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Samsung Attain Review aka Galaxy S2 Review

Apple is  going after Samsung for many reasons, but according to many experts the trigger is the new device Samsung released in April 2011. It is not the Galaxy Tab but the Samsung Galaxy S2 also know Samsung Attain or Samsung within in US.

Android has been evolving fast and with Nexus series everyone was expecting the device can match , the market leader Apple. But it appears finally it was up to Samsung to bring the real iPhone competitor , in many ways a real iPhone beater. It will be really harsh to compare iPhone 4 with Samsung Attain,  the Galaxy S2 is more of a competitor for the next generation iPhone be it iPhone 4S or iPhone 5.  But while going over the comparison we will compare the device with iPhone 4, Motorola Atrix, Google Nexus S , Nokia N9 and Samsung Infuse 4G.

We will also use the names Samsung Galaxy S2, ATT Attain , Samsung Attain 4G, Samsung Within 4G (CDMA)  interchangeably. All the names refer to the one and only Samsung I9100 Galaxy S2 (SII) , the main difference would be Network frequencies if at all they exist.

Processing Power / RAM –

Samsung Attain probably defines the class of 2011 cellphones. It is the first major Cellphone to have a Dual Core processor and individual cores breaching 1GHz (clocked at 1.2GHz), but it appears Samsung has limited the clock frequencies to 1GHz only. It runs on the Samsung 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor (Dual Core) on the exynos (Samsung Orion) chipset. The Phone also boasts a 1GB RAM and  Mali-400MP GPU.  These specs alone would beat many mainstream computers few years ago. The Phone has 16GB/32GB memory option for storage.

Compare this to iPhone 4’s spec, it has 1GHZ Single Core Processor, 512 MB RAM and PowerVR SGX535GPU which are definitely one generation behind. And the Specs of  Samsung Attain (Samsung Within) most probably will also be the specs for next Gen iPhone.

Camera –

Samsung Attain is also the first phone which would bring Full HD Video Recording  ie 1080p @ 30fps. It also has 8MP camera with Auto focus and Geo tagging etc.  Samsung has also increased the front camera to a 2MP one from the VGA camera found on most models. Most of the current models have 720p video recording including the iPhone 4 , Samsung Infuse, Nokia N9 and Motorola Atrix (1080p with software update). Nokia N9 has fancy Carl Zeiss lens in place of the standard lens.

Samsung Attain (Samsung Galaxy S2)  –  8MP , 1080p Video
Samsung Infuse 4G – 8MP , 720p Video
Nokia N9 – 8MP , 720p Video (Carl Zeiss Lens)
iPhone 4 – 5MP , 720p Video
Motorola Atrix – 5MP , 1080p (with update)

Dimensions and Weight –

Samsung Galaxy S2 probably gets the sweet spot of the dimensions, little larger screen but thinner and lighter. This is not as large as the ATT Samsung Infuse 4G and not heavy like iPhone 4. It is definitely bigger than iPhone 4 due to bigger screen.

Samsung Galaxy S2 (Attain) – 125.3 X 66.1 X 8.49 mm
Nokia N9 – 116.45 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm
Samsung Infuse 4G – 132 x 71 x 9 mm
Iphone 4 – 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm
Motorola Atrix – 117.8 x 63.5 x 11 mm
Blackberry Torch – 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm

Weight comparison
Samsung Galaxy S2 (Attain) – 116 g
Nokia N9 – 135 g
Samsung Infuse 4G – 139 g
Iphone 4 – 137 g
Motorola Atrix – 135 g

Screen –
Samsung Galaxy S2 has 4.3 inch (480 x 800 pixels) Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen 16M colors. This is not upto iPhone’s pixel density but you cant really make it out either. The phone has capacitive touchscreen and is super responsive due to the Processing Power. Also sports the Corning Gorilla Glass found on other high end devices, the Gorilla glass much stronger and scratch resistant.

It also runs on Android 2.3, has a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. Uses A-GPS.
Supports
Audio formats
MP3, OGG, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB , AMR-WB, WMA, WAV, MID, AC3, IMY, FLAC, XMF
Video formats
MPEG4, H.264, H.263, WMV, DivX, Xvid, VC-1
Image formats
JPEG, PNG, GIF, WBMP, BMP, AGIF

The phone has a large 1650mAH battery, which seems to be drained easily. But it is expected, that this issue should be fixed with software updates.

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Samsung Galaxy S2 in US by July-August

Samsung Galaxy S2 is the most anticipated device among smartphone fans, even beating the expectations for iPhone 5. With Samsung Galaxy S2 already available in many countries and hitting top of Smartphone sales in UK,   US consumers are wondering when they will get their hands on the ultra fast Android device.

Samsung Galaxy S2 is expected to hit US shores before July end or possibly by Mid August, but not later than that.  Atleast one carrier most likely Sprint is expected to Carry the device ahead of ATT and even Verizon. One of the reasons for delay in Samsung Galaxy S2 is Apple, Apple who has taken up  litigation against Samsung’s devices , appears to be pulling the strings with ATT and Verizon ahead of its own next version of iPhone.

With earlier versions of  iPhones, Apple was always first to market as a trendsetter, but this time around iPhone 5 is under pressure from Galaxy S2. Most of the specs of iPhone 5 are expected to match the Galaxy S2 and any botch up will be bad for Apple. And Samsung is also determined to bring in its Galaxy S2 before the arrival of iPhone 5,  just to rub it on Apple.

Sprint’s version of Galaxy S2 is expected to be called Samsung Within and ATT’s version to be christened Samsung Attain.   Not sure whats with lame naming convention in USA, but we surely expect the dual core powered Galaxy S2 very soon.

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Reinventing Nokia – The Mobile Hardware Giant

No one would have expected to see Nokia  struggling by 2011. But then that’s what happened, after a huge drop in profits in the last few quarters and loss of its No1 status in Europe, Nokia is in shambles.

Few days back Nokia sold its Symbian Development to Accenture, and gone with the company are its developers and testers as well. But more importantly few months back Nokia announced an alliance with Microsoft and decided to dump Symbian for Windows Phone Operating System.

Nokia has always been associated with Quality and Performance of its phones. When most phones lasted few years, Nokia devices would last twice longer. And whether it reception, battery performance or ruggedness, Nokia was the Honda  and Toyota  of the Mobile world.  Nokia was also one of the early entrants  into Smartphone business, they have brought some of the popular Smart phones in the last decade be it the 6600 or N70, N93,N95 and E61 etc. But Nokia is a victim of their own success, content with a aging Symbian platform Nokia failed to get on the Post iPhone , touchscreen bandwagon.

Though Nokia released quite a few touchscreen devices, the operating system was clumsy and not user friendly, crashing smartphone OS was ok during the early days of Smartphones, but now  they cant be tolerated.  With highly competitive platforms in Android and iOS, Nokia  had all but failed in High End division. And low end market is populated with copycat chinese phones which perform more functionality than Nokia with half the price.

But aligning with Microsoft and dumping its Symbian OS is a step in the right direction,  Nokia still has the best hardware in cellphones, what it is missing is the software. With Microsoft deal it achieves exactly that, and now Nokia can concentrate on improving and establishing itself the leader in this segment. Microsoft is also reinventing itself in the Mobile space, one of my Gripe was the hardware on the windows phones, it used to be either Motorola or some unknown company. No major hardware player was associated with windows phones, but with Nokia,  Microsoft gets just that.

With Windows 7 phone platform creating so much excitement , definitely this is the best that could have happened to Nokia. With launch of N9 , Nokia did show a Meego (Linux) based device, but for next few years Nokia might just concentrate on Windows Platform and occasionally release Phones for Android as well.  And with a backing from Microsoft , Nokia will be finally able to break into US market, earlier due to carrier control in US  , Nokia never had its best phones in the  US market.

It would be just great for consumers with one more great option in terms of the phone hardware.