Which SII variant from the US?

[WolVish]

Hi guys,

After using my Nokia N9 for like 5 months, I've decided to sell it and get a dual/quad phone which plays HD videos with good Audio quality and call quality. I want a phone in the range of 20-24 k. After searching for a while I decided to get an SII. But here in India, we only get the I9100G version, which I don't want to spend on. My bro is coming from the US and I'm gonna ask him to buy. I don't care about warranty in India.

The problem is that, there are so many variants there apart from the standard I9100. Which one is good, Skyrocket or T-Mobile Version or At&T version or US Cellular one? I'm going for an unlocked phone only. Should I consider any other thing apart from a Manufacturer warranty?

Or are there any other phones in the range of 20-25k better than the S II? Please advice.

Thanks in advance,
Wolvish

Any advice would be great guys..

 

[WolVish]

Bump..

 

[techlover]

Hey first thing the i9100G is model is discontinued in India too ...u will get the i9100 model...also it got a recent price cut and its also available around 24-25k easily


also the i9100 has a much largwr developers support than other versions

 

[cacklebolt]

Hey first thing the i9100G is model is discontinued in India too ...u will get the i9100 model...also it got a recent price cut and its also available around 24-25k easily


also the i9100 has a much largwr developers support than other versions

actually no.the i9100g (with TI omap) has a fully functional jelly bean rom while the jellybean rom for the exynos version crashes.
CyanogenMod developer slams Exynos phones for lack of proper support - GSMArena Blog

 

[WolVish]

Which one should I get then

 

[cacklebolt]

for developer support G version ...else normal one ..also check out galaxy nexus

for developer support G version ...else normal one ..also check out galaxy nexus

for developer support non exynos G version.else normal exynos one.also check out galaxy nexus

for developer support non exynos G version.else normal exynos one.also check out galaxy nexus

 

[randomuser111]

Apparently the S2 may not be getting Jellybean update, only a value pack. So think again. Also custom JB is also a no go as already mentioned in the article linked above.
I9100G won't get it either but it does have a working JB custom ROM. So if you can find the I9100G get it.

 

[theserpent]

Get the galaxy nexus its the best IMO(if you can live with no SD expansion )

 

[thetechfreak]

Galaxy Nexus is the Android phone to get. The phone storage alone should be enough for most people.

 

[WolVish]

Thank you for the reply guys. But how is the audio quality of GNex? Is it better than SGS II? How is the screen? I really like the 'Plus' in AMOLED.

 

[Soumik]

There isnt much of a difference in price between the SII and the SIII in US. I would suggest stretch ur budget and get the US version of SIII (with dual core snapdragon S4 chipset). Its far better on the software front of the stock ROM than any of the US SII variants.
As for custom ROMs, i have a T Mo SII and i know that are pretty stable JB ROMs out there for this version. I would suggest the T Mo version over others as it has the more developer friendly Snapdragon chipset, and a much larger screen than the standard SII. Also, compared to skyrocket, this has a better battery life as per reviews.. so if needed, pick this version of SII. Be warned though, that the stock ICS rom from T Mo for this handset is absolute rubbish. Am using it and its more unstable than all the working custom ROMs i've on my Moto Defy (Barring the initial ICS builds in alpha stage). So, be ready to change it to an custom ROm as soon as you get it, else, stay with the stock GB rom, which atleast has all hardware fully functional.

Plus,Samsung had officially said that all SII variants will get JB updates... not sure where where the value pack rumor comes from.

 

[WolVish]

^^ Very true, but I really like using the Mali GPU of 9100. Also, it's got a promised JB official update too. SIII is a bit big for my hands..

 

[Soumik]

Ya.. even i wanted to use the Mali 400 GPU . But when i played some games with the Adreno 220, its not that bad either. Dead Trigger plays with very playable framerates. The graphics offcourse is not very great, as they lock some features for non Tegra systems. So, Mali wouldnt fare any better there. So, atleast for now, in real life games and applications, Adreno 220 feels powerful enough.
As for the size, well.. both t mo SII and atnt skyrcket are almost same size to hold as SIII. the Exynos versions are smaller and beter looking. So, ur right to go for the smaller one there.
But on a hindsight, they all seem too big till u get it and get used to it. Then u feel the size is perfect. I offcourse am talking phones here and not phablets.