Just read the conclusions of those reviews if you don't want to read the whole thing, it should say everything you need to know :p
EDIT: Just to add, the GS2 is not the best purely because of its spces. There are multiple android phones with similar specs at the moment (LG Optimus 2, G2x, Motorola Atrix, etc) but the GS2 seems to use those specs the best. For example, it has a system for optimizing the dual core usage which makes battery life better than any other android smartphone, including single core phones.
I'd also recommend the SGS2. Been using it for 3 weeks and I'm very happy with it.
There are a few things I don't like though, and they don't really get mentioned in the reviews:
- Battery life is terrible. Contrary to reviews and advertisement I get very short battery life. With normal usage I barely get 1 day. That's why I always have my charger at work and bring an extra battery. My 'normal' usage is: about 1 hour of video on the subway, a little bit of browsing (below 10min), some chatting (maybe 30min) and the occasional phone call. I use wi-fi when available, bluetooth and GPS always off. My gf's iPhone 4 has about double the battery life.
- Camera is not that good. 8 mega pixels sounds good but lots of pixels do not equal a good picture. Made a direct comparison with iPhone 4 and I have to say iPhone 4 wins. Camera is not bad by any means though, just not as good as I had hoped. Took these pictures here with it: here and here
- There's some transition lag when switching home screens sometimes and it really annoys me. iPhone 4 has nothing like that From what I've read that's a general Android problem. When using Touch Wiz 4 it's not noticeable very often, with alternative launchers there was some obvious lag though.
- Sound quality is pretty bad. Thought it can replace my mp3 player but it can't. But I'm kind of picky in that regard. For most people it'll be alright probably.
- Takes a bit time to get used to the size. It's pretty big and sometimes I'm afraid it will slip out of my hand when using it on the street.
Hm that's really all I can think of. Apart from those things, the phone is perfect!
Edit: Oh and some people here seem to think the xperia design is better than the SGS2? You can't be serious! The SGS2 is by far the sexiest phone I have ever seen.
Galaxy S phones ( all of them) absolutely need to be rooted.
Once you root those phones they are about 5x faster. I didn't think my Epic was ever laggy but then I rooted the thing and I was amazed at the difference it made.
Personally I'm thinking of getting the Nexus S just so I can get updates push to it faster.
It's also a $500 phone which is a justifiable investment for something that you will mostly likely use for 1 to 1.5 years then you can upgrade to the next newest thing without feeling guilty.
- I have the phone and love it! Always up to date, and the vanilla android OS is wonderful. It has same internals as any galaxy S phone but the vanilla OS makes it run much much more efficiently and smoothly so it FEELS faster (truer speed of android OS than any other phone I've used).
- The problem with the galaxy s 2 is that dual core phones so far have been really bad on battery life. The Motorolla Atrix has terrible battery life since the 2 cores are so power hungry its ridiculous. Furthermore, most apps and everything else that runs on the phone don't require and cant fully utilise the benefits of a dual core. Once the phones actually implement dual core properly thats when I will buy it
Finally, the problems I have with sony is just the OS and the availability of applications and all are limited compared to android which is limited further still in comparison to the iOS phones.
This all being said if you are willing to wait to see the reviews on the Galaxy S 2 then hold off see how battery life and performance trade off (in my experience with the Atrix, the performance wasnt worth the battery life drop) and then make your decision
(but vanilla OS is sweeet and you always have access to the latest version 2.3.4 with a warranty oh yeah!)
EDIT: Only thing missing is the HD video from the Nexus S but since I only ever took one HD video with my captivate in the 8 months I had it I don't think its a make or break thing for me anyway. Only 16 gigs internal too, no expansion slot but Im nowhere near full of mine and I have some gameloft games (about 1 GB each) and 3 GB of music for when I dont have the will to take my ipod with me.
On May 22 2011 05:50 kOre wrote: Hey snowbird, can you read and type Korean on the phone? If so, where did you order yours from?
I bought it here in Korea so obviously I can read and write Korean on the phone Model is SHW-M250K.
I don't use the camera often and I also tried to never use Wi-Fi but battery life still was not very good.
Right now I don't try to save battery anymore tough. I just use the phone as much as I want, because always having to think about oh when I do this my battery will die fast is just too annoying. When the battery runs out I just use the extra battery (you get the extra one for free).
bringing a spare battery around sounds so 90s.. i remember when my parents used the motorola StarTAC phone and had to bring spare batteries all the time. im kind of tempted to get the galaxys2 but it sounds kinda lame if i need spare batteries.
and so far dual core doesnt really sound too important.. ?! :s
Well the battery life is not worse than other Android phones, so you'll always have that problem. 1 day, more or less, is what you get. There's no modern top-end smartphone that lasts 2 days with regular usage to my knowledge. Its just that I had hoped the SGS2 lasts longer because of all those ads blabla 40% longer.
I rarely need the extra battery because I got the USB charger at home and the A/C charger at work, but I have it sitting in my bag just in case (not like it takes much space anyway).
You should definitely go in a store and play around with your models of choice a bit. After that I'm 100% sure you'll go for the Galaxy2
Your best bet is the Samsung Galaxy S2. Seriously I've tried it out and it's the best smart phone I've ever used and seen. SGS2 vs iPhone 4 is no contest. SGS2 is faster, has a better camera, bigger screen, smoother pixels and has a dual processor. I personally own an iPhone 4 and I'm going to get the SGS2.
Definitely Galaxy S2. If you root it, you should have no issues with battery life. Updates are still fine, because once you're rooted, you can directly download all of the new ROMs (i.e. OS updates), etc. You can also download completely amazing, sexy themes and other user-made things for it, while Nexus S has had some problems with custom themes/ROMs, I believe.
What are you main problems with SGS2 versus the other phones? I think we can address them, because SGS2 should be the hands-down winner here, provided you can afford it...!! :D
Seems like a simple choice between nexus s and galaxy s2 to me. The nexus s has all that the galaxy s2 has + more. Official updates on the nexus s will always have less bugs than custom OS updates on rooted devices.
Hardware difference is minuscle. Software difference means huge points for nexus s.
...all right. I will tell you why it is a no-brainer to get the SGS2, point by point.
Hardware:
Both displays are SAMOLED, though SGS2 is SAMOLED+; supposedly the difference here is more efficient battery usage, and better viewing angle, more vibrant color, etc.
SGS2's display 4.3" versus the 4" of the Nexus S. Screen size is preference, but a larger screen cannot hurt (imho), and usually is much more convenient.
SGS2 has a gorilla glass display. Gorilla glass is incredibly superior to normal (alumnosilicate) glass. There are numerous comparisons that clearly showcase the superior damage resistance (including scratch, shatter, chips, etc.) of corning's gorilla glass.
Both have front-facing cameras. Nexus S has a 0.3 (VGA) megapixel front-facing while SGS2's is 2 megapixels; i.e. better resolution. The quality of both is high. The normal camera of the SGS2 has already been established to be better (clearer, higher-res).
SGS2 has 1 GB (not sure whether it's DDR2), versus the 512 MB of RAM. RAM is essentially your workspace: if you have enough, then it's enough, but if you don't have enough, your work will be slowed significantly. The doubled ram on the SGS2 allows you to handle much more intensive tasks and also multitask without a significant loss in performance.
The SGS2 has a larger batter capacity (1500 vs 1640 ampere-hours, or mAh). I'll get to why the SGS2's battery life likely appears to be lower.
The SGS2, despite being larger, is thinner and lighter than the Nexus S by about 10%.
This is only in America, so I'm not sure whether this point is valid (I'm also not 100% sure about the carriers and 3G types, etc.), but Nexus S is only supported on Sprint and T-Mobile, while SGS2 is available on Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T. I'm not sure whether the superiority of Verizon is due to its network type (CDMA), but this might translate to your networks/carriers in Hong Kong.
Software:
Just from what I've heard on the Android forums, Nexus S has had various problems with custom themes/ROMs, so you'll be essentially stuck on stock. Fortunately, stock gingerbread is great and is much better in almost all areas than is Samsung's ugly Touchwiz. However, it is extremely simple to install stock on SGS2, which eliminates any difference in that respect. In other words, you can install stock Android gingerbread on SGS2 as well.
SGS2 has much better ROM support. A prime example of amazing user-made content is the Droid X, and the SGS2 community seems to be shaping up to generate a ton of great UIs/themes/ROMS and other AOSP (android open source project) goodies.
I have no idea as to what one refers to when one states that there are "software differences". If one is referring to the OS version, that point is null because you can flash the exact same OS version, as well as custom themes, which are tested extensively by dedicated themers and won't randomly bug out.
Now, improving battery life is simple. There are a few ways to do it. First, you can underclock your SGS2 if you really think its battery life is horrendous. After rooting it, you can underclock your device to 1.5 GHz total or something like that, and your phone will still run much, much faster than does the Nexus S, while possessing superior battery life.
You can also get an app-killer. However, you must know what you can and cannot kill. I use a task manager called "systempanel", and exclude all of the essential system processes. With the app, you can kill apps that you're done with (after you quit, for example, a browser or a game, it will still be cached/running in the background and draining battery--the large RAM of the SGS2 allows many apps to continuously run, which likely is contributing to battery loss), while leaving the essential apps alone.
From personal experience, I've gone from barely scraping a day to two days easily on my Droid X, and this will also translate to SGS2. Another thing you should do is keep your brightness low. SAMOLED+ supposedly is really efficient, but the display is almost always the worst battery sink, so keep the brightness to around the lowest when you're indoors, and don't use it extensively under the sun, and you'll be fine.
I probably made some faulty points/malapropisms, perhaps, but I really see no way that the Nexus S has the SGS2 beaten. Good luck with your phone search! I truly believe that SGS2 is the best choice on the market at the moment. It's gorgeous, monstrously quick, and also has good battery life, provided you manage it (minimal effort/time) correctly.
I have the Nexus S and I absolutely love it. I have installed CyanogenMod 7.0.3 on it and I think that it's the best phone I've ever used. I have had some minor issues with the phone rebooting once every few weeks, but it's nothing big. The NFC is a fun thing on the phone with the possibilities it's going to bring in the near future, but it's only a toy for now. The trade-off you get in comparison with Samsung Galaxy S is the weaker camera (no HD) and the lack of an SD card slot, so you're limited to the 16GB, which is still a lot of space.
Overall, what I love about Android is the fact that you can really set it up the way you want it, especially with the whole mod community around it. If you don't like the stock mod you get with your phone, you are almost always able to find a mod that suits your needs. Hell, I even installed Android (again, CM7) on my dad's HTC HD2 (that originally runs Windows Mobile 6.5) and he really loves it, the mod runs as if the phone came with Android in the first place.
I just bought a Samsung galaxy s2, and i gotta say, it is absolutely amazing. Had an iPhone 3gs before, and the samsung kicks its ass in every single way. Android OS is soooo much nicer than iOS, the screen is sick, battery time is pretty damn good.
There is no better phone right now on the market, especially if you root/mod it for themes and other apps you can only use if its rooted. I got a galaxy S 5 months ago and i find it so much better than the iphone 4, so i can only imagine its elder sibling will be hawt.
MUCH technical mis-information here. I will try to debunk some of it.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: [*]Both have front-facing cameras. Nexus S has a 0.3 (VGA) megapixel front-facing while SGS2's is 2 megapixels; i.e. better resolution. The quality of both is high. The normal camera of the SGS2 has already been established to be better (clearer, higher-res).
Assuming the front face camera is for video-chat only, the VGA camera might be even a better choice. Less pixels means more light can hit each pixel, making the chip less prone to noise. Also video-chat via mobile networks with more than VGA resolution will not be possible fore at least 3 years, probably much longer, even in HK and Seoul.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: [*]SGS2 has 1 GB (not sure whether it's DDR2), versus the 512 MB of RAM. RAM is essentially your workspace: if you have enough, then it's enough, but if you don't have enough, your work will be slowed significantly. The doubled ram on the SGS2 allows you to handle much more intensive tasks and also multitask without a significant loss in performance.
It is true that more RAM is preferred if you want to use many memory intensive programs side by side. For example a standard browser with many tabs, photoshop mobile in the background and maybe a pdf viewer. However, double the ram also means double the power need to sustain the ram. Because even though there might not be data stored in the RAM, all of it has to be powered at all times. And double capacity means double the power need. Although, compared to other power hogs, this should be minimal.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: [*]The SGS2 has a larger batter capacity (1500 vs 1640 ampere-hours, or mAh). I'll get to why the SGS2's battery life likely appears to be lower.
If the SGS2 uses much more power, the batter will last less time even if it can hold slightly more charge. It's as easy as that. "Appears to be lower" is the correct usage metric for end users and should not be rationalized away.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: Fortunately, stock gingerbread is great and is much better in almost all areas than is Samsung's ugly Touchwiz. However, it is extremely simple to install stock on SGS2, which eliminates any difference in that respect. In other words, you can install stock Android gingerbread on SGS2 as well.
This is only true if the particular OS version has been patched to take the hardware differences of the SGS2 into account. Nexus models will always ... ALWAYS be the first phones to recieve Android updates. If you are not a heavy user, this won't be much of an issue though.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: [*]SGS2 has much better ROM support. A prime example of amazing user-made content is the Droid X, and the SGS2 community seems to be shaping up to generate a ton of great UIs/themes/ROMS and other AOSP (android open source project) goodies.
[/list] Since the Nexus S is very similar to the Nexus One and the HTC Desire, their custom software user base should be greater than the one for the SGS2 because it can draw of 3 hardware fragments.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: Now, improving battery life is simple. There are a few ways to do it. First, you can underclock your SGS2 if you really think its battery life is horrendous. After rooting it, you can underclock your device to 1.5 GHz total or something like that, and your phone will still run much, much faster than does the Nexus S, while possessing superior battery life.
Rooting voids your warranty. Also saying that an underclocked dual-core will run faster is technically not correct. Apps that might need non-parallel cpu power (really most of the apps) can run slower afterwards. In the mobile world, parallel computing is not as wide-spread as on desktops. Keep that in mind.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: You can also get an app-killer. However, you must know what you can and cannot kill. I use a task manager called "systempanel", and exclude all of the essential system processes. With the app, you can kill apps that you're done with (after you quit, for example, a browser or a game, it will still be cached/running in the background and draining battery--the large RAM of the SGS2 allows many apps to continuously run, which likely is contributing to battery loss), while leaving the essential apps alone.
If you are running 2.3 or later, this is a really bad idea. Android has an awesome garbage collector and interfering with it, most of the time, will decrease battery life because you will kill apps that you will have to re-interpret and load to ram down the road. If you really want to use an app-killer to increase battery life, you will have to do all the killing manually and construct a personalized usage profile in where you note when you open which programs for how long. Otherwise, the killer app will only occupy ram (not that much of an issue) and drain cpu cycles if it has some sort of auto garbage collection.
On May 30 2011 08:32 Z3kk wrote: I probably made some faulty points/malapropisms, perhaps, but I really see no way that the Nexus S has the SGS2 beaten
It isn't. They have different strong points that appeal to different user bases. Although many customers might not realize this.
On May 21 2011 17:22 TheMunkey wrote: Forgot to mention with the galaxy phone you can swipe while nexus you cannot. I'm sure you can get an app to get swipe on nexus but it was not designed with it mind so it might not work optimally.
Swipe(ing) is just a different input method. Swype (that's how it is spelled) can currently be downloaded for free in the android market for all Android 2.0 and later phones. Once they go out of beta, they will charge for the app thoug. Samsung has a deal with that company to include the app into their custom OS, so you don't need to buy it on Samsung. However, if you install a stock OS or another ROM, you loose this advantage.
On May 21 2011 19:16 snowbird wrote: - (SGS2) Battery life is terrible. Contrary to reviews and advertisement I get very short battery life. With normal usage I barely get 1 day. That's why I always have my charger at work and bring an extra battery. My 'normal' usage is: about 1 hour of video on the subway, a little bit of browsing (below 10min), some chatting (maybe 30min) and the occasional phone call. I use wi-fi when available, bluetooth and GPS always off. My gf's iPhone 4 has about double the battery life.
Battery drains, in order of magnitude are: -) The display brightness -) Games -) Website rendering (browsing on non-mobile sites) -) Map applications when you scroll a lot (google navigation) -) Heavy mobile data traffic (depending on reception) -) Video play -) Audio play -) Apps with synchronization and widgets (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter) -) W-Lan / WiFi -) GPS / Bluetooth -) Background services
Please note that Video and Audio play do indeed use less power than maps, websites or sending/receiving data at high speeds and/or with bad reception. If you want to increase your battery life, tackle this list from top/bottom.
On May 21 2011 19:16 snowbird wrote: - There's some transition lag when switching home screens sometimes and it really annoys me. iPhone 4 has nothing like that From what I've read that's a general Android problem. When using Touch Wiz 4 it's not noticeable very often, with alternative launchers there was some obvious lag though.
The transition lag occurs because the stock home screen does not compress color values for animation. This results in quite intense data processing for the transition animation which makes it choppy. Most 3rd party home screens get rid of this and scrolling through them is as smooth as on an Iphone 3gs (haven't tested Iphone 4 yet).
On May 21 2011 19:16 snowbird wrote: - (SGS2) Battery life is terrible. Contrary to reviews and advertisement I get very short battery life. With normal usage I barely get 1 day. That's why I always have my charger at work and bring an extra battery. My 'normal' usage is: about 1 hour of video on the subway, a little bit of browsing (below 10min), some chatting (maybe 30min) and the occasional phone call. I use wi-fi when available, bluetooth and GPS always off. My gf's iPhone 4 has about double the battery life.
Battery drains, in order of magnitude are: -) The display brightness -) Games -) Website rendering (browsing on non-mobile sites) -) Map applications when you scroll a lot (google navigation) -) Heavy mobile data traffic (depending on reception) -) Video play -) Audio play -) Apps with synchronization and widgets (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter) -) W-Lan / WiFi -) GPS / Bluetooth -) Background services
Please note that Video and Audio play do indeed use less power than maps, websites or sending/receiving data at high speeds and/or with bad reception. If you want to increase your battery life, tackle this list from top/bottom.
On May 21 2011 19:16 snowbird wrote: - There's some transition lag when switching home screens sometimes and it really annoys me. iPhone 4 has nothing like that From what I've read that's a general Android problem. When using Touch Wiz 4 it's not noticeable very often, with alternative launchers there was some obvious lag though.
The transition lag occurs because the stock home screen does not compress color values for animation. This results in quite intense data processing for the transition animation which makes it choppy. Most 3rd party home screens get rid of this and scrolling through them is as smooth as on an Iphone 3gs (haven't tested Iphone 4 yet).
By stock home screen you mean the Samsung TouchWiz one?
I have tried several alternative launchers, most notably GOLauncherEX, which had worse transition lag than TouchWiz.
There was a firmware and software upgrade yesterday though (EE19), and I think overall performance has improved (might be my imagination though).
I mean overall the transition lag isn't terribly bad or anything and it's also only there sometimes, but it's just kinda annoying.
EPT
From what I've read that's a general Android problem. When using Touch Wiz 4 it's not noticeable very often, with alternative launchers there was some obvious lag though.
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