Samsung Galaxy S2 (2011)

Samsung Galaxy S2, the ideal phone for me – I have ordered this phone as a second phone. I am using the same brand sgs2 for the past year and half. Considering the many mobile phones available in the market SGS2 has the correct size. The later versions like SGS3, SGS4 and SGS5 are much bigger in size and I personally do not like them purely for their bigger size. May be the younger people… Read more

like it for the bigger screen but the bigger size is too big to hold in the hand and to put inside ones pocket. The later models are faster than the SGS2, but the CPU speed of SGS2, 1.2Ghz is quite sufficient for ordinary purposes including games. More than anything else, the international version of SGS2 has so many different firmware (ROMs) developed by various developers although official versions are no longer available from the manufacturer. I have bought the second phone thinking that it may go out of production. So I will keep it fully loaded with all my programs without the battery, to be used on a future date when my SGS2 fails. Reliable, energy efficient, can install a higher capacity battery. I particularly like its size which nicely fits to the hand and the pocket.

"Does everything" but acheives nothing properly, worst phone I have owned – In summary, this lemon phone fails to actually do anything properly. Call quality is atrocious, low headphone volume, unresponsive touch-screen, pink centre in camera, terrible battery life, slow charging, unreliable software, poor reception, cannot see display in sunlight, sluggish response. I would highly suggest to avoid this dud phone like… Read more

the plague. I have had two of these and they were both atrocious.

Well, where do I start? The phone(s) is just a complete lemon. Nothing on the phone works properly. The device frustrates me to the point where I have almost just binned in a couple of times, the 12 months were finally up and so I bought out of contract.

I'll put in the "features" and explain the issues:

(I'm trying to return the device and claim a refund so this is a summarised copy of what I wrote to Samsung)

Battery life and charging:

Battery life is utterly pitiful and is very unpredictable, when the battery gets below 50% it discharges much more rapidly after that to 0% I don't have any software drains, now I'm not using it, it lasts a good 4 days as long as I don't use it on standby with a SIM. Also sometimes it would have a mystery battery drain, Samsung were adamant that it was a third party app. I logged it and turned out to be part of the phone's framework called "SVNET" malfunctioning which is commonly reported.

And the charging is INCREDIBLY slow, it often take more than 3 hours to charge it.

Granted my iPhone 3Gs wasn't great for battery life either but it was predictable and would fully charge in an hour tops.

Call quality:

The earpiece sounds muffled and people I call almost invariably complain that I sound distant and like I'm in a tunnel with weird echo sounds, basically terrible, I have left myself a voice message and it sounded awful

Reception:

I always have reception problems with this phone, I am often the only one in a group without service as well all too often.

Reliability:

Apps don't crash too often which I have seen on friends devices but the entire phone just restarts itself, completely out of the blue. Even in it's current "factory fresh" state sitting on a shelf it randomly restarts.

Headphone output: Is incredibly weak, I have sensitive Ultimate Ears earphones and they are only just adequate for modern pop music, forget turning up classical. Connected to an Auxillary source is obviously a waste of time as it's simply too weak.

Camera:

The general quality is average in sunlight, but there is a major pink spot and green edges and the focus is both slow and more often than not, simply fails to get focus on what is (tested) no problems for my 4 year old Nokia E71 which results in a blurry image, Low light performance is terrible, It's only redeeming feature is that the flash is very bright.

Touchscreen:

The display is extremely unresponsive, often missing or hitting the wrong key in SMS's. in a test app, when you touch the screen and then move the phone "holds the position" until the finger moved so much and then "snaps" the location, games such as Angry Birds where you need to be able to make fine movements are basically unplayable.

There is another "demon" to the touchscreen and that it seems to jitter around wildly when the phone is charging, (which it generally needs 24-7) and you can only use it when you unplug it.

I'm smartphone veteran, I owned the first Windows mobile integrated phone the Qtek 1010 and moved onto the i-mate, a Palm and then a Nokia E71 before moving to an iPhone 3Gs Granted those devices had some flaws and limitations but as a whole, they did their job and were generally reliable.. Good size, Slim design, powerful flash makes a great torch, Jelly cases fit securely. Battery life, Reception, Camera, Touchscreen, I've had the misfortune of owning two of these duds.

I like it – I have had this phone for about a year. It has been a very friendly and functional phone for me, easy to use after I worked out the setup. it has an extremely good camera, better than the camera i already had (which only cost $150, but still). The resolution in the screen is rivaled only by its predecessors the s3 and s4. However the main reason… Read more

I write this reveiw is that I want to let it be known that the s2 is hard to break.

I regularly drop this phone from heights in excess of 1500mm and it has never done anything worse than scratched the plastic and cover on the front of the phone (screen covers cost about $8 each). Also on a recent kayaking trip I was silly enough to leave my phone in my pocket while trying to slide into a river. the phone would have been fully submerged for at least five minutes and was not put in rice for at least a further 4 hours. I then let it sit in front of the fire for 3 days and this morning tried it out and I am pleased to tell you that it workes like new. Camera works, video, internet, all sensors, responsive touch, all work fine.

to conclude, I am very happy with this phone and would recommend to any friend. screen size and resolution, camera quality, clear sound, very fast. although still very good comparatively, it could do with another 2 or 3 battery hours.

A little disappointed but still happy – I recently ordered a new Samsung Galaxy SII New through Exponline to replace my old since the battery no longer registered properly and also u can see the faded of the keyboard and other background screens when viewing on white screens. The only issues I have with the replacement that the return button on the bottom right of the phone isn't easy… Read more

to press like the other phone but I can get it to work. Also, any icons you put in a folder that's stored on the sd card won't stay there once you reset the phone. Other than that it's still a lot better than the old 1 so I am still happy with it. Everything seems much brighter and I also have better functions on this 1 that the other 1 never had so the good out ways the bad with me.

Light, plastic, but it's a smart phone – It works as a phone, it's light and a good size, not like the newer phones that have a larger screen and can't fit in my top pocket. I have an internal hard drive (Micro SD) card inside so I can fit my apps, the battery really is a bit small, so I upgraded it to a longer life one. It's a good phone I've had for 3-4 years now. **Update** My friend needed a temporary phone and I lent him this and it's still as snappy and works well in 2017.  Show details

I've had zero issues with it – I've had this phone for two years or so. Here I see all these people writing reviews about how they've had issues with battery life, the screen breaking, glitching. I've had none of this, you need to recharge it every night but that's not a big issue for me. It's just the right size to play some games and for other aps. Admittedly I do have a $40… Read more

case for it which wraps around it, but I'd buy a case for any expensive phone. I've had it for two years and I don't intend to upgrade any time soon. I honestly don't see how another phone would be significantly better.

The only issue I have is that it will occasionally not connect to my home internet, this is fixed by turning the modem on and off. Real solid phone, Occasionally drops connection to home internet.

Average phone – Agree with 'Not Happy' review. Ive had this for 2.5 years. After 1 year needed battery replacement, and again 1 year after that. Now I cant use internet as doing so makes the phone turn off even at 83% charge. Need to turn on 2 times for it to stay on then the battery tells me its critical. Wack it back on charge and straight away its up to 50… Read more

plus %. I think I scored a lemon. overall has been good but im waiting for the day it just wont do anything. Shopping around for my next Samsung now. Having said all that, bought my son same phone on same day and he has had no issues at all !!

Not happy – I will admit it is a good phone but i have only had it for less under a year and it keeps turning off and going on to offline mode and then will shut down even if it's on 100% and won't turn on properly unless i have it on charge and even sometimes then it turns off. i can't have it off of charge for more than 10 minutes without it shutting down on me.

A Smart looking phone which turns out to be very badly engineered – This phone is owned by my most reliable daughter and still the overpriced, yet extremely fragile screen has broken for the second time. Just a little pressure anywhere on the screen and its dead and requires an expensive replacement of the entire screen/glass. They charge enough for these things to include toughened glass instead of being… Read more

cheapskates and skimping on a component which is a critical and very exposed part of the assembly.

Completely ruins what is a nicely designed and smart looking phone. Nice design, stylish Screen is extemely fragile, pront to breakage and expensive to replace.

My old S2 phone is fabulous – I bought the phone 6 years ago, new on Kogan. It has never let me down though I don’t use many apps. Mainly photos, calling, messaging and Spotify. Occasionally for Google maps or other. Camera is fine, durability has been sensational. Show details ·  1

old but gold – I remembered saving up for the phone back in 2013. I bought it was impressed by its performance as it was technically faster than its rival iPhone 4s. I could tell. Its screen is vibrant. One thing though is I plugged in a non-original headphone and the "Earphone is connected" bug wasn't removed after that  Show details

Can't stand the cold! – I bought this phone last year and its a terrific phone in all respects but one. Whenever the weather cools a bit, or if I put it on a cold surface such as kitchen benchtop etc, the screen gradually goes dark, gets lines all over it and eventually black, so that it's unusable until warmed up. Samsung won't acknowledge the problem, although I… Read more

found lots of similar reports online, some explaining it as some sort of pixel issue.

I'm curious whether, without acknowledging it, they have actually eliminated this glitch from their further editions.

Great Phone – Well its been 2 years and its still going strong, yep little workhorse great phone very reliable have not had many problems at all some say battery life is not good but I find if you turn things off,, like shut them down when not using them my battery stays way longer before recharge still runs smoothly and fast , only reason I will upgrade soon… Read more ·  1

is to get 4g so definitely looking at Samsung S4 and hopefully luck of the draw will get a good one but overall this S2 is still a great Phone . The size, The look, and has a pretty fast processor that does the job

Great Phone – The Samsung Galaxy II is a great phone I know it is not the latest in the Galaxy series but I love it and it has great features. So am much as it is not the latest in the series it holds it own never the less. I also love the shape and it is a good size not too huge and not small either.

Great phone – This phone holds its age amazingly and is still one of my favourites, even though I now use an S4 mini. It is super fast, robust and has a great screen and battery life. Mine still performs like a workhorse after all these years. The phone is just the right size to balance large screen and thumbability. The only negative I would say is the faux… Read more

silver bezel wears away, making the phone look shabby. Samsung's plastic battery cover is also its only lowlight. Great screen size, Excellent battery life, Good button design, Excellent Performance Faux metal bezel wears, Plastic battery cover

dreadful phone – phone will not connect to the internet on my tablet. samsung does not have a service centre in queensland!!!!!!! I have to take the phone to telstra who may send it away for me - maybe away for 2 weeks this is my business phone. do your a favour and buy an iPhone. contacted samsung service centre so many times but no solutions

Worst phone – Screen broken from the first month ,I had to pay 180 bucks to fix it. charging port burnt after 3 months. always frozen. Can not download any app.very poor software. waiting for the 2 years contract period to finish then it will go into the bin . I really regret buying it

Worst Phone I've ever had – Worst phone I have ever owned! I would rather own a brick nokia phone than use this. Constantly going out of reception, or into "emergency calls only". Only way to fix it is to turn it off or take the battery out. When I do both of those things the battery will go from 50% right down to being on 13%. Constantly freezes as well and overheats. Been… Read more

into store to try and get it fixed, but because of samsungs [censored word removed] rules, you have to send it away for repair 3 times before them even consider replacing it whereas apple will replace their phones straight away.

Good phone, very very poor battery, keypad not good, love the GPS & speaking text function – Purchased this phone 8 months ago, battery life is very very very poor, have to recharge every single night even if I haven't used it at all, I don't play games/text/phone/internet much so this phone would not suit a business person or someone who uses it a lot. It used to jam and I had to turn on and off, but since I downloaded upgrades, it… Read more

doesn't do that anymore. The keypad is not accurate so am constantly correcting errors when texting, iphone keypad is far superior. Love the talking GPS and the talking text function. When my contract ends, I will get an iphone. Great talking GPS & speaking text Poor Poor Poor Poor Battery Life, keypad not accurate and puts in letter next to the one you want

Love it when it doesnt freeze or turn itself off – My Samsung Galaxy S2 freezes constantly and you then have to take the battery out to restart...Phone Will go days with no problems then it freezes over and over again. Not sure whether Samsung have looked into this issue and have attempted to improve with the newer ones but I will be checking prior to purchasing. Great graphics freezes constantly and turns off

Think before you buy any Samsung Product – I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S11 in Dec 12. Within days it stared to "freeze". The only way to restart was to remove the battery. Very inconvenient! I have returned the phone for "repairs" twice, being without the phone for 2 weeks at a time. Once to the outlet where I purchased it and the second time to Samsung when the problem kept occuring. I… Read more

was originally told that using the internet could do this and also downloading apps. Well...what do we have these phones for. By the way I seldom use the internet and I have never downloaded an app! First time user of a smart phone! The last attempt to rectify the problem was identical to the first - reset to Manufacturers Specifications and update software. My phone was returned with photos I had not needed and not removed, still showing in my gallery. If Samsung had done as stated the photos would not appear in my phone. My experience with Samsung has been nothing short of disgraceful. I have never dealt with a firm who has zero interest in customer relations. Emails are not returned, letters are not replied to and calls are not returned. I would urge all potential Samsung buyers to go straight out and purchase an iPhone - don't even think of buying any of their products. As they say, let the buyer beware.

Manufacturer not interested in you once product sold.

not Happy with vodaphone samsung galaxy s2 – I have been with Vodaphone for almost 24 months on the same plan ,and I am on my 4th phone the first 2 were HTC sensation one's and now I am on my second Samsung galaxy s2 do not go with Vodaphone every time I call I get the run around on one at Vodaphone cares about the custormer just your money . look phone keeps,locking up ,battry life very bad ,,phone storage is very bad ,no sd card ,

Good brand new, trouble in few months, don't buy – Got the Galaxy S2 on a Vodafone contact. Phone was good brand new, Easy to use and navigate but the one main button the phone due to high use, keeps jamming up with time. It also starts to freeze up and have to keep rebooting. Good phone for use for a short term plan but don't get stuck with it for 2 years. Eazy to navigate, Download apps and use buttons get stuck, freezes, origional battrey life is very low using apps or net

Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100 – I bought a Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100, almost its going to be two years, 5 month before it have lost the display, have been to samsung services center nerul, they say its a mother board problem, have to pay almost 9K it get repaired in 1 weak, after 5 1/2 have lost imei number, they said again have to replace mother board, i have told them its not… Read more

completed 6 month of repair so have to be done free, they agree with it, so after so many visit, today they gave me offer of have to pay 50% of the amount, so i said to give back my phone don’t want to repair, when they handover a phone have check the phone, it seems phone its not charging, they check and after 20 min, thrown a second bomb, cell phone is dead. its in no use. Have taught at least my kid would have played a game with it, now its a total loss,

getting so expensive phone this kind of issues its too bad of samsung side. very disappointing.

Good new, failure after 1 yr warranty – After 14 months of ownership: 1) Video won't record with sound 2) Speakerphone doesn't work 3) Port for earphone stopped working, so can't listen to music in my car. 4) Charging only works intermittently 5) Software to update OS doesn't work. Can't do major updates over the air and software fails with Windows XP 6) Google has hijacked my… Read more

privacy through the play store.

I'm either going back to Blackberry or moving to Apple. Their phones have problems as well, but not as bad as this Galaxy S2. Great camera. Good size. Nice screen. Broken charging port, earphone port, speakerphone, Samsung software for updating OS

Great When new, Now useless :( – My first smart phone (Smart?) I don't think so. Wifi use to work, now it only works randomly or not at all Battery life was good got up to a week, now lasts half a day & I rarely use the phone. Lost count of how many factory resets I've done...ohhh I shoul've got an Iphone instead. Don't buy this phone Size layout Wifi, short battery life,flimsy back cover, kies software

Don't buy a Galaxy SII, especially from Sprint – We've had four of these phones on a family plan. They worked reasonably well for about a year and then we started having problems. All four phones have begun turning on and off by themselves. We get a lot of dropped calls. The phone locks up and you have to take the battery out to have half a chance at getting it running again. Our service… Read more

from Sprint has also been terrible. There was no cell service in Lakeland FL where we moved. Having an airave installed helped that situation, but if you are looking for new phone service, stay away from Sprint.

Recently, my wife's phone got worse and the microphone and speakers went dead, so if she dials out, or receives a call, she can't hear anything or say anything on the phone.

Maybe the newer generation phones are better, but stay away from the S2.

Turns on and off by itself, locks up. Poor service from Sprint.

Do not buy!!!! Worst phone!! – Please do not waste you money on this poor phone! i have only had this phone for 1 year, i have taken great care of it and a couple of months ago its stopped charging, you have to stuff the charger in there to make it charge and a couple of days ago the phone started to smell like petrol! very dodgy poorly made phone. it also freezes multiple… Read more

times, even if you have no bugs and alot of storage left! i have had to reset this phone 3 times now because of how bad it gets!

it also says i have 100% charge but when i lock it and then unlock it again it says i only have 40% charge!!!!

spend your money on a phone that works, please samsung galaxys are [censored word removed]!!!!!!!! Do not buy!!!

also only has 5 hours of battery! Good apps Expensive, bad battery, dodgy, has a weird smell, will not charge, freezes

Good business phone – I've been using this phone for a while now for work and it seems to be doing a decent job. Having said that, coming up to a little over a year using it and I'm finding that the phone seems to be playing up. It's getting a bit sluggish and I'm having to need to reset it more often. When it does work, the 4G reception is great and the phone reception isn't that bad. Great for work, App Store, 4G reception Getting sluggish after a while

Needs a good signal – Unless you are in a high signal strength location do not buy this phone. I regularly amd with colleagues and friends and notice that I have less bars. I live in Riverview Sydney and do not get recpetion. Yes it is a Testra blackspot but friends with iPhones are able to make and take calls. I cannot do that with this phone. Other wise the device is… Read more

fine. A few glitches requiring reboot and the camers lag on pressing the button is annoying but you get used to those things. Good screen - light Needs high signal strength area

Highly recommend this phone – I really like this phone. The perfect size too for a phone. If you want to get decent battery life then turn off data and wifi etc. to easily last you a day. Very customizable too and fast and easy to use. I used an iPhone 4 before and would have to say this is a much better phone. Like the bigger screen especially. Big screen Took a long time to charge

Fairly Decent Phone – I've had two Galaxy S2's now and there is one design flaw that has left me phoneless now, basically the screen is way too brittle. I understand that it is "Gorilla Glass" and that this is supposed to be very tough, but because the glass goes to the edge of the phone it cracks very easily if you drop it from less than a meter. The cost to repair is… Read more

crazy as well. Next time I'll be looking into something tougher.

The phone itself works ok. I had some troubles with calls on times and the phone would freeze every now and again. Also the battery life isn't great. But it did what I asked of it most of the time.

If I was getting one again I would make sure I have a metal case. Fairly quick Plastic body that cracks and screen too weak.

Very good phone – Got the s2 with vodafone and have had it for 2 years. Initially had an overheating problem with prolonged use. Sent to service-center (under warranty) problem solved. Apart from that initial issue the phone has worked flawlessly ever since. Just received the jellybean software update which has given it a fresh new look for the better. Newer phones… Read more ·  1

have been released but personally I find the phone does everything I need and will not consider upgrading till something really special comes out.

I do not give 5 stars easily, but in my experience this product has earned it.Remember though, it has been out for a while so for some people it may be dated, but then again it is now cheaper. I guess it wold make an ideal mid-range phone. In closing, I would add this phone is very smooth to use and I have never experienced lag etc. regardless of applicationj used.

Poor battery life on Samsung Galaxy S2 – I have had this phone for about 7 months now. It is on plan from Virgin. I have returned it twice and each time have been told there is nothing wrong with it. If that is the case, this phone is not very effective. Virgin obligingly sent it off for assessment and repair if necessary. Each time I returned it I was without a phone for several days,… Read more

and each time it has come back with no problems indicated, except for software updates; but this should not affect the battery life of the phone.

To make the phone last a full day all the apps including wifi and blue tooth need to be turned off. This then turns this phone into a less funtional device, purely useful to make phone calls. Reception is spasmodic and mostly has emergency calls only on the screen unless I turn it off and then turn it back on again. It will not connect to the built in blue tooth on my my husband's car, but will connect to my mobile blue ant blue tooth device. Because I turn off the wifi to save battery the updates do not occur and I don't use the download allowed as part of my mobile plan.

Recently, by chance I sat next to a young man in a waiting room and he had the same type of phone and I quizzed him on what he thought of it. He was using all the apps that the phone provided but also said the battery life was very poor.

My previous phone was a Nokia, but not a touch screen type. It had a great battery life and reception. As this is on a plan I need to run this out before I can get another phone, but it won't be another Samsung. It is intuitive and easy to use. I had no problems withworking out how to use it when I first got it Poor battery life.

Its been good – Had it close to two yrs and its been great...Ive seen worst on batteries but the batt capacity still acceptable on s2...Still can be improve...Im a heavy user so ive checked my fone almost every 15mins and play around with it...Tethering was fine...This is my 2nd galaxy and both been great...Using s3 now and its been good too.... Its a smartfone and easy to use.