Just a couple of weeks ago we heard rumours that the next iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S II was coming – in its 4G incarnation, on Telstra.
We now have official confirmation from Telstra – it’s launching tomorrow the 27th of March 2012.
Compared to the former Galaxy S II, the 4G iteration offers:
- Larger SuperAMOLED screen at 4.5 inches
- Faster CPU – 1.5GHz Dual Core
- NFC chip so you can get on the action with your Galaxy Nexus owning friends
- Larger battery – 1850mAh
Unfortunately, the Galaxy S II 4G will launch running Android Gingerbread 2.3.6, however Telstra are saying it will be upgradeable to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the future. No clear timeframe given, however.
Probably the first thing you’ll notice about this phone is the incredible network performance. Having used a few LTE handsets myself, I can tell you that these are FAST. They quote speeds of between 2 and 40mbps downstream, and up to 10mbps upstream, however in real life, you can expect something like 16mbps EACH WAY depending on where you are. Where LTE isn’t available, you’ll ‘drop back’ to Telstra’s Next G network, and with a HSPA+ Dual Channel radio, you’ll probably get speeds in excess of 10mbps anyway.
The Galaxy S II 4G will launch on various plans from 27 March 2012, but notably these:
- Consumer $59 Freedom Connect plan, with a $5 handset payment, which gives you $550 worth of calls and MMS, unlimited SMS and 1.5GB of data per month.
- Business $70 Mobile Advantage plan, which offers unlimited national SMS, free voice calls to mobiles on the same account and 1GB of data.
- If you don’t want a plan, or you already have one, you can of course obtain the Galaxy S II 4G outright for $768 (coincidentally the same price as the HTC Velocity 4G, the price of which is expected to drop following the Galaxy S II 4G launch).
Will you partake in the Galaxy S II 4G goodness? Or are you holding out for the Galaxy S III? Let us know in the comments.
