The day after I switched from my iPhone 4 to the Samsung Galaxy S II, I woke up late for a meeting. I had set the alarm. I had plugged in the phone. I did everything right, and then I placed the phone screen-up on the corner of my bed, like I have always done, and went to sleep. The alarm did go off, but because the speaker is placed on the back of the phone, it was muted by the bedsheets.
As it turns out, any time the Galaxy S II is placed on a flat surface with its screen up, the audio is muddled. If it’s placed on a soft surface – such as a tablecloth or a bed, it is almost entirely muted. After a few days of trying to remember to place the phone screen-down on my bed before falling asleep, and forgetting at least twice, I lost faith in the Galaxy S II’s ability to wake me up. I switched back to an alarm clock, something I haven’t used since 2007.
I figured this must have been an...