Eye Dark Circles in Urdu

Dark circles under eyes look very bad. It seems you aren’t physically fit. You don’t look attractive. Removing these black circles under your eyes is your prime concern to save your beauty. You need a good remedy to help you out. Don’t worry these home remedies will fix your problem.
 

Oily Face Skin Care Tips in Urdu

Oily skin is difficult to manage. Especially females suffers badly and they are very conscious to overcome the oily skin problem. Oily face skin need extra care to maintain it. You have to keep tissue in your hand to wipe off extra moisturizing from your face. Some time tested home remedies are perfect treatment for oily skin. Your face become shinning and glowing.

Freckles Home Remedies, Tips, Tricks Urdu

Freckles are reddish brown spots on the skin of the body. They are mostly appear on the face. They are clearly visible on fair skin. It is an inherited skin disorder which spreads from the affected parents to the offspring.  Females are very sensitive about their skin complexions. they often in search of tips tricks , home and natural remedies to overcome their skin problems.  Fair skin is the only dream they have been looking for. we have collected the most time tested and trust worthy home natural remedies to use and overcome freckles.

Aids/HIV information in Urdu

 

AIDS stands for Acquired immunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) Syndrome.  It results from infection with a virus called HIV, which stands for human immunodeficiency virus. This virus infects key cells in the human body called CD4-positive (CD4+) T cells. These cells are part of the body’s immune system, which fights infections and various cancers.

Dengue Fever Information &Treatment

Dengue fever is a viral infection caused by a virus called Dengue Virus. This virus is induced in humane body through the bite of carrier mosquitoes. when a female mosquito bites a humane for the  sake of its dietary  requirement in the form of humane blood, the dengue virus is transferred either in human or in mosquito depends upon who is the carrier in that extent. This causes the spreading of dengue infection. Dengue virus when enter into human body, multiply itself and destroy white blood cells. It happens all in sudden. It is a tropical disease.

Face Mask about Skin

Face Mask about Skin

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Face skin & organs are very delicated. They always need proper care. Seasonal changes directly affect our face skin. During that time we must pay proper attention to care our face . Face spots degrade your personality. Here are some remedies to protect your skin from seasonal effect. These are time tested home remedies to prepare face mask to remove bad spots from your face.

Home Made Mask For Oily Skin

The big advantage of  making  mask at home is you can prepare it according to your skin requirements. In these days trend of making mask at home is increasing. However, it is difficult to have enough knowledge about your skin. After that you will be able to know what are needed to make mask for your skin. Here are some Desi totkey for making home made mask for your skin.

Hypertension/High B.P in urdu

Hypertension, High Blood pressure, Urdu to Urdu meanings, Urdu meanings, Medical in Urdu, Of hypertension

Hair falling & Baldness

Hair problems are most common in men and women. They seek solutions to their problems. Hair transplant, cosmetic surgeries and so many other ways are  under discussion. Potential risk and benefits are weighed. Most of them use home remedies to overcome their problems. Success rate of home remedies are more than what someone expecting. These home remedies are time tested and worth sharing. Here are some home remedies to share for those who are seeking solutions for their hair problems other than the medicine & surgeries.

Dandruff Solution in Urdu

Dandruff is a very common problem of hairs. It destroy hair beauty. Your personality badly affected due to dandruff. Many dandruff treatment are now available in the market. A lot of anti dandruff shampoos are available to help you out. Besides all, home remedies have their own effect and satisfaction regarding  solution to your problem.  

What is depression?

Depression is a very serious condition of mood disorder.If it is not handled properly or treated by a psychologist  or psychiatrist, it may cause death. Women are more than men are the victims of depression. Women come across many serious changes in their lives. Most of them, during these changes go into depression. After getting depression they don’t take part in day today life actively. they mostly like to live lonely. Some may gain or loose weight. their faces don’t look fresh. They seem to be uncomfortable. there are lot of other symptoms of depression.

Facial Tips in urdu

Facial is very important for face beauty. You must know the way to do facial at home. Beauty salon needs time and money. Home facial save your time and money. Here you can find facial tips for your own. These tips are easy to use.

Weight Loss Tips in Urdu

Obesity is a physical condition that results from excessive storage of fat in the body. Obesity has been defined as a weight more than 20% above what is considered normal as per the body mass index, which is calculated from an individual’s age, height, and weight. Presence of fat tissue is essential as natural energy reserve in our bodies. But excess fat tissues result in obesity and causes health disorders.

Related Tips / Remedies

Related Tips / Remedies Submitted by Viewers

(Submitted by Viewers - 9)

bablu (2008-06-05)
Natural Skin Whitening for Neck;
To remove neck blackness, take equal amounts of honey,lemon juice,sugar & apply on the neck. Wash after 15 minutes.

rani (2008-08-23)
Curd As Skin Lightener;
Curd also is a skin lightner. Apply and let it dry naturally and then wash off .Do it often for results. You only need a teaspoon for whole face.

ahvee (2008-08-24)
Orange Juice As Skin Lightner;
Muscovado Sugar and orange juice is a great way to make your skin shiny and smooth. It also whitens your skin. (Muscavado sugar is a type of of unrefined brown sugar with a strong molasses flavour. It is slightly coarser and stickier than most brown sugars, hence it is a better option to be used as body scrub than simple white sugar. If unavailable white or simple brown sugars can be used for skincare with good results.)

sana (2008-08-24)
Skin Whitening Face Mask;
Mix gram flour (besan), honey, milk and turmeric powder curd. Apply it on face and neck for fair skin.

preethadeva (2008-08-27)
Almond Skin Whitening Mask ;
For a fair complexion soak 2 almonds in hot water at night. In the morning, make a paste with one spoon of milk and add one spoon of sandal powder. Apply and wash with cold water. This helps to improve complexion making your skin fair, soft and clear.

Nabanita, Denmark (2008-08-28)
Homemade Skin Bleaching;
Following recipe helps to bleach skin as well as making it soft and supple. Mix 2 tablespoon of whole milk powder or skimmed milk powder, Hydrogen peroxide and few drops of glycerine. Wait for about 20 mins and wash off your face.

BARGAVI (2008-08-26)
At Home Whitening for Neck;
To lighten the complexion of your neck, mix 1 tsp of milkcream, lime juice, cucumber juice and 1/2 tsp of plain sugar with 5 tsp of milk and apply on your neck daily. Leave it on for 20 minutes,then wash it of with water. This will give you a fair complexion within days.

rekha (2008-09-03)
Milk for Skin Whitening;
After returning home from outside apply chilled raw milk. This reduces tanning and makes complexion fair.

rekha (2008-09-03)
Skin Whitening Care ;
Application of sandalwood, rose water and multani mitti if applied on a daily basis shall show significant improvement in face complexion within one week time. These are known for there skin whietening qualities for very long times.

dhara jani (2008-09-03)
Rice as Natural Skin Lightener;
Make a mixture of rice flour,wheat flour, milk, turmeric and apply on your face for 15 mins. It will improve your skin complexion when appplied on regular basis. Turmeric is also a known skin cleanser and anti inflammatory.

shumaila sajjad (2008-09-07)
Fair Complexion with Gram Flour;
Take small amount of gram flour(baisin) and add rose water to make a paste apply on your face for ten minutes and then wash off for a fair skin. This is a natural cleanser and skin whitener.

madhavi (2008-09-13)
At Home Whitening;
Tip for skin taning; make a paste with tulsi, turmeric & milkcream in equal quantity, make a paste and apply all over tan areas. after half an hour wash with luke warm water. Gives you fair complexion with beautiful skin.

Helen (2008-09-08)
Potato as Skin Lightener;
Make a paste of potatos and apply on your face and neck, wait for some times then wash away. Feel the difference.

meenakshi (2008-09-08)
Fair Complexion with Fresh fruits;
For fair skin smash potato and a cucumber. Sequeeze to get its juice. The best way to apply is to first chill it then apply for few minutes till it dries.

nandita (2008-09-11)
Whitening Skin care with papaya;
Mash some ripe papaya & mix with honey. Apply it on your face. Wait for ten min & wash. See the difference.

jhansen (2008-09-17)
Skin Whitening; Following recipe helps to bleach skin as well as making it soft and supple. Mix 2 tablespoon of whole milk powder or skimmed milk powder, Hydrogen peroxide and few drops of glycerine. Wait for about 20 mins and wash off your face.

A Khan (2008-09-17)
At Home whitening
with lemon is really good. It is effective when used repeatedly for a long time. You can add honey and egg to make a mask that willgive you a youthful skin.

karuna (2008-09-18)
For a fair complexion;
For oily skin, take
1 tbs lemon juice,
A paste of spinach,
2 tbs Besan powder (gram flour),
2 tbs honey. Mix them all to obtain a good paste. Apply monthly to get beautiful fair skin.

nishatkhan (2008-09-19)
Skin care treatment with lentils;
Make a paste of masurdal (lentil) soak over night in milk add tumeric and apply on face till get dry.
(This is an old and time tested skin care treatment that is used in Asian countries to get smooth, fair and glowing skin.)

nandhini (2008-10-16)
Skin Whitening Mask;
Mix besan (gram flour) with curd, lemon juice and turmeric powder. Apply this pack weekly thrice for 1 hour.
Gram flour is a traditional cleanser and skin lightener used in Indian regions for hundreds of years to get fair complexion and a clear skin. Ruchi (2008-08-23)
Natural moisturiser ;
Take 1 tablespoon hung curd and add 3/4th teaspoon of fresh orange juice. Mix them and apply for 20 minutes and wash with cold water.

barathiy (2008-10-17)
Face Mask for Beautiful Complexion;
Take equal amounts of milk powder and sandalwood powder. Mix together and apply on you face. Leave it to dry and then wash face. u will feel the difference and this is useful for the blackheads and pimples marks and also to brighten the skin.

tanu (2008-10-12)
Orange Juice for Whitening Skin Care;
Mix orange juice with yoghurt and add a pinch of salt. apply to the face &leave it for 15 minutes.rinse & get the glow.

valerene (2008-10-07)
Skin Whitening with Carrot;
Drinking carrot juice daily for 30 days will improve skin complexion.

ranjitha (2008-10-08)
Whitening Skin Care;
1 tablespoon gram flour few drops of milk mix it apply on face leave it 15min and wash with clod water.

anannya (2008-10-10)
Skin Care Treatment;
Mix rose water,milk and honey together. Apply them on your face for 15 mins everyday to get a fair complexion and clear skin.

nida........bhopal (2008-10-10)
Skin Lightening Mask;
Take besan, grinded masoor dal, curd, lemon juice, turmeric powder. Mix them well and apply on face and neck. Wash aftr drying. for best resuts use daily and see the difference.......gud luk

Aarthi Sharma (2008-10-04)
For skin whitening:
Add rose water and multanni mitti and curd with lemon. Apply on your face then see the difference in 1 week.

SINI (2008-10-06)
FOR FRESH AND FAIR SKIN;
TAKE 1 TABLESPOON OATS,
1 SPOON TOMATO JUICE,
1 SPOON CARROT JUICE,
1 SPOON LEMON JUICE
HONEY
. MIX IT WELL & APPLY FOR 30MIN. THEN WASH WITH CHILLED WATER AND GET CLEAR AND FAIR SKIN.

deepa (2008-10-06)
Natural Whitenig with Night Care;
APPLY A MIXTURE OF ROSEWATER & GLYCERINE IN THE RATIO OF [glycerine 1drop ][rosewater 1 tablespoon ]everyday in the night before sleeping acts as a good moisturiser...for dry skin only.

ELENA (2008-11-10)
Get Fair Complexion;
Take 1 tomato juice, mix with half table spoon of lemon juice and half table spoon honey. Mix all together. Apply to face and whole body. Fair, silk and smooth skin will be guaranteed.

maricel (2009-01-13)
skimmed milk bleach;
Take a skimmed milk,lemon juice and tawas mix together its guaranted effective.
Your skin will be ligthened.

Lakshmi (2009-01-20)
Mix tamarind, lemon juice and curd,apply on the face and neck weekly once.

mansi (2009-01-15)
Apply some amount of Glyceriene and lemon jucie on face.

saji (2009-01-18)
Skin Whitening Mask;
Soak rice(not boiled)+sour curd overnight. Morning time just mix this in grinder, then add 1Tomato ,again grind it. Apply this on your face and scrub it nicely and wait for 20 mins then wash it off.
It will improve your skin complexion when applied on regular basis.

Nusky (2009-01-14)
mix hydrochloric acid and citric acid with almond at night and sleep.after that wake up in the morning,you are going to be really fair. thank you

Natural Skin Whitening

Natural skin whitening with qucick & easy recipes for skin lightening masks to get fair complexion with a clear beautiful skin

Whitening Skin Care Nature has gifted us with a number of products that serve as good skin lightener and give us beautiful complexion with youthful skin

Every woman wants to have fresh, beautiful complexion that attracts every one at first glance. While only few of us are so lucky to have flawless fair skin. However, all of us may improve our skin and bring it near to perfection by taking good care. This may be an expensive regimen with synthetic cosmetics for skin lightening treatment but natural recipes for skin care have made it cheap and easy to approach for every one because most of the ingredients are easily available in every kitchen. All natural skin care is good because it takes just minutes to prepare natural products, they are cheap and they give wonderful results. A homemade face mask has to be used twice a week to get best results. How to make a homemade face mask is not a tough job, any one can easily do it. If however, you prefer to use ready made products, look for Natural skin care products. They are superior to chemical based synthetic products. Skin Whitening Mask with Almonds   As long as homemade skin care is concerned, both almond and milk have a prominent place. Almond has been used for centuries as natural skin whitener, even today it is the main ingredient of many skin lightening cream. To make a facial mask, grind few almonds and save in your refrigerator. Take about two spoons of this powder and make a paste with some fresh milk. Apply on your face before going to bed for fifteen minutes. Wash with running water. Use once or twice a week. Regular use will give you a beautiful complexion within few days. Skin Whitening Mask with Almond & Lemon Again almond is there for your Natural skin whitening. Take Almond powder about one tea spoon 1 Egg white (whipped) Half tea spoon Lemon juice Mix them well and mask your face for twenty minutes. This is very nourishing mask supported by the cleansing effect of lemon. This will give you fair complexion within days to weaks. Read more on Almond skin whitening . Here you can find a number of skin careb treatments with almonds. Skin Whitening Mask with Dry Milk # 1 In addition to fresh milk, dry milk powder is also used for skin whitening in many homemade recipes. Take Dry milk powder 2table spoons Kaolin powder 2 table spoons Turmeric powder 1 pinch Orange rind 2 table spoons (grated) Rose water as required Gram flour 2 table spoons Mix them well in rose water to make a paste. Apply on your face for twenty minutes. This will give a beautiful fair complexion. juice. Skin Whitening Mask with Dry Milk # 2 1/2 teaspoon of milk powder, 1/4 teaspoon of egg white 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice . Mix them all and apply on your face. Leave it till it dries.   Skin Whitening Mask with Oats and Honey Finally ground some oats, take about 2 teaspoons of it. Add one teaspoon honey, few drops of lemon juice and one egg white. Mix them well and use as a skin lightening mask. Skin Whitening Mask with Licorice and Honey Licorice is a very popular skin lightener that has been used for a very long time. Nowadays it is growing recognition among commercial skin whiteneing products and has been used widely as their major component. For homemade skin whitening treatment you can apply a diluted extract of licorice to whole face with special attention to darken areas. A good choice is to make a simple skin care mask by adding some honey and lemon to enhance its effects. However licorice is extremely drying to the skin so always endue applying a good moisturizer.

Whitening Skincare

Whitening skin care has a long history particularly in Asian countries where a fair complexion has been seen as noble and aristocratic. As a fact more than 90% of Asian population thought they would be more attractive with lighter complexions, particularly for young girls a white beautiful complexion is the major symbol of beauty. This obsession of skin whitening has never faded throughout the history. This obsession has made Asia billions of dollars industry for skin whitening products.

Most of these skin whitener creams and lotions contain chemicals like hydrophone and mercury which could be certainly harmful when used for long or if used in excessive quantities. It is due to these reasons that skin care companies are turning their face once again towards natural skin whiteners like citric acid, Kojak acid, licorice extract, mulberry extract and so forth. However one can also benefit from these natural products with the help of simple and effective natural skin care recipes.

Here are certain easy homemade skin whitening recipes using ordinary household items that are cheap and easily available. These at home whitening recipes can be more effective than expansive chemical based commercial skin products and the result will be a radiant youthful skin at no cost.

Suunto Quest brings technology, functionality, and style to training outdoors

As an increasing number of sports participants take their training outdoors, Suunto, a global leader in sports precision instruments, is unveiling Suunto Quest, a wristop training device featuring smart solutions that help users get more from their outdoor training.

“Suunto Quest is designed for people who are passionate about training outdoors and value advanced planning, training, and analysis tools, but who also pay attention to sleek design and ease of use,” says Sami Arhomaa, Product Portfolio Business Manager at Suunto.

Suunto Quest offers all the essential tools for outdoor training, including real-time heart rate monitoring, interval timers, and a stopwatch with laps, which can be recorded by simply tapping the display. These tools are all accessed through a user-friendly, three-button interface. Suunto Quest also features nine language options, a clear display, and a lightweight, comfortable fit.

When combined with Suunto Foot POD Mini, Suunto Quest also offers users highly accurate and responsive speed, distance, and running cadence measurement. The tiny, nine gram (0.3 oz) Foot POD Mini uses accelerometer technology to react instantly to changes in running speed – making it particularly useful for interval training and when running on uneven terrain.

“Running cadence is a tool that many runners in the outdoors will utilize to run at an efficient, sustainable pace. This means that over the longer distances you run more consistently, and that helps you run efficiently. The heart rate monitor will help with this too, since the information will keep you running in the right 'zone' so you don't overreach too early in a long training run or race,” says Jonathan Wyatt, six-time winner of the World Mountain Running Trophy.

Suunto Quest is compatible with Movescount.com, Suunto’s online sports diary and training community. Using a computer, users can download personal training programs from Movescount directly to their Suunto Quest, which will then provide real-time intensity or speed-based guidance to help them get the most from every training session.

Using Movescount, users can also customize their Suunto Quest display to show exactly the information they want to see during a workout. Post-workout benefits include the ability to wirelessly transfer workout data to Movescount using Suunto Movestick Mini, a unique recovery time recommendation, and advanced performance analysis – including full heart-rate and speed graphs – which help the user gain a deeper understanding of their workout progress.

Suunto Quest is available in orange or black, and comes with Suunto Movestick Mini, and Suunto Dual Comfort Belt for accurate heart rate measurement.

Suunto Quest can be paired with Suunto Foot POD Mini for running cadence as well as speed and distance info, or with Suunto Bike POD or Suunto GPS POD for accurate speed and distance measurement in a variety of sports.

For running enthusiasts, Suunto Quest Running Packs are available. These packs include Suunto Quest, Suunto Dual Comfort Belt, Suunto Foot POD Mini, and Suunto Movestick Mini.
Suunto Quest will be available at selected retailers from fall 2011.

Suunto launches new and improved Suunto D-Series wristop dive computers

Suunto, the leading designer and manufacturer of dive computers, introduces the new and improved D-Series wristop dive computers. With advanced yet easy-to-use features, the upgraded Suunto D-Series wristop dive computers are designed to make the dive experience as enjoyable as possible, whether it be for an experienced technical diver, dedicated underwater enthusiast, or an adventurous spirit new to the diving world.
 
The world’s first all-in-one wristop trimix dive computer. The new trimix-compatible Suunto D9tx brings together top-of-the-line features in a full titanium housing with sapphire glass, creating a design that complements a boardroom suit as well as it does a wetsuit. With gas switching between up to eight gases, the same Technical RGBM as the award-winning Suunto HelO2, and an easy-to-read 3D tilt-compensated compass, it’s the perfect all-in-one companion for experienced divers who want to explore the depths for longer.

Serious features and air integration at a great price. The trusted companion for passionate divers, the Suunto D6i has now been upgraded with optional wireless air integration, giving divers at-a-glance information on current cylinder pressure and remaining air time, as well as a dedicated freedive mode. The new innovative tilt-compensated electronic 3D compass makes underwater navigation easier than ever before – regardless of the angle of the wrist, the diver can have full confidence in the accuracy of the bearing.

A great-value all-round wristop dive computer. Stylish, colorful and feature-packed, the Suunto D4i is now better than ever. Now upgraded with optional wireless air integration, the Suunto D4i also lets divers who put the emphasis on fun plan and analyze dives, find friends, and share dive stories online through Suunto DM4 with Movescount software.

Analyze and share dive moves online“We are proud to introduce the new Suunto D-Series with top-of-the-line functionalities, and we welcome all divers to join our free, fast-growing sports community, Movescount.com,” says Pia Talja, Product Manager, Suunto. “With Movescount, divers can share their dives, check out new dive sites and view cool dives, and connect with other divers from all over the world. Movescount.com is a unique platform that allows anyone who has an interest in sports to manage their Moves easily and effectively by uploading, rating, tracking, and engaging with other like-minded members.”

All Suunto dive computers, including the new Suunto D-Series are compatible with the new Suunto DM4 software (requires an USB-cable connection), which enables detailed dive planning, and supports synching dive logs with the online Movescount.com community. Current Suunto Dive Manager users can export their dives to the new DM4 software. With Movescount, divers everywhere can share dive profiles, images, and adventures online. The DM4 software is compatible with PC and, from fall 2011, also with Mac.
In 2011, Suunto is celebrating 75 years of guidance and innovation. While a long way from the company’s first product, the Suunto M-311 field compass, the new Suunto D-Series computers are designed following the same principles that have made Suunto the market leader in dive computers – providing advanced, easy-to-use features that everyone from the holiday diver to the serious outdoor sports enthusiast can rely on.
The new Suunto D-Series dive computers will be available from June.

About Suunto:Founded in 1936, and celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Suunto is a leading designer and manufacturer of sports precision instruments and solutions for diving and outdoor sports. Suunto’s products guide and inspire professional athletes and sports enthusiasts who value design, accuracy, and dependability. Headquartered in Vantaa, Finland, Suunto employs more than 500 people worldwide, and its products are sold in over 100 countries. The company is a subsidiary of Amer Sports Corporation along with its sister brands Salomon, Wilson, Atomic, Precor, Mavic, and Arc’teryx. www.suunto.com

About Movescount.com:Movescount.com is a free online sports community powered by Suunto, a leading sports precision instrument designer and manufacturer. Movescount.com is a unique platform that allows anyone who has an interest in sport and fitness to manage their Moves easily and effectively by uploading, rating, tracking, and engaging with other like-minded members. Anyone can visit Movescount.com to check out the top-rated Moves – there’s no need to be a member. Movescount.com uses the latest technologies and is compatible with a wide range of Suunto devices on both PC and Mac. For more information, visit: www.movescount.com

Galaxy S2 Review

Video playback (excellent): The Samsung Galaxy S can play videos without any difficulty. I tried to play the 1080p Gran Turismo 5 trailer that I downloaded directly from the web, and it played without a hitch.

The Galaxy S2 is defined by Samsung and carriers with a two sentences: “ultra-powerful, ultra-thin, ultra brilliant” or “vidid, fast, slim”. It’s true that the Galaxy S2 is the best that Samsung has to offer today and benefits from improvements such as a dual-core application processor (also called system on a chip, or SoC), and large 4.3” Super AMOLED Plus display with a Gorilla glass. Additionally, everything has been integrated in a 8.49mm thin body that is very light (116g). The Samsung Galaxy S2 looks good, but does it live up to the legend in the real-world? Let’s find out.

Context

We all use smartphones differently, so it’s important that I tell you what I do with my smartphone: I typically check my email often with the built-in email app (via Microsoft Exchange), and I reply moderately because the virtual keyboard is slow, even on large displays. I browse the web several times a day to check on news sites, but I rarely watch movies or play music. I don’t call much – maybe 10mn a day, if at all. On the “apps” side, I have a couple of social networks, but I rarely play games or do something super-intensive. This usage pattern will affect battery life and the perception of what features are useful.

Technical Highlights

Android 2.3.3
4.3″ AMOLED Plus display (800×480)
1.2GhzDual-Core application processor (SoC)
16GB of internal storage. Optional (32GB) microSD
8 Megapixel (back) + 2 Megapixel (front) cameras
WiFi A/B/G/N
Size: 125.3X66.1X8.49mm
Weight: 116g
Battery: 1650mAh

What’s new?

Samsung’s new Galaxy S2 line has many improvements, but the few that you should not miss are:
Dual-core system on a chip (SoC): The Galaxy S2 is powered by a dual-core system on a chip (or SoC) with a Samsung Exynos (GT-i9100) running at 1.2Ghz. Although Samsung doesn’t communicate about sub-components, the graphics processor is believed to be a Mali-400MP, which is a capable GPU, but it is not as fast as NVIDIA’s Tegra 2. This new hardware platform should lift the Galaxy S2 to the top of the performance charts, but we will get back to this later on.
HSPA+ (21Mbps): I really consider this to be 3.5G, but some carriers like T-Mobile USA may simply call it “4G”, so keep in mind that while it is better than 3G, it is not as fast as 4G LTE (as deployed by Verizon in the US). That said, HSPA+ phones don’t use nearly as much power as today’s LTE phones when transmitting data, although things are getting slowly better. For more information, read my post about the different 4G networks.

1080p video recording: the Galaxy S2 is the first smartphone that records in 1080p with very good results. It’s surprising because usually I dismiss even 720p recording in real-world usage, because many phones don’t do a good job with it. Strangely, I found 1080p to be the most usable video recording mode… I’ll get back to that later.
Low-light photography: Samsung didn’t make much noise about this, but they should.The Galaxy S2 has much better low-light photography capabilities than the original Galaxy S Series. It maybe a combination of sensor and software, but I like what I’m seeing, even if the S2 probably doesn’t beat the XPERIA Arc in that domain.
NFC: Near Field Communication (NFC) has been included to this phone. At the moment, it’s not really useful, but some users are really excited about this tech, so I thought that I would mention it.

Physical Design

Chassis: we had seen it during Mobile World Congress in February, and I’m glad to see that this phone came out as it was announced. The design is very clean (I prefer the unlocked version without any carrier markings…) and the display is big (4.3”). But the most noticeable thing is how light the handset is. Even with the battery inside, the phone weighs a mere 116g, which is noticeably lighter than the 137g of the smaller 3.5″ iPhone 4.
The USB port is conveniently located at the bottom of the device, which makes the phone easy to use while charging or during a computer sync.

The phone can have a "plastic" feel to it, that's true

Of course, the light weight comes from using plastic instead of glass/metal in many places. This may sound bad, but I haven’t noticed any differences in rigidity while I was using it. I’m not sure how it would resist if you were to drop it on a solid surface, but I’m pretty sure that it is less likely to shatter than an iPhone 4. There is simply less glass to break (the iPhone 4 has glass on the front and the back). Of course, the front glass is still a sensitive part, but unlike the iPhone 4, if the phone lands on a corner, the glass is not in direct contact with the landing surface. The lighter weight should help too as there would be less force on impact.
Now, I really love the “feel” of touching glass and aluminum, and in an ideal world, I would surely want such a design in a lightweight and less fragile form. But in reality, that is not possible, at least today. Yes, it’s about making compromises (again). As a user, you will have to choose between a very light phone that may have a “plastic” feel, or a glass/metal phone that is much heavier for its size.
I have also heard from a number of people (especially HTC users) that the light weight makes them feel like the Galaxy S2 is not solid. I wish that we could crash-test the phones, but this sounds to me like a matter of personal preferences more than a matter of sturdiness. When in doubt, get one in your hands before you pull that credit card out of your pocket.

Display

The colors contrast and saturation are amazing, but not accurate

The Galaxy S2 comes with a Super AMOLED Plus display which can be found on a number of Samsung on the market, like the Samsung Infuse 4G that we reviewed recently. Typically, AMOLED displays have extremely saturated colors, which always trigger a “wow” when you show them to someone.
However, the colors aren’t accurate and often don’t reflect the original colors that the content was designed with. That said, I have hardly heard anyone complain about over-saturation but it’s a good thing to know if you care about color accuracy. IPS LCD displays, or LCD displays would be better at this.

Indoors, the Super AMOLED Plus screen does very well, and watching movies or viewing photos are a real treat. Contrast and brightness are great. I can’t wait to see the 7.7″ version of the Galaxy Tab with an AMOLED display.

Outdoors, on a sunny day, it’s a different story. The screen can be very difficult to read in direct sunlight, especially if you are using a dark wall paper and lock screen. For optimum readability in direct sunlight, I always recommend using a light (if not white!) background on your home page or applications.
There’s a catch, however: AMOLED displays tend to use more power when displaying bright images, so a good chunk of the Android user interface and application interfaces on Samsung AMOLED devices are usually dark, and there is not always possible to change that.
In terms of sheer display resolution, the Galaxy S2 is still using a 800×480 resolution, which is inferior to today’s qHD 960×540 resolution that many high-end Android phones are using. Obviously, this won’t cripple the user experience, but the display does matter a lot, and it would have been nice to get a resolution upgrade.

Software

Android 2.3.4: this AT&T Galaxy S2 is powered by Android 2.3.4, which is the latest (and probably the ultimate) 2.x version in existence today. If you are really curious, you can go to the official Android developer website to look for all the changes from one version to the next:

Samsung software
As it is the case with virtually all the Android handset makers, there is a level of customization that comes with Samsung products, some for the sake of being different, some that turns out to be really useful. I’ll skip the pure “differentiation” part, but here are a few functionalities that you may be interested in:

Live panels: What Samsung calls “live panels” are really widgets. They are little applications that you can drop on your home screen, and they will show some sort of quick-access information, like email notification, battery life or weather information.
I personally don’t use them much because some tend to consume power to stay updated, but I really like the Task Manager Widget as it lets me know how many applications are currently running. If I feel like there are too many, I can quickly go into the task manager app and shut them all off (except the ones that Samsung deems as “part of the system”).

Kies 2.0: To put it simply, Kies is Samsung’s equivalent of iTunes. It lets users synchronize with a PC over WIFI, sync contacts with Outlook, Yahoo and Google, manage songs and playlists, backup photos and files.
For Outlook users, the synchronization over USB is undoubtedly the biggest value. This is an option that few Android phones have, as Android has been designed to be synchronized over the air.
Kies is also handy if you have a larger number of media files (music, movies) to manage. Kies can also take care of converting videos to make sure that they are compatible, or optimized for the Galaxy S2.
I bumped into connectivity problems with Kies, and the sync does not work. At the moment, I will assume that it is something related to my configuration, but if you have the same issue, leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

Basics

Dialing: no problem there, dialing a number directly from the numeric pad, or doing so from one of the contact is easy. If there are a couple of numbers that you call on a regular basis, I recommend create a “direct shortcut” on the home screen. That makes it a one-tap call. You can’t be any faster than that.

Contacts (syncs with Outlook over USB): Contacts can be synchronized from many sources. Google of course, but also Facebook, Exchange and more. Those who use Outlook without using Microsoft Exchange will be happy as Samsung Kies utility can synchronize contacts, calendar todo lists and memos from Outlook.

The internal speaker does a good job, but the Nexus S has better sound quality

Call Audio Quality (Good): The audio quality is good, although I tend to think that the Nexus S is still has the best audio quality. I have had a number of phone conversations with the Galaxy S2, and it’s good enough that it doesn’t get in the way, there’s no complaint on that front.


Virtual Keyboard (Android+Swype): A good keyboard is really important because most users are using apps that are text-based, like Email, Chat, Social Networks and more. In the AT&T Galaxy S2 users have the choice between the stock Android keyboard, the Samsung Keypad and Swype. Frankly, the Android and Samsung keyboard are so similar that I don’t really see the point of having a Samsung keyboard.
For standard virtual keyboards, the most important factor (other than size) is response time (the lag between a tap, and the phone’s action). I often find Android phones to be slower than the iPhone 4, but the fastest are still Windows Phone 7 (WP7) devices. It’s fundamentally a software thing because the WP7 aren’t particularly more powerful than their Android and iOS counterpart. The WP7 keyboard is amazingly responsive.

Swype is a must-try!

However, Swype is truly different. Instead of “tapping” on virtual keys, you can swipe your finger from one letter to the next to form complete words. Instead of going into a long description, here’s a video that shows how Swype works.


Web Browsing: web browsing is very good, although a number of devices actually have better displays, which implies better readability and/or more information visible at once on the web page. That said, The Galaxy S2 will handle web browsing without any problems.
Obviously Flash (10.3) is supported and it will let you access many websites from small business and restaurants. You can also play with select casual games, which opens a new realm of games to your android device. That said, don’t expect any miracles: only games that use light computing power can be played. Also, there is no decent “fullscreen” mode, which is annoying.

Work

Email with Exchange (good): the overall email experience is good. Unlike many Samsung phones, the background is actually white, which makes the text much more readable in direct sunlight (phew). As I said in the “display” section, Samsung uses a lot of dark colors because AMOLED displays consume more power with bright images. The Email app does not support actions on multiple items, which is too bad because that makes the Motorola Android phones like the Photon 4G a bit better for email curation.
For those who work in a company that uses virtual private networks (VPN), Samsung supports Cisco AnyConnect. In terms of security, the Samsung Galaxy S2 has on-device encryption which would free up some CPU cycles. This phone also supports WebEx, but I have not tested it. For more information, you can go to their mobile business site.


Microsoft Office Documents: The Samsung Galaxy S2 comes with QuickOffice, an app that can open and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. It can also read PDF files too. Quick office can be handy to view and possibly edit documents, but honestly most people don’t edit Office documents on a phone, unless there is no other option. Still, it’s free, so it’s hard to complain.

Google Docs requires a network connection

Google Docs: depending on your work habits, Google Docs can be an alternative to Office documents. It works too and Google has put a lot of efforts to make it phone-friendly. There are a few downsides. Google Docs is very weak when it comes to formatting. Also, many companies don’t actually use Google Docs for important documents. Finally, it requires a network connection.

GMail: As usual, GMail is very good and has features like “stars”, multi-items action and labels. It is the same on every Android phone, so there is no surprise here.
Email / Others: popular email services can be setup very quickly. Just enter your email address and the Email app will try to configure itself. If it does not know how to do that, you can always enter the address and port of your email server. It’s usually pretty easy.

Play

The video quality and the AMOLED contrast are exemplary. Even if the color saturation is a bit over the top, it’s clear that the image quality of the Galaxy S2 is awesome.
Games (very good): The Samsung Galaxy S has certainly enough muscles to play. I tried games like Raging Thunder 2 Lite, and the framerate was very good. It is clearly one of the fastest phones that I have tried to date. I wish that there were better gaming benchmarks because I would like to see how well it does against NVIDIA’s Tegra 2. In theory, the graphics processor (GPU) used in Samsung’s processor should be a bit slower.

NVIDIA was smart enough to secure many exclusive games, which is still the best way to “win”. Recent games like Sprinkles aren’t available on other devices. Maybe that’s why Samsung is using Tegra 2 in a number of upcoming phones. Check TegraZone.com to see the exclusive.

The loudspeaker is located at the back

Speaker Quality (good, but not best): when in speaker mode, the sound comes from a tiny speakers in the back of the phone. Surprisingly, the sound is pretty decent and the speaker does its job in a relatively quiet environment. However, I was not blown away by the sound quality. The audio has some echo in it, and at maximum volume it starts getting distorted. The LG Optimus 2X, the iPhone 4 and select Motorola phones do have better speakers.

Photo and Video Capture (excellent)

This photo was taken right before sunset

The Samsung Galaxy S is very good at digital imaging in general. In broad daylight, the photos are less noisy than on competing phones, especially the iPhone 4. I don’t say that often for smartphone photos, but daylight photos could be nicely printed on an 4×6. The Galaxy S2 definitely sits at the top of the food chain in terms of mobile photography.
In low-light situations, the Galaxy S2 also does a good job. In our tests, the colors were captured fairly well and it even bests the iPhone 4 which is a reference for low-light mobile photography (I don’t have an XPERIA Arc on hand, but I wish that I did).

The iPhone 4 still has a slight advantage when the light is extremely low, but overall, I have to give it to the Galaxy S2. Samsung is *finally* learning that mobile photography is about the trade-off between absolute quality and low-light abilities. It’s OK to add noise for the sake of seeing something… Hopefully, others will learn too. Low-light is the next frontier.

This photo has been taken at night with far away street lamps as a light source

The Galaxy S2 has also a Panorama mode that is effective. Although it is quickly becoming a common feature, the Panorama was first introduced to us on Android by the LG Optimus 2X, and has seen a steady adoption since.

A panorama shot with the Samsung Galaxy S2

The video capture on the Samsung Galaxy S is excellent. So far, this is the best HD 1080p (yes “p”) video capture that I have seen on a smartphone. It is actually better than the video recording on my Panasonic GF1 in terms of resolution and framerate (The GF1 still holds the advantage of having a superior lens). Here’s a 720p sample: I’ve uploaded the 1080p version to our Flickr account too.
In short, the Samsung Galaxy S2 is an excellent mobile camera if you take into account its performance in broad daylight, low-light and video recording (in low-light as well).

System Performance (very good)

When talking about the performance of a consumer electronics device, I always try to separate the “measured” and “perceived” performance. Measured metrics are obtained by running synthetic (not always life-like) benchmarks to stress specific parts of the system.
On the other hand, “perceived” performance is the user observation and perception of performance. Although they should correlate, I would always place perceived performance as being the most important thing. After all, what is performance good for if you can’t tell?
Measured performance 


BrowserMark, SunSpider: BrowserMark and SunSpider are two tests that measure the speed of Javascript, a key component for interactivity in websites. To be clear, this does not measure “how fast” pages are loading. Instead this look at how fast scripting code can execute. Javascript is used in modern websites for user interface or even complete applications/games.
Although the Galaxy S2 is a fast phone, other leading phones are slightly faster at this particular benchmark. That said, the difference among the leaders is pretty small.

GUIMark 2 Flash graph test: This test measures the Adobe Flash performance. Flash is a widely used multimedia platform and you can find it virtually everywhere as advertisement, video or other forms of interactive web page module.
In the Flash benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy S2 stands with the leading group at above 20 frames per second, but the Motorola Atrix still leads by a big margin.

The CPU Benchmark also shows a relatively average score for a dual-core SoC. That explain why the Javascript benchmarks also showed average scores. It’s not the Javascript runtime, it’s the CPU. Note that we are still struggling to find a benchmark that provide a truly accurate performance profile, however, they are still good indicators.

NeoCore graphics benchmark: as you can see, the Samsung Galaxy S2 is one of the fastest at this particular benchmark. However, the Optimus 2X, which is powered by Tegra 2 is clearly much faster. [link]
Perceived Performance
Perceptively, the Samsung Galaxy S2 is a very fast smartphone. Its user interface is responsive and I have not experienced any hiccups. Although it is not the fastest, Most users won’t feel any difference with what’s best out there – except possibly for gaming and Flash usage, so keep that in mind.

Battery Life (very good)

The best way to improve battery life is... a bigger battery

With very moderate usage, I have seen this phone hold for 2.5 days. However, with the usage that I have described above, it’s more likely that I will need to recharge it every other day, which is very good by mobile phone standards. I have compiled numbers gathered from typical use cases. Keep in mind that while these will give you an indication, actual performance may vary quite a bit depending on your own configuration of applications and settings.
30mn of Gaming : 22%…. (it got hot around the camera module)
30mn of Youtube: 8%
30mn of Web browsing (WIFI): 10%
You can do your part in making the battery life better. For example, it’s easy to install the Power Control Android widget, and the Samsung Task Manager (very convenient!) to keep an eye on what’s running in the background. Also keep in mind that the display is one of the largest contributors to battery depletion.

What could be better

USB connectivity: The USB connectivity of the recent Samsung devices has been a bit strange. Both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy S2 don’t naturally show up as USB mass storage (USB disks) devices. This is completely artificial since Android supports that feature out of the box. I don’t know if this is intentional so that users have to connect with Kies, but why not do both?
To connect via USB mass storage, one needs to go to Settings>Applications>Development>USB Debugging (check). From there, the Galaxy S2 can show up as a USB drive.
Samsung, please let us use the USB Mass Storage feature. Everyone else supports it properly.

Display: While I love the contrast and brightness, it would have been really nice to get a qHD or even 720p resolution. I’m not sure if the color accuracy can be improved, but it looks like LCD IPS if the way to go if you need colors to be accurate.

Conclusion (excellent)

Samsung’s original break in smartphones was due to the Galaxy S hardware platform, and it is clear that Samsung took it to the next level with the Galaxy S2. The hardware has been improved on many points, including additional horsepower, faster graphics and faster HSPA+ “4G” access. The chassis has been improved too: it’s much thinner and lighter.

Detractors will be quick to point out that the manufacturing is “cheap” and “fragile”. It is true that there is a “plastic” feel, especially in the back, and I can understand where the criticism comes from. However, that’s also the price to pay to get an extremely light phone.
In the end, I found the Galaxy S2 to be an excellent phone. It is light, very fast, can capture great images and has a good battery life. These attributes are what most users would want in a modern Android smartphone. Wouldn’t you?

I hope that this review has given you a good overview of the Samsung Galaxy S2 (for AT&T). I tried to cover most of the areas that one may want to know, but if there is something else that you would like to ask, or if you simply want to provide some feedback, please leave a comment below. I’ll try to reply as soon as I can.