Samsung Galaxy S 2 UK release slips to May but price comes down to £530

Samsung's Galaxy S 2 was supposed to be touching down on UK shores at the end of March, going head to head with Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play and other Android Gingerbread smart phones. Now its release date has slipped to May, according to two online retailers.

In late February, Play was offering the Galaxy S 2 for pre-order with a planned release date of 31 March and a price tag of £600 SIM-free. The good news is that the price has come down -- it'll now cost you £540. The bad news is that the expected release date is now 6 May.

That's backed up by rival online retailer Clove, which has also amended its expected shipping date for the handset from March to May, with a £528 price tag. These are both SIM-free prices from retailers, so it's still possible the handset will go on sale earlier with a mobile operator or two.

The Galaxy S 2 is the follow-up to the popular Samsung Galaxy S, which shifted more than 10 million units last year around the world. New features include the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread software, a 4-3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, and a dual-core 1GHz processor.

The handset's design is more angular than that of its predecessor, and it also packs an 8-megapixel camera and 1080p HD video playback capability. Samsung is also slapping its new Game Hub and Music Hub onto the device, in an effort to compete better with Apple's iTunes Store and App Store system.

The Galaxy S 2 is one of a number of Android 2.3 Gingerbread smart phones launching in the next couple of months. The Xperia Play officially went on sale last Friday here in the UK, although O2 has delayed its launch due to software bugs, while Vodafone and 3 put it off for a few days due to a freight issue that left them short of units.