Samsung Electronics’ flagship smartphone Galaxy S2 was recently named the top smartphone by the U.S. monthly magazine Consumers Reports.

The magazine, which reviews consumer products and services, put the Galaxy S2 at No. 1 for three out of the four major mobile carriers ― AT&T, Sprint and T-mobile ― in the U.S. The top rating for Verizon Wireless was given to Motorola’s Droid Bionic.

The Galaxy S2 serviced by AT&T was given 80 points, while the same phone on T-mobile and Sprint received 79 points and 76 points, respectively.

The Galaxy S2 was granted an “excellent” rating in picture quality, ease of use, messaging and web browsing, and a “good rating” for voice quality, camera and battery.

“This evaluation of Consumer Reports will most likely make a positive impact on sales of the Galaxy S2 in the U.S. market,” said an industry source.

“We can see that the competition between Samsung’s Galaxy S2 and Apple’s latest iPhone 4S is spicing up not only in the local market, but also in the U.S. market.”

So far, Samsung has sold about 4.2 million units of the Galaxy S2, servicing an average of about 20,000 devices every day.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)