Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus

Introduction

It's not the end of the road just yet for the Galaxy S III but it would do well to prepare to pass the torch on. Yet, while the current flagship is coming to terms with mortality, Samsung obviously believes there's still fight left in the old Galaxy S II. The company just unveiled a revamped version of its ex-Number One to take advantage of the software goodies introduced by the Galaxy S III.

Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus official images
The Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus has borrowed the finish of the Galaxy S III and is powered by a new chipset with a Broadcomm GPU. It's not a sea change by any means, but no wonders are expected of the Plus version really. All it tries to do is freshen up a proven formula and help Samsung tighten its grip on the midrange.

Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus at a glance

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm, 121 g
• Display: 4.3" 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, Gorilla Glass,
• CPU: Dual-core ARM Cortex A9 1.2 GHz processor
• GPU: Broadcomm VideoCore IV
• RAM: 1GB
• OS: Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Memory: 8GB storage, microSD card slot
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image stabilization; Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, MHL-enabled standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio, USB-on-the-go, NFC (I9105P)
• Misc: TouchWiz 5.0 Nature UX, DivX/XviD codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor

With FullHD screens popping left and right, and quad-core Cortex-A15's, a WVGA Super AMOLED Plus and the dual-core CPU are hardly a geek's wet dream. However, having run a leaked JB test ROM on the original Galaxy S II for a while now, we can confirm that it's a setup that works fine under Jelly Bean, delivering a pretty solid smartphone experience. Probably not one you will crave, but certainly one you wouldn't mind spending your money on.
What will be a bit harder for the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus is convince us that it's worth picking over the original. Perhaps the Koreans simply plan on finally retiring their 2011 flagship and replacing it with the new model, which is obviously in line with their new design language.

The Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II at ours
Or perhaps the new chipset and finish have helped Samsung lower the production cost and price the Galaxy S II Plus more competitively than the original version.

Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus 360-degree spin

The different build materials aside, the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus keeps the same dimensions as the original, including the assertively slim profile we're quite fond of. At 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5mm, it doesn't have the smallest footprint in the 4.3" league, but it's a slim handset that's pretty comfortable to handle and easy to pocket. The NFC version is a tad thicker at 8.9mm, but it's still perfectly manageable.
Going Plus has caused the Galaxy S II to gain some weight though. The I9105 tips the scales at 121g, compared to 116g for the classic I9100 version, but that kind of difference is nearly impossible to feel even if you have both in hand.

Design and build quality

The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus design is a pretty strong reference to its standing in the pecking order. You get the Galaxy S II design with the Galaxy S III finish and the result is surprisingly good.
The problem is we were quite fond of the rough textured battery cover of the original and we still prefer it over the new thing. And while looks are strictly a matter of personal preference, the grip and the fingerprint-resistance are not.

The Galaxy S II Plus next to the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy S III
The Galaxy S II Plus back gets covered in smudges head-to-toe in no time and feels pretty slippery, compared to the grippy and fingerprint-proof back of the I9100. In fact, if we were to redesign the Galaxy S II, we'd only replace the silver frame around the screen, which worst signs of wear, particularly if you are not too careful with the handset.
Samsung, however, felt this is the only element worth keeping. It did change the color, so maybe its finish is more durable now, but only time will tell.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus uses the same 4.3" SuperAMOLED Plus screen as the original Galaxy S II. This means you can count on excellent viewing angles, sky-high contrast and reasonable brightness levels.

The Galaxy S II Plus display has pretty decent image quality
The WVGA resolution stretches a bit thin on the 4.3" display, making for a pixel density of just 217ppi, but it's by no means too bad to look at. Of course, those 720p and 1080p monsters of a screen look way sharper, but this one is pretty crisp, too. And because it uses a traditional RGB matrix instead of PenTile, there's no need to worry about the crosshatch pattern either.