ON THE SPOT: Samsung launches the latest Galaxy S II smartphone

Perspectives: Classic games played at the launch

Samsung has launched its latest Galaxy S II smartphone in Australia – the thinner, lighter and brighter version of the Galaxy S.

Its key features include a 1.2GHz Dual Core processor, 16GB of inbuilt memory (with expandable micro-SD memory available) and 0.01 millisecond response time.

The thinnest smartphone so far weighs 116g, is 8.9mm thick and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

It has a 4.3-inch super AMOLED Plus touchscreen display with Corning Gorilla Glass, which makes it durable, rigid and scratch proof.

Samsung Electronics Australia vice-president of telecommunications, Tyler McGee, said “We aim to provide the best viewing experience for our consumers and to do this we focus on the innovation of the picture quality rather than simply increasing the number of pixels.”

It also features a 2 megapixel front camera and an 8 megapixel rear camera, with LED flash and full HD video recording capabilities.

The smartphone presents a wireless sync feature of an upgraded Kies 2.0, enabling users to back up their smartphone data on the PC without having to use a USB cable and Kies Air, a mobile application enabling over Wi-Fi computer to phone connections and browser based management.

The Samsung Galaxy S II live panel offers widgets that give users access to content and updates on their home screen in a magazine style layout.

The company has partnered with a few businesses to provide users with access to a range of apps. These include:

1. Navigon – featuring preloaded free maps for A/NZ
2. The Age and Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide – a free 30-day trial of a food guide app
3. Second TV – allowing users to stream TV content to the device using a new Samsung SMART TV available in June.

   It brings upgrades to two integrated hubs featured on the Galaxy Tab 7.0 – the Readers Hub and Social Hub premium, presents a new Game Hub and Music Hub, a new service yet to be released in Australia.

   Samsung also launched a free remote find, device security service. The Samsung Dive locates missing smartphones and remotely protects private data from being accessed.

   RRP for the The Galaxy S II is $899 and it will be available on the Optus, Vodafone, 3 and Telstra networks progressively in June and July.