Galaxy S2 vs Iphone 4S

Revisions:

9.1.2012: Added Killer features Pane.

12.1.2012: Added the biggest problems pane.

So guys this is it…the ultimate battle between the two most anticipated smartphones of the year which have been indeed very much in the news. Well the monster Galaxy S2 which has been maintaining its top spot in the market and is still the only people’s choice. On the other hand the iPhone 4S, which is another great great invention from apple that does everything. So in this guide i will be explaining the ultimate features of both these phones and will tell you which phone you should buy and of course why?

Design Test:

So in terms of design the both the phones look great but the iPhone 4s rocks it out because of the great build quality, while the galaxy s2 seems great at the front due to the big amoled+ screen but at the back its plastic which while holding the phone gives  you a feel that the phone is of a bad build quality.But that does not mean that the iPhone 4S rolls it out, the iPhone 4S is a little weak when it comes to dropping a phone. This can be better understood by watching  this video…..

So this round gives the iPhone 4S a 5 rating and the galaxy S2 a 4.3.

Hardware:

Well the Galaxy s2 is powered with a 1.2 ghz  dual core exynos processor and 1 gb of ram and has a beautiful 4.3 inches Super AMOLED+ screen which makes it look really really beautiful.At the back the phone has an 8MP camera that records videos at full 1080p HD.  It also has a 2mp camera at the front for video calling. Its speaker is located at the bottom at the back, which makes it sometimes difficult to listen to the songs while holding the phone in  the hand.

The iPhone 4S is powered with a 1ghz dual core apple A5 processor and 512 mb of ram. So the galaxy s2 here is a clear winner. But still the iPhone 4S has a very nice interface which never lags. The iPhones 4S also has a 8mp camera at the back which also is capable of recording videos at full 1080p HD. It has a vga camera at the front for only face time calling and only over wi-fi. So that’s a big disadvantage.

Software:

So the samsung galaxy s2 is powered it android 2.3 ginger bread OS and is soon to get the ICS update while on the other hand, the the iphone 4s is powered with a the latest version of iOS the iOS 5. Well nobody can deny the smoothness the transitions of the iOS are seriously to die for and also it has more app ecosystem than the android.Buton the same side android is way  way way way way more customizable. After all you will after all be just fed up of the iOS interface and you cannot always just wait for the update of the OS and if the update of the OS is does not change the ui you are just left with switching to  any other mobile phone. Well apple has been considerably private with its iphone….and have tried to block most of the jailbreaks of their iphones via update. Well on the other side, google has been releasing the source code of almost every android os version which of course allows hackers to easily root their  android devices and of course make custom roms for it, which mostly everybody prefers.

Price:

So here comes the most most important part, the price of both the phones. Well iphone 4S sells at 199$ in the USA with AT&T and verizon but it ain’t selling at a cheaper price in india. Well it sells at a 1000$ over here for the 32 gig version. Well thats a hell high price. We would rather buy the   a laptop in place of an iphone or even two tablets one of which is can be a high end one(like the galaxy tab 10.1).It is same with the Galaxy S2, you can buy it cheaper on verizon or any other network provider or the international version at just Rs 27000.

Special Features:

Well talking about the iphone 4S there are not actually any new features other than Siri. The ios 5 has 200 new features but you can get ios 5 even on your iphone 3GS so it will not be counted. Well the siri on iphone 4S is indeed a killer feature. It actually can convince many people to go for the iphone 4S despite of its price and a special notice that im one of them.  Well those who don’t know, siri is like a special assistant that does everything with voice commands, like sending messages, creating alarms, web search and even typing. It does not end there, you can use your regular language to communicate with siri. Like “siri do i need an umbrella today”….speaking this will give you the weather forecast of your location. Well siri is indeed very smart. It can respond to various other things like, if i ask him/her that which is the best phone, it will reply the phone you are holding.

Now that sounds good…but looks better, so watch this video…..

Well the galaxy S2 has no killer feature yet, but it is about to get the android 4.0 update, hope that brings any. But still galaxy s2 also has a siri like functionality which samsung calls voice to go. It launches simply by double tapping the home button. The difference here is, it only accepts commands. Unlike siri it does not work with regular language. So you better learn speaking like a robot clearly and slowly. But yeah it works pretty well even with the indian slang which the iphone 4S lacks.

Also it does all the functions which it states it can do. The iphone 4S’s siri does not operate properly in india. For example it cannot look for hotels in india and also cannot do some business tasks like currency conversion in india.

So apple should work on this atleast.

So the galaxy S2 has another anticipated feature known as WIFI direct. Well it basically is a good alternative to the Bluetooth technology. It is faster than iPhone 4s’s Bluetooth 4.0 . Not many devices currently support wifi direct but, i tried out this feature to send file from a galaxy S2 to a galaxy S2 and the speed was blazingly fast. Seriously the file was sent almost instantly. So thats a big advantage.

Well in simple language, kies air allows you to wirelessly connect your phone to your pc for transferring movies, music, etc just like you do it via kies(connected via wire). But also it should be noted that while using Kies air you will not be able to update your phone’s firmware or connect to the internet. Kies air can be connected either via creating a portable hotspot on your device or connecting your device to a wifi network. Then you need to put in a special web address provided by kies air app on your phone into the browser’s address bar. And then you will be good to go. And also it requires Java.

The Biggest Problems:

So this is the important part. I have explained all of the killer features of both the phones and now its turn for their bad features…not features actually but yeah their problems.

Iphone 4S:

Number one:

So one of the biggest problems with the iphone 4S is the bluetooth. Well in short you cannot send any file via bluetooth. Well the Bluetooth in the iPhone 4S is just for connecting wireless head sets to it and may be for other purposes. But that limits the iphone 4S’s Bluetooth 4.0  functionality.

Well that is a big problem which apple should work on.

Number 2

Well everybody would agree that itunes is indeed a great menace to the iphone 4S or even all the iphones. Well it binds the iphones in a loop so that they are not operable on any other pc rather than the original one. Well to copy songs to iphone, you cannot directly use its file manager and do the job. You have to buy those songs on itunes and then copy via it. Now nobody would like it.

Galaxy S2:

So everybody complained of it and i guess will be complaining for it. The android lagg…..which almost everybody experiences on even the most powerful phones like the Galaxy S2.Well comparing it to iOS its a complete blunder. The iphone 4S or even 3GS in spite having lower hardware works great with the operating system. There is not lag at all. So thats the biggest problem in the Galaxy S2.

Conclusion:

So here comes the end, the conclusion. Well both the phones are rocking, well apple should work on some functionality of the iPhone 4S in India. Still comparing both the phones is not as tough while considering the price point of the iPhone 4S.

So the final verdict is, apple iPhone should be bought if you are in a country like USA or UK where the iPhone 4S comes locked on to a particular network operator. This is because the iPhone 4S unlocked is very very expensive in india(1000$) and also Siri does not work properly with the indian slang. It also has problems with some of the functionalities of Siri in india.Well moral of the story, Siri was never made for indian users. Even  on the Airtel webpage there is no mention of Siri. So that proves it and still buying it iPhone 4S at that price, in my opinion is FOOLISHNESS! If you are an apple fanboy, i would recommend you buying the unlocked iPhone 4s from another country where it sells cheap.  It’s also crosses the Rs 30000 price point but still apple phones, deserve this much.

So moral of the story, if your pockets are tight and you are a type of person who buys only one phone per year or more than one year buy the galaxy s2. And if you are the type of person, who buys a new phone in every 6-12 months, and want something new, go for the iphone 4S, well being expensive the siri is really really cool with which you can show off to your friends. So the choice is yours……………….