The Samsung Galaxy S has been released just under a year ago, in June 2010, and has become one of the most successful Android phones on the market, selling over 15 million units worldwide. That’s almost as good as the Motorola Droid/Milestone, and it has really helped Android get to where it is today – the second bestselling mobile operating system in the world, going toe to toe with the iPhone and iPad.

The Galaxy S2 is here to impress you

But time doesn’t stay in one place, and even though the Galaxy S is still a very capable smartphone (the Hummingbird CPU and PowerVR SGX540 graphics adapter are actually faster than many second generation Snapdragon devices!), the time has come for the successor to take its place. Samsung has made a big deal out of it, hyping the Galaxy S2 more than any other phone, and it has paid off – the Galaxy S2 was one of the most popular devices at MWC 2011.

It’s not all because of marketing, of course – the Galaxy S2 is truly a great smartphone, which has the potential to become another Android hit and possibly outsell even the original Droid (now that the market has expanded to just under a hundred million users).

A 4.3 inch Super AMOLED+ display and a slim profile make it very appealing

On the outside, the new Galaxy S2 (officially spelled as Galaxy S II) hasn’t changed that much from the first model, however the changes are pretty visible. The shape is more rectangular now, and of course, the most noticeable difference is in the slimmer profile and bigger touch screen. Indeed, the Galaxy S2 is currently one of the slimmest smartphones on the market at 9mm, and it has a big 4.3 inch display (the same size as on the Evo 4G, for example). Thanks to the thin borders around it, the overall device size is the same as on the first Galaxy S – and the phone sits very well in your hand.

The display is manufactured using the new Super AMOLED Plus technology, which gives it better color reproduction, brightness and contrast than just about any other smartphone on the market, including the iPhone 4. Not only that, but the new screen also uses up to 60 percent less energy than the previous model, which is really impressive (it really has no drawbacks!).

Great build quality, an 8 megapixels camera and Android Gingerbread

The build quality of the case is simply great – the materials used are very high quality, and you won’t be able to break this bad boy anytime soon with even heavy everyday use. On the back of the device, you’ll find the new and improved 8 megapixels camera with a single LED flash, which can take HD videos (hopefully in 1080p resolution after a software update).

Of course, the phone has a dual core processor – Samsung’s own Orion, which also powers the Galaxy Tab, and 512 MB of RAM, which should be more than enough for any kind of apps. There should be no problems performance-wise on this device.

Samsung has also equipped the Galaxy S2 with the latest Android OS for smartphones, version 2.3.1 Gingerbread (with a future upgrade to a newer version, possibly 2.4 or even 3.0). On top of it runs the custom TouchWiz 4 interface – a move which will make some people angry (TouchWiz was always kind of buggy on other phones), but you can probably remove it if you’re tech-savvy enough.

Overall, the new Samsung Galaxy S2 is a worthy successor to the first Galaxy S and a proud bearer of the name. It is definitely going to be one of the best sellers this year – combining a stylish exterior with powerful internal hardware and a history of reliability never went wrong for any product.

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