Samsung Galaxy S2 Release Not Affected, Despite NYC Launch Event Delayed by Irene

A candidate among the next iPhone killers, Samsung Galaxy S2 awaits its slightly delayed U.S. unveiling, keeping its seat as the world's second thinnest Dual-Core smartphone, only behind a Japanese smartphone, NEC Medias N-04C.

South Korea and United Kingdom were the first markets to receive the Galaxy S2, whose worldwide release starting from May 2011.

In the United States, Hurricane Irene forced Samsung to delay its Galaxy S2 launch event, that was originally scheduled on Monday in New York City.

This delay should not affect the store release date for the S2, but instead just have customers waiting a little longer to see exactly what is on offer.

The Galaxy S2 will have multiple variant names according to mobile carriers. The smartphone released on Sprint will be called the Samsung 'EPIC 4G Touch,' on AT&T the 'Attain', on T-Mobile the 'Hercules.' Verizon will not be offering the smartphone, allegedly because of an exclusive device the company has to compete heads on with the iPhone 5.

The U.S. release of Galaxy S2 is now pegged by some for October, following an initial unveiling in September. Some sources instead point to a September 9 release by Sprint as the first carrier to launch the Galaxy S2. Others, citing the official Samsung Galaxy S2 teaser video on Youtube, confirmed the same September release date of the smartphone.

The video (toward the end, some frames announce the US release of the S2):

Galaxy S2's competitors on the dual-core race include the LG Optimus 2X, and the upcoming Motorola Atrix, HTC Sensation and iPhone 5.

Regardless of competition, consumers have already shown a healthy appetitite for the company's current Galaxy S2 phone.

In July the phone celebrated 3 million units sold globally, a number it achieved in just 55 days. It has also been the top seller for 17 consecutive weeks in United Kingdom where Samsung first launched Galaxy S2 and recently surged to rank No. 1 in Austria as well, in terms of Smartphone market share.

The successor of Samsung Galaxy S is bringing the smartphone to the next level of slimness, with its ultra-slim 8.49mm design, offering an easy grip.

Galaxy S2 was hailed as possibly the best smartphone, period by Engadget, and its reputation so far has been highly positive.

Even with the release of the HTC Holiday and Apple iPhone 5 in the fall, Galaxy S2 has a great potential for a head start in the next-generation smartphone battle.

Galaxy S2 will get the 4G treatment, offering data speeds up to four times faster than what is expected in Apple's forthcoming iPhone 5.

Here is a look at the expected features of the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Operating system: The Samsung Galaxy S2 is expected to run on the latest version of Google Inc.'s smartphone operating system, Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS.

Processor: Galaxy S2 comes with dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 Mali-400MP GPU Exynos processor with 1GB RAM.

Screen: It sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen with 800x480 screen resolution.

Camera: An 8-megapixel 3264 x 2448 pixel resolution camera with auto-focus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilization. Galaxy S2 captures video at 1080p at 30 fps, and has a 2-megapixel camera.

Storage: 16/32 GB internal storage, and via a microSD card slot, it can expanded up to 32 GB.

Input features: The accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, multi-touch input method and proximity sensor for auto turn-off. Also features like Gorilla Glass display, TouchWiz UI v4.0 and Gyroscope sensor will be included.

3G: HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) up to 21 Mbps and HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) up to 5.76 Mbps support.

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n DLNA support, with an added Wi-Fi Direct feature. It uses advanced 3.0+HS version Bluetooth, and has 2.0 version microUSB (MHL) and USB.

Battery: A Li-Ion 1700 mAh battery.

Pricing: The Galaxy S2 is expected to be priced at $599 to $699 for unlocked 16GB version, while the locked version to be sold on contract from U.S. wireless carriers is expected to be in the $250 to $300+ price range. Other Features: Features found in the Galaxy S2 are SMS thread view, MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS, HTML browser, A-GPS support, Java MIDP emulator, social networking integration, digital compass, MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player, organizer, image and video editor, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration, flash support, voice memo-dial-commands and predictive Swype text input. Other features found in Galaxy S2 are stereo FM radio with RDS, optional NFC support and TV-out via MHL A/V link.

Review of Galaxy S2: Reviews of the Galaxy S2 have been positive. Engadget gave the device a 9/10, calling it the best Android smartphone yet and possibly the best smartphone, period. CNET UK gave the device a favorable review of 4.5/5 and described it as one of the slimmest, lightest mobiles we've ever had the privilege to hold.