Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) on Samsung Galaxy SII - First Class

The wait is over my fellow androidians using Samsung Galaxy SII worldwide, which has received many accolades and awards, including phone of the year by T3 Gadgets…ICS update has started to trickle out and has been rolled out first in Europe including Poland, Hungary and Sweden, and Korea in the South-East Asia region before it gradually starts rolling out to the rest of the world.

Finish the upgrade and you will visibly see the difference right from the moment you turn on your mobile. It configures all the applications, contacts etc in a jiffy, and once you get to the home screen you will see a remarkable difference in speed. Its cool and fast. Also do not expect the original interface of ICS (like you see in Google Nexus, so unfortunately no virtual buttons) , this version of ICS is garnished by the Samsung Touchwiz 4.0, like it or hate it, but you have to live with it. 

Mobile OS Response :

- Faster mobile OS, its a swift and cool OS to work upon.

- The response has been pretty well till date, did not face any hanging issues.

Change in look / Menu :

- You will find new options in menu now, like you have “Restart” now in the menu when you long press the power button.

-  Screenshots are now officially taken by “Vol Down + Power Button” for a minute. The default location where the shots are saved has changed to /sdcard/pictures/screenshots

- The settings menu has changed a lot, categorized the menu for easy scroll.

Scrolling :

- Samsung Touchwiz has replaced the bounce effect while going up and down on the scrolling menu

   This effect is patented by Apple, so Samsung has now replaced it with blue illumination that lites when you reach the end of the menu.

- The home screen now acts like a revolving door. You can keep scrolling your home screen without having to move backwards once you reach the last screen.

Face Recognition Unlock :

- The face recognition unlock feature is cool with ICS.  Its fast too, until you keep the phone at a good distance from your face, else it might take a while to recognize.

- Don't be afraid, there is a fallback option always, incase your phone stops recognizing you ;-).

- It does not work good in dark, outdoors in night, well we can imagine the reason, lack of light.

- Mind it, an easy crack to it, anyone having your pic can unlock your phone ;-).

Applications / widgets :

- The new recent applications menu has a nice look, you can view all the recently visited applications as a list of thumbnails of the app.

- A new and better looking gtalk messenger, I completely like it. Though it looks a little heavy, but who cares, we are on a 1.2Ghz Dual Core Samsung ;-).

- A heavier , little slow , email client. I found the earlier email client better, but its ok can go ahead with it.

- Now start browsing the applications, you may find some new icons in the applications menu, like google+ and messenger and also

- Live Application widgets on your home screen now, you can add your mail box , Facebook, play music etc.. right from your home screen.

Wifi / Networking :

- WiFi is a disappointment. The handset takes long to scan and enable the wifi on the phone.

Data Usage :

- Now you can view the data flow from your handset graphically as reports. It comes handy if you are on a limited data plan from your telco.

- You can select different cycles to view the data usage.

- Option to toggle between cellular and wifi data usage is a welcome feature.

- It will also show the apps consuming maximum data transfer.

Kies Air :

- ‘Sync with Simplicity’ - Thats how Samsung would like to call it. New feature added for phone to phone data transfer, Like in device A, I start the Kies Server and open Kies in device B and shake it twice, it will discover A and progress with the data transfer options. Seamless.

That is all to begin with… we may go in details in our coming posts.. stay tuned.

Android Apps to have !

This post is for my fellow androidians… !!

I have been using Android (Gingerbread) since quite sometime now, and what better it could be, have been using it on the worlds most talked about Samsung Galaxy SII. So in short can say that the android I use is backed by a powerful 1.2Ghz dual core cpu and a 4.3' Super AMOLED screen to make it look pretty :-).

The awesome thing about Android is the apps which has a huge… trust me HUGE database of applications, for any and everything. Also you get most of it for free :-), though you have some paid applications too which you can use on your android. I will mention some apps which I use on my Android. Maybe you find any of your interest…


Must Haves :

> Advanced Task Killer :
Schedule an auto kill of processes to save battery. Don't worry will not hamper running programs, you can select which one not to kill.

> OS Monitor :
Tells you which process are the ones taking max CPU / Memory etc.

> Smart Screen Off :
A good app, uses the proximity sensor to turn off the screen as soon as you keep the cell in your pocket, upside down on table,or cover the sensor with your finger (incase someone tries to peep in your screen). You do not have to use the power button every time to turn off the light when you are not using the phone.

> Opera Mobile :
A good, light weight , multi tab, easy to use browser.

> Flashlight :
Use your flash as a flashlight. Good at times you want to use your phone as a torch.

> Box :
Hide your contacts , sms's, call logs, photos etc using this app.

> App2SD :
Used to move all the apps installed on phone to the SD Card.

> Quickpic :
A cool photo and video browser for your phone. It indexes all the pics and show it in one place, with a cool interface.

> App Cache Cleaner :
To clear the cache build by apps running on your system, and free resources.

Good to Have :

> PhoneGenie :
Read reviews of newly launched mobiles, and compare.

> MX Video Player :
Do more with the videos, zoom etc.

> Wiki Mobile :
wiki client on mobile.

> BodyFitness :
For fitness freaks, diet plans, exercises etc etc.

> AlarmDroid :
Easy to use Alarm app.

> Saavn :
For music lovers… Online music (Bollywood).

> Social Networking :
Linkedin , Facebook.

> Bookmyshow :
Book movie and concert tickets through mobile.

> Teamviewer :
Log in to your home computer from your phone. (I use it to make my mom's life easy @ home)

> Recipes :
Like to cook ? A huge database of new things you can try.

> XE Currency :
Convert any currency on your phone.

> Sketch free :
For the people who do sketching, use this app to sketch on your phone.

> TOI :
For reading news on your phone.

> Communications :
Skype, WhatsApp, Viber.

> Compass : You will not.... get lost ;-) !


Incase you know any more apps and you think is interesting to share, let me know. Lets share it with all the readers.

........ HAIL Android !!!

Review : Samsung Galaxy SII

Now this coloumn is going to be one of the most controversial one's which may lead to a debate between my apple lover friends and others including me :-)..

Well I rate them both equal, it actually depends if you want to work hard for freedom of usage of your smartphone (and pay for every good thing,iOS).. or just work smart to get things work as you want on your smartphones (Mostly free on Android).

I was looking out for a phone for myself, I had all options because was ready to shell out the moolah only if my requirements were met, which were as below :

1. Large Display - I mean it, I dont want to use a laptop when am on bed or travelling !
2. Clarity - Apart from large, it should be CLEAR display, Visible in outdoors too.
3. Memory - Ofcourse, something near 16Gig would be good enough.
4. GPS - I always need help while driving.
5. Camera - I like clubbing at celeb nights and am fond of clicking and making videos, so need HD & Flash !
6. Apps - Useful apps (Naah dont make me pay for it, I already would be paying alot for the phone)
7. Size - Does matter! It should be sleek and pocket friendly.
8. Web Browsing - FAST !

With General Features like - mp3 ringtones, FM radio, click and sending pix/files through bluetooth, Wi-fi

On checking several handsets available in market which suited my requirements,I zeroed down to Apple iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy SII. I have always been a HTC Fan, but I guess its time for HTC to work more on the Phone Display, Internal Memory, Screen Size. About Blackberry, give me a break, I am young enough to mess around with the phone and you are not interesting Blackberry OS :-P.

Keeping in mind my requirements :

Tech Specs Comparisons : Read this for a point to point comparison with iPhone 4.

So that makes Samsung Galaxy SII a strong contender.

Below is one of the videos which helped me compared and decide onto Samsung

Point wise Analysis : Of all requirements above and more.

Overall Face Off Test : Comparing all my requirements above.

My Requirement 1 & 2 (Display and clarity)

My Requirement 4 (GPS)

My Requirement 5 (Camera)

The above videos must have cleared most of your doubts, also I found some more links about reviews and awards for SII below :

Review on Samsung Galaxy SII

Recently,T3 Gadgets Awards presented the Phone of the year 2011 to Samsung Galaxy SII


Apart from the above, With Samsung SII , I can use/share media through it it as an extended drive and access it over wi-fi, hence no itunes or and blah blah software required to be there which makes it easy for managing media on the device. I can also access the phone over http, and manage everything on the phone through web interface. Also the Super AMOLED display is awesome in SII, just view HD videos on the devices, its a jaw dropping experience. I am not saying you cannot do that all with iPhone (some you can do), but you need to work alot on the phone to get all these functionalities, including breaking jail / loosing warranty of your device.

Also, answer this, how can I change my battery on the iphone ? This is one thing which is totally unacceptable, for me atleast, If I am buying something, i would like to have least dependency on the service centers, you know how they are.

Anyway, rest is your call, and your choice, the above shows how and why I made mine, bought a Samsung Galaxy SII and am happy ! :-)

Hope you enjoyed reading this space. You can also call it as an article on Samsung Galaxy SII vs iPhone vs HTC vs Blackberry :-)... and my take on it..

Cheers.