Galaxy S II vs Galaxy Nexus

[Fire&Blood]

I would avoid the Qualcomm chip variant at all cost. Exynos SGS2 is set to age more gracefully while phones with other chips wil start feeling outdated sooner.

 

[amdhunter]

Galaxy Nexus. No offense to current GSII users, but your phones are last-gen low def devices now.

I'd take the (unproven) hit in performance with the speed-bumped PowerVR SGX540 over having a low-definition device ANY day of the week.

 

[sjwaste]

The Galaxy S II situation is really damn confusing. Is there a chart out there that shows every carrier's variant and the specs/differences? I mean, AT&T has two versions of it alone, FFS.

I'd probably get a Galaxy Nexus precisely because I can't even figure out the GSII situation.

 

[s44]

The Galaxy S II situation is really damn confusing. Is there a chart out there that shows every carrier's variant and the specs/differences?

here (though IMO HSPA+42 is just as "real" 4G as current-gen LTE)

 

[sjwaste]

here (though IMO HSPA+42 is just as "real" 4G as current-gen LTE)

Ah it figures, PHG is a solid poster.

So basically, the entire reason I want to switch from Sprint is that their network sucks where I live and work - otherwise, the Sprint version is the one for me.

AT&T and Verizon both have solid networks here, and my corp discount is ~20%.

Sounds like I'm going AT&T. My wife has an iPhone with them anyway, and we can combine into a family plan and get my corp discount. I guess I have to decide if I want the SGS2 (not an LTE market) or if I want a Galaxy Nexus, assuming there will be a pentaband variant that I can activate.

Wow, somehow I'm no closer to a decision, but I appreciate the help

 

[s44]

I would honestly recommend the Skyrocket... unless you're enough in the boonies that you won't get LTE even a year from now, or unless AT&T HSPA there is less congested than in, say, NYC.

 

[sjwaste]

I'm in coastal Maine, near Portland. One of the more interesting options is that US Cellular is rolling out LTE here by the end of the year. They're launching in the Portland market and as of their current coverage map, I would actually have coverage in my suburb.

If they get a Galaxy Nexus, I might just wait for that. There's a rumor that they will.

As far as AT&T LTE, I don't see it happening. Verizon and AT&T have shown no interest in Portland, ME, and Sprint has no plans for Wimax up here. US Cellular is the only carrier going for it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Galaxy Nexus. No offense to current GSII users, but your phones are last-gen low def devices now.

I'd take the (unproven) hit in performance with the speed-bumped PowerVR SGX540 over having a low-definition device ANY day of the week.

The issue is that the higher resolution of the GNex magnifies the problem with the weaker GPU.

I suspect the GNex will end up like the Nexus 1- groundbreaking at the time, but held back long-term by the GPU.

 

[gorcorps]

SGS2 just because I can get it for 1/3 the price of a Nexus. Since the Nexus won't last me 3 times as long, it's not a good buy for me.

 

[sjwaste]

SGS2 just because I can get it for 1/3 the price of a Nexus. Since the Nexus won't last me 3 times as long, it's not a good buy for me.

I'm seeing the SGS2 for $199 from AT&T (subsidized). You don't think the GN will be in the same ballpark?

 

[beduion]

Price difference between the SGS2 and the Nexus?

 

[Larries]

I read that some games need special S2 version because of the Manli GPU. Is this a concern or is trivial to produce the S2 version / most games already have S2 version?

Thanks.

 

[ponyo]

I'm seeing the SGS2 for $199 from AT&T (subsidized). You don't think the GN will be in the same ballpark?

Sam's Club is supposed to have SGS2 for 1 cent for new contracts on Black Friday.

 

[poofyhairguy]

You don't think the GN will be in the same ballpark?

So far we have heard nothing about a subsidized GNex on AT&T. In fact, we have heard the opposite- that Verizon might have bought exclusivity (aka the only subsidized version). Knowing Verizon, that means $299 at launch.

If the first two Nexuses are a guide, if GNex shows up subsidized on AT&T it will be only at Best Buy and it will be sometime early next summer when it is old. Most who are serious about using a GNex on AT&T are looking at buying the International version outright. The trick is to use the subsidy on a iPhone 4S and sell that to get the cash for a GNex.

Ah it figures, PHG is a solid poster.

Thanks. This forum rocks.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I read that some games need special S2 version because of the Manli GPU. Is this a concern or is trivial to produce the S2 version / most games already have S2 version?

Thanks.

Hmm...I haven't heard of many games made for just the SGS2. Most higher-end Android games are made for Tegra, so you have to use software called Chainfire 3D to make those apps work on a SGS2. As far as I know Chainfire doesn't have a way to make apps believe you have a Mali, and even if it could Mali is by far the fastest GPU in Androidland.

 

[gorcorps]

I'm seeing the SGS2 for $199 from AT&T (subsidized). You don't think the GN will be in the same ballpark?

Everything I've heard is that the Nexus phones rarely get subsidized at launch. Verizon has been the only carrier really mentioned to get the Nexus at all, so for everybody else you're stuck with the international unlocked edition that is going for at least $600. The only region where a price seems to have been confirmed is the UK, which converts to $680 USD. So no... it's not even close to the same ball park.

Another major gripe with me is that the Nexus has no microSD slot. I can't in good conscious pay that much money for a device that makes the same design decisions I dislike in the iPhones. I went with Android to get the things I couldn't get with Apple and I don't plan on changing that in my phone preference.

 

[zerogear]

The only thing I like about AT&T is that they use standard bands, so I can bring their phones almost anywhere in the world and use it. And vice versa; I can import almost any phone and use it perfectly.

 

[thescreensavers]

The GNex has the faster camera, the SGS2 has the better camera.

Depends, GNex is better at low light by alot, it also has better Macro shots. But other then that the SGS2 is better. But they are both pretty good.

Plus me being on VZW I only have one choice

Also how do you know the OMAP cant play 1080P videos via HDMI?

 

[zinfamous]

Depends, GNex is better at low light by alot, it also has better Macro shots. But other then that the SGS2 is better. But they are both pretty good.

Plus me being on VZW I only have one choice

Also how do you know the OMAP cant play 1080P videos via HDMI?

GNex has zero shutter lag. This is, I think, the first cell phone camera to boast of such a feat. That I've seen, anyway.

I'd take that over the piddly 3 megapixel difference compared to SGS2. HD video recording appears to be same quality, as well.

Though, for what it's worth--I'm extremely happy with my SGS2 and feel no qualms with the GNex coming out soon. I thought the 4.3" size of the SGS2 was perfect at first (mine is international), but now I think it's either slightly too big, or at the very most, the largest size I could possibly want in a phone.

For the OP: I purchased mine--international unlocked off of Amazon. Paid right at $600, but applied that to new Chase Freedom card dela that gave me instant $250 cash back with first purcahse. that has since been credited, so I was in the end able to purchase an unlocked SGS2 for $350. Those deals for the cc are quite ubiquitous these days, btw.

My TMo contract had expired, so I wanted to go for a serious upgrade without having to sign any new contracts. I'm currently still using my TMo SIM card with new cheap plan (Still no data, lol). The problem is that the international version, if using TMo, locks you to Edge (the weird bands that TMo uses). That doesn't appear to be a problem for you, so...whatever.

Another option is to look into WalMart's Straight Talk service plans, which are extremely cheap "unlimited," and use ATT's network--which means the international SGS2 could be fully utilized on the ATT Network with a very cheap monthly plan, and no ATT hassle. (You have to buy the proper phone--$100 up front on top of monthly contract--to get this to work)

From a few benchmarks floating around, and including Anand's preliminary benchmark (they mention the full review will be out soon), the TMo SGS2 somewhat significantly outclasses the "real" SGS2 with Exynos in browser and other benchmarks. It even matches or beats iPhone 4S. However, it will likely be destroyed in games compared to the Exynos Mali, or so we expect. It's also the larger screen at 4.5" instead of 4.3'

Though, this idea that Sam's Club has one on ATT contract for 0.99 on BF--this sounds like a no-brainer to me. That is a serious phone for free, that should remain in the top tier of phones for another year or so. It is also, probably, the US version that you want--though it would be locked to ATT.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Also how do you know the OMAP cant play 1080P videos via HDMI?

The OMAP can play 1080p, heck it can record in 1080p on its own camera.

In my testing (I have over 1000 mkv movies I pick samples from to represent different encodes settings) of the OMAP in the Razr I noticed that the TI chip was a little more picky than the Exynos (it disliked really weird resolutions) but overall things worked. The main issue was a lack a Dice Player support (just garbage on playback) which cuts away DTS support. Hopefully that is a fixable issue

 

[juami]

Diceplayer v1.7.4 supports Galaxy Nexus.
(sorry for RAZR users, you should wait for ICS update.)

 

[Jeraden]

How much of the zero shutter lag in the Galaxy Nexus is due to ICS? When the sgs2 gets the ICS update, will that improve the speed of the camera?

 

[Red Storm]

I'm on Verizon so I don't have the SGS2 as an option, but even if I did I would still go with the Galaxy Nexus. I have always loved the pure Android experience, and while I do know how to root and rom, I don't particularly enjoy keeping track of things in that scene. Plus ever since seeing the Nexus shown off I no longer want a phone with physical buttons. I also like the form factor and general look of the phone better than the GS2.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Diceplayer v1.7.4 supports Galaxy Nexus.
(sorry for RAZR users, you should wait for ICS update.)

Nice.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Okay, I realize the Mali is faster than anything out there, but is the GPU really holding you up in gaming in Android?

For you SGX540 users out there, how many of us are like DAMN WE CAN'T PLAY BATTLEFIELD 3 UNLESS WE GET THE NEXT GPU???

I mean seriously, as nice as a the GPU is on the SGS2, is it as big of a deal as say dual core vs single core?