Released back in 2011, the Samsung Galaxy S II took the world by storm. Both critics and users liked it for a number of reasons, such as the great camera, thin, lightweight body, and capable dual-core processor, which is probably why the device eventually ended up in the pockets of over 40 million users worldwide.
Now – almost two years after the former flagship's introduction, a refreshed model has arrived. Referred to as the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus, it offers pretty much nothing new in terms of hardware specs, but comes with Andorid 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, along with the company's latest custom interface, which is packed with handy features. Obviously, the handset can't fit into the high-end category anymore, but it could potentially turn out to be a decent mid-range device offering good value for its money.
Before we begin our Samsung Galaxy S II Plus preview, we must note that the unit we have on our hands is just a prototype. In other words, it runs an early software build, which is still somewhat buggy, so we won't draw any final conclusions about the device yet. We can still take a good look at it, of course, and see what the smartphone is shaping up like, so join us for a ride on the Galaxy S II Plus and read along.
Design:
Instead of the curvy lines and rounded corners that Samsung's recent Androids are associated with, the Galaxy S II Plus exhibits a rectangular design, which it has adopted from its predecessor – the highly-acclaimed-yet-aging Galaxy S II. In fact, if it wasn't for the fancy paint job that the new model has been treated to, one would have a really hard time telling the two devices apart since their shape is practically identical.
You can compare the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.
But despite the obvious contradiction with the maker's current design principles, we don't really have anything against the appearance of the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus. The smartphone is both as slim and light as the mid-rangers it will be competing against, and a single thumb is enough to operate it efficiently once you get accustomed to its proportions. Besides, the device's Hyperglaze-inspired finish looks quite appealing, regardless of whether you pick its blue or white variant. There's one downside to it, however, namely that fingerprints tend to stick to the handset's shiny surface rather easily, but at least they are relatively easy to get rid of.
There's an excellent set of physical buttons present on the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus – all of them are well exposed and click nicely when pressed. The volume rocker is on the left side of the device while the lock key is on the right side so that both can be easily reached by lefties and right-handed folks alike.
Display:
The days when WVGA displays were cutting edge are far behind us, so the 4.3-inch, 480 by 800 pixel panel on the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus can hardly impress us with its pixel density. Of course, the screen is very much usable, especially if those higher resolution displays haven't spoiled you yet, but traces of pixelation are indeed noticeable and the paragraphs of text in web pages are unreadable unless you zoom in. On the other hand, we quite like the display's accurate (for an AMOLED panel) color reproduction, with vivid, yet not overly exaggerated hues. Moreover, it shines really brightly so using the smartphone under the sun's scorching rays is actually not much of a hassle.
Interface:
You get Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box with the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus, and the maker's nature-inspired user interface is layered on top of it. The latter brings along plenty of handy features that stock Android lacks, such as Smart Stay, which prevents the smartphone's display from turning off as long as you're looking at it, and Direct Call, which dials the number of a contact you're viewing as soon as you bring the handset next to your ear. Of course, Jelly Bean solidifies the positive user experience even further with its increased responsiveness over older Android versions. One notable feature that is missing on our preview Samsung Galaxy S II Plus unit, however, is Google Now with its intelligent search and cards of information that pop-up when you need them, but our guess is that it should be available on a retail unit.
Processor and Memory:
While the old-school Samsung Galaxy S II was equipped with a dual-core, 1.2GHz Exynos chip, the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus makes do with a SoC made by Broadcom, which also offers two Cortex-A9 cores running at 1.2GHz. On paper, its performance should be identical to that of Samsung's Exynos 4210, but we'll give it a proper testing when the time is right. There's a respectable 1GB of RAM on board and 8GB are allocated for all your storage needs (user-available capacity will be less). However, a 16GB variant of the Galaxy S II Plus is not out of the question since that's how much storage our prototype unit has to offer, but Samsung has yet to confirm officially the existence of such model. Behind the smartphone's back cover resides a microSD card slot that can take cards of up to 64GB in size.
Web Browser and Connectivity:
The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus comes with a stock web browser offering cool features like saving web pages for offline reading and placing web shortcuts to a home screen, but the option for automatic brightness adjustment is now absent for some reason. Adobe Flash is also missing, as it is on most recent Android devices, but there are ways of installing it manually if needed.
Connectivity-wise, the Galaxy S II Plus offers all of the features its predecessor had in stock, such as 21Mbps HSPA+, a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and FM radio, but now the GPS radio is complemented with support for GLONASS, which should result in improved accuracy. There will be an NFC-capable variant of the smartphone as well.
Camera:
Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus offers an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with single LED flash. The snapper is touted for being free of shutter lag and capable of taking 1080p video at 30 frames per second. Unfortunately, the camera software on our unit was kind of twitchy so don't judge its quality by the several photo samples that you'll find below.
The camera interface on the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus does not differ from what you'd see on high-end models like the Galaxy Note II or Galaxy S III. What we like about it is how much control it gives to the user with its numerous scene modes and all the camera settings you can tweak. The two slots for shortcuts are very handy for enabling quick access to modes and settings you use most often.
Samsung Galaxy S II Plus Sample Video:
Samsung Galaxy S II Plus Indoor Sample Video:
Multimedia:
At first, the default music player on the Galaxy S II Plus seems rather stock-ish, but it does come with a few very neat additional features. One of them is the 7-band equalizer and all of its presets, complemented by several audio enhancements that add extra bass and reverb effects to your music. The other cool thing that the player can do is to build playlists of songs based on a mood you specify, ranging from exciting and joyful to calm and passionate. That is done via Music square, which scans your library and picks the tracks that suits your preferences best.
The video player refused to cooperate most of the time during our testing, but when it did work, it could handle 1080p video without breaking a sweat. It doesn't offer much in terms of advanced features, but one unique thing it can do is to play video in a separate window, which hovers above your home screen.
Expectations:
Looking at what the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus is shaping up like, we find it safe to say that it's going to be a mid-range Android smartphone worthy of attention. Yes, we know that its hardware specs are so 2011, but in reality, an alternative handset of this class will have about the same bang to buck ratio.
On the other hand, we're very disappointed to see that a “Plus” refresh to a 2011 top-of-the-line handset offers nothing to justify its name with other than a new coat of paint and a software update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which the old-school Samsung Galaxy S II is expected to get anyway, along with the maker's Nature UI and its standout features. It would have made more sense if the old model was nowhere to be found on the market, but as a matter of fact, it is still available via many retailers online, and we doubt that the supposedly superior Plus model is any better than the old one.
Perhaps the real reason why Samsung is launching the S II Plus is that it managed to bring down its production costs to a very low level and will attempt to squeeze even more profit out of its former Android flagship, but whether it will succeed is anyone's guess at this time. To tell you the truth, the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus can't get us excited, but we'll give it our final verdict once we get to play with a final unit.
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