Samsung Galaxy S2 phoneThe contract was up on the HTC Widlfire and the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S3 meant the prior model Galaxy S2 underwent a bit of a price drop - so I pounced. Despite it being exactly a year old model, I'm in shock and a little bit enamoured. The S2 packs in a lot of technology and it works so well, you forgive one or two rough edges.

In black, it's a bit of a 2001 Space Odessey black slab; no design award winner. With power and volume buttons either side, there's only one physical Home key on the front, the remaining Menu and Back buttons are soft keys. The MHL port at the bottom is both USB charging socket and output to HDMI (if you get the right cable). The 3.5mm headphone jack is on the top. The super responsive 4.3 inch touch screen dominates, with a very narrow bezel (perhaps a little too narrow for comfort). The case is surprisingly thin and compares well against other current phones, albeit, the finish feels a little too plastic.

However, hit the power button and WOW! The display is pin-sharp, with vibrant colour and excellent contrast. Native resolution of 800 by 480 means you can flip into landscape and get one of the best displays around, including one of the best soft keyboard layouts. Viewing angles are good, but the auto brightness feature gets unpredictable, so I mostly turn this off. Read more of this post