A year in the life of a Samsung Galaxy SII

That's right people, as of today my beloved SII is a year old. During that year I've experienced three different operating systems and I’d like to tell you what my experience has been.

First of all, I’m going to take you back to April 4^th 2012. It’d been three days since I had placed my order on Amazon and I was dying to get my hands on it. I walked out of my room and, as I reached the top of the stairs I checked the time on my old Samsung Omnia Lite. I remember thinking “I hope the post isn’t late.”

About half-an-hour later there was a knock on the door. I rushed to the door and quickly signed for my package. I ripped open the packaging and out came a sexy black box with “Samsung Galaxy SII” etched into the top. Carefully, I broke the security seal and lifted the lid. Starring up at me was the most beautiful piece of tech I’ve ever seen. A perfect white Galaxy SII ready to be enjoyed. There was a small plastic sheet covering the screen that said “Super AMOLED Technology.” By this point I could barely contain myself. I carefully extracted the phone and installed the battery. Now came the moment of truth. I turned it on.

TouchWiz 4.0

This is Samsung’s overlay that came with the phone on top of Android. It works well, is well designed and is generally easy to use. Also included was Voice Command powered by Vlingo, which works rather well, Polaris office, Samsung Apps and all of the default Google apps. It also allows you to toggle certain settings on and off within the Notifications Shade.

Gingerbread

This was the first OS I experienced on my SII. I remember it being fast and extremely reliable. It never froze up, performed tasks effortlessly and was generally a pleasant system to use. I can’t really say much more about it, as I was updated to ICS only a few weeks later.  

Ice Cream Sandwich [ICS]

I got updated to ICS only a few weeks after getting my device and at first I was impressed. It had a lot of new features and it worked OK at first. The camera seemed to work better, graphics were sharper and I now had the ability to take screenshots.

Eventually though, the glitches set in. I would like to point out that none of these glitches were down to Samsung. Pretty much every device, regardless of manufacturer suffered at the hands of ICS. It was a glitchy OS. My battery didn’t last as long, the phone would randomly reset etc. Eventually I reset my phone, which solved the restarting issue, but alas there were still plenty of glitches.  I persevered with most of them and bought the official extended battery to conquer the battery issue. Still, the phone wasn’t what it was. So, I placed all my hope in the upcoming 4.1 Jellybean update. Would it fix my phone?

Jellybean

After a long wait I finally received my 4.1.2 Jellybean update. Was it worth it? Well the phone is now even faster and more stable than it was on Gingerbread. Plus it has plenty of new features like; Project butter, Google Now, enhanced gaming performance, extended battery life and much more. The biggest change though, was to Samsung’s TouchWIz.

TouchWiz 5.0

This is exactly the same software that the Galaxy SIII and Note II are running and it’s amazing. The new homescreen layout is flawless, S planner and all the other new Samsung apps are amazing and now there are even more settings options to choose from in the Notifications Shade. The whole thing is amazing and well worth the wait.

Some of the other new features include:

Direct Call: If you are texting someone and want to call them instead, all you need do is put your phone to your ear. This is something I have grown to love.

Smart Stay: Detects weather you are looking at the screen and determines whether to turn off the screen. Not a gimmick, extremely useful.

Buddy Photo Share: Detects friends’ faces and automatically tags them on their social networks. Has a few face detection glitches, but works well.

There are many more features that I haven’t mentioned, but these are the ones I’ve grown to depend on. There is only one thing I am disappointed about. S voice was excluded from the update. This is an app I have on my Galaxy Note 10.1 and it really is amazing. It is possible however, that I will receive one last update to 4.2.2. Maybe that will include S Voice.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I love this phone. The SIII has been and gone, the SIV is about to arrive, but still this phone is a contender. It’s 4.3 inch Super AMOLED+ screen is beautifully sharp and bright, the 1.2 GHZ Dual-Core Cortex A9 prosessor 1GB of ram and Exynos chipset are able to cope with the newest and most demanding of games. This phone may be a two year old model, but if you want an amazing smartphone that doesn’t break the bank, please consider the Galaxy SII.

Galaxy Note 10.1 First Impressions

So today I took delivery of my galaxy note 10.1 tablet. I've had it for about eight hours now, and so far I'm very impressed. Read on for unboxing details, and my first impressions.

The note is very well packaged. The box is colour coded to match your device, (white in my case) and is very simple in design. The box gives you enough information to let you know exactly what's inside, but not so much that your head exploeds. Included in the box are: x1 Galaxy Note, (obviously) x1 USB cable complete with 12v power adapter, x1 quick start guide/warranty card, x1 high quality headphones.

The tablet itself is the first thing you see when you open the box. It is very well protected, I lost count of how many pieces of plastic I had to peel from the screen and panels. The first thing you notice when you lift it out of the box, is how light it is. It's much heavier than my SII of course, but for a 10 inch tablet it's amazing.

Design: The tablet is made mainly of plastic, which some will argue makes it feel cheep. I really don't mind if I'm honest. It feels pretty sturdy to me, and its lightness makes it comfortable to hold. In fact , as I write this article, I'm laying in bed holding the device in portrait mode. The device I have is white, with contrasting grey panels around the camera and speakers. The design is rather simple, screen, power/lock key, volume rocker, 3.5mm headphone jack, camera and speakers.

Screen: The screen is an 10.1 inch PLS TFT display with 149ppi which, although not as high as the competitors, is more than adequate. (I didn't notice much difference) The screen is a capacitive ten-point multi touch, and is quick and responsive. It is extremely bright and clear, which makes gaming and movie watching a joy.

Performance: The Note has a 1.4GHZ Cortex-A9 quad-core processor, and 2GB of RAM. The chipset is a   Exynos 4412. This means the Note can crunch data as fast as the cookie monster at the Mcvities factory. Games run smoothly, browsing is fast, and homescreen transitions are slick and buttery. It also has enough grunt to let you have two apps open at the same time, browser and Snote for instance.

UI/OS: The Note comes with Samsung's latest touchwiz with nature ux. That means everything is inspired by nature. When you slide your finger across the lockscreen for example, it causes a ripple effect, as if you've dipped your finger in a pool of water. Touchwiz has gotten better and better since the Galaxy SII, and this is the best version yet. The device comes with Android 4.0.3 ICS, but an upgrade to 4.1 Jellybean is on the way. ICS is quick, and very user friendly.

















Music: The main speakers are adequate for most things, but can get a bit tinny at higher volumes. I'd recommend using either the headphones that come with it, which feature a volume rocker and play/pause button, or another pair of decent headphones. The Note comes preloaded with Samsung's Music Hub, which allows you to buy music, and the Music Player, designed primarily to play the music on the device. Both work well, but I prefer Google Play Music, something that was only available in the US, but has now made it to Europe. Play Music baisicly combines a music store, with a player. It doesn't come installed, so it must be downloaded from the Play Store.

Gaming: Gaming is slick and fast. My favorite game so far is Air Hockey. The large screen make playing with another person easy, and fun. It can handle much harder graphics too, F18 Carrier Landing plays beautifully on the Note. I can't stress how good the graphics are, as demonstrated by this screenshot.

Movies: The Note is great for Movie watching. It comes with Samsung's Video Hub, and Google Play Movies pre-loaded, which offer high quality streaming. I tried watching Dark Knight on Flixter, and it worked perfectly. The beautiful and rich display provides beautiful and vibrant colours, making movie watching a pleasure.

S-Pen: S-Pen is the Note's party piece. It recognizes handwriting with ease, and drawing using S-Note is
extremely fun! It takes some getting used to, but it's well worth the effort. S-Note has a built in diary mode, that lets you input weather information, handwritten notes, and pictures. This really is more than a gimmick, in fact, I'm taking into college to make handwritten notes.

















Browsing: Not much to say here. Browsing is extremely fast, faster than my PC in fact. The Quad-Core works amazingly.

Well, that's all I really have to say about the Note 10.1 right now. I'll update this blog when I've messed around with it a bit more. If my first day with the Note is anything to go by, then the next few weeks will be great fun. This is by far one of the best pieces of technology I've used, and has confirmed what I have always believed. Samsung make the best products, end of story.

Galaxy Note 10.1 overall rating: 9.5/10

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy my other articles about Samsung devices, and apps I recommend using on them.

Samsung confirm Jellybean for Galaxy SII

Galaxy SII Extended Battery

Nova Review

How to Make it Look Like You Have Jellybean






Update: I've now had the note 10.1 for almost three weeks and I still love it. My only gripe is that there is a scratch at the bottom of the screen. Don't know how it happened as I have never dropped it. Samsung said I could book it in for repair, but it'll cost £75-£145 so I'm not gonna bother. It still works okay, and you can't really feel it when you touch the screen. My advice is that you buy a screen protester or case. Other than that I absolutely live this thing and wouldn't trade it for the world.

How to Make it "Look" Like You Have Jellybean

It's been awhile since Samsung announced that the Galaxy SII would be getting Jellybean. As we still have no word on when we'll be getting the official update, some of us just can't wait to get it. Now, custom ROMS can be tricky to install if you don't know what to do, and they can cause problems for your device. So, here are a few things you can do to get the look of 4.1 Jellybean.

Launchers: Launchers change look and feel of your device, and add new customization features. The one I recommend is Nova. I've tried a lot of custom launchers, but eventually I end up going back to TouchWiz. Nova, on the other hand, is so good that I've bought the Prime version. The great thing about Nova, is that you can download custom Icon Packs, including a Jellybean pack. Here is a screenshot of Nova with the Jellybean Icon Pack. Although not in these pictures, Nova also comes with Jellybean wallpapers. Remember you will also need to download and apply Jellybean HD to get the full effect.












As you can see, Nova provides you with a Jellybean search bar, and great Jellybean Icons. It gives you plenty of great customization features, and is a joy to use. To see a more in-depth review of Nova, Click Here

Status Bar: Omega Status Bar gives your status bar that "Cool Blue" look. The logos are changed, but other than that, the status bar will remain the same. Please note that you will also need to download, and apply Jellybean Omega Status Bar Theme to get the full effect seen in the picture.



















Locker: Holo Locker gives you a great lockscreen that looks, and behaves like Jellybean, giving you access to Google search, and Camera from the Lockscreen. Holo is very quick, and works very well. Other Lockers I've used often crash, but I haven't had and problems with it so far.












So there you go. A quick and easy way of getting the feel of Jellybean on your Galaxy SII before the official update.

AIVC (Alice) Review

AIVC or "Alice" as she's more commonly known, is a great virtual assistant app. I don't have an Iphone, but I have tried out Siri on a friends phone, and in a shop, and it impressed me. Alice on the other hand, impressed me more. Alice does everything Siri does, but in a more personal way. If, for instance, you said to Siri; "You're beautiful," she'd say; "Do not understand the term 'you're beautiful' would you like to search the web?" Alice on the other hand said; "thank you Zac, I find you attractive too," she basically gives you more personal replies. Anyway, on with the review!

OK let's start with features. First off Alice has Facebook capabilities, and Twitter will be added pretty soon. Look at the following pictures, for more info on what Alice does.

Geography 

Ask Alice questions about places, and she answers you quickly, and accurately.

Weather

She also gives you weather information based on your location. Her verbal response to "Do I need sunglasses today?" was;
"If you want look cool Zac, but you won't actually need them."
Responses for weather is super fast, and surprisingly accurate.

Status

Ask Alice about your phone's status, and she'll tell you.

Organize

Alice can organize appointments for you, and sync them with your Google Calendar.

Messaging

Dictate your text messages, and Alice will send them for you. This also works with email.

Humor

Ask Alice a silly question, she'll give you a silly, hilarious answer.

Travel

Alice can give you traveling times on places you want to go to.

Navigation

Ask Alice where the nearest Mc Donald's is, and she'll not only tell you, but help you get there using Google Navigation.




















These are just some of the features available with Alice. She has regular updates, adding new features, and making the old ones even faster. Alice is available in a free "lite" version, with limited features, and the "pro" version with everything listed above.

After five months of use, I give Alice a 9.5/10.


Alice "Lite" Version

Alice "Pro" Version

Nova Launcher Review

Nova Launcher

One of the main selling points of Android is customization, and one of my favorite customization tools is Custom Launchers. I've tried quite a few, but this is the best so far. Nova Launcher gives you plenty of customization options, and is slick and fast. Here are some of the best features, along with some screenshots from my very own SII.

Nova offers some lovely screen transitions as you can see here. I'm quite a big fan of the default TouchWiz launcher, but one thing that does disappoint me about it, is the lackluster transitions. The transitions available from Nova on the other hand, are slick, and beautiful.

The App Draw in Nova is another thing of beauty. It arranges all of your apps into alphabetical order, (something TouchWiz doesn't do) gives you slick transitions, and makes it easy to copy them to your home screen. Another great feature is being able to select widgets from the App Draw. Most custom launchers require you to root your device, before being able to place widgets from the App Draw. Nova doesn't, meaning that my non-rooted SII that isn't running any custom ROM's, can use this handy feature. The Google Play Store can be easily accessed from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner.









The Dock and Folder system in Nova is another great feature. The Dock has five icons, and can have up to five pages! You can also place folders in the dock. This is handy if you want to put all of your messaging and social apps in the dock. As you can see, I have a lot of those! (Although it seems I put the same app in there twice... Oops.)














Nova gives you a plethora of settings, making it easy to get everything just the way you want it. I've used a lot of custom launchers since I got my SII in April, and usually I end up going back to TouchWiz. This time though, I think I may just stick with Nova.















Widgets can be placed and re-sized with ease. Nova overrides a widgets default properties, meaning you really can re-size any widget, even the ones that came with the device.

















Overall I give Nova 8.5/10 and I recommend it if you're looking for a replacement launcher. Nova is available on Google Play. There is a free lite version, which I'm currently using, and a prime version available for purchase.

Nova Lite

Nova Prime

Extended Battery [Updated]

I absolutely love my Galaxy SII, and wouldn't trade it for anything [Not even a Bacon Sandwich] So I like it a lot. I do have one niggle though. The battery life is awful, sometimes I have to charge it twice a day. Well, let me present you with the answer to the problem. The official Samsung Galaxy SII GT-I9100 extended battery pack. Read on for a full review.

The standard SII battery is a 1,650 MaH LI-Ion battery, and usually gives you about a days use. But for someone who gets lots of emails, uses Twitter, Google Plus and Instagram, and plays lots of games and music, it only lasts for about four hours. That clearly isn't enough. Samsung obviously understand this, why else would they make an extended battery?

The extended battery is a 2,000 MaH Li-Ion battery, and is about 25% thicker than the original. This requires a new backplate for the battery to fit under. When you install the new battery, you do notice a slight weight and size difference. It doesn't take long to get used to though, it only took me a few days. In terms of design, all the battery pack really does is make the phone flat. The whole phone is made to be the same thickness as the bulge at the bottom. But how much of a difference does it make?

Most of the time, I get about 15, or 16 hours of use. That's 15 hours of Twitter, Interneting, and gaming. If you combine this battery with Juice Defender, then you get about 18 hours out of it. Of course, not everybody uses their SII as much as I do, so you'll probably get more life our of it. I've heard that some users have gotten 48 hours light usage.

So, if your SII is running out of juice far to quickly, I suggest you buy this battery. You also gain the advantage of having two batteries. I keep both charged, and use one as a back-up for if I'm out the whole day. Please remember that it takes a few weeks for a battery to reach its potential, so the battery life won't be noticeably different straight away. I do hope this review is of help.  

Here's a YouTube video showing the battery in more detail.

If you want to buy the extended battery, use the following links:

Galaxy SII Black

Galaxy SII White

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