No, you can get a used one for $300.

I would say yes. its a free phone, and its freaking awesome.

I'm having a tough time deciding between the S2 - $0 w/ free $50 bestbuy gift card or S2 HD LTE - $50 w/o giftcard

Hmm dilemma... If you have two choices, which one would you pick?
Nexus Galaxy or Galaxy S2?

^^
I pick the SGS2 .. just like the shape and how it smaller...

Just go to the store and check out the sample ones.. etc..!
Up to personal preference...

Depends on who you want to use it with. Galaxy Nexus gives you the freedom to switch to almost any provider including the low cost providers like Wind/Mobilicity without having to switch phones.

i'd get the s2.

on a side note. i just picked up a sealed bnib s2 hd lte

anyone know how much it is to unlock? i went on a website and they are selling the code for $35

S2 hands down. Owned both, and S2 is a cleaner looking phone, nicer display and better feel. Nexus also gets groggy and slow after awhile. S2 has stayed smooth since day 1.

Get the S2! I think the design/looks of the S2 is better, but performance-wise they are pretty much the same.

Blah. I personally thought galaxy nexus is a slighty little better phone than S2 because its shape...

I found a good deal on galaxy nexus for $330... And I can't find a normal S2. Most of them are LTE. How much do you think i should buy for?

300 is a good price for s2

I had the sgs2 and moved to the galaxy nexus and I'm far happier with the nexus. The size difference is quite neglible really despite the larger screen and I think it feels great in the hand.

I think the build quality, design (clean and lack of haptic buttons), presence of notification led and screen to be major pros. The resolution is 720x1280 vs 400x800 on the sgs2, so everything looks way sharper despite the inferior pentile tech (which is not noticeable nor a deal-breaker really).

The nexus is also more future-proof software wise whereas the sgs2 will likely not get another official update to the next android version. So if you intend to keep it for 3 years, the nexus is definitely a better bet.

The sgs2 kills the nexus when it comes to camera quality and overall speed/snappiness though, I have to admit.

For me it's Nexus hands down. The feel of the Nexus is way better and more solid. I've owned both. The size difference is negligible. As well the resolution makes everything sharper and less pixely. No speed issues on my phone. My phone has not been rebooted in 337hours and it feels just as snappy. The only drawback for me is the camera which I don't care about.

when does the s2 hd lte get ICS update?

New Resurrection Remix ICS 2.3 has Aroma installer included which is pretty cool! You can choose to install everything or choose which mods to install so you don't have to go uninstall them later

I'd have to argue the statement about the nexus getting bogged down after some time. After owning mine for a while I'd say my speeds stay pretty consistent. Honestly in real world usage you wouldn't notice the difference between the two so IMO so making a decision based on processor is useless. As far as design I'd have to agree though the s2 feels better in hand personally. The screen technology is awesome but overall sharpness the nexus blows it away.

As far as the camera yeah the s2 is better. Not saying the nexus is horrible, it can produce SOME decent shots. If you want printable quality pics, buy an slr.

The biggest reason I'd suggest getting the nexus is he amount of support on xda. When I had my s2 I was always testing out new roms and never really found one that was perfect. Maybe its just me but the roms I've tried for the nexus just feel more polished than the ICS roms available for the s2. I'd always find a few bugs here and there that were deal breakers

Also if I matters, battery life has been much better for me on the nexus

I'm having a couple small issues with my new S2 HD LTE.
I'm finding it a bit laggier than my friend's and also when watching videos on the youtube app, they always get sped up at parts which makes it very annoying to watch.
does anyone know how to fix either one of these problems? the phone software is all up to date.

I can't answer your question unfortunately and I hope someone here can, but I have a question for you.
How is the rom support for the HD lte over at xda? I'm very curious about that phone.

Seems pretty good because it is the same as the AT&T SGSII Skyrocket i727.

AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket Android Development - xda-developers

Hmm looks like they have a lot of ics'd gb roms but nothing official.
The kernel sources haven't been released yet so they're still missing a lot of stuff.
Its a shame cause I saw one at a wirelesswave today and it looks like a solid phone.
Same screen as the nexus but the specs of an s2. I wonder how long it'll receive updates before Samsung decides to call it quits

really need help u guys...

so i bought a rooted s2 that came with stock gb 2.3.5 rom and have been using it since sept2011 with no issues

then i got bored and decided to upgrade to ics 4.0.3 then i rooted it via odin using cfroot..

i did everything properly and im just running the stock ics rom for now and everything looks good so far but for some reason i keep getting this message in the notification - " you have lost data connectivity because you left your home network with data roaming turned off "

it's pretty annoying bcuz it keeps popping up and my status under settings says i'm roaming for some reason... plus i cant get my sygic gps to work properly at all now no matter how many times i wipe the data files and re install but it worked flawlessly on my old gb rom... tried out google navigation to make sure gps is ok and it works fine... i really need my sygic gps back because i don't have data and i use it alot when i drive

any input would be greatly appreciated :)

The notification will go away if you flash a custom ROM. It's normal to see that on the stock ROM.

i already tried... been at this for 2 fuking days now until now

i've tried out 4 different custom roms now and still no luck

- 2 different very slimmed down version for performance and batt life
- 2 different almost stock roms that have only gotten rid of all the samsung bloatware

and then of course now im on the stock ics rom but still the same

to sum things up, i don't really care too much about about the notification cuz i could just ignore it but my main concern is that i cant get my sygic gps to work properly despite after trying all of the above methods i've mentioned above :(
i really want my sygic gps back because its very handy especially whenever i drove down to US

ok so a bit of an update

i managed to find an old cwm backup that i made for my phone when i was still running the old rooted gb 2.3.5 rom... restored it via cwm recovery and viola, the stupid roaming msg is gone + the sygic gps is working flawlessly once again...

details on this backup file are as follows:

- gb 2.3.5 rooted stock rom
- i used titanium backup to get rid of all the bloatware

i'm not totally sure but i think the roaming error message i was getting with ics is maybe somehow interfering with sygic gps?

this are the methods i've done to upgrade it to ics:

1- flashed this stock ics 4.0.3 and rooted with compatible cf root via odin:

I9100XXLPS Download (Thanks To SamMobile!)
Base Firmware: I9100XXLPS (4.0.3)
Region Poland (XEO)
Carrier: NA (Unbranded)
Build Date: 25th March 2012
Modem: XXLPS
CSC: OXALPS
Change List: 294511
CF-Root v5.4 LPS: Download

link - [Stock Official ICS Firmwares] I9100UHLPS (4.0.3) - Argentina (ARO) [30-06-12] - xda-developers

2- tried out 2 different slimmed down custom roms from this link, then 2 different almost stock custom rom minus the bloatware but roaming error msg + sygic gps problems still persists

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1529173

3- reflashed back to stock ics firmware + root from step #1 but roaming error msg + sygic gps problems still persists


now u guys might wonder why i used the poland firmware? thats because theres no official release for north america yet (according to xda forum resources) and the baseband version on my stable GB firmware was i9100xxki3 and when i did some research the xxki3 is what they use in poland for their GB firmwares...

so how the hell am i gonna upgrade to ics the right way this time and have everything stable? calling all rs mobile geeks!