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First impressions of the T-Mobile HTC Amaze 4G and Samsung Galaxy S II

T-Mobile is rolling out two high end Android Gingerbread smartphones with the HTC Amaze 4G and Samsung Galaxy S II. The tough thing with devices this good is deciding which of the two to purchase. Both are amazing Android devices with similar internal specs and different design features.
By Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer
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T-Mobile is rolling out two high end Android Gingerbread smartphones with the HTC Amaze 4G and Samsung Galaxy S II. The tough thing with devices this good is deciding which of the two to purchase. Both are amazing Android devices with similar internal specs and different design features.

Check out my 10 minute video and more detailed thoughts on both of these new T-Mobile smartphones over at the ZDNet Smartphones & Cell Phones blog.

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The Samsung Galaxy S II on T-Mobile has the largest display of all SII models.

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The Galaxy S II has minimal buttons and on the right side all you will find is the power/display button.

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A simple volume button is found on the upper left side with an indent in the middle so you can tell if you are raising or lowering the volume.

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It's nice to see Samsung using a microUSB port on the bottom for charging and connection to a PC/Mac.

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The only thing found on the top of the Galaxy S II is the 3.5mm headset jack.

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Thankfully Samsung did not go with their traditional high gloss black plastic back that serves as a fingerprint magnet. The textured rubberized back on the Galaxy S II feels great in your hand and has a higher quality feel too.

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There is an 8 megapixel camera and single LED flash light centered on the upper back of the device.

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I love the textured back of the Galaxy S II and think you will too.

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The traditional capacitive Android buttons are a bit too bright for me in low light situations.

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There is a front facing 2 megapixel camera for video calls.

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The HTC Amaze 4G has a higher resolution display than the Galaxy S II and is slightly smaller too.

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The first two of the four buttons on the HTC Amaze 4G are swapped from the two on the Galaxy S II. I personally prefer the home button all the way on the left.

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The HTC Amaze 4G also has a 2 megapixel front facing camera above the display. Unlike the Galaxy S II though you can use the camera with Google Talk, which is a nice advantage for the HTC Amaze 4G.

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There is a microUSB port on the center of the left side of the device.

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A major design feature for me personally are the dedicated camera and video capture buttons on the lower right side that let you launch the camera and video recorder when the device is in a locked condition.

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There is a long volume button on the upper right side of the HTC Amaze 4G.

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The power button and 3.5mm headset jack are found on the top of the HTC Amaze 4G.

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The HTC Amaze 4G has an interesting design with the display raised up above the sides just a bit. The entire aluminum back and sides are removable to access the battery, SIM card, and microSD card slot.

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The back of the HTC Amaze 4G has some interesting design elements with the soft touch combined with aluminum. There are two available colors, black and white.

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The HTC Amaze 4G has an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash lights. It also has a f/2.2 aperature lens.

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The entire back and sides of the HTC Amaze 4G are removable to access the internals of the device. As you can see there is quite a large 1730 mAh battery inside too.

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The HTC Amaze 4G is slightly narrower than the Galaxy S II with a bit smaller display too.

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Both devices have 8 megapixel cameras, but I personally like the Amaze 4G back much better.

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HTC Amaze 4G and Galaxy S II image gallery thumbnail 1

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HTC Amaze 4G and Galaxy S II image gallery thumbnail 2

 

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