Samsung Galaxy S II 4G (Boost Mobile)

The unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II?made its debut more than a year ago. 15 months and all the major carriers later, it's finally arriving on Boost Mobile. 15 months is more like a few years in the smartphone?world, so credit should go to Samsung that it's still an excellent device. Not only that?the Samsung Galaxy S II 4G is actually the best phone in Boost's lineup right now. At $369.99 it's rather pricey up front, but it gets you a powerful dual-core processor, a great display, good call quality, and 4G speeds on Sprint's WiMAX network. It's our new Editors' Choice for smartphones on Boost.

Physical Design, Call Quality, and Data Speeds
Lovely as ever, the Galaxy S II measures 5.1 by 2.7 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.8 ounces. It's a large slab, available in either black or white, made entirely of plastic with a lightly textured back panel. Just keep in mind that this is a big phone; I was unable to hold it in one hand and drag down the notifications bar with my thumb. But if you like a large screen, you're in luck: The Galaxy S II has a beautiful, 4.52-inch, 800-by-480 Super AMOLED Plus display. This is lower resolution than the 960-by-540 display on the?EVO Design 4G, but Super AMOLED Plus looks richer.

The Galaxy S II is a quad-band (800/850/1900/2600) CDMA/WiMAX phone that runs on Sprint's 3G and 4G networks. You also get 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. Reception is average and call quality is good. Voices sound full, clear, and natural, with plenty of volume in the phone's earpiece. The speakerphone also sounds good but isn't loud enough to use outdoors. Calls made with the phone sound clear, though voices can have a slightly robotic quality. I had no trouble connecting to a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset and calls sounded fine. Samsung uses the powerful Vlingo app for voice dialing here instead of the usual Android option. It allows you to dictate texts messages and issue other commands by voice.

Battery life is good, at 6 hours and 54 minutes of talk time over 3G. But turn on 4G, and that number drops considerably, even when you aren't using the phone. You'll probably only want to connect to 4G when you know you're going to use it.

As we discovered in our testing for the?Fastest Mobile Networks, Sprint has the slowest 3G speeds of all the carriers we tested. That means that all 3G-only Sprint, Boost, and Virgin phones are running at some pretty challenged data speeds. Thankfully, 4G WiMAX support offers the Galaxy S II a nice boost. Unfortunately, WiMAX speeds on the Galaxy S II were not as impressive as the speeds I saw on the EVO Design 4G, Boost's other WiMAX phone.

I didn't have the EVO Design on hand to test against the Galaxy S II, so I used the Clear Spot Voyager?, which runs on the same WiMAX network. Upload speeds were similar on both devices, but the Clear Spot Voyager consistently pulled ahead on downloads, which leads me to believe the GS II's modem is a bit on the slow side.

Also, while WiMAX will get you faster data speeds, keep in mind that it isn't available everywhere the same way that 3G is. Make sure you're covered before factoring it into your decision.

The best reason to get a phone on Boost is to tap into the carrier's inexpensive pricing plans. Android plans start at $55 for "unlimited" data, talk time, and texts per month. That amount is reduced by $5 every 6 months you pay your bill on time, until you reach $40. If you don't need as much talk time, you can get a similar plan from Virgin Mobile, but with 300 voice minutes, for just $35 per month. But for either carrier, there is a downside for heavy data users: After 2.5GB of full-speed data usage per month, your speeds will be throttled significantly until the end of your billing cycle.

For an additional $10 per month, you can use the Galaxy S II as a mobile hotspot to share your connection with up to eight devices. Just keep in mind that you're drawing from the same 2.5GB well of full-speed data.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/AvaAC0-Ecks/0,2817,2409019,00.asp

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