With a retail price starting at one penny for a new line of service, and starting at $199 with a new two-year activation on an existing line at AT&T authorized retailers, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket joins the HTC Vivid as the 20th and 21st Android devices released by AT&T this year. David Christopher is chief marketing officer of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, and he stated that the addition of the Skyrocket simply adds to what has been “an outstanding year of Android success” for the second-largest wireless provider in the United States. The Skyrocket arrives as the first smartphone to be released on AT&T’s 4G LTE network, and it is the fourth Samsung Galaxy S II version to hit the US.
The Galaxy S II first arrived in Asia and Europe and immediately sold 10 million units its first five months. Now that the handset has released to all four major carriers in the US, those sales figures have moved up to 30 million units globally. Landing at AT&T with pretty much the same design as the original handset that debuted overseas, the Galaxy S II Skyrocket comes preloaded with Android’s 2.3.5 Gingerbread operating system. And the Skyrocket smartphone arrives in typical 4G handset fashion, as a rectangular black slab with the familiar four Android control buttons beneath the display.
Measuring 5.11 x 2.71 x 0.37 inches (129.8 x 68.8 x 9.49 mm) and weighing 4.60 ounces (130 g), the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is of average size and weight compared to all other 4G handsets. What is not average is the screen size, at 4.50 inches. That display is 480 x 800 pixels, and uses Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus display technology which supports 16 million colors and offers multitouch, capacitive gesture navigation. The display incorporates a light sensor for auto adjustment and a proximity sensor for auto shut off, and comes with a protective layer of scratch resistant Gorilla Glass.
The 1850 mAh battery delivers 7.0 hours of talk time and 10.5 days standby, and the processor on board is a dual core 1.5 GHz chip. Onboard storage is 16 GB, and there is 1.0 GB of RAM memory pre-installed. An onboard microSD slot allows for storage expansion. An 8.0 megapixel camcorder is on the back of the handset, and provides LED flash, a video light, autofocus, smile detection and panorama features. That rear facing camcorder shoots video in 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution (1080p HD) at 30 frames per second, and the front facing 2.0 megapixel chat cam also provides video call capabilities and records in 1280 x 720 resolution (720p HD). Buy the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket starting at one penny for a new line of service, or starting at $199 for existing lines with a new two year agreement.
