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Samsung Galaxy S II hands-on (photos)

The Samsung Galaxy S II is heading to AT&T and T-Mobile very soon, but CNET got a chance to take a closer look at the phones at a special event in New York. See them here.

Bonnie Cha
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
Bonnie Cha
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Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T)

AT&T is just one of the U.S. providers that will offer its own version of the Samsung Galaxy S II. The carrier did not release pricing information or availability date at this time but did say that it would launch in the "coming weeks."
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Smaller display

Unlike the T-Mobile and Sprint version, the AT&T model features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus touch screen instead of a 4.5-inch display. AT&T said this is because it already offers a 4.5-inch screen in the Samsung Infuse 4G and wanted to offer customers a different option.
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Super thin

The positive side of a smaller display is that the phone isn't quite as large as the others and is superthin.
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Top view

On top of the phone, you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Galaxy S II models also offer DLNA support.
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TouchWiz enhancements

The Samsung Galaxy II will ship running Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread along with the newest version of TouchWiz. The latter offers such improvements as more fluid transitions between home screens. Instead of swiping through each screen, you can simply drag your finger across the pages.
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Application pages

You can also do this with the apps menu.
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Widgets

Another change to TouchWiz is the ability to change the size of Samsung's Live Panel widgets.
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Resizing widgets

To do this, you simply do a long press on the desired widget to bring up a grid that will allow you to change the size of the widget.
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Ta-da!

It's really a simple process of dragging the corner of the widget to your desired size.
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More TouchWiz features

Additional TouchWiz improvements included an integrated task manager, a more robust Social Hub, and a quick panel in the notifications tray for quicker access to wireless options and other features.
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Media Hub

All versions of the Galaxy S II will come with the Samsung Media Hub, where you can rent and buy TV shows and movies. Also, with a new app called Media Hub Show, you can play back that content to your HDTV with an HDMI cable and Galaxy S II dock or adapter. The phones also offer DLNA support.
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Video editor

The Galaxy S II's 8-megapixel camera can capture video at 1080p, thanks to the dual-core processor. Samsung has done a nice thing by including a video editor app on the phones, so you can immediately cut movies, add music to your videos, and more right from your phone.
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Drag-and-drop

The video editing process is really simple and involves dragging and dropping different clips.
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Samsung Kies Air

Also preloaded on the phones is Samsung's Kies Air service, which connects the phone to your PC or Mac via Wi-Fi so you can transfer files, manage contacts, and send text messages from your computer.
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Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile)

Sadly, T-Mobile's version of the Galaxy S II was locked away under Plexiglass displays, so we weren't able to go hands-on with them. As you can see though, it will support Netflix.

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