ICS-based MIUI ROM arrives on the Samsung Galaxy S II

After Google open sourced Ice Cream Sandwich, the developers community over at XDA has been hard at work to bring ICS-based ROMs before updates to ICS officially start arriving on carriers. And here’s one new take on that with the MIUI Fresh ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S II, which supports all of the features of Samsung’s dual-core flagship and is ICS-based.

MIUI Fresh comes with visuals typical for the ROM, so that’s something that you’d better check out and if you like, you can hit the source link for all the instructions about how to flash it. XDA’s adyscorpius has done all the hard work to bring the ROM to its current 2.1 version. As we said, it supports all of Galaxy S II’s features including the 8-megapixel camera and microSD card slot for extending memory.

Review of Samsung Galaxy S II LTE

Samsung tipped its hand early on some of its smartphone plans for this week with an early Korean unveiling of the newly upgraded Galaxy S II. The high-speed 4G LTE network means the Galaxy S II will have an automatic leg up on the competition, running at speeds that are two to three times faster than the iPhone 4, which is a 3G device. The device is being hyped as the world’s first LTE/GSM/WCDMA-multi-mode phone, but U.S. customers aren't likely to see it cause products announced at IFA are typically released in Europe first, and a direct port of the LTE Galaxy is unlikely to happen. It does, however, provide U.S. carriers with a host of new features to choose from when dialing in their next U.S. LTE device from Samsung.

The new Galaxy S II LTE has not just its namesake 4G and a larger 4.5-inch screen but an even faster, dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos processor with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) to keep it out in front for performance. There will be an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 1080p HD video recording. NFC wireless and a larger 1,850mAh battery (up from 1,650mAh) also freshen the design.

Suspicions already exist that the faster Galaxy S II is a defensive measure against the iPhone 5's rumored October release.