Spend your holiday cash on a Galaxy S II: a hands-on video rundown

By Chris Burns/Dec. 23, 2011 4:12 pm EST

With all attention turned to the Galaxy Nexus in these last weeks of the year, one should not fail to consider that there is an alternative for those of you out there in No Verizon Land, and it goes by the name of Galaxy S II. This device is a suite of devices, for those of you that haven't heard of it, and we've reviewed every single one of them (or pretty darn near) here on SlashGear. What you're about to dive into is an exploration of this family of devices courtesy of hands-on videos from our review team, everything from the original to the one with the longest name in Android history to the time Chris Davies did a video in a rally car. This is no ordinary phone, and your money is best spent here.

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!