Samsung held a press event in New York where they announced that the upcoming Galaxy S II would be coming to AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint next month. There was no mention of a Verizon model, as they plan to focus on alternative Android devices instead. This doesn't mean that we may never see an eerily similar smartphone eventually pop up on Verizon Wireless under a different name, however.
Penned by many in the media as the iPhone killer, the Galaxy S II is Samsung's fastest selling smartphone ever. The handset has been available internationally for less than three months and has already found its way into the hands of over five million people – you can read our review here.
Each carrier has put a slightly different spin on the Galaxy S II, although internally they are all the same. Across the board, all phones feature a dual-core 1.2 GHz Samsung Exynos processor, 1 GB of RAM, an 8 MP camera on the back with 1080p HD video recording and a 2 MP camera on the front, 16 GB of internal memory and a MicroSD card slot supporting up to 32 GB cards. There's also 4G connectivity via HSPA+ on AT&T and T-Mobile and WiMAX on Sprint. Android Gingerbread 2.3 will ship on all phones.
The Sprint phone, dubbed the Epic 4G Touch, and the T-Mobile versions feature a large 4.5-inch display while the AT&T model gets a smaller 4.3-inch panel. T-Mobile was a bit tight-lipped about their offering otherwise. In fact, T-Mobile didn't let journalists interact with their phone at all. Some are speculating that there could be more to this than meets the eye.
Sprint will be the first to the US market with the phone on September 16 for $199.99 with AT&T just behind them on September 18. There is no official word yet on the launch of T-Mobile's Galaxy S II.