The Galaxy S II has been a bestseller around the world, and AT&T, for one, isn’t going to mess with a good thing. Not only are they letting the Galaxy S II keep its maiden name, but they’re also sticking with the 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display seen overseas.
Consensus from those who’ve had hands-on time with the phone is that giving up an extra bit of screen real estate may have been worth it; 800 x 480 looks that much better on a 4.3-inch screen. They also may have wanted to avoid thoroughly confusing customers by placing a 4.5-inch Galaxy S II right next to their existing 4.5-inch Infuse 4G.
The AT&T version has the distinction of being the thinnest of the US-bound Galaxy S IIs at 8.89mm. Coupled with the fact that it will support AT&T’s HSPA+, it will be the slimmest “4G” smartphone in the US when it launches “in the coming weeks.”
The rest of the specs largely fall in line with its Sprint counterpart–the T-Mo version is an enigma wrapped in a riddle at the moment–with the one notable exception being a slightly smaller battery for AT&T (1650mAh). But its more diminutive frame excuses that difference, and the lesser screen size likely means the battery life will remain comparable. The dual-core 1.2 GHz Exynos processor is a welcome alternative to the Tegra 2 that we are all familiar with at this point. The 8MP rear camera with 1080p video, 2MP front-facing camera, WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and full complement of sensors are all what we have come to expect from a high-end Android phone today.
The Galaxy S II will ship running Gingerbread (2.3.4 to be specific) with Samsung’s TouchWiz twist. Launching with the current version of the OS is about all we can hope for at this point (and it’s more than some are capable of), so I’ll take it.
Unfortunately AT&T couldn’t quite manage to let the Galaxy S II slip into customers’ hands without the bloat treatment. A number of unwanted preloaded apps such as myAT&T, AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T Family Map, etc. are featured on the device. We’ve probably left the point where complaining about bloat makes any sense, but old habits die hard.
So what do you think of AT&T’s take on the Galaxy S II? Are you glad to see someone opt for the smaller form factor of the international version? Or are you pining for a 4.5-inch screen with a dual-core processor on AT&T?
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Pictures and video courtesy of Engadget and IntoMobile.
