Samsung has revealed the second smartphone in the Galaxy series at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona today.

Featuring a dual-core processor, the Samsung Galaxy S performs faster than its predecessor.  Like the first Galaxy S in the series, the smartphone will run the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, however it will also feature Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. While TouchWiz 3.0 was not necessarily well-received, version 4.0 is expected to include improvements, including the ability to download more content.

The Samsung Galaxy S is plastered with a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen and has a 480 x 800-pixel resolution. The large screen is crisp and colours display brilliantly. The dimensions for the device itself measures in at a very thin 125mm x 66mm x 8.4mm and weighs a very light 116 grams.

An 8-megapixel camera, as well as a 2-megapixel front-facing camera can also be found on the Samsung Galaxy S, along with the ability to do videorecording, NFC connectivity, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The Social Hub Premium is where users can go for their social networking needs and feeds, and there will also be a hub for Games, Music and a Reader.

In a bid to make the Samsung Galaxy S II more business-friendly, the phone also includes on-device encryption and support for Cisco's mobile solutions for VoIP calls, VPN and virtual desktop.

Australians can expect the Samsung Galaxy S to arrive around May to early June. Meanwhile, Vodafone has recently announced an exclusive deal with Samsung to supply Australians with the Google Nexus S.

2011 is expected to be a big year in the smartphone and tablet market with many devices on their way to be released over the next few months. Other notable devices unveiled at the festival include the LG 3D smartphone, the HTC Desire 2, the Sony Experia Play 2, and the Motorola Xoom tablet.