First look: Samsung Galaxy SII finally makes it to North America

Since Samsung released their Galaxy SII super Android phone in Europe and their home market of Korea 85 days ago.  

In that short period of time they say they've sold more than 5 million of these new smartphones in less than three months. 

Now, it's our turn to set new sales records on this end of the planet.

Tonight, in New York City, Samsung announced three new Galaxy SII phones for the United States market – from AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. Yes, Verizon was conspicuously absent from the glitzy event at the Samsung Experience showcase exhibit in Columbus Circle.

Two of the new phones are simply called the Galaxy SII (AT&T and T-Mobile) while the Sprint device will be called the Epic 4G Touch (or the SPH-d710 if you prefer).  

All are set to begin rolling out sometime in the next few weeks.

Samsung wants you to know that the Galaxy SII is their thinnest Android to date – and that it comes loaded with all sorts of new features for all types – from the casual – to the enterprise – and especially for fanboys and girls.  

There's a new, somewhat less obtrusive version of their TouchWiz screen interface, all sorts of premium video content available via the phone's HDMI output port, improved Social Hub capabilities and a long list more.

As for hardware, you shoud note that there's a dual core, Samsung Exynos 1.2 GHz processor, all run on Android Gingerbread 2.3.4, have an 8 megapixel camera on the back (and 2 MP on the front), all sport Samsung's amazing, 4.52-inch, Super AMOLED screen (AT&T says theirs is 4.3-inches) and all three will operate on their company's respective 3G and 4G (WiMAX and HSPA+) networks.

In our very brief time when we were allowed to touch the devices (actually, that's not completely true – we weren't allowed to touch the T-Mobile version – those weren't ready for prime time and were kept “under glass”) we were all pretty wowed by these new phones – especially the thinness.  

The Sprint and AT&T versions felt great – and all should be easy to slip into a pocket when the time comes.

As for pricing, Sprint says $199.99 (with the usual conditions) while AT&T and T-Mobile's are not yet saying what they plan to charge.

We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything more.