Galaxy S II - 2/13 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

CyanogenMod 10.1 Nightlies Arrive For Samsung's Galaxy S, S II, S III, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0/10.1 [Updated]

Posted by John Thompson in Development, Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, News, Samsung

Update: More devices added - see the list below.

CyanogenMod 10.1 is continuing to bring Android 4.2 to more devices each day, and Samsung fans will be glad to know that nightly builds are now available for:

Galaxy S (galaxysmtd, galaxysbmtd)
Galaxy S II (i9100, i9100g)
Galaxy S III (i9300, d2tmo T-Mobile, d2att AT&T)
Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and 10.1 (p5100, p5110, p3100, p3110)

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

Dec

Samsung Exynos 4 Exploit Discovered: Root And Full Access To RAM Possible In A Single App

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, News, Samsung

There's some disturbing news today on the Android security front: an vulnerability has been discovered for Samsung's Exynos 4-powered devices. While the related exploit is useful for the mod scene in that it can be harnessed to gain superuser permissions and root pretty much any device running on an Exynos 4 chip, it's also got some rather disturbing implications. According to an XDA member with the handle "alephzain", who developed the exploit, using this security hole can also grant an app access to all physical memory on a given device - basically, anything stored in RAM is fair game. The virtual directory for memory within the kernel, dev/exynos-mem, is wide open, apparently for access to various camera-related functions.

Dec

US Cellular's Samsung Galaxy SII Receiving Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 Update (FK19)

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy S II, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, US Cellular

If you're still toting the US Cellular-connected Galaxy SII, good news – it seems the device's update to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 is ready to go and can be installed using USC's "Simple Upgrade Tool" any time now.

The update, which carries software build number FK19, brings with it all the Ice Cream Sandwich goodness some other carrier variants already enjoy including Face Unlock, TouchWiz improvements, and more.

^{Image: US Cellular's Ice Cream Sandwich Promo Document}

While US Cellular's Galaxy SII may be a bit late to the Ice Cream Sandwich party, it's nice to see continued support for the device, 10 months after it first debuted on the carrier.

Nov

International Samsung Galaxy SII (I9100) Gets Leaked 4.1.2 Jelly Bean ROM

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy S II, Jelly Bean 4.1, Leaks, News

For many users, if an official firmware update for their device isn't available, a leaked ROM will do just as well. Owners of Samsung's International Galaxy SII (I9100) willing to run leaked firmware will be happy to know that today, XDA user izap has provided Jelly Bean 4.1.2 (build JZO54K.I9100XXLSJ) firmware for all to enjoy.

Of course, there have been rumblings that the SII will receive an official update to 4.1 this month, but sooner is always better, right? Users are reporting that the leaked build is working just fine, though as with any unreleased firmware, your mileage may vary.

Oct

CyanogenMod 10 Nightlies Now Available For AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket And T-Mobile Galaxy S II

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Development, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, News, T-Mobile

CyanogenMod has added yet another pair of devices to the nightlies list for CM10, today bringing Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to the AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the T-Mobile Galaxy S II. Hit up the source links below to get your ROM on and, as always, flash with care.

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

It could oftentimes be unstable and not properly tested, lacking any changelogs, but eventually evolving into alphas, betas, release candidates, and finally stable releases.

Sep

Samsung Announces That Jelly Bean Is Coming To 15 More Devices "Soon," Including The 'Galaxy Music'

Posted by John Thompson in Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Ace 2, Galaxy Beam, Galaxy mini 2, Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), Galaxy Note 10.1 (GT-N8000 / N8010 / N8013), Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II LTE HD, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

Following the initial rollout of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) to Galaxy S III phones in Poland this morning, Samsung has announced that the update will be coming to 15 more devices in other markets "soon."

This latest software update will bring Google Now to a wide range of models and see the frame rate of the entire OS increased thanks to Project Butter.

The devices due to be updated to Jelly Bean are:

Galaxy Tab 2.7.0
Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Galaxy Note 10.1
Galaxy S II
Galaxy Note
Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
Galaxy S Advance
Galaxy S II LTE
Galaxy Music
Galaxy Chat
Galaxy Ace 2
Galaxy Beam
Galaxy Ace Plus
Galaxy Mini II
Galaxy S Duos

Although a device called the Galaxy Music is listed here, we aren't entirely sure what it is just yet.

Sep

Walmart Offering A No-Contract T-Mobile Galaxy S II For $300 With A $30 Monthly Plan (5GB Data, Unlimited Text)

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, Galaxy S II, News, T-Mobile

It's not often we find ourselves excited about prepaid here in the US, but if any store can get people excited about saving money, it's Walmart. And what Walmart and T-Mobile just announced is actually pretty exciting if you're looking for a way to get on the smartphone bandwagon with low monthly overhead.

For $300, Walmart will sell you a contract-free T-Mobile Galaxy S II. That in and of itself probably isn't very exciting. The Galaxy S II is definitely getting long in the tooth, but it's also not a bad phone by any stretch of the imagination. The really exciting part is that once you buy it, for $30 a month you can get a prepaid T-Mobile plan that gives you 5GB of 4G data, unlimited texting, and 100 minutes of voice (come on, who uses minutes?).

Aug

T-Mobile's Last Galaxy S II Update UVLH1 Also Quietly Removed Universal Search

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy S II, News, Samsung, T-Mobile

Yesterday's update UVLH1 for the Galaxy S II on T-Mobile may have shaken things up a bit when it comes to NFC and ISIS, but it now looks like Samsung has also sneaked in a tweak dumbing down universal search. A similar "fix" was discovered in T-Mobile's version of the Galaxy S III 2 weeks ago, and it seems like Samsung is not taking any chances with its older sibling either.

As evident from the screenshots below, searching for "maps" only brings back relevant suggested web searches and results, but not the local Maps application. For comparison, I've included a shot of doing the same on the EVO 3D.

Aug

List Of Some Isis Launch Devices Revealed - Includes Most Galaxy S III Variants And More

Posted by David Ruddock in Amaze 4G (Ruby), AT&T, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Incredible 4G, News, One X (Endeavor), T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

MasterCard and T-Mobile revealed some information about which devices we can expect Isis on when it launches at the end of September (according to Bloomberg), though we have no reason to believe this constitutes every supported device. Here's the list of compatible Android phones, as we've compiled it.

T-Mobile
- Galaxy S II
- Galaxy S III
- HTC Amaze 4
Verizon
- DROID Incredible 4G LTE
- Galaxy S III
AT&T
- One X
- Galaxy S III

A number of other devices are listed as supporting "any" standard on MasterCard's list, some being international phones, so it's unclear whether phones labeled in this fashion that are in the US will actually support Isis, or if they are merely deemed compatible with it.

Aug

UVLH1 Update On T-Mobile Galaxy S II Makes It The First Isis-Ready Phone - Is Google Wallet's Biggest Foe Finally Here?

Posted by David Ruddock in Device Updates, Galaxy S II, News, T-Mobile

A rather innocuous OTA update (T989UVLH1) for T-Mobile's Galaxy S II was announced today, with a 2-line changelog that, on the surface, probably won't excite anyone:

Improvements

ISIS/NFC update

Bug fixes

That's the whole thing. But that little Isis mention is easy to overlook - this is the first phone to officially indicate (if indirectly) support for the carrier-backed mobile payment system. Unfortunately, we don't have a T-Mobile Galaxy S II in order to check if this update actually brings the Isis app itself, or is merely in preparation for support. Either way, it implicitly confirms that this phone will be Isis-ready.