Home › Reviews ›

Review: Samsung Galaxy S II for T-Mobile

Form Basics Extras Wrap-up Comments 48

Media Camera Photos/Video Browse/Customize Extras

Media Hub

The Galaxy S II comes with Samsung's Media Hub. It is sort of like the BlockBuster Android application. Users can access the Media Hub to download movies and television shows on the Galaxy S II, but not music. Rental fees and sale prices vary by title.

AllShare is on board for those who like to share their multimedia files with DLNA-compatible devices, such as HDTVs.

Music

The Galaxy S II uses the same slightly customized version of the Android Music player application that Samsung has loaded on all its Android phones in the last six months. It includes an attractive carousel for sorting through music, and user-adjustable equalizers for shaping the sound.

Music can be played back through attached headphones, or sent via Bluetooth to properly-equipped Bluetooth devices. Sound quality of music playback was quite good.

Slacker is the only third-party music software preinstalled. If you want Amazon MP3 or Pandora, you'll have to download them yourself.

Video

As far as video goes, the Galaxy S II has the stock Android video player application, YouTube application, Netflix, and T-Mobile HD TV application on board. The T-Mobile HD app offers streamed video content at a higher resolution than in the past, but it isn't HD by any modern definition. Let's just say the service looks less awful than it did last year.

The Galaxy S II easily handled video content that I side-loaded, and I found the Galaxy S II great for watching movies thanks to the roomy and vibrant screen.

Next page: Camera

Related

Hands-On: HTC Amaze 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II 4G for T-Mobile

Phone Scoop met with T-Mobile today and was able to spend some time with its new newest — and fastest — 4G phones, the HTC Amaze 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S II 4G. Here are our initial impressions.

Samsung Galaxy S II Coming To AT&T, T-Mobile

Aug 30, 2011
AT&T and T-Mobile today announced that they will both be getting versions of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Confusingly, they will both bear the name "Galaxy S II", but will have different specs, including different screen sizes.

Samsung Galaxy S II Packs 21Mbps HSPA+ , Gingerbread

Feb 13, 2011
Samsung today announced the Galaxy S II, its latest Galaxy line smartphone. The Galaxy S II is extremely thin at 8.49mm, and it uses the latest Super AMOLED plus display technology for its 4.27-inch display.

T-Mobile Offering Samsung GS2 with No Contract

Sep 4, 2012
T-Mobile USA today announced the availability of the Samsung Galaxy S II through 2,600 Walmart stores for $299. The device can be paired with one of T-Mobile's no-contract Monthly4G plans or Walmart's Family Mobile plans.

T-Mobile Updates Galaxy S II 'ISIS/NFC' Software

Aug 28, 2012
T-Mobile today made a maintenance update available to the Samsung Galaxy S II. The GSII remains at Android version 4.0.3, but the new software build includes an "ISIS/NFC update."

Samsung Galaxy S II / SGH-T989

4.5" display 480 x 800 pixels
Snapdragon S3 APQ8060 processor
1,850 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot, Headphone Jack (3.5mm), NFC

more news about: