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iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S II vs Nexus Prime

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Here is a great write up comparing the 4S to the G II. Both phones are toe to toe, but for the things i personally look for, the iPhone 4S wins. Its unknown right now which has the faster CPU and GPU - but i suspect the iPhone is faster. Epic games released Infinity Blade II, and they claimed it will ONLY run on the iPhone. Dont be fooled by specs, ghz isnt the only thing that matters. Lets wait for the Anandtech review to see which has more computing power.


The war of the "S" smartphones is upon us.

Samsung's Galaxy S II finally lands in the U.S. Wednesday at AT&T. A hit in Europe, Samsung's follow-up to the Epic Touch 4G features a thin and light body, a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, an 8-megapixel camera, and a powerful dual-core Samsung Exynos processor.


An South Korean mobile carrier employee holds an iPhone 4 and a Galaxy S II next to each other. Both phones feature better graphics, faster processors, voice assistants, and incredible cameras. Patent Wars: Samsung Fights to Ban Apple's iPhone 4s in Italy and France Watch Video


Samsung chose an excellent time to release its new smartphone. Some are still mourning Tuesday's announcement from Apple HQ that there would be no iPhone 5 just yet, and that consumers would have to settle with an iPhone 4 follow-up called the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4S may look the same as the iPhone 4, but don't be deceived. Apart from the screen and the industrial design, the phone features completely new hardware, including a new dual-core processor, alternating antennae, a larger 64 GB capacity option, a new chipset, baseban, and more. Furthermore, the phone features a new intelligent assistant called Siri, a dictation system, and support for CDMA users and GMS global roaming.

The two phones are comparable in a number of areas, including price, processors, wireless syncing and sharing to other devices, and HD video capture. But a slew of independent companies, as well as Samsung, have drafted comparison sheets to show users the various ways that the two new smartphones trump each other.

Here are the results:

Where Apple's iPhone 4S Wins:

High-resolution display: The iPhone 4S's Retina display has 960 x 640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi (pixels per inch), while the Galaxy S II is less: 800 x 400 at 218 ppi.
Global roaming: The iPhone 4S has CDMA and GSM chips, negating the need for global users to use another phone outside the country. The Galaxy S II only has a GSM chip.
Rear camera: The iPhone 4S has an 8-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus, and a state-of-the-art hybrid infrared filter. The Galaxy S II also has an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, but there's no such filter.
Storage options: iPhone 4S is available in 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB. Galaxy S II comes with 16 GB with potential to expand to 48 GB.
Voice-to-text support: Anytime a keyboard appears on the iPhone 4S, the user can press a microphone button, speak their message, and send it to Apple. In a matter of seconds to minutes, depending on the length of the message, Apple will send you back a fully-dictated message.
Personal assistant: Apple's newest and most exciting feature, Siri, is a smart personal assistant that can schedule meetings, set reminders, send texts and e-mails, call friends, tell you the weather, and even answer complicated questions, converting types of currency or figuring out the number of days until Christmas. Better yet, Siri understands context, so the user doesn't need to adjust to the system; the system adjusts to the user. Samsung also its own "voice solution" for the Galaxy S II, but the system's vocabulary is limited to calling, music, messaging, scheduling and launching apps.
Dimensions: While the Galaxy S II may be slightly thinner than the iPhone 4S, the 4S has a smaller length and width. The Galaxy S II measures 129 x 66 x 8.9mm, while the 4S measures 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm. However, it's important to note here that neither phone is really "gigantic."



Where Samsung's Galaxy S II Wins:

Screen size: Samsung's 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display beats out Apple's smaller 3.5-inch Retina display.
Data speed: Thanks to its 4G capabilities, the Galaxy S II can download data at speeds up to 21 mbps; Apple's iPhone 4S, while not 4G, is running low-end "4G-type" speeds at 14.4 mbps. This speed is comparable to 4G phones available today, but just doesn't stack up to Samsung's brand-new smartphone.
Front camera: Rear cameras are one thing. Apple's front screen features a different VGA camera, while the Galaxy S II has a much more detailed 2 megapixel camera.
NFC: The Galaxy S II can wirelessly transmit payment information to make credit card payments easy and contactless. Simply swipe your phone to purchase items, make reservations, enter buildings, and even scan smart tags on posters or billboards.
Weight: Samsung's 117-gram smartphone is 23 grams lighter than the iPhone 4S.
The Verdict: Both companies' tablet and phone devices do look and perform comparably, with remarkably similar features like voice assistants, newsstand apps, and wireless syncing. Samsung and Apple have cried patent infringement against each other for several months leading up to October, and while Apple has won a majority of these legal battles, has it won the war?

With top-line features, brilliant displays, and comparable pricing options, both the Samsung Galaxy S II and the iPhone 4S are incredible phones, clearly two of the best (soon-to-be) available. But with full integration with Apple's award-winning family of products, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and music players, the iPhone 4S is the real deal.

The biggest difference between the two phones, which has not yet been mentioned, is the operating system. The Galaxy S II will initially run on Android Gingerbread, which is a fantastic OS, but the iPhone 4S will come pre-loaded with iOS 5, the latest Apple mobile operating system with more than 200 new features like a better notification system and deep Twitter integration. Android Gingerbread is slick, but iOS is intuitive. One new feature in the iOS 5 is that it makes the device PC-free, so the phone doesn't need to connect to a PC to set up, making it much more accessible.

And that really is the overall difference between the two phones. The iPhone 4S is simply more accessible all-around. It makes it easy to share documents, photos and information with other devices, it has a new app to find your family and friends, and Siri could be the most revolutionary change by making the iPhone 4S almost completely a hands-free device.

The iPhone 4 is currently the best-selling and highest-rated smartphone and the iPhone 4S improves upon every single feature. The Galaxy S II will certainly make a dent in Apple's sales, but it will need to prove itself first.

The Galaxy S II is currently available from AT&T and Sprint, and will debut on T-Mobile on Oct. 12. Apple will begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S on Oct. 7 and will sell the phone in stores on Oct. 14. Both phones start at $199.
 
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The biggest difference between the two phones, which has not yet been mentioned, is the operating system. The Galaxy S II will initially run on Android Gingerbread, which is a fantastic OS, but the iPhone 4S will come pre-loaded with iOS 5, the latest Apple mobile operating system with more than 200 new features like a better notification system and deep Twitter integration.
LOL

"better notification" = inferior copy of Android; still better than iOS4 of course
"deep Twitter integration" = hilarious: Apple has to hardcode each thing in, Android has had deep *everything* integration for eons
 
I don't get why deep Twitter integration would be a great feature to most people. I follow people on Twitter, I don't "tweet" myself but I really don't care about "deep integration."
 
How exactly does having CDMA make one phone the more "World Phone"? Isn't that pretty much only used in America on Verizon/Sprint?

Last I checked you didn't need a computer to setup the GS2 either, so at best iOS finally becomes like Android in this aspect.

Who did this write up?

Siri could be the most revolutionary change by making the iPhone 4S almost completely a hands-free device.

So I can leave the iPhone in my pocket and just say things out loud? Last I checked, hands free meant hands free, not "hold in one hand, press button and talk".
 
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That article pretty biased. I like how they give points to the 4s for being more global, when both have GSM (by far the most used tech worldwide). Having CDMA means you can use it in the U.S. on Sprint and Verizon.... yeah there is nothing "more global" about that.

Also - SGSii supports the new 64gb cards. NFC for the SGSii is bogus.. no one cares about that right now.

Also their opinion on making it easier to share documents and photos - how is this any different than using google docs and picasa to share? It's as simple as iOS.
 
Rear camera: The iPhone 4S has an 8-megapixel camera with flash, autofocus, and a state-of-the-art hybrid infrared filter

LOL. Pretty much every digital camera has an IR filter, because digital sensors are sensitive to IR, and would produce incorrect colors without the filter. I don't know what exactly is so special about Apple's filter, but I have a hunch it's nothing more than marketing gibberish. The only real way to determine which camera is better is comparing actual photo samples.
 
Also their opinion on making it easier to share documents and photos - how is this any different than using google docs and picasa to share? It's as simple as iOS.

Google Docs sucks?

<---gDocs user since 2007/8
 
That article pretty biased. I like how they give points to the 4s for being more global, when both have GSM (by far the most used tech worldwide). Having CDMA means you can use it in the U.S. on Sprint and Verizon.... yeah there is nothing "more global" about that.

Also - SGSii supports the new 64gb cards. NFC for the SGSii is bogus.. no one cares about that right now.

Also their opinion on making it easier to share documents and photos - how is this any different than using google docs and picasa to share? It's as simple as iOS.

Only a few random people at XDA and other forums have confirmed that, but micro sdxc is "officially incompatible" with "Every current phone on the market."

It seems that you can, easily enough, reformat into the new file system and get them working, and it seems to me that users are doing it, but it is not a feature that companies will be advertising for these phones, unfortunately.

it's yet another "of course Android phones do it, but how many consumers will ever know or care?" issue.
 
Sprint Navigation on my old Touch Pro2 does this, maybe Sprint Nav will be available on their iphone ?

btw, it's a great navigator, it's nice to have it and google maps and bing maps; sometimes one or the other has better info.

Sprint nav is gone on new phones. They replaced it with telenav.
 
it's yet another "of course Android phones do it, but how many consumers will ever know or care?" issue.
I have to say, I think the biggest effect of the iP4s announcement for a lot of people is that they'll use Voice Actions a bit more on their Androids. 😉
 
I have to say, I think the biggest effect of the iP4s announcement for a lot of people is that they'll use Voice Actions a bit more on their Androids. 😉

I'll come clean. I was awake at 2AM last night playing with the Voice Actions on my Nexus One.
 
I'll come clean. I was awake at 2AM last night playing with the Voice Actions on my Nexus One.

LOL yea. I used voice actions driving home yesterday. Didn't work as well as I'd hoped, but it was the first time since just messing with it after it came out.
 
still haven't touched voice on mine--they did log in to the program. then exited when ti wanted me to start setting things up.

I should actually check if the "tap the top of the phone" to activate voice is working through this case.

:hmm:
 
Never liked using voice. It was always much faster to actually poke things out. Also, I really cant think of a situation in which I would feel comfortable using voice.
 
it's yet another "of course Android phones do it, but how many consumers will ever know or care?" issue.

I'm not sure why this is an issue, especially here at AT, virtual home of the tech enthusiast. Going by that logic, buying a prebuilt computer from Best Buy is better than building one yourself, because it's "better" for the Average Joe. Sorry to nitpick, I'm just annoyed with seeing that argument used at a tech enthusiast forum. 😛

I've used voice commands to search for places and initiate navigation to them, calling contacts, and sending short texts. I don't see myself using it in public, I equate that to bluetooth headset guys, they just annoy me.
 
I'm torn. I like all of screen advancements in the Nexus, but if it's another non-subsidized only phone then there's no way in hell I'm touching it. Probably still gonna be a GS2 for me which I'm still perfectly fine with. Not sure what the other brands will have in the next 2 months.
 
Only a few random people at XDA and other forums have confirmed that, but micro sdxc is "officially incompatible" with "Every current phone on the market."

It seems that you can, easily enough, reformat into the new file system and get them working, and it seems to me that users are doing it, but it is not a feature that companies will be advertising for these phones, unfortunately.

it's yet another "of course Android phones do it, but how many consumers will ever know or care?" issue.

I have a 64GB SDXC (not micro) for my Panasonic GH-2 camera and I transfer the pics and video to my 2 year old HP laptop with SD slot but not SDXC slot. I don't think I've used more than 6-8GB and any one time but no problem transfering to a non-SDXC reader.


Brian
 
I have a 64GB SDXC (not micro) for my Panasonic GH-2 camera and I transfer the pics and video to my 2 year old HP laptop with SD slot but not SDXC slot. I don't think I've used more than 6-8GB and any one time but no problem transfering to a non-SDXC reader.


Brian

good to know.

2TB. ....2-fucking-TB will soon fit into one of those thumbnail-sized pieces of plastic.

:awe:
wtf, man?
 
3 days with the AT&T SGSII now and I absolutely love it. So much better than my old Atrix. Screen is absolutely phenomenal. Worlds better than the old SAMOLED on the old Galaxy. Still went ahead and pre-ordered a white 32GB 4S this morning so I can do a proper test of these two devices. I might end up just keeping both phones and use the GSII as my work phone. Been missing iOS since I sold my 4 back in June but the larger screen options of Android keep teasing me. I just hope the software with the GSII is more stable than the previous Android devices I've had. That's the biggest thing that has kept me going back to iOS. The finish, polish, and attention to detail overall in iOS (and iPhone/iPad in general) is what keeps me coming back. Plus with iOS 5, synchronized notifications and iMessage is really looking pretty sweet as it will work excellent with my iPad.
 
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3 days with the AT&T SGSII now and I absolutely love it. So much better than my old Atrix. Screen is absolutely phenomenal. Worlds better than the old SAMOLED on the old Galaxy. Still went ahead and pre-ordered a white 32GB 4S this morning so I can do a proper test of these two devices. I might end up just keeping both phones and use the GSII as my work phone. Been missing iOS since I sold my 4 back in June but the larger screen options of Android keep teasing me. I just hope the software with the GSII is more stable than the previous Android devices I've had. That's the biggest thing that has kept me going back to iOS. The finish, polish, and attention to detail overall in iOS (and iPhone/iPad in general) is what keeps me coming back. Plus with iOS 5, synchronized notifications and iMessage is really looking pretty sweet as it will work excellent with my iPad.

Coolio. I have an Atrix right now, and while good I hoped for a decent improvement in the SGS2. I actually find the Atrix fairly snappy as it is with only a minor hiccup here and there if I'm flying on the menus. The bigger and more awesome screen would be good on its own.
 
Coolio. I have an Atrix right now, and while good I hoped for a decent improvement in the SGS2. I actually find the Atrix fairly snappy as it is with only a minor hiccup here and there if I'm flying on the menus. The bigger and more awesome screen would be good on its own.

I liked the Atrix a lot but it really started to annoy me with little bugs. My jawbone would randomly disconnect then reconnect when using tunein radio or doubletwist, data would drop and disconnect if I was previously connected to wifi and wouldnt work properly until the phone was reset. Battery was very slow to charge (overall life was decent though), and some other minor annoyances that just all added up to be bothersome. So far it's been smooth sailing with the gs2. The gs2 build quality is much better than the Atrix as battery cover would make a creaking sound with pressure, the capacitive buttons also stopped lighting up and would only receive light from the backlight. And I can't say again how awesome this screen is. Lower res than the iPhone but you can't notice it at all.
 
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