device-specific modifications galore. Then there’s a built-in screenshot function which we’ve been hoping for since the birth of Android itself as well.

Devices currently in the BETA ROM, coming up quick, include the HP TouchPad, HTC Sensation, Vision, and the LG Optimus 3D. Gold releases for each of these devices should be starting in a few weeks according to the Cyan crew, while Gold versions (aka basically final releases) are available right now from CyanogenMod via your regular outlets. Will you mod?

[via Android Community]

Samsung has given T-Mobile a helping hand with its slightly redesigned casing and boosted specs. Blunt edges and sharp corners are gone, replaced with a smoothed off design that – although still big at 5.11 x 2.71 x 0.37 inches – feels better in the hand. The Super AMOLED Plus panel may fall short on pixels in comparison to qHD and higher devices we’ve seen elsewhere, but it’s still color-rich and bright.

Inside, meanwhile, there’s a speed boost thanks to a 1.5GHz processor. Rather than the 1.2GHz Samsung Exynos of before, the Galaxy S II now gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, paired with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot. There’s HSPA+ too, for up to 42Mbps downloads, coverage depending. We’ll be putting the Galaxy S II through its paces with some speed tests to see quite how well T-Mobile’s network compares to its marketing.

Samsung Galaxy S II 4G unboxing and hands on

In short, it’s a streamlined, supercharged version of a phone we still have a lot of time for, and we’ve got big expectations for how it will perform. We won’t know for sure until the full review, so until then enjoy our hands on unboxing and walkthrough!

Galaxy S II vs Amaze 4G: 1080p recording and audio quality

This is a first for the Galaxy S II line, NFC and Google Wallet only fully activated in the Samsung device Nexus S 4G for now – have a look at your humble narrator’s hands-on video with Google Wallet on the Nexus S 4G for the full skinny on the situation. The Nexus S was the first Android device to really be pushed as having the feature for future use – now that Google Wallet is out and active in stores in several states across the USA, we’ve got to hope for the capability in all phones through the future.

Have a look at this early press release from T-Mobile:

T-Mobile today announced additional details about the Galaxy S II. The Galaxy S II will be one of T-Mobile’s fastest smartphones and one of the first to take advantage of T-Mobile’s faster 4G (HSPA+ 42) network technology. In addition, the Galaxy S II is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor with 1.5 GHz dual CPUs, runs on Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) and is NFC enabled.

From what we’ve been told thus far, NFC capabilities lie inside the battery, believe it or not, and that NFC functions and mentions are strewn throughout the Android source code, though as the title of this post says, all of this is dormant for the time being. If this situation ends up being like the Nexus S 4G, we’ve only to wait for the update to the newest version of Gingerbread to get both the Google Wallet app and the ability to utilize NFC for all manner of activities.

Joy? Joy! No need to use NFC stickers now, right? Hopefully. Those stickers seem above-average stone-age to me.

So you’ve got these Olympic games, right? And you’ve got a device that we must assume has a camera somewhere on it – and NFC for mobile payments. You know what that means? It means that these games are set to be the most socially shared and easily payed-for Olympics of all time! That is, if all goes according to plan. Pocket Lint’s Stuart Miles was at the VISA Europe presentation at the company’s first European security summit in Frankfurt, Germany – there it was Sandra Alzetta, Head of innovation and new product development at Visa Europe that confirmed the phone to be entirely on-track.

This device will be a brand new Samsung device, it’ll have “Special Olympic content”, and it’ll be commercially available globally before, during, and after the actual London events in 2012. In addition, VISA has mentioned the possibility that NFC-laden microSD cards might be in the works as well – though whether for this event or outside this event is still unclear. What is clear is that VISA has confirmed that this phone will be working with “almost 160,000 terminals in Europe, including the 70,000 shops, bars, and restaurants in the UK.”

Sounds like a widespread winner to me – now they just have to sell it! Note that the image above also comes from the initial announcement in which VISA and Samsung reps are holding up devices that very much appear to be “Galaxy” related, this leading us to believe that Android will be in the mix – or maybe it’s Bada?! That’d be a pretty good tactic to get that OS out there, boy howdy.

Currently, on the other hand, the device is only slated for release inside South Korea, so don’t get your hopes up TOO high, but check it out here anyway. It’s got a 720p screen, has a gigantic 1860 mAh battery inside, and runs on 1GB or RAM. Inside you’ll also find 16GB of storage with no word on the ability to add microSD cards to bump this up, but by the looks of it there might be a port on the right side of the display – look like that to you?

The user interface appears to be the newest lovely look at Android from a Pantech perspective, that means modified UI along the lines of the Pantech Breakout, the company’s first US-bound LTE device (and the least expensive in the country, I might add.) You’ll also get NFC and T-DMB mobile TV viewing (if you’re in South Korea, that is,) the NFC bit likely to cause a stir of commotion if it stays put in its journey across the ocean.

Look at that winner, seem like a device you might wrap your fingers around?

[via Android Community]

What Samsung wishes to make clear here is that more than a couple of points are in the lead for Samsung while the iPhone is perhaps lagging behind. What’s not quite so clear is the fact that yes, the iPhone actually does have a few winning pointers here as well. The Samsung Galaxy S II works at 4G speeds – not just on one carrier too, on three (so far), while the iPhone connects only at 3G. The dual-core processors on these devices are appearing here to be evenly matched, save for the idea that the Galaxy S II has the option of either a 1.2 GHz or 1.5 GHz, (these of course showing up on different models on different carriers.)

One of the points where the Apple device is clearly the victor is in the screen resolution – its Retina Display having 960 x 640 pixels inside the relatively small 3.5-inch screen, while the Samsung device, regardless of its ultra-awesomely bright Super AMOLED Plus display, has just 800 x 480 pixel resolution inside both its 4.5 and 4.3-inch screens. Video capture is similar at 1080p with both new models, but Samsung boasts an extra “High Profile” spec that we know and love quite well.

A strange place Samsung takes the lead is the carrier availability, showing the iPhone to be at AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon all at once even though they’re not on pre-sale yet, while Sprint & AT&T are shown for the GSII with T-Mobile on the way as a bonus. Perhaps the most clear place the Samsung Galaxy S II beats out the iPhone 4S is its pricing, with a $199-$229 range with unlimited memory (within reason) beating out the iPhone’s $199-$399 range with limits on memory for all three models. Have a look at the full chart by tapping the gallery thumbnail above- and enjoy!

Join us on October 12th as we check out what these two devices are really about. Last time we saw the Amaze, it was in some super high quality photos showing off its sassy chassis. The closest we’ve ever gotten to the Galaxy S II from T-Mobile was also in New York – just like this event, and it was under glass, not quite prepared for the public yet. Now we’ve got two devices on our hands and we’re gonna have to go nuts with the reviews!

Then check out that odd guests list (seen in the full invite pictured below) – what does it all mean? There’s Nur Khan of Electric Room, Rassi Mazdack of Milk Gallery, and Hillary Kerr & Katherine Power of Who What Wear. Will us tech journalists have any idea what to strike up a conversation with them about? I suppose we’ll just have to wing it – unless you’ve got anything you’ve been waiting your whole life to say to this group of guests?

It’s Android dual-core T-Mobile 4G time! Click the thumbnail below to see the full invite – it’s a big one, to say the least:

iPhone 4S

This is the newest device of the pack, it packing a lovely new A5 chip that, optimized to the max for this one single phone, will allow you to play such fantastic games as Infinity Blade II – see a preview of what’s to come in our review of the first in that series of games for iPad 2. This device will be released worldwide and on three of the four major US carriers this month in three models, the least expensive of these being $199 with 16GB storage inside. Some other nice neat new apps revealed at the iPhone event on October 4th were Cards physical greeting cards app and Find My Friends for GPS tracking of all your best buddies. There’s also some little additions to the iPhone line via iOS 5 like the camera shortcut on the lockscreen. Then there’s some real strange things like: Bluetooth 4.0, the lovely fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on both the front and the back, three-axis gyro, and again, a global release on 100 carriers worldwide.

Learn all about the iPhone 4S in our full reveal guide as well as our hands-on look.

Samsung Galaxy S II

The Galaxy S II is one of the most popular Android devices in history. It’s sold over 10 MILLION units worldwide of its original version, and the new versions on AT&T and T-Mobile plus the EVO 4G Touch version are set to be massive sellers as well. This device runs the newest version of Android – as all the Android devices on this list do, but with a special user interface Samsung calls TouchWiz. This interface is the most updated version of what Samsung calls its most optimized interface for users using Android -and it’s quite nice, if I do say so myself, having one in my pocket right this second. Instead of working with the Apple Appstore, you’ll be using the Android Marketplace, one of the most popular app stores in the world after the Apple app store which, if I’m not mistaken, is still beating every other store by a longshot for legitimate checked-and-ready apps. The Samsung Galaxy S II comes in many shapes and sizes but, for the most part, always has the lovely Super AMOLED Plus display, Samsung’s sharpest and brightest in the world. This device comes with an 8 megapixel camera on the back, similar to the 8 megapixel camera the iPhone 4S is using, and another webcam-ready camera on the front, also similar to what the iPhone 4S is using.

This device, as is true of each of the other Android devices on this list, is a powerful choice, and will last you the 2 years you’ll have it on contract unless you’re the sort of person that always needs the most advanced handset around. For you I recommend not purchasing a smartphone at all, as sure enough, several months down the line, no matter what you’ve purchased, you’ll have been trumped by the newest technology.

You can check out our several reviews of this device here:
Samsung Galaxy S II original international edition
Samsung Galaxy S II AT&T version
Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch

HTC Sensation

The device known as the HTC Sensation is the culmination of HTC’s efforts to create the perfect phone, similar to what Apple has done with the iPhone and Samsung has done with their Galaxy line, here is where HTC puts it all on the line. You get nearly the newest version of HTC’s custom user interface Sense (currently only beat by the feminine device HTC Rhyme at the moment) and the most comfortable shape for a handset that your humble narrator has ever felt hit his palm. It’s shaped to please, ladies and gentlemen, and like the last two devices, this smartphone has the 8 megapixel camera on the back and a webcam-ready camera on the front.

Unlike the previous two devices, this smartphone is only available on T-Mobile here in the USA and on a broader market internationally. HTC generally releases their devices across the sea first, bringing them then to the USA market on one carrier at a time. Prices for this device are, once again, comparable to the first two smartphones.

Our reviews
T-Mobile Sensation 4G
HTC Sentsation original international edition

Motorola DROID BIONIC

The BIONIC is another dual-core device (like all devices on this list), this time in a device that also works on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. This is the only device on this list that can say that it’s got those kinds of upload and download speeds, and it’s also one of the most widely anticipated Android devices to have been released this year. It’s running Motorola’s newest UI over Android and is pushed as a device that can accomplish many things with its several docks and desktop-mode for advanced computing beyond that of a normal smartphone. Apple made fun of the camera on this device because it is said to be significantly slower in taking photos than the competition, meanwhile it has a similar 8 megapixel camera on the back and video chat capable camera on the front.

The DROID BIONIC is only carried by Verizon, and only here in the USA. This makes the device by far the smallest in distribution numbers, but does offer an exclusive sort of feel, if you know what I mean. It’s also got a bit of a curve to the edges of the glass, this making it, the G2x, and the Sensation each part of the curved Gorilla Glass club – strength and a lovely feel.

Review
DROID BIONIC

LG G2x

The LG G2x is, in its original form, the first smartphone in the world to hold a dual-core processor in it. It was called the Optimus 2X then, and it, like I mention above, has one of your humble narrator’s favorite display glasses in the world – a couple of large bends and this device is unique. Inside you’ll find the second most advanced Android operating system out of the box, but it’s instantly ungradable to the newest Gingerbread – as all the other Android devices are on this list. This device has the 8 megapixel camera on the back and the video chat capable camera on the front, and, like the DROID BIONIC and the Galaxy S II, has the ability to play videos via HDMI on your big screen HD TV. The iPhone 4S can do this in a similar way to the Galaxy S II, both of them requiring a special converter cord to do so.

Review
T-Mobile G2x from LG

Processors

Since the Apple processor and the rest of these Android-powering processors aren’t able to all really work on the same benchmark tests, we’ll just have to speak on what we’ve seen here. A dual-core processor on an Android device makes it capable of wiping the floor with all of their single-core counterparts, but unless you’re really ramming away on video and playing the highest-tech games, you’ll not notice a WHOLE LOT of difference in your daily activities. If you’re going to be using your device to play videos through your TV, it’d make a lot of sense to have a dual-core processor. If you’re going to be playing games like Riptide GP for Android, you’ll absolutely NEED a dual-core processor because it requires it.

That said, different processors are doing different things to pump themselves up for consumers – Qualcomm – whose chip sits in the HTC Sensation, recently announced their support for game developers in the Qualcomm Snapdragon Game Pack. Similarly, NVIDIA has a whole NVIDIA Tegra Zone of apps created with the developers to work specifically with their own Tegra 2 dual-core chip – these games are then only playable on NVIDIA-powered devices, including the G2x. Texas Instruments (on the DROID BIONIC) have been finding their way into several big-name devices of late including the Kindle Fire and is rumored to be part of the next Google hero phone Nexus Prime. Samsung sits in this pack with their own Exynos dual-core processor on the Galaxy S II – this processor has been known to beat out competing dual-core processors on benchmarks that are, admittedly, not that precise, but by a LOT in some cases. Finally there’s the A5 dual-core processor from Apple for their newest iPhone 4S, this is a processor that’s quite similar (if not basically identical) to the A5 processor sitting in the iPad 2, the most popular tablet-type mobile device in the world – and by the looks of it, it’ll be at least keeping up with the competition if not beating it due to the small library of devices it must be optimized for.

Anything else you’d like to know? You can see the full specs on the iPhone 4S by heading to our iPhone 4S Hands-on post, then for the rest you can see our http://device.ac/ device archive for the rest: Galaxy S II (AT&T and original), Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, LG G2x, DROID BIONIC, and the HTC Sensation. Let us know which one you’ll pick if you’re in the market!

What you’ll see here is a an extremely thin device with a giant display in the front probably somewhere in the 4.7-inch range. Inside the display you’ll find a Honeycomb-esque clock widget and a dock with apps, phone, browser, and phone shortcuts. Above this you’ll find a standard status toolbar above a secondary toolbar that’s again reminiscent of what we’ve seen in Honeycomb. This second bar has Google search, voice command, apps shortcut, and “+” symbol that, inside a Honeycomb tablet device, would lead us to our homescreen customization set of options.

The rest of the device appears very similar to what a flattened out Nexus S would look like. You’ve got the single microUSB at the bottom back beside a single mic hole, a smooth battery case, speaker grill looking similar to what’s become standard on a Samsung device, and a round camera hole again similar to what we’ve seen on the Nexus S. The front of the device shows the same head that we’ve seen on a slew of Samsung devices, that being a thin line of a speaker grill next to a black dot we must assume represents a front-facing camera.

The back of the device appears slightly thicker at the bottom than it does at the top, and the display appears slightly curved and shiny like glass. Also the designer here calls this device, safely, the Google Nexus Third Generation. We must assume that this was rendered before the cleaner looks at Ice Cream Sandwich were shown in these past few weeks since this looks to be rather Honeycomb inspired instead, also featuring the classic set of Android menu buttons instead of no buttons at all, as we expect will be true of future devices.

Other than that, look pretty possibly accurate to you? Note that we’ll be at the next Samsung Mobile Unpacked event in a few weeks, this one being a special Google episode, so we may well be finding out how accurate it is very soon!

[via Ciccarese Design]

For those of you unfamiliar with the situation at hand, Samsung has been calling their big press events taking place near technology conventions by the name “Unpacked”. A Samsung Unpacked event generally reveals epic devices such as the Galaxy S II or the Galaxy Note, not to mention the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 – these last two presented back at this spring’s CTIA Samsung Unpacked event. Given the fact that we’ve just seen what appears very much to be a two-minute long hands-on video of Ice Cream Sandwich, might it be the next big reveal?

We just saw the Galaxy Tab 8.9 in the flesh and saw the USA announcement of the Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 – will Samsung drop another device in less than a month’s time? Just this past week we saw the Bluetooth certification of the Nexus Prime, a device that’s only been rumored thus far, save for a handful of factoids – it must be!

We’ll see when we get there. We’ll be live both at the Samsung event here and the rest of CTIA bringing you so much coverage, your eyes will bleed!

I’m almost unsure of where to start I’m enjoying this phone so much. The Samsung Galaxy S II really is a pretty awesome smartphone. It has it all from a simple design that is sleek, thin and lightweight — while being extremely powerful and fast at the same time. For all the details you’ll need check out my hands-on and unboxing. We’ll start with the video hands-on overview below and then get into all the details shortly.

AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II hands-on

Hardware

The hardware we all know plenty about — plus was laid out in the video above but just in case here are a few more details. We have Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1.2 GHz Samsung Exynos processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage under the hood. Optional micro-SD support for extra storage, 8 megapixel camera around the rear with LED flash and a 2 MP front shooter for video chatting and more. All of that neatly packed into an ultra lightweight and thin design.

On the front we have a 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus display with a 480 x 800 resolution. The screen is bright, vibrant, and extremely clear and really just looks better than anything else on the market thus far although the qHD displays are looking better and better. Shown in the images below you can see the AT&T branding, 2MP front camera, earpiece, as well as the four dedicated capacitive touch buttons.

Moving along to the left, right, and top of the device we have a very clean and simple design. No bright aluminum buttons or volume rockers, no weird textures on them either, just a plane jane black style. Many might like the aluminum accents some smartphones offer and I do too, but the Galaxy S II just has a simple and clean elegance to it. The only bezels present are the aluminum around the camera and the 3.5mm headphone jack up top.

Software

Here we have Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread and the latest Samsung Touch Wiz 4.0 to keep things pretty. With only a few slight changes to the entire Gingerbread look and feel this is a pretty stock device but features some added benefits. Nothing extremely crazy here like Sense UI, just a few added features and small changes. AT&T chose not to overdue it with bloatware either and for that — we thank you. We have a few dedicated AT&T applications and that is about it. The pre-installed apps other than AT&T specific things are Amazon Kindle, Live TV, Memo Pad, My Files, Qik, Quick Office, Words with Friends, and YP (Yellow Pages). Many additional apps such as another email app, video player, calender, file explorer, and a dairy application have been enhanced by Samsung’s Touchwiz to make the most of the 4.3″ display.

Samsung’s Touch Wiz also has a unique new feature with the just announced 4.0 for the Galaxy S II in the US and that is Motion Control. Once enabled, users can move icons on homescreens, zoom on images and webpages and more all by touching the screen and moving or panning the device rather than dragging multiple fingers. It’s quite neat and made moving icons from screen to screen extremely easy.

When first unveiled back in August our man Chris Burns was live at the Samsung event for some hands-on time with the SGSII. Below is a quick video of that coverage as well as a more detailed rundown of the changes to the software and user experience.

Performance

As usual we’ve ran a wide array of benchmarks and speedtests to see how this SGSII fends in the real world compared to other devices. Many other dual-core smartphones score well under 3000 in quadrant, especially stock devices with no tweaks or adjustments. The Samsung Galaxy S II with the in-house Exynos chip performs extremely well across all benchmarks and especially well in Quadrant. We’ve tried a few and were pleased to see the AT&T SGSII scored around 3800 in Quad — completely stock! Impressive if I don’t say so myself and you can really tell during day to day usage. My Sensation 4G gets around 2400 out of the box, big difference right?

Below are a few pictures showing just how well the SGSII also performs in Vellamo, and CF Bench, as well as a few quick tests on AT&T’s 4G HSPA+ network (no 4G LTE here).

I know benchmarks don’t tell the entire story, and many users don’t care to read about them and would just like to know about real world usage. I’m happy to report the Galaxy S II is really one of the quickest, most fluid and easy to use phones I’ve had my hands on to date. I’ve experienced no delays or lag during browsing, gaming, benchmarks, loading multiple images in the gallery or anything. Even downloading about 10 app updates at a time the experience was barely touched and the overall performance was stellar. From adding icons to different pages, to flipping through homescreens and the application tray there is no gitters or choppy moments that I’ve experienced yet. This is truly a great performing smartphone that will meet any users demand.

Battery life and Camera

The AT&T SGSII comes with a 1650 mAh battery under the hood and while every user is different I’ve managed to have better than average battery life. From using this smartphone over the past week or so the battery lasts a bit longer than most. My Sensation 4G has a similarly sized battery and it just doesn’t manage to stay powered as long. Many reviewers of the original SGSII from Europe mentioned similar results where the SGSII battery life seems to outmatch rivaling handsets. This could be in part to changes made by Samsung, and another thing worth mentioning is the highly efficient AMOLED display, it seems to consume less power and really helps. Stand-by time was not fully tested but I left the device untouched for over 3 days and it remained around 25% when I finally plugged her in. While I’ve not done any video loop tests I have however played plenty of Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, used Google+ allll day, and browsed the web off and on throughout daily tasks and the phone holds up extremely well in the battery department. The Galaxy S II battery life is above average and will last most users more than the average work day.

As for the camera we have an 8 megapixel shooter and just like the battery life — the Galaxy S II seems better than the rest in terms of overall camera performance. I’ve snapped a few shots around the house and outside so you can see low light and standard lighting results. Many phones currently offer an 8 MP camera just like the DROID Bionic, but the slow shutter speed and mediocre performance makes the Samsung shooter just that much better. Here are a few pictured taken with the SGSII.

We’ve also tested the 1080p video capture and the Galaxy S II does impress here also. Very smooth and decent in regards to video capture although you must remember this is a phone, but they are getting better and better as they come. Below is a short video demo of the kids (my dogs) playing and messing around just for an idea of real world indoor video capture results. (Isn’t the puppy cute?)

Quick Comparison and Accessories

I’ve quickly snapped a few photos of the AT&T Galaxy S II sitting next to the big bad DROID Bionic by Motorola and Verizon Wireless. While both are comparable regarding specs, the SGSII doesn’t feature LTE but does however have a faster processor. I’ll break down the details later but for now here are a few pictures of the two just for an idea on size and thickness for those that may be wondering.

Also thanks to Chris Burns and our sister site Android Community we have a quick video showing the Galaxy S II accessories that Samsung will be releasing here in the U.S shortly although details on pricing and availability remain unknown. We have a car dock, home dock with additional battery and a desk dock shown in the video below

Galaxy S II accessories hands-on

Wrap-Up

The AT&T Galaxy S II is essentially the same exact SGSII we’ve seen, known, and loved for the past few months. With the same screen size and specs as the international version the only changes are a few to the UI, and the capacitive touch buttons below. Having a winning combination of being thin, light, fast, and affordable the Galaxy S II is a clear winner for the US as well as Europe and outside of the US sales have already passed 10 million globally. With the AT&T version being the closest U.S. Galaxy S II to the original, what more reason do you need to get this amazing smartphone?

Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below and I’ll be sure to look them over and try to answer them as accurately as possible. More photos of the Galaxy S II can be seen below in the gallery. Look over the pictures, decide if this awesome smartphone is for you, and if so head down to a AT&T store on October 2nd and pick one up for just $199.

The Galaxy S II is what Samsung calls its flagship device today, a tiny 8.49 mm (still the thinnest smartphone on earth with a dual-core processor), a ultra bright and sharp Super AMOLED Plus display, and the newest version of Samsung’s operating system user interface, TouchWiz – deliciousness. Of course there’s also the massive following in the hacker and developer community, your possibilities basically endless as far as ROMs and mods go, Samsung Galaxy S II one of the current torches lighting the way for Android for weeks and weeks now.

The 10 million global channel sales has doubled from five million in just eight weeks. Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business President JK Shin notes the following:

“Since its launch in late April 2011, the GALAXY S II has seen continued sales success, demonstrating Samsung’s industry-leading capabilities in – and commitment to – the smartphone market. In just five months the GALAXY S II has seen tremendous growth, reflecting its tremendous popularity with customers around the world, who in selecting the GALAXY S II as their device of choice have driven the device’s strong market position globally.” – Shin

We’ve got the rest of the models flowing in like wine here on SlashGear, with the version titled Epic 4G Touch already reviewed and the Galaxy S II for AT&T well on its way. Can’t wait!

While I mention most of it during the hands-on video below lets go over the specs just to make sure. This beast is one of the fastest phones around rocking a 1.2 GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB internal storage — and then we can’t forget that amazing screen. Running with a 4.3″ AMOLED display just like most Samsung phones it is bright, vivid, and has extremely good colors and contrast. Extremely lightweight and thin was the goal and Samsung delivered. With a slight hump down below on bottom the rest is as plush as it gets. We have an 8MP camera on the rear with flash, and a 2MP shooter around front for video chatting and more. Check out my video!

AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II hands-on and unboxing

What makes the AT&T Galaxy S II different from the others is both the Epic 4G Touch (already released) and the upcoming T-Mobile Hercules versions have a larger 4.52″ display. The AT&T model, like its international cousin, only has a 4.3″ screen although the difference is quite small. Everything else remains just about the same for this beautiful collection of aluminum, plastic, and glass. With four capacitive touch buttons on the bottom and a nice sleek frame this phone both looks and feels nice. You all probably already knew that though right?

This phone has been a long time coming and now it’s finally here I’m not quite sure what to do with it. Totally joking there because we’ll be tossing this bad boy through the trenches that is a guarantee. I’ll be running plenty of benchmarks and speedtests, and comparison tests with something like the 1.2 GHz Sensation 4G for an idea although I’m pretty sure we already know who wins.

Obviously we’ve seen Samsung’s AMOLED dislay before but the Super AMOLED Plus that comes with the Galaxy S II is simply stunning. Between the brilliant display, fast and extremely fluid performance of the dual-core processor, and the overall sleek and thin design I can tell you from my initial hands-on I’m going to love this phone. The Sensation 4G is my daily driver but we’ll see who wins that battle in my full review coming in the next few days. Feel free to drop any suggestions or questions in the comment section below and I’ll be sure to keep them in mind while conducting my full in-depth review.

Now look over the photos below and imagine if you’d like to buy this phone. It will be available from AT&T starting October 2nd, for only $199.

(trust me I was careful)

This is about to get rather harsh with odd detail for those of you only looking to use the device for day to day activities, I must warn you! One of the most interesting things seen in this assembly right away is that the microSD card slot is not attached with masses of soldering as it has been with past devices such as this – only a simple attachment to an EMI shield removed easily. Also along those lines, instead of massive amounts of EMI shields as we’ve seen in previous builds, this device only has a single EMI shield that’s removable with only a few gentle tugs.

Next is the camera which pops out easily as well, this 8-megapixel addition to the device attached to its image processor with ribbon cable, the processor marked with MBG043 for all to see. There’s also the vibrator motor up near the camera area, this motor marked with 36CZB8QADHF, while the headphone jack, also nearby, is made by Samsung and marked SPH-D710_EAR. Then comes the fun part – naming all the bits:

Toshiba TC31501AAMBG WiMax package
Maxim MAX8997 Power Management IC
Avago CFI120 223713
Samsung K3PE7E700B-XXC1 Dual-Core 1.2 GHz Processor
Samsung KLMAG4FEJA-A003 16 GB Flash Memory
Qualcomm QSC6085 CDMA Processor
Yamaha YMU823 Audio Codec
and
Atmel mXT224E mutual capacitance touchscreen controller

Of course we know that the display is manufactured by Samsung, then there’s some other factoids you might want to know for Repairability: 9 Philips #00 screws, several components share the same ribbon cable (this increasing the cost of repair if you have to) and the speaker is soldered to the motherboard – good luck replacing that if you have to. Finally, the glass panel and the Super AMOLED Plus display are fused, so you’ll be dishing out quite the pretty penny if you crack that screen.

Also be sure to check out our full review of the Samsung Epic 4G Touch courtesy of Vince early last week – it’s a doozy!

[via ifixit]

First of all, don’t be fooled, this isn’t based on any leaked version of the Ice Cream Sandwich software, it’s made from all that we know about Ice Cream Sandwich including the original announcement post which has what Google has said thus far about the system. What this version of the launcher, as created by a dev team, represents is what they feel the smartphone version of the software will look like. This is in direct contrast to what we’ve been thinking would happen since Google said there would be one singular version of the software to tie all Android devices together.

This launcher is built off of Syndicate Apps‘ Honeycomb launcher, which may make you feel like you’re in a tiny, tiny tablet. But what you’ll be able to see is the closest to reality version of Ice Cream Sandwich, again in its scientifically hypothesized state, that we’ve seen thus far. Have a look at the screenshots below, the video in this post, and note that it’s all done here on our brand new Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch smartphone, a device which you can get a full review of by heading to Vincent Nguyen’s post from early last week.

You can download the Alpha version 1 of this application here at your own risk: ICS_2.4_Launcher.apk and open and install as you would any other third-party app not sold on the Android Market. Remember over and over again that this is unofficial, alpha in its version, and is largely untested. You’ll find bugs and broken bits galore, all of this set to be fixed in future versions of the app. We’ve only tested it on the GSII and it’s worked pretty well with the bugs I speak about in the video.

Have fun!

[via Android Community]

Hardware

The original Galaxy S II – which we reviewed all the way back in April – was a pretty straightforward phone: big, bright and colorful screen, fast 1.2GHz dual-core processor and great camera, all wrapped up in a super-slim casing. For the EPIC 4G Touch, Samsung has done a little tweaking to that formula, and now the phone has an even bigger display. The Super AMOLED Plus panel is still as color-saturated and contrast rich as before, but is now 4.52-inches instead of 4.3-inches.

It’s still running at WVGA 800 x 480 resolution, mind, and since we’ve seen Samsung’s incredibly pixel-dense displays on the Galaxy Note at IFA earlier in the month, we can’t help but wish the EPIC 4G Touch had stepped up to qHD 960 x 540 resolution at least. Nonetheless, it’s responsive and great for video watching.

Samsung EPIC 4G Touch hands-on demo

Under the display run four touch-sensitive buttons, for menu, home, back and search, losing the physical home key in the process. Volume is on the left edge and power on the right, though there’s no dedicated camera shortcut.

A 3.5mm headphone jack is on the top edge, and a microUSB port on the bottom. Around the back, Samsung’s 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash can be found, capable of 1080p Full HD video recording, and there’s a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video calls above the display.

The larger screen makes for a slightly larger phone, with the EPIC 4G Touch coming in at 129.9 x 69.6 x 9.59 mm and 129g (versus the 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.49 mm and 116g of the original). Still, it’s pocket-friendly and, while those with smaller hands may feel a little foolish holding such a broad, thin slab to their face for voice calls, you quickly get used to it.

Inside is the same 1.2GHz dual-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM and running Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread with Samsung’s TouchWiz 4.0 modifications (more on which in the next section). You also get both EVDO Rev.A support and WiMAX, WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. The microUSB port supports MHL HDMI to hook up your HDTV.

Software and Performance

It’s business as usual with Android on the EPIC 4G Touch. Samsung’s TouchWiz interface still isn’t our favorite modification to the Google OS, but it’s certainly better in its current incarnation than earlier reskins. As well as a colorful new set of icons – which seem pretty much designed to show off the Super AMOLED Plus panel’s abilities – there’s the various Samsung Hubs.

Hands-on EPIC 4G Touch with Philip Berne

Samsung is particularly pushing the Media Hub, its own iTunes alternative offering movie and TV show downloads, and supporting progressive downloading to reduce the waiting period before you can actually start watching. However there’s also the Social Hub, which is more of an aggregator, pulling together your email, text and picture messaging, and Facebook and Twitter activity.

Galaxy S II USA release full new features rundown by Gavin Kim

Kies Air remains one of our favorite tools from the original Galaxy S II review, allowing you to log into your EPIC 4G Touch from your browser when it’s on the same WiFi network, and access contacts, bookmarks, messages, photos, music and video. It works well, though Samsung still doesn’t offer a web-based remote track and sync service as HTC does.

As for raw benchmarks, the EPIC 4G Touch scored around 3,200 in Quadrant Advanced. That’s a little less than the original GSM Galaxy S II, which managed 3,540 in our original review. WiMAX performance, meanwhile, does nothing to change our stance on it being one of the lesser 4G options. We saw average download speeds of 4Mbps and upload speeds of 1.8Mbps. Contrast that with the 13Mbps downloads and 3Mbps uploads we saw on LTE with the DROID BIONIC, and it’s clear WiMAX falls short.

Camera

The 8-megapixel camera on the Galaxy S II remains one of the best smartphone shooters around, and the EPIC 4G Touch is little different. Still images are bright and clear, colors accurate, with the handset quick to lock focus. It’s easy to frame pictures too, given the big display that’s bright enough to be seen outdoors. The LED flash is, as always, the weakest point – being underwhelming in comparison to, say, a proper Xenon – but it’s good enough to make closer nighttime shots a possibility. Video, meanwhile, is recorded at up to Full HD resolution, and is smooth and jag-free.

Samsung EPIC 4G Touch 1080p sample video

Phone and Battery

As a CDMA/WiMAX-only device, with no GSM/UMTS fallback for travelers, the EPIC 4G Touch is limited for business users who often find themselves abroad. Still, voice quality is strong and we have no complaints about either the Samsung’s earpiece or speakerphone performance.

Battery life, meanwhile, was on a par with the Galaxy S II GSM original, at least when using 3G and WiFi. That means a full day of use on a charge, impressive given the size of the display. Switch on WiMAX, if you have coverage, and you’ll see the battery gage rapidly decrease, a side-effect of 4G that manufacturers are yet to address. You can share the data connection using the mobile hotspot app, though don’t expect more than a few hours of runtime in that situation.

Wrap-Up

Make no mistake, this is pretty much the same Galaxy S II we know and love. The display may be slightly bigger, and the phone itself a little larger, but the speedy processor and excellent camera remain. WiMAX is less appealing than the 4G name might suggest, however.

Time has taken the shine off a few of the specs, however. Super AMOLED Plus may be as much of a treat for the eyes as ever, but WVGA resolution is looking underwhelming when Motorola and HTC are offering qHD on their flagships. The plastic chassis is par for the Samsung course, meanwhile, but we can’t help but wish the company had found some metal to use instead.

Nonetheless, it’s hard not to fall for the EPIC 4G Touch’s charms, though it’s worth noting that they’re shared by T-Mobile’s fast approaching Samsung Galaxy S II along with the benefit of international support from the GSM handset. Had WiMAX delivered the 4G speeds we’re used to from, say, LTE, then that would have been a suitably epic reason to pick the EPIC 4G. Without them, we’d probably opt for the increased flexibility of GSM.

This version of the game features all awesome bits you’ve been perhaps seeking before you’ve gotten a full taste of the game, that being multiplayer mode, the career, the purchasing of multiple cars as you advance through the game, and now you’ve got a brand new car through a special WCG 2011 menu, a car by the name of “Samsung WCG 2011″! Elite and amazing! What we can hope for now is this awesome offer to jump over to the rest of the Galaxy S II units in the world (namely the USA versions coming out this month) and for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to get it too.

Everyone deserves the right to play this fracking amazing game! That said, yours truly is already playing it on several devices including the desktop – where it almost seems TOO good. Next we’ve got to pay close attention to Gameloft in the future, not only because they’ve released some pretty awesome games already, but because a tie-in with an event such as this means they’ve only got one direction to go in: up!

Check out how many times the word Gameloft has come up in reviews of devices – they’re getting in where they fit in!

Thanks for the tip, Jim!

While there were certainly no mentions of the HP / Palm / soon to be anyone’s game mobile operating system webOS in the main set of presentations at the Android-centric Samsung Galaxy S II event this week, the press attending the event certainly had the very recently and suddenly newsworthy OS on their minds and on their lips. More than one conversation outside the event while waiting for the epic gigantic metal Samsung panel to open and let the press in centered around the perhaps now defunct (yet again, surprisingly popular suddenly) HP TouchPad and its webOS operating system – of course each of these conversations then led to talks of how soon each of the obvious TouchPad owners would be getting Android loaded aboard via hacks of many kinds.

After the Galaxy S II announcements, SlashGear (via your humble narrator) spoke briefly with Kim about the new Android devices, congratulating him on his excellent presentation of their new features. [Editor's note: Check out our video of this presentation to see the skills.] As a question about whether or not Samsung planned to take part in the future possibility of licensing webOS for use on new hardware, Kim assured us that while he could not react or speculate on webOS, especially since it’s, as he noted, “not my team, not what I do”, he did note that, as we should know and remember,

“With Samsung it’s always been a publicly stated strategy for Samsung that we will support any operating system that the market expects us to deliver.” – Gavin Kim, Samsung Vice President – Consumer & Enterprise Services

In other words, and of course the following sentence is purely speculation on my part, Samsung will support webOS if webOS becomes a viable option for Samsung to support. For example, if the recent fire sale of HP TouchPads actually did result in a completely sold-out set of warehouses for HP and the owners of said tablets start wishing for the expansion of the webOS mobile operating system, you can bet your hat Samsung (and whichever other kindhearted manufacturer(s) that decide to heed the call) will be there to work with consumers to bring them what they want.

Of course since the day we spoke with Kim, Samsung CEO Choi Gee Sung has stamped out rumors of Samsung right-out purchasing HP’s webOS platform, saying Samsung would “never” pursue such a deal. Instead Choi noted the following:

“It’s not right that acquiring an operating system is becoming a fashion. [We're working on our own operating system Bada] harder than people outside think.” -Choi Gee Sung at IFA 2011 in Berlin

As far as the Galaxy S II lineup went, on a wholly different subject here with Android mobile OS once again in NYC, Kim reacted in a very similar way to when he addressed the webOS situation. We asked Kim whether or not the Samsung Galaxy S II line would expand in the same way the original Galaxy S line expanded with, for example, the Samsung Continuum, a device branded with the Galaxy S logo on the back but given a separate name for sales at Verizon due to its unique nature, (having 2 displays, for starters). Kim let us know that he couldn’t comment on such things other than to say that what we saw in the presentation was the full extent of the Galaxy S II model in the USA.

Kim’s response, again in my speculative view of course, makes us believe that, first of all, Verizon will not be getting a Galaxy S II model as it exists today on the other three top carriers in the United States. What’s left open, on the other hand, is a nearly infinite array of other names the Samsung brand could tac on to future devices, not necessarily holding the Galaxy S II brand logo, but having similar functionality and features in the future. As the Galaxy S II is likely to elicit a positive response from the USA as it launches across the country, we would expect that Samsung’s future releases would follow the gadget evolution line and grow with the punches.

The first thing you should be noting whilst comparing the Galaxy Note and the Tab 7.7 is that they’ve both got a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution AMOLED display, the different between then being the size of the screen, (7.7-inches on the Tab 7.7 and 5.3-inches on the Note), and the name Samsung gives each of their displays: the 7.7 has what Samsung calls a Super AMOLED Plus display while the Note has what Samsung calls an HD Super AMOLED. Because both of these devices have the same number of pixels across different size screens, the Galaxy Note wins out with 285ppi, or pixels per inch.

Both of these larger devices are able to offer both voice and data connectivity, in this case meaning you can use the pair of them like smartphones in every respect. This means holding these relatively large devices up to the side of your head like your average cellphone, perhaps looking foolish in the process.

Galaxy Tab 7.7

The newest member of the Galaxy Tab family has a fully aluminum chassis, a 7-inch display, 3G HSPA+ connectivity, and is both small enough to place in your pocket (if you’ve got a bit pocket, that is,) and large enough to play all your favorite bigtime dual-core games. You’ve got a powerful 1.4 GHz dual-core processor under the hood, and with such a tablet comes the ability to avoid the slightly larger and perhaps, dare I say, more cumbersome Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the upcoming 8.9. Check out our hands-on post from IFA 2011 for a closer look at the device.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 hands-on:

Galaxy Note

Samsung presents this next-generation device whom they’ve dubbed the king of the new size, that being a perfect point between tablet and smartphone. This device has, again, the same resolution display as the Galaxy Tab 7.7, but it’s got a 5.3-inch panel displaying it so it’s much more sharp and brilliant. You’ve also got a pen stylus that’s able to sit inside the device while you’re not using it, a “silo” if you will for convenient carrying on the go. This device represents a new generation, if Samsung has their way, and has the potential to swallow up a market that hasn’t yet even really been addressed anywhere in the world in the history of mobile connectedness. Check out our Galaxy Note hands-on post from IFA 2011 for a closer look at the device in its current form.

Samsung Galaxy Note hands-on:

Galaxy S II

This device is one of the hottest selling smartphones of 2011 and promises to continue its reign over Android devices in the world through at least the next few months as its released in several different iterations in the USA. This device has Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus display, this time at 800 x 480 pixels resolution over a 4.3-inch panel. This device you can see in full-on action in several reviews and hands-on looks on SlashGear:
Samsung Galaxy S II Original International Edition Review
Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch Hands-On
T-Mobile Galaxy S II 4G Hands-OFF
AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Hands-On

Samsung Galaxy S II Review:

Compared

Each of these devices have a massive battery capable of more than a day’s worth of work. Each of these devices is capable of acting like a smartphone, with both mobile data and voice, and if you’d like to hold them up to your head to make a traditional looking phone call, you can certainly do that. Have a look and Chris Davies doing so here, first with the Galaxy Note:

Then with the Galaxy Tab 7.7:

Looks nice, yes?

Now you’ve got the choice between the three, right? Not necessarily. Each of these devices has the ability to act in a unique way, working with you to connect you to the mobile internet at all times of the day. Each of these devices has one of the most brilliantly bright and sharp displays in the world, and they’re all running Samsung’s unique version of TouchWiz, slightly different for each of them, over the top of the most updated version of stock Android.

You could have the choice between these devices, but you might as well go ahead and buy all three, right? Not so fast. What Samsung has done here with the Galaxy Note in particular is to challenge the idea that you need more than one device. They say they’re challenging you to only use this singular device, but you know good and well that if one of these devices seems enticing to you, they all do to some degree or another.

We shall see how they all sell (and continue to sell) in the near future.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

Here’s where the real fire came into play, with Samsung revealing two outstanding Android devices that are sure to set the tablet world on fire – only the second and most superstar-classification-worthy of which Samsung doesn’t define as a tablet at all. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first there’s the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the next in a line of successful Samsung Android tablets to feature Android 3.x Honeycomb with TouchWiz UX, a custom tablet interface for Android devices, working on top of it. What’s perhaps most impressive about this tablet (beyond the fact that it’s got a wholly metal chassis) is the fact that it’s got the largest (7.7-inch) Super AMOLED Plus display on an Android device thus far on Earth. Brightness! Check out our [original announcement thread] or head straight to our [Galaxy Tab 7.7 hands-on post] for a video exploration of the tablet in full brilliance.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 hands-on:

Also take a look at the already massively popular post by the name of [Will carriers kill the Galaxy Tab 7.7?] for all your discussion needs.

Samsung Galaxy Note

Samsung this week announced what they’re calling a whole new category in the mobile environment, that being what they’ve found to be the perfect blend of large screen size and small portability, all with a brand new “HD Super AMOLED” display for the brightest and sharpest look at Android yet. If there’s one device Samsung has chosen this week to be its hero device, this is it.

Check out our [original announcement post] or head straight to our [Galaxy Note hands-on] post complete with, again, brilliant video with hands-on pro Chris Davies.

Samsung Galaxy Note hands-on:

Cameras

Samsung has introduced several cameras this week, the first of which being the NX200, a single 20.3 megapixel camera with the ability to shoot continuous photos at 7 frames per second, an APS-C CMOS sensor, and 100ms Advanced auto focus. This device also has a gigantic amount of interchangeable lenses to go with it, looking like an explorer in the lens jungle in its first press shots. [announcement post]

Next there’s the Samsung WB750, a ultra-zoom capable Schneider Kreuznach device with 18x optical zoom and 24x Smart Zoom inside. This device is also capable of shooting 10 megapixel photos at the same time it’s recording 1080p video, and 12.5 megapixel resolution photos at 10 frames per second in high-speed continuous mode. [announcement post]

Finally there’s the Samsung MV800, a point-and-shoot camera with a giant flip-out and swivel LCD display so that you’ll be able to snap photos with preview in any way shape or form. This camera is rated at 16.2 megapixels, the LCD flip-out display is a 3-inch LCD, and a slew of special effects in-camera for all your odd editing needs. [announcement post]

Notebooks

There’s a single notebook to be had this week from Samsung as far as the IFA Unpacked event went, that being the Samsung Series 7 CHRONOS, a device which we spoke about earlier this week then were treated to a slight more formal look at later in the week.

Smart TV

As far as new announcements on the Samsung front this week, one news bit stood out from the rest: Samsung’s YouTube 3D partnership. How apt would you be to purchase a Samsung Smart TV with 3D capabilities if you had an infinite free library of content on your hands as opposed to the scant selection of 3D Blu-ray disks out there today? [original announcement post]

Wave Smartphones

Samsung brought some fire to their very own mobile operating system with three new bada 2.0-based devices, the first and most impressive of which was the Wave 3, a lovely 4-inch display having 1.4GHz toting smartphone with all your favorite bada amenities. The other two bada 2.0 devices announced this week were the Wave Y and the Wave M, all three of these devices set to be released soon. [original announcement post]

We were also given the opportunity land a hands-on with the Wave 3, this being an experience you can share with us in our Samsung Wave 3 hands-on post featuring Chris Davies on the handling, complete with video. Look like a winner compared to Samsung’s Android offerings?

Samsung Wave 3 hands-on:

Windows Tablets

If there’s one thing we did NOT expect to come out of the Samsung labs this week, it was the Samsung Series 7 Slate, a tablet PC running Windows 7. Luckily it won’t be stuck on the near-dead Windows 7 platform for long, as it comes ready to update to Windows 8 nearly right out of the gate. [original announcement post]

Amazing offering this week Samsung, keep it up!

Kim lets us know that the Galaxy S II series in the USA will indeed be running the newest version of Samsung TouchWiz UI, this, for those of you that don’t know, is a set of enhancements Samsung has added on top of Android so that their devices work in the way they see as most positive for the end user. What you’ll find is the Kim tells us about, first of all, the new cleanliness of TouchWiz, a brand new set of abilities you’ve got as far as resizing widgets, moving app icons to the pages you want, and even re-organizing your apps drawer to the order you like best.

One of the greatest things you’re going to find going on in this newest version of TouchWiz is a set of customizability options that up until now you’d have had to go to a 3rd party developer to get through a homescreen replacement app. If you have no idea what a homescreen replacement app is, you’re going to be EXTRA pleased by your ability to arrange your homescreens and app drawer the way you want it.

Kim also goes into Samsung’s Social Hub app briefly, showing us that we’re able to aggregate all of our social networks into a single feed list, each item able to be accessed at will. One single inbox for all of your social interaction. You can also view messages from social contacts in Conversation View allowing you to differentiate your exchanges from other friends and foes of yours, and Kim reminds us that Social Hub is included on every one of the different versions of the Galaxy S II as well.

Have a peek at the video and stay tuned to our [Galaxy S II] and [Samsung] hubs for more news galore this whole week – that’s right, we’re in Berlin as well for Samsung’s Unpacked event at IFA 2011 aus Deutschland – join us live as we broadcast on site!

It is truly the first world problem of our generation – which device will you choose? Do you have the need for the largest most brightest display of them all with the 4.5-inch Infuse 4G, or do you just need that dual-core Exynos 1.2 GHz processor so bad you’re willing to shave off a 0.2-inches off your viewer? My god. How will you ever decide?

Aside from that, you’ve got the 8.89mm thin chassis, thinner than the other two versions of the Galaxy S II revealed today, 8 megapixel camera on the back, 2 megapixels on the front, 1080p video recording, Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, optional USB host kit, optional HDMI connector (the same one you’ll find included in the Infuse 4G package, right out of the box that is,) and a bunch of goodies like Wi-Fi calling, the game NOVA 2 HD pre-loaded, Bluetooth 3.0, and Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 8 devices if that’s your desire.

Have a look at our hands-on video above, then have a deep look at our vast collection of photos below. Also stay tuned to SlashGear because this is only the beginning of our coverage of this event in NYC and the devices it brought forth – videos galore!

This device is the first of several Samsung Galaxy S II based devices to be released here in the United States, this WiMAX version sporting a collection of carrier-based apps alongside what Samsung has revealed as a brand new twist on their TouchWiz interface. Another spec you may recognize from the original version of the Galaxy S II is the 1.2GHz dual-core processor under the hood – this combined with the gigantic 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display we’ve seen in action before on our Samsung Infuse 4G from AT&T is set up to be a double-whammy without a doubt.

What we’re seeing here with our own fingers wrapped around the device is a very similar device to what we’ve seen in the Galaxy S II released internationally and the Infuse 4G, again a 4.5-inch Samsung device with a single-core processor. This WiMAX version of the device has a unique bit of hardware wrapped around it, a slightly different and more round feeling device than the AT&T version of the device. Have a look at our hands-on video here for the full rundown.

Also head back to the original announcement post for a total in-depth look at what the specs are as we know them right this moment. Spoiler: this is the first Galaxy S II set to be released here in the United States, with the AT&T version to come next, followed by the T-Mobile version last.