Samsung Galaxy S II

The Galaxy S II was launched with Android 2.3 "Gingerbread". American variants began shipments with the slightly updated version 2.3.5 installed.[23][24] Version 2.3.6 was made globally available on 12 December 2011.[2][25] On 13 March 2012, Samsung began to roll out upgrades to Android 4.0.3 "Ice Cream Sandwich"[26] through their phone management software KIES to users in South Korea, Hungary, Poland and Sweden. Russian users received the update on 5 July 2012, while the rest of Europe received it on 1 August 2012.[27] In February 2013, Samsung began rolling out an update to Android 4.1.2 "Jelly Bean" for the device.[28]

The S II employs the TouchWiz 4.0 user interface, following the same principle as TouchWiz 3.0 found on the Galaxy S, with new improvements, such as hardware acceleration. It also has an optional gesture-based interaction called "motion" which (among other things) allows users to zoom in and out by placing two fingers on the screen and tilting the device towards and away from themselves to zoom in and out respectively. This gesture function works on both the web browser and the images in gallery[29] used within this device. "Panning" on TouchWiz 4.0 allows the movement of widgets and icons shortcuts between screens, by allowing the device to be held and moved from side to side to scroll through home screens. This gesture-based management of widgets is a new optional method next to the existing method of holding and swiping between home screens.[30] The Android 4.1 update backports the TouchWiz Nature interface and other features from the Galaxy S III, such as Direct Call, Pop-up Play, Smart Stay, and Easy Mode.[28]

Four new Samsung Hub applications were revealed at the 2011 MWC: Social Hub, which integrates popular social networking services into one place rather than in separate applications, Readers Hub, providing the ability to access, read and download online newspapers, ebooks and magazines from a worldwide selection, Music Hub (in partnership with 7digital,[31]) an application store for downloading and purchasing music tracks on the device, and Game Hub (in partnership with Gameloft,[31]) an application store for downloading and purchasing games. Additional applications include Kies 2.0, Kies Air,[32] AllShare (for DLNA), Voice Recognition, Google Voice Translation,[33] Google Maps with Latitude, Places, Navigation (beta) and Lost Phone Management, Adobe Flash 10.2, QuickOffice application and 'QuickType' by SWYPE.

Before launch, it was announced that Samsung had taken steps to incorporate Enterprise software for business users, which included On Device Encryption, Cisco’s AnyConnect VPN, device management, Cisco WebEx, Juniper,[34] and secure remote device management from Sybase.[35]

The Galaxy S II comes with support for many multimedia file formats and codecs. For audio it supports FLAC, WAV, Vorbis, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, MID, AC3, XMF. For video formats and codecs it supports MPEG-4, H.264, H.263, DivX HD/XviD, VC-1, 3GP (MPEG-4), WMV (ASF) as well as AVI (DivX)), MKV, FLV and the Sorenson codec. For H.264 playback, the device natively supports 8-bit encodes along with up to 1080p HD video playback.[36][37][38]

Unofficially, the Galaxy S II can run Android 12 "Snow Cone".[39][40]

Dismantled Samsung Galaxy S II in black, from left to right components include the handset, battery and back cover

The Galaxy S II has a 1.2 GHz dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor that uses Samsung's own 'Exynos 4210' System on a chip (SoC) that was previously code-named "Orion". The Exynos branded SoC was the source of much speculation concerning another branded successor to the previous "Hummingbird" single-core SoC of the Samsung Galaxy S. The Exynos 4 Dual 45 nm (previously Exynos 4210) uses ARM's Mali-400 MP GPU.[41][42] This graphics GPU, supplied by ARM, is a move away from the PowerVR GPU of the Samsung Galaxy S.[43]

The Exynos 4210 supports ARM's SIMD engine (also known as Media Processing Engine, or 'NEON' instructions), and may give a significant performance advantage in critical performance situations such as accelerated decoding for many multimedia codecs and formats (e.g., On2's VP6/7/8 or Real formats).[44][45][46]

The Mali 400 GPU in the Exynos 4210 SOC is one of the only, if not the only GPU powering Android devices, that does not support GL_RGB Framebuffer Objects (FBOs), only GL_RGBA. The newer Galaxy S II (9100G), based on the PowerVR SGX540, does not exhibit the issue.

At the 2011 Game Developers Conference ARM's representatives demonstrated 60 Hz framerate playback in stereoscopic 3D running on the same Mali-400 MP and Exynos SoC. They said that an increased framerate of 70 Hz would be possible through the use of an HDMI 1.4 port.[42]

The Motorola Atrix advertised in June 2011 that it was "the world's most powerful smartphone"; in August 2011 the UK Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the Atrix was not as powerful as Galaxy S II due to its faster processor.[47]

A newer Samsung Galaxy S II variant (i9100G) uses a 1.2 GHz dual core TI OMAP 4430 processor with PowerVR SGX540 graphics.[48]

The Galaxy S II has 1 GB of dedicated RAM and 16 GB of internal mass storage. Within the battery compartment there is an external microSD card slot capable of recognizing and using a 32 GB microSDHC memory card.[49]

The Samsung Galaxy S II uses a 108.5-millimetre (4.27 in)[11] WVGA (800 x 480) Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen that is covered by Gorilla Glass with an oleophobic fingerprint-resistant coating. The display is an upgrade of its predecessor, and the "Plus" signifies that the display panel has done away with Pentile matrix to regular RGB matrix display which results in a 50% increase in sub-pixels. This translates to grain reduction and sharper images and text. In addition, Samsung has claimed that Super AMOLED Plus displays are 18% more power efficient than the older Super AMOLED displays.[50] Some phones have display issues, with a few users reporting a "yellow tint" on the left bottom edge of the display when a neutral grey background is displayed.[51]

The Galaxy S II uses Yamaha audio hardware.[52] The Galaxy S II's predecessor, the original Galaxy S, used Wolfson's WM8994 DAC.[53] User feedback on Internet forums as well as an in-depth review at Clove,[52] have expressed the Yamaha chip's inferior sound quality compared to that of the Wolfson chip featured in the original Galaxy S.

On the back of the device is an 8-megapixel Back-illuminated sensor[54] camera with single-LED flash that can record videos in full high-definition 1080p at 30 frames per second.

It is the first mobile phone by Samsung Mobile that is able to record videos in full high-definition (FullHD 1080p).

There is also a fixed focus front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video calling, taking photos as well as general video recording, with a maximum resolution of 640x480 (VGA).

The Galaxy S II is one of the earliest Android devices to natively support NFC Near field communication.[34] This follows on from the Google Nexus S which was the first de facto NFC smartphone device.[55] Reportedly the UK version was supplied without an NFC chip at the beginning of its production run,[56] with an NFC-equipped version released later in 2011.[57]

Samsung has also included a new high-definition connection technology called Mobile High-definition Link (MHL). The main specialty of MHL is that it is optimized for mobile devices by allowing the device's battery to be charged while at the same time playing back multimedia content.[58] For the Galaxy S II, the industry standard micro USB port found on the bottom of the device can be used with an MHL connector for a TV out connection to an external display, such as a high definition television.[59]

The micro USB port on this device also supports USB OTG standard which means the Galaxy S II can act as a 'host' device in the same way as a desktop computer, allowing external USB devices to be plugged in and used.[10] These external USB devices typically include USB flash drives and separately powered external hard drives. A video demonstration on YouTube[60] has shown the OTG function to be readily available with an ordinary micro USB (B-type) OTG adaptor. The same YouTube video goes on to mention a successful test completed on a 2 TB USB external hard drive (requiring own power source) but however reports of failure when trying to connect USB keyboards, tested USB mice and tested USB game pads. Currently the only file-system supported for USB drives within OTG is FAT32.

A 3.5 mm TRRS headset jack is available and is located on the top side of the device. The micro USB connection port is located on the bottom side of the device.

CC3920, 67783, And 3392910. [61][62] Phones released to the US market lack the FM receiver. BCM4330 supports Wi-Fi Direct that enable devices to communicate directly with one another without having to interact with an access point. Although the BCM4330 chip supports Bluetooth 4.0, the Galaxy S2 is limited to Bluetooth 3.0 using the last Android version released by Samsung (4.1.2). Bluetooth 4.0 support has been introduced in Android 4.3 versions, however the upgrade to an alternative firmware is required.

Additional accessories available include:

• Dock connector for battery charging and audio-visual output[63]
• MHL cable which makes use of the device's micro USB port for HDMI output[63]
• USB OTG adaptor for use with external USB devices such as USB flash drives.[10]
• Stylus pen for use on the device's capacitive screen.[63] Support for a stylus on the Galaxy S II was a precursor to the Samsung Galaxy Note.
• A number of case manufacturers have released a variety of cases for the Galaxy S II.
• A Samsung branded Bluetooth headset for making phone calls.[64]
• A pair of portable speakers powered by the phone's USB port.[64]
• A vehicle mounting kit for dashboard placement of the phone, allows GPS navigation using the phone.[64]

The Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100G was released in late 2011, and is usually sold instead of the original GT-I9100 in certain markets (mostly Asia and some parts of Europe). An overview of the Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100G can be seen on Samsung's official website.[65] It features a Texas Instruments OMAP4430 SoC instead of the Exynos 4210 in the GT-I9100. It is visually identical to the GT-I9100, as well as having the same 1.2 GHz processor speed and dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor technology. However, the SoC is of a different design and the Mali-400 GPU has been replaced by a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU. This difference in the SoC makes this variant incompatible with custom ROMs intended for the I9100, but it has been steadily gaining its own aftermarket support (such as from CyanogenMod[66]) due to the relative ease of development and the openness of the TI OMAP platform.

The Galaxy S II (Model GT-I9100T) sold by Telstra, Vodafone Australia and some certain other carriers outside Australia is virtually identical to the I9100 and is functionally equivalent.

In Australia the Galaxy S II 4G (Model GT-I9210T) uses a Qualcomm processor and supports Telstra's and Optus' 4G networks. However, analog radio and digital media are not supported.

Bell's Galaxy S II (Model GT-I9100M) Samsung Galaxy S II is identical to the international version except that its model number is GT I9100M. All custom ROMs running on international versions can be flashed to bell's Galaxy S II also.

Bell's Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE (Model SGH-I757M) is identical to the cancelled AT&T's Skyrocket HD hence making the device another variant of the South Korean model of the Galaxy S II HD LTE. One difference between the South Korean model and the Bell Mobility model is the lack of a physical home button, instead, four capacitive buttons are used, one of which directly replaces the physical home button. The specification of the device is identical to the South Korean model. However, different frequencies bands are enabled on this device.[67]

The Rogers Galaxy S II LTE (Model SGH-I727R) is identical to the AT&T Skyrocket, and features a larger screen 4.52", a bigger battery 1,850 mAh, and a different 1.5 GHz Qualcomm processor.

Rogers' Galaxy S Glide (Model SGH-I927) is the same phone with the same specs as the AT&T's Captivate Glide, except the carrier logo is on the back instead of behind the front glass panel.

Rogers launched the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE, launching in Fall 2011, soon after its LTE Launch in Toronto.[68]

Note that the Galaxy S II LTE has a different model number: I9210 and came out later and only in select markets, including Canada and South Korea.

Telus Mobility's 4G Galaxy S II X (Model SGH-T989D) has a Qualcomm 1.5 GHz dual core processor, larger 4.52 inch screen and 1,850 mAh battery, is thicker at 9.4 mm and has a different design.[69] There is a chrome band around the edge and the plastic on the back has a leathery feel.[70] Instead of the hardware home button, it has the standard four capacitive buttons. The Qualcomm processor allows for 42 Mbit/s HSPA+ download speeds that the Samsung Exynos processor is not currently capable of. It was released on 28 October 2011.

A subsidiary of Telus, Koodo Mobile, also offers the SGH-T989D.

The Samsung Galaxy S II (Model GT-I9108) was released in late 2011, and it is sold in China by China Mobile. It is identical to the GT-I9100G, featuring the same Texas Instruments OMAP4430 SoC with a 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor and PowerVR SGX 540 graphics processor. However, the GT-I9108 has TD-SCDMA support in place of WCDMA support found in other variants. The GT-I9108 is a regional model and has few available custom ROMs.

The Samsung Galaxy S II (Model SCH-I929) was released in late 2011, and it is sold in China by China Telecom. It is based on the design of Galaxy S II LTE (GT-I9210), but supports CDMA2000 1x EVDO for use with the carrier.

The Samsung Galaxy S II (Model GT-I9100P) was released in late 2011. It has the same hardware as GT-I9100 plus the NFC chip and battery (the battery is specific because it includes the antenna). To keep NFC enabled it is necessary to update the firmware using a P version. Any I9100 firmware can be used, but doing so will disable the NFC hardware.

GT-i9100 is a sim-free model released on 2 May 2011. This supports 2G/3G only.

The KDDI Au Galaxy S II WiMAX (Model: ISW11SC) was first released on 20 January 2012 in the color Noble Black and was followed by a Ceramics White model on 24 March 2012 and a Shiny Magenta model on 20 July 2012. The ISW11SC currently runs Android 4.0.4 via an OTA update from the original 2.3.6 firmware. The ISW11SC uses the Samsung Exynos 4210 dual-core 1.4 GHz main CPU and a Qualcomm QSC6085 Modem chipset running at 192 MHz. It features 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of ROM (11 GB available for user data storage) with support for up to 64 GB additional storage via the internal microSD slot. An 1850mAh battery powers the device. The ISW11SC features a Samsung SUPER AMOLED HD 1280x720 screen measuring 4.7 inches. Connectivity includes CDMA 800 MHz/2,100 MHz; 3G EV-DO Rev A; 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 3.0 and an integrated WiMAX modem with speeds up to 40Mbit/s down and 15.4Mbit/s up. Like most Japanese domestic model phones the ISW11SC includes many Japan-specific applications. This phone features NFC functionality which is technically compatible with FeliCa RFID (such as with PASMO and SUICA payment systems) however, the software doesn't support the Japanese "Osaifu Keitai" mobile wallet and thus the phone cannot be used to make transactions with NFC in Japan.

NTT DoCoMo introduced a variant of the Galaxy S II (Model SC-02C) on 23 June 2011 as the successor to the DoCoMo Galaxy S (Model SC-02B). The SC-02C includes 1seg terrestrial television support, as well as i-mode software functions specific to DoCoMo handsets, such as i-channel, BeeTV, MelodyCall and DoCoMo map navigation. The SC-02C is powered by the Samsung Exynos 4210 Orion Dual-core 1.2 GHz (S5PC210) processor. The SC-02C uses the Wnn Japanese input system.

All of variants optimized for use with South Korean wireless carriers have Samsung's Korean input system for feature phones, a Dubeolsik-layout virtual keyboard and a T-DMB tuner in place of an FM radio tuner.

The KT variant, the Galaxy S II KT (Model SHW-M250K) uses KT's Wi-Fi CM instead of Android's Wi-Fi CM to connect to Wi-Fi networks. Additional features for KT users are installed by default.

Instead of WCDMA and HSPA, LG U+'s variant of the Galaxy S II (Model SHW-M250L) uses EV-DO Rev.B (KPCS 1.8 GHz) to accommodate the network technology deployed by LG U+. The SHW-M250L is slightly thicker (9.4 mm) than SK Telecom and KT variants (8.89 mm). Additional features for LG U+ users are installed by default.

The SK Telecom variant of the Galaxy S II (Model SHW-M250S) uses the SK-MMS system instead of the OMA-MMS system for multimedia messaging. Additional features for SK Telecom users are installed by default.

AT&T Mobility began offering its first variant of the Galaxy S II (Model SGH-I777) on 2 October 2011. Prior to its release, AT&T Mobility's first variant of the device was code named "Attain" by Samsung.

The AT&T Mobility variant maintains the 4.3 inch display of the international version, but features four capacitive buttons.[24] It also includes NFC capability.[71]

AT&T Mobility introduced a second variant of the device called the Galaxy S II Skyrocket (Model SGH-I727) on 6 November 2011. Prior to its release, this second variant was code named "Skyrocket" by Samsung. This variant is similar to the international Samsung Galaxy S II LTE and is notable for its inclusion of an LTE radio. The inclusion of the LTE radio required changing the device's main processor from the Exynos to the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660 because the Exynos does not support LTE.[72] This version features the same 4.52 inch screen of the Sprint model. This variant supports Near Field Communications (NFC).

AT&T Mobility introduced a third variant called the Captivate Glide (Model SGH-I927) on 20 November 2011. The Captivate Glide differs from the other two AT&T Mobility variants primarily by the inclusion of a slide-out, physical QWERTY keyboard.[73] The Captivate Glide also includes a dual-core, 1 GHz Tegra 2 dual-core processor instead of a 1.2 GHz Exynos processor. The display of this third variant is Super AMOLED instead of Super AMOLED Plus and the display size is reduced to 4 inches.

Sprint's Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (Model SPH-D710)

The Sprint variant (Model SPH-D710) of the Galaxy S II was initially released as the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch and was later renamed to the simpler Galaxy S II 4G. Prior to its release, Sprint's variant was codenamed "Within" by Samsung. The SPH-D710 first became available for Sprint customers on 16 September 2011, making Sprint the first carrier in the United States to offer a variant of the S II.[74] The SPH-D710 is available to Sprint customers in black, titanium grey or white.

The Sprint variant has key differences from the "International" version of the Galaxy S II. The Sprint variant includes a 2500 MHz WiMax radio. The display of the Sprint variant, at 4.52 inches, is larger than that of the international version.[75] The Sprint variant features four touch-capacitive buttons as opposed to the three-button hardware/capacitive combination found on the international version. Other differences include an LED notification light and a larger, 6.66 Wh battery.

The Sprint variant does not come equipped with NFC capability, unlike the variants offered by T-Mobile US and AT&T Mobility.[76]

The Galaxy S II 4G is a touchscreen-only device, unlike the Epic 4G, which includes a physical QWERTY keyboard.

On 28 March 2013, the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean (GB27) update was released through the Samsung Kies software As of February 2014, there are no additional confirmed updates for this device.

The device has received 7 updates from Samsung since its original release on 16 September 2011.

Sprint has announced that on 6 November 2015 the Sprint WiMAX network will be decommissioned effectively removing 4G capabilities on the SPH-D710 model. Users will still have access to data service using the 3G network.[77]

Sprint subsidiaries Boost Mobile offers a Sprint SPH-D710 variant of the Galaxy S II 4G in both titanium grey or white options. Virgin Mobile offers a variant, model i9210, for their service.

Boost Mobile began the Samsung Galaxy S II 4G on 6 September 2012 for $369.99. Virgin Mobile USA began offering the Galaxy S II 4G on 15 November 2012 for $369.99.

In March 2013, the Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile variants were also updated along with Sprint's to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

T-Mobile USA began taking pre-orders for its variant (Model SGH-T989) of the Galaxy S II on 11 October 2011 and began selling it in stores on 12 October 2011.[78] Prior to its release, T-Mobile's variant of the device was code named "Hercules" by Samsung.

The T-Mobile variant has important key differences from the "International" version of the Galaxy S II. The T-Mobile variant uses a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm APQ8060 (S3) Snapdragon processor, as opposed to the 1.2 GHz dual-core Exynos processor of the International version because the Exynos processor is not compatible with T-Mobile's 42 Mbit/s HSPA+ network. The cellular radio of the T-Mobile supports UMTS bands I (2100 MHz), II (1900 MHz), IV (1700 MHz) and V (850 MHz). The display of the T-Mobile variant, at 4.52 inches, is larger than that of the international version. The T-Mobile variant features four touch-capacitive buttons as opposed to the three-button hardware/capacitive combination found on the international version, this variant of the smartphone uses the powerful Adreno-220 series GPU and supports up to version 4.4.4–based ROMs of the Android OS[79] The T-Mobile variant, like the AT&T variant, supports Near Field Communications (NFC) integrated in the battery, which has 6.85Wh capacity.[71]

As of 8 March 2013, the T-Mobile variant can be updated to Android 4.1.2 "Jelly Bean" using Samsung Kies.[80]

U.S. Cellular's variant (Model SCH-R760) is equivalent to the Sprint variant, except for one specification; the U.S. Cellular variant does not include a 2500 MHz WiMax radio.