Have been using the Samsung Galaxy S2 for about 6 months now and really impressed with it. It has been crowned phone of the year for 2011 and it’s easy to understand why once you get to use it day in day out. People will argue the Apps are not as polished as Apples iOS but in the six months I have used it I have seen lots of mainstream companies releasing apps for both iOS and Android Market. I will just draw up a few pros and cons of the phone to give it a fair run and just run through some of the Apps that I would use most frequently.
First up, my previous phone was the iPhone 3GS. Straight out of the box the S2 is much much faster, more responsive and the battery life was much better. There are more variables you can change to lengthen then battery life on the S2 as opposed to just changing the screen brightness on the iPhone.
The camera is amazing. Crystal clear 8.0 megapixel and records video in 1080p High Definition. You wouldn’t know you had taken the photos with a camera phone when you see the results. There are many settings to be played such as the normal shot settings you would find on a point and shoot camera, from light mode to shooting scene. A nice addition is it has inbuilt Panoramic Shots as a feature. The only drawback I could find is the flash, it actually is TOO powerful. It’s very sharp and bright, which sometimes can overblind or pick the wrong object in some shots. Again this could be as a result of me having it on the wrong setting.
Below is a screen grab of my Home-Screen. These are the most common used apps:
Music: Pretty standard music player, does what it says on the tin really. A major plus is you don’t have to connect it to a laptop to update tracks / albums / playlists. You can remove songs and copy songs as you see fit within the user interface.
Youtube: Video looks great on the big 4.2 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen. I prefer this native app than the one available in iOS, much more user friendly.
Internet: Allows for multiple windows and opens all pages (including Flash) as they would appear on a desktop / laptop.
Endomondo: Great app for training (Cycling / Running / Walking). It follows the GPS of your phone to track your workouts so you can measure distance, lap times and even calories burnt. All uploaded to their main site / community where you can add other people as friends or just to track your own progress.
Livescore: Handy app for keeping up to date with sports results if you can’t watch it / be there. I use it for soccer, covers the League or Ireland and also UK Premiership.
The Journal: Irish News app which is a great portal for their main site.
Gallery: Although a native app I thought I might mention it as Android really have the whole ‘Sharing’ concept down to a T. Within Gallery you store all your photos / videos which can be shared within seconds to your other apps installed (Twitter, WordPress etc.). All the functionality is inbuilt into the user interface, something iOS is only getting to grips with now.
Facebook: I think it doesn’t matter if you are on Android or iOS, the FB app could be a lot better than it currently is. Just when they seem to be getting it right they launch an update which brings it ten steps back.
Vignette: When I left my iPhone days behind me one thing I really missed were the Camera Apps. I had used Camera+ and Instagram which could really take some decent shots considering it was only a 3 megapixel camera. Vignette offers the same kind of filters / colour saturation and lets you border and share images. Couple that with the 8.0mp camera and nice light filled lens It takes some really nice shots. There are plenty of camera apps available on the Android Market but this one I can’t recommend enough! Worth the few quid to go Pro too!
Plume: Having used TweetCaster and the Twitter app prior to Plume I can easy say, for functionality, this is the best app I have used for Twitter on Android.
Gmail: Overall not as nice as the integrated mail system on iOS but still as usable. Multiple accounts with all your contacts right there.
WhatsAPP: A must for anyone using a smartphone. Using data you can send text / images / video / voice / share location. Cross platform too so regardless if you are on Android, iOS or Blackberry it is a great way to communicate.
Also on the Task Bar I have installed Handcent SMS and use this rather than the native Message App for Android. It is more customisable with different themes and makes using SMS that bit better.
Verdict: Over all there were some functions and aspects that I did miss about using an iPhone but when you really get to use the S2 and see how powerful it is, it leaves the iPhone behind. No amount of telling your phone to remind you to turn the immersion off when you get home will ever change that.
All of the apps listed can be found on the Android Market
