T-Mobile's Samsung Galaxy S II is an application-processing workhorse with a strong battery. Just make sure you live in a region where the carrier serves proper 4G mobile broadband.
Earlier this
summer, I tested and reviewed Samsung's Galaxy S II Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Android 2.3 Gingerbread handsets on AT&T and Sprint's networks. I found both
to be speedy, reliable and enjoyable to use, whether accessing applications via
the carriers' 3G or 4G networks.
I'm well
acquainted with
AT&T and
Sprint's S II devices and all of their new
eccentricities, from the TouchWiz user interface with screen capture
capabilities and customizable widgets, to the phones' spectacular, low-latency
8-megapixel cameras.
So with that
backdrop, I've been using
T-Mobile's new Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone for
the last five days and I have to say it doesn't miss a beat from AT&T and Sprint's
S II's, even though it costs $229 on contract while its brothers cost $199 with
two-year deals.
I want to talk
about some of the differences I noticed with this handset, which like the
Sprint S II, Epic 4G Touch model has a spectacularly crisp, 4.52-inch Super
active-matrix organic LED Plus (Super AMOLED Plus) screen with an 800-by-480
resolution.
From a
physical standpoint, T-Mobile's model mirrors that of its brethren, except that
its titanium-colored plastic back has a less textured feel compared with the
other models,
which you can see side by side here.
T-Mobile's
handset is only 0.37 inches thin, which makes it fit nicely in the pocket. I'd
still argue, as I did discussing the Epic 4G Touch, that a 4.52-inch screen is
too big. Anything over 4.3 inches is too big in my hand for my usability preferences.
This phone and others like it are not for the small-handed.
Overall, if it
weren't for the T-Mobile branding on the top of the touch-screen display, it's
hard to distinguish between T-Mobile and Sprint's models. Under the hood, there
are more significant differences.
T-Mobile's
model employs a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S3 Snapdragon processor, compared with the
Samsung Exynos 1.2GHz chips fueling AT&T and Sprint's S IIs. So, supposedly
it's that much faster, but I'd be lying if I told you I could discern a
difference.
All three S
IIs process applications-ranging from Facebook and Twitter for Android to
YouTube clips-quite admirably. T-Mobile included a lot of bonus applications,
some of which are bloatware and some, such as Netflix, Zinio Reader and Slacker
Radio, may be convenient to satisfy users' entertainment media needs. I'm a
Netflix hog, so I appreciated not having to download the application.
T-Mobile's
network, which has always been iffy for me in Fairfield County, Conn., was
suspect despite the fact that my area is supposed to be blanketed by the
carrier in 4G coverage.
A drive from
my home to the Connecticut/New York border showed T-Mobile's network oscillate
from 3G to 4G repeatedly with no rhyme or reason. I got anywhere from 2M bps
download speeds on 3G to 8M bps downloads on 4G, based on Ookla's Speed Test
application for Android. That disparity is frustrating.
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