Samsung unpacks the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1
Samsung kicked off their pre-MWC event tonight. The "new" announcements about the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1 include very few things we didn't already know from previous leaks. But still, it was interesting.
Samsung Galaxy S II
First off we have the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II, that was showcased feature by feature. One of the most important things is the Super AMOLED Plus display, which is the successor of the groundbreaking screen the Samsung Wave pioneered last year's MWC.
The screen on the Galaxy S II is a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive unit. Samsung claims that this is the best display technology in the world and surpasses LCD IPS by leaps.
The processor of the Galaxy S II is dual-core and quoted as the most powerful processor in a phone today. It will have great gaming capabilities through an improved GPU. The smartphone uses a Samsung's own Orion system-on-a-chip and yes, it does have 1GB worth of RAM.
The phone is extremely light and thin at just 8.49mm thickness and 116 grams worth of bulk, that's not bad at all, given that the Samsung Galaxy S II has a 1650 mAh battery inside.
1080p video recording and playback have been confirmed just like with the Optimus 2X. The Adobe Flash 10.1 is there to give you the full web-browsing experience.
Finally, the 3-axis Gyroscope and Accelerometer sensors are confirmed as well.
The new UI, or should we say UX (standing for user experience), of the Galaxy S successor looks really interesting and we can't wait to have a hands-on with it. It looks nothing like Android and should be fully customizable. It will feature 4 hubs by Samsung - the Reader, the Game, the Music and the Social ones. In the keynote Samsung showcased them all.
The Reader hub gives you access to Books, Magazines and Newspapers. The Social hub is interesting, though, as it gives you the opportunity to connect to the people in your life via various ways. Mail, chat, video chat, all incorporated into a single app.
Samsung are paying a lot of attention to the security side of things with their new flagship. The main focus is on the things you're now able to do, should you lose your Galaxy S II smartphone. You can remote lock, remote wipe, remotely control your phone - blacklist certain apps you don't want the thieves to have access to. And finally, see your device on a map.
Here's a video that demonstrates most of the new software features:
Galaxy Tab 10.1
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 also made the scene tonight. It was left for last and didn't really get a whole lot of attention in tonight's press announcement, but really we already know all about it.
Focus fell on its key selling points, the 10.1 inch 1280x800 WXGA screen, the 10.9mm thickness and 599g weight.
It will have two cameras - an 8 megapixel one on the back, that can record FullHD 1080p video and a 2 megapixel one on the front for video chat and self-portraits. Stereo speakers on both sides and 6850 mAh battery are the last bits of info, given on the hardware. 1080p video will be encoded as well as decoded on the device itself.