“We wondered if you’d like to do an unboxing video” Samsung asked me, “of the new Galaxy S II.” It’s not the sort of thing you turn down: Samsung’s 1.2GHz dual-core smartphone is likely to be one of the biggest handsets of 2011, and that’s not just because of its sizable 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display. “What’s the catch?” I asked, expecting NDAs and embargoes. “Well, it’s an Extreme Unboxing” they told me, “you’re doing it in a 300bhp rally car.”
Video after the cut!
Powerful phone, powerful car, one very nervous SlashGear writer. Last week I headed out to mid-Wales and the Phil Price Rally School to be very tightly strapped into a Subaru Impreza and hurled – sideways, some of the time – around a forest gravel rally stage, all the time trying to remember everything I could about the Galaxy S II and trying not to lose my lunch.
A couple of stats, just for fun. The rally stage is around two miles long, and Phil – getting no small amount of pleasure in listening to me squeak – took on average 1 minute 52 seconds to go round it. That’s from a standing start, and hitting up to 120mph on the few straight sections of the track. We’re not talking crisp, smooth asphalt here either: it’s crunchy, bouncy, skid-friendly grit, reaching up to the edges of some particularly steep drops.
“Phil’s only rolled the car a few times” they told me, unfortunately when I’d already been locked into place with a four-point seatbelt that, hopefully, would keep me dangling safely inside the roll-cage (the latter presenting a couple of useful places for the crew to fix 720p cameras). The fact that a huge tank of compressed gas – the fuel of choice – was right behind me was something I chose to ignore.
You can judge for yourself how well the Samsung Galaxy S II unboxing went in the video below. Needless to say, the box and all of the accessories went quickly shooting over my shoulder, as I tried desperately to cling to one of the very few units in the UK so far. At one point I managed to shoot some video of us in motion, using the Samsung’s 1080p HD video camera, but all you could really see afterwards was bouncing Welsh hills overlaid with the sound of a bouncing SlashGear writer.
Our full review of the Galaxy S II will be coming soon – I’ll be particularly interested to see if it’s as fast as the Subaru – but until then enjoy my first (and maybe last) Extreme Unboxing!
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