The Samsung Galaxy S II is one of the most anticipated handsets of the year, if our competition to give three away is any indication. We know that it’s going to be available on both Optus and Telstra at least, but when you consider which carrier you want to go with, there is one feature set that may have you leaning towards NextG as your operator of choice.
Despite the fact the Australian release won’t have NFC built-in, it will still be one of the country’s first HSPA+ handsets, capable of theoretical maximum download speeds of 21Mbps. At the moment, the only Australian network capable of delivering those theoretical maximum speeds is NextG, with all others maxing out at 7.2 Mbps.
Telstra has confirmed they won’t be selling the phone until July, but if connection speed is something you care about, you might want to consider waiting until then anyway.
Owen
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 4:38 PMAnyone know if this phone/Telstra will support any kind of tethering to a laptop?
None
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 5:43 PMI would say it’s probably a given. If not, there’d be an app for that!
Jono
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 7:07 PMI’ve had my imported Galaxy S2 running on NextG for a week now and can confirm the fantastic network speeds.
@Owen I dunno about the terms of Telstra’s official Galaxy S2 plan, but
on my $59 Liberty Cap, widow and USB tethering worked out of the box.
Owen
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 10:48 AMThanks Jono; currently with Optus on iPhone 4 and my contract expires in under a month… switching to Telstra Pre-Paid until something awesome comes out, then plan me up :)
Peter
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 8:22 PMThe stock Telstra HTC Desire with Froyo does, so I don’t see why not.
Mitch Whitehall
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 9:27 PMYep, it will. Android versions since FroYo have natively supported Wifi Hotspot tethering and plain old USB tethering.
Should be an awesome device on a brilliant network! Can’t wait until July :D
Troy
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 10:15 PMFrom what I know, the phone since Android 2.3 has supported tethering, just depends on whether Smellstra will charge you extra
Jim Goral
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 9:12 AMseriously, Smellstra…how old are you?
Tim
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 10:56 PMAndroid supports tethering out of the box
Matt
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 4:40 PMJuly? Really?
AJ
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 5:45 PMWhy does Aus version lack NFC?
teo
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 5:54 PMyes, telstra will support tethering to laptop at no cost
Scott
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 6:19 PMOptus isn’t far off with it’s 21Mbps network capability..
I’d be surprised if there isn’t advancements communicated by the time Telstra have modified the device to function on U850 and released in July
Ritik
Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 1:49 PMThe samsung galaxy s2 already supports 850mhz 3G. It’s a quad band 3g phone. I don’t see the need to release a telstra specific version when the one currently available is already next g compatible. Chances are that telstra will simply release the same model as other providers (as they’ve done with the iphone 4 and nokia n8)
Elias
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 6:24 PMWill buy mine today in Germany with NFC. Wondering if you guys need one?
Daniel T
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 6:30 PMAny word on if the Telstra “version” will support the full 21Mbps not just the 8Mbps that people importing are getting when using them on Telstra??
Simon
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 7:05 PMI am buying from MobiCity, which I have a next G telstra sim that I am putting it with. Does this mean that only the handsets sold through Telstra are going to be capable of these speeds or does it only have to do with the network itself?
jamin
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 8:41 PMAnd yet I can only get max 4Mbps (at the best of times) on Telstra with my SGSII
Ricky
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 9:35 PMtelstra hasnt yet charged for tethering and nearly every phone supports tethering, its a major selling point they used to promote next g
Dubious
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 9:40 PMAwesome, I cant wait to get those theoretical maximum speeds, I’ll buy two with my possible winning tattslotto ticket.
Thanks Nick ‘Telstra Fanboy’ Broughall.
Regards The Non believer
Nick Broughall
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 9:16 AMThanks for the insightful addition to the conversation…
Tim
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 9:40 PMactually, August according to my Telstra Mobile account exec.
brant
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 10:40 PMSamsung make crappy phones with crappy operating systems. I’ll pass.
Benny
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 10:51 AMThat may be true, but this is the apparent Android phone to lure people away from iPhone 4. I own an iPhone 4 and even I am tempted to get a Galaxy S II!
Scott
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 12:27 AMHandset needs to be manufactured with the relevant chipset in order to access the peak network speeds..
jamin
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 8:34 AMThe phone supports HSPA+, Telstra’s once good but now oversubscribed NextG network is the problem.
See:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1668389
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1654907
Telstra is consistently being beaten by the other networks in speed tests
Jim Goral
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 9:16 AMI have never seen any network that can beat telstra for speed – i have been with Voda, 3, Virgin, Optus and Telstra, and i will NEVER leave them – i dont have time to waste on other networks and their low speeds, and ill happily pay $10 more a month to have a network that is reliable, and customer service that is good.
you pay for what you get people
Dynafit
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 7:33 AMso optus is releasing on june 1st, yet telstra is waiting another month?
jazd
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 10:43 AMHasn’t Vodafone been upgrading their network to support 21Mbps and 850Mhz?
Greg
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 10:52 AMIf connection speed is something you care about, it’s not like you really have any other option anyway!
james_whatsit
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 7:16 PMdoes ne one know which networks (particularly virgin) the quadband 3g one from overseas can run on. also, are there any overseas models with nfc yet?
Jamesb
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 8:18 PMJust bought one from techoni.com.au
$738. I’m getting 5mbps on Telstra. A great change from what i was getting with my previous carrier
Johnprop
Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 12:00 PMIs anybody who bought the SII from other than Telstra getting 21mbps?