Fixed what you originally said to actually mean something instead of merely a troll post.
Try to have some objectivity in the future instead of too much Android Kool-aid / Apple hate clouding your judgement
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My Iphone4 vs SGS2 hands on verdict
- Thread starter Sir Ruben
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Fixed what you originally said to actually mean something instead of merely a troll post.
Try to have some objectivity in the future instead of too much Android Kool-aid / Apple hate clouding your judgement
This is exactly why I don't believe most of the people that say they bought the SGS2 and went back to the iPhone. The performance difference is that obvious. Only a person that prefers and Apple branded device would chose the Apple branded device over SGS2. And that's perfectly ok. But just don't try to say it's because the iPhone outperforms the SGS2 in anyway. Because it's just not true. The SGS2 runs circles around the iPhone 4 in every single possible way. And I really mean EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE WAY. The days of saying Android devices are just not as smooth or have lag are without a shadow of a doubt over when it comes to the SGS2. You won't find a single online tech review site that says otherwise. And I think that's what really annoys a lot of the loyal Apple users. There is nothing wrong with being an inferior phone to a brand new phone. You see, technology now more than ever is moving faster than Apple update their products. So logically, the iPhone is not expected to be the most advanced phone anymore. But Apple still makes a great phone.
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Ok i gonna respond to his review
pixel density: Yes its a fact that the iphone has more pixels that the samsung galaxy s2 screen, however how can you even notice it without actually zooming IN to stupid levels in a photo? also I just compared the iphopne 4 words to the samsung galaxy words, if you zoom right in, there is not a lot/no noticeable difference.
Unless i am looking at it wrong, it's hard to even notice a pixel density with my human eyes, but hey you must have inhuman eyes. unless you actually hold your eyes right next to the screen, i failed to see how it makes a difference.
does not use a micro sim: yea thank god for that, plus the ability to switch batteries is a plus as well.
Widgets are initially fun but very soon you realise they just take up valuable screen space: you see that's the great thing, you have a choice to customize them how you like, widgets are extremely useful at displaying a lot of information, from different sources all at the same time. for instance i have a page of widgets, from different sources. a widget for goal.com to tell me everything that is happening in the football world (soccer) bbc news with the latest head lines, engadget with the latest tech news and google reader for everything related to Liverpool football club. if i didn't have widgets i would have to open each of the four apps, and this makes things time consuming.
still doesnt have the silky smooth flow you find on the iPhone.: flicky through the gallery, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8wIKoQa6Pk as you can see, very smooth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISA-WWIQiCo webrowsing even more smooth and faster than the iphone 4 ( just look at the fluid response to scrolling down, and compare it to your iphone 4) no contest in speed or fluid response, I think that is pretty obvious.
apps: I think it's pretty safe to say a lot of apps on IOS seem better, but the apps i had on the iphone and now have them on android, seem basically the same, just tweaked slightly. but I have no problems with apps at the moment.
how long have you had the phone for anyway? maybe yours is defective would be interested to know what kernel you use as well.
pixel density: Yes its a fact that the iphone has more pixels that the samsung galaxy s2 screen, however how can you even notice it without actually zooming IN to stupid levels in a photo? also I just compared the iphopne 4 words to the samsung galaxy words, if you zoom right in, there is not a lot/no noticeable difference.
Unless i am looking at it wrong, it's hard to even notice a pixel density with my human eyes, but hey you must have inhuman eyes. unless you actually hold your eyes right next to the screen, i failed to see how it makes a difference.
does not use a micro sim: yea thank god for that, plus the ability to switch batteries is a plus as well.
Widgets are initially fun but very soon you realise they just take up valuable screen space: you see that's the great thing, you have a choice to customize them how you like, widgets are extremely useful at displaying a lot of information, from different sources all at the same time. for instance i have a page of widgets, from different sources. a widget for goal.com to tell me everything that is happening in the football world (soccer) bbc news with the latest head lines, engadget with the latest tech news and google reader for everything related to Liverpool football club. if i didn't have widgets i would have to open each of the four apps, and this makes things time consuming.
still doesnt have the silky smooth flow you find on the iPhone.: flicky through the gallery, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8wIKoQa6Pk as you can see, very smooth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISA-WWIQiCo webrowsing even more smooth and faster than the iphone 4 ( just look at the fluid response to scrolling down, and compare it to your iphone 4) no contest in speed or fluid response, I think that is pretty obvious.
apps: I think it's pretty safe to say a lot of apps on IOS seem better, but the apps i had on the iphone and now have them on android, seem basically the same, just tweaked slightly. but I have no problems with apps at the moment.
how long have you had the phone for anyway? maybe yours is defective
would be interested to know what kernel you use as well.
Yay, im so glad that a very unbiased, friendly topic had to turn into a fanboy-fest.
The OP has used both devices and gave his constructive criticisms. They are his thoughts, and his thoughts only. He not only said that he preferred the iPhone, he gave his reasons why as well.
And if it means anything to you, which it probably doesn't since you're so blinded by bias, I have used the SGS2 as well and ran straight back to the iPhone in days. Gingerbread is still the same fragmented Android OS it has always been, and the screen wasn't half as crisp as the retina display. That said, the SGS2 was still a nice phone, it just didn't run as smoothly as i'm used to with iOS. As the OP said, I couldn't handle how terrible all of the apps looked on the home screen. This is because Google has no standard for app developers to make their apps look nice.
This is my OPINION, and i'm sticking to it. At least I have constructive things to say instead of just putting down the SGS2 and not giving reasons why.
Please, I would like to hear your FACTUAL information as to why the SGS2 blows the iPhone out of the water?
The pixel density is so blatenly obvious it's unbelievable. Go to nytimes.com on both phones. Try and read the text on the SGS2 and on the iPhone WITHOUT zooming in. The fact that text THAT small can be perfectly crisp is unbelievable.Ok i gonna respond to his review
pixel density: Yes its a fact that the iphone has more pixels that the samsung galaxy s2 screen, however how can you even notice it without actually zooming IN to stupid levels in a photo? also I just compared the iphopne 4 words to the samsung galaxy words, if you zoom right in, there is not a lot/no noticeable difference.
Unless i am looking at it wrong, it's hard to even notice a pixel density with my human eyes, but hey you must have inhuman eyes. unless you actually hold your eyes right next to the screen, i failed to see how it makes a difference.
does not use a micro sim: yea thank god for that, plus the ability to switch batteries is a plus as well.
Widgets are initially fun but very soon you realise they just take up valuable screen space: you see that's the great thing, you have a choice to customize them how you like, widgets are extremely useful at displaying a lot of information, from different sources all at the same time. for instance i have a page of widgets, from different sources. a widget for goal.com to tell me everything that is happening in the football world (soccer) bbc news with the latest head lines, engadget with the latest tech news and google reader for everything related to Liverpool football club. if i didn't have widgets i would have to open each of the four apps, and this makes things time consuming.
still doesnt have the silky smooth flow you find on the iPhone.: flicky through the gallery, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8wIKoQa6Pk as you can see, very smooth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISA-WWIQiCo webrowsing even more smooth and faster than the iphone 4 ( just look at the fluid response to scrolling down, and compare it to your iphone 4) no contest in speed or fluid response, I think that is pretty obvious.
apps: I think it's pretty safe to say a lot of apps on IOS seem better, but the apps i had on the iphone and now have them on android, seem basically the same, just tweaked slightly. but I have no problems with apps at the moment.
how long have you had the phone for anyway? maybe yours is defective
Proof: http://geeknizer.com/iphone-4-retina-vs-amoled-display-comparison/
Ok just went to nytimes.com the full website on both pages.
when i open the page, at 1st glance it is more easy to read on the samsung galaxys2, because it's a bigger screen on the text size seems bigger for some reason. however the density on the iphone 4 seems better, but then the point is useless because it's hard to read both of them, being so small. unless you actually use text size that small on purpose?
and then when i actually zoom in to an acceptable degree, i can't notice much difference, iphone obviously being slightly better but nothing to buzz about and it certainly isn't enough difference to rave about.
also that site you are giving me is comparing the old samsung galaxy screen, to the iphone 4.
"Super AMOLED Plus displays are an upgrade to Super AMOLED. They use a real-stripe subpixel matrix and not pentile - and so has 50% more sub-pixels. The PPI is a bit larger but Samsung will soon make them at much higher resolutions. Super AMOLED Plus displays are also thinner, brighter and use 18% less energy than the older Super AMOLED displays."
anyway it's clear the pixel density is greater on the iphone 4, however the samsung galaxy s2 screen is just a awesome in different ways ( the way it displays blacks is ****in awesome, contrasts that no phone comes close to, and great saturated colors that make photos looks extra awsome)
Well the difference in text size makes it's semi-unfair i suppose.
I didn't even think about the fact that the SGS2's screen is bigger. I suppose that makes it hard to compare. But the big difference is basically the crispness of the iPhone compared to the SGS2.
Some people prefer the more vibrant screen, I'll take the crispness of the iPhone anyday, again, it's just my preference.
And im one of those crazy people who read text that small. I have incredible vision and IDK why, but I just prefer to read small text. Call me crazy.
Well Im gone for a few hours and the positive comments seem to have turned to comments suggesting I never even had the phone etc. Well I still have the phone (as its not sold just yet and worryingly not much interest either if Im honest), so heres a few pics. Also it was not a 'review', it was my thoughts based on being able to compare them side by side, I already said that. I also said it wasnt the most detailed of comparisons because I have been very limited on time.
At the end of the day the only Apple product I own is an iPhone, Im no fanboy, and I really do mean it when I say that I was prepared to switch to the SGS2. After all the SGS2 just came out and the iPhone4 is 1 yr old tech right? In the end though regardless of the spec of the SGS2 the 'experience' wasnt better *for me*. Id really rather this not turn into a willy waving contest though, there are plenty of other threads on here where you can do that.
I must be honest, even now Id still like to keep the SGS2 in addition to the iPhone4, but I dont need 2 phones and the money could be put to better use right now.
Hers the pics I took with my Lumix TZ7, as you can see the protective plastic is back on the SGS2 in some of them as I have now reset it ready to sell, enjoy:
As you can see my initial home screen had mostly icons with only the clock widget at the top, then I realised that the clock shows in the notification bar above it rendering it pointless and taking up valuable app icon space - you can have a minimum of four additional icons in the space that a widget takes up. The other widgets I used were cast to the second page and looked untidy. I also noticed that sometimes when I scrolled to the page I had three widgets on, they were not there instantly and sometimes loaded in. In fairness they loaded quick but as the SGS2 is pretty powerful this surprised me and added to the untidy feel of the widgets.
EDIT: Also something else I forgot to mention in my original post. The size of the screen actually proved to be awkward in some cases. As an example if I were on the Android Market and holding the phone in my left hand, it was almost impossible to reach the search icon with my thumb situated in the top right of the screen.
Few more plus points: I really like haptic feedback A LOT, i have read that a jailbroken iPhone can have this but is it as nice as the Android implementation? I also really like the two soft keys either side of the home button, they light up when you touch them and also provide haptic feedback.
Apologies that I am adding many of these thoughts as I go along. Maybe if I get time I'll update my initial post with these (and the pics) included.
At the end of the day the only Apple product I own is an iPhone, Im no fanboy, and I really do mean it when I say that I was prepared to switch to the SGS2. After all the SGS2 just came out and the iPhone4 is 1 yr old tech right? In the end though regardless of the spec of the SGS2 the 'experience' wasnt better *for me*. Id really rather this not turn into a willy waving contest though, there are plenty of other threads on here where you can do that.
I must be honest, even now Id still like to keep the SGS2 in addition to the iPhone4, but I dont need 2 phones and the money could be put to better use right now.
Hers the pics I took with my Lumix TZ7, as you can see the protective plastic is back on the SGS2 in some of them as I have now reset it ready to sell, enjoy:
As you can see my initial home screen had mostly icons with only the clock widget at the top, then I realised that the clock shows in the notification bar above it rendering it pointless and taking up valuable app icon space - you can have a minimum of four additional icons in the space that a widget takes up. The other widgets I used were cast to the second page and looked untidy. I also noticed that sometimes when I scrolled to the page I had three widgets on, they were not there instantly and sometimes loaded in. In fairness they loaded quick but as the SGS2 is pretty powerful this surprised me and added to the untidy feel of the widgets.
EDIT: Also something else I forgot to mention in my original post. The size of the screen actually proved to be awkward in some cases. As an example if I were on the Android Market and holding the phone in my left hand, it was almost impossible to reach the search icon with my thumb situated in the top right of the screen.
Few more plus points: I really like haptic feedback A LOT, i have read that a jailbroken iPhone can have this but is it as nice as the Android implementation? I also really like the two soft keys either side of the home button, they light up when you touch them and also provide haptic feedback.
Apologies that I am adding many of these thoughts as I go along. Maybe if I get time I'll update my initial post with these (and the pics) included.
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+1 .. it's absolutely ridiculous how someone gets torn apart on here just for posting their thoughts on two devices when it is done in a constructive, non bashing manner.
I may update this thread further in a couple of days if I still have the SGS2. I was thinking about showing vids and pics of the direct comparisons I mentioned regarding the front facing camera, quality of the apps on Android, and widget performance.
Its funny that apparently a lot of what Im stating is lies according to a few people. So if that is the case, and to flesh out my comparisons further, some vids and pics might be the way to go.
If you love tech like me, then you should find them interesting.
Its funny that apparently a lot of what Im stating is lies according to a few people. So if that is the case, and to flesh out my comparisons further, some vids and pics might be the way to go.
If you love tech like me, then you should find them interesting.
I see orange have ruined the handset with their custom icons. Why they insist on changing from the stock ones to those horrid orange ones is beyond me.
That orange "Internet" icon for example is horrid. Great pictures tho.
That orange "Internet" icon for example is horrid. Great pictures tho.
Do you have sales figures to back up your claims that the SGS2 is destroying the iPhone 4? Think of the relationship between the two products. The SGS2 is the iPhone 4 killer which was released in May 2011 in the UK iirc, almost a year after the iPhone 4. Even if it did manage to beat the iPhone 4 in sales then thats purely because Samsung has had a lot of time to look at the iPhone 4 and say "hmm, we'll address this, this and that" in order to release a better product. In my eyes, for such a product, matching sales isn't enough (if its even doing that which I highly doubt), the S2 needs to blow the iPhone out of the water, which it simply isn't doing based on the link below which states 3 million global sales in early July, which is impressive, but not really such behaviour of a phone that is apparently destroying the iPhone 4. Compare that to 2.2 million iPhone 4s in the first quarter of 2011 (for a product that is now somewhat outdated) the S2 isn't "destroying the iPhone 4".
Oh and the other part in bold, he's posted a photo of the two phones and this webpage just for proof.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/173...-galaxy-s2-sales-marks-3-million-globally.htm
http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/2011/07/08/verizons-iphone-4-sales-still/
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Have you looked at any other consumer product forums? I used to hang around in some Nokia forums before the iPhone was released and it was pretty much the same. I'm willing to bet there's an Android forum out there where people swear by the android product just because it isn't Apple. Like, as if its as cool to hate Apple as it is to like Apple. You're pretty delusional, though. People are allowed to buy a product just because they like it. I've looked at some Android phones because I am tempted but when I try them I just don't like them enough to warrant swapping over. That and you've not even considered the pain in the ass issue of your apps no longer being compatible etc. Why would I swap over to Android and lose all my iOS apps? You're also being quite hypocritical in just blinding assuming iPhone users just like the product because its Apple because your post reeks of blind loyalty. Oh and in your other post you said the S2 is the most dominant phone out there or something? Care to back that up? I've only seen one S2 in the wild, and countless more iPhones so I call BS.
@OP: Thank you for the comparison. My contract is coming up and I'm leaning toward a new iPhone, but so far as I can tell the SG2 seems to be the best Android phone available right now so it's good to hear a personal experience from another user directly comparing the two.
The one thing I've noticed in the UK is that about half of the mobile phone stores have a dedicated iPhone display in which you can look at ('play with') a working iPhone. This is not true of the SG2 (I've tried Orange, Phones4U, Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, etc.). That means you have to track down a sales person who uses a SG2 as their phone, which means you have to suffer through their sales pitch. I wish I'd be able to compare directly an iPhone4 (or the next model) to a SG2 in a store....
The one thing I've noticed in the UK is that about half of the mobile phone stores have a dedicated iPhone display in which you can look at ('play with') a working iPhone. This is not true of the SG2 (I've tried Orange, Phones4U, Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, etc.). That means you have to track down a sales person who uses a SG2 as their phone, which means you have to suffer through their sales pitch. I wish I'd be able to compare directly an iPhone4 (or the next model) to a SG2 in a store....
Yeah before my SGS2 came I asked to see a working one in the Orange shop. The cheesy salesman produced his and kept churning out spiel with a big cheesy grin on his face while I was trying to concentrate on the handset itself.
In that situation there is no way that you can compare the two. In fact Id go as far as to say that if you had a SGS2 with no iPhone to compare it to you would swear blind that the screen is better. After all when that big screen lights up in front of you, it does initially impress and may well produce comments such as "this blows the iPhone away!". In direct comparison though I could clearly see the difference in pixel density and resolution, plus the screen appearing to have a very (unnaturally) high contrast. The iPhone screens colours look muted in comparison only because they are more naturally balanced.
I used SGS2 before selling it. It is great. The tech is great, the hardware is the best right now, hands down.
But in order for me to keep it i needed the following:
- respectable battery life while using it for movies/music/browsing etc (in which my iPhone 4 still beats anything out there)
- having icecream sandwich on it instead of the same old gingerbread which is the same thing i used on nexus S and Xperia Arc, not even optimized for a dual core phone.
- some sort of passive heat sink. Considering the phone is too thin I think it might be due to that but it does get annoying when I am watching some youtube or a flash video and the phone gets so hot I could probably cook my meal on it.
- Get that mali400 GPU to recognize more game formats. Maybe release a driver or something? It sucked that the guy sitting next to me was playing the tegra GOF2 on his atrix which cannot be played unless you root and apply chainfire 3D and even then it is a chore to get most normal games playing. This stupid fragmentation of hardware needs to end or the developers need to be given better tools to handle the hardware changes, which I hope is coming in ice cream. After all most windows games work on almost every variation of current hardware out there as long as you fulfill some basic requirements. Should be same here for all apps, not just games.
Solve all this and I would go back to it in a heartbeat.
But in order for me to keep it i needed the following:
- respectable battery life while using it for movies/music/browsing etc (in which my iPhone 4 still beats anything out there)
- having icecream sandwich on it instead of the same old gingerbread which is the same thing i used on nexus S and Xperia Arc, not even optimized for a dual core phone.
- some sort of passive heat sink. Considering the phone is too thin I think it might be due to that but it does get annoying when I am watching some youtube or a flash video and the phone gets so hot I could probably cook my meal on it.
- Get that mali400 GPU to recognize more game formats. Maybe release a driver or something? It sucked that the guy sitting next to me was playing the tegra GOF2 on his atrix which cannot be played unless you root and apply chainfire 3D and even then it is a chore to get most normal games playing. This stupid fragmentation of hardware needs to end or the developers need to be given better tools to handle the hardware changes, which I hope is coming in ice cream. After all most windows games work on almost every variation of current hardware out there as long as you fulfill some basic requirements. Should be same here for all apps, not just games.
Solve all this and I would go back to it in a heartbeat.
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Funny that Android is usually compared to Windows.
The difference is that when an update is released, HP, DELL, Acer or anybody else can't hold it back... they provide the hardware and drivers for that hardware however for the rest you're dealing with Microsoft.
Until manufacturers and operators stand in between you and Google, Android will always be a fragmented mess, cause it's in manufacturers' and operators' interests to withhold updates and force you to buy a new phone.
Google should take a stand and take charge, the release an update and wash their hands off it...
I really hope Ice Cream Sandwich addresses the following:
1. MUCH improved, consistent UI, with animations everywhere, not only in some places.
2. Application devtools design/framework policy, apps should have a unified look like with iOS, there should be some guidelines on application looks.
3. Hardware UI Acceleration, EVERYWHERE.
4. Multicore Support for dual core phones.
5. Unification, phones, tablets running the same Android and all phones being capable of playing the same games, running the same apps, etc...
6. Hardware vendors should be hit with a strict policy of updates AND guaranteed number of years(make it 2) of updates. When an update is released a manufacturer, if using a skin should release that update within a month or two, if you can't then don't release so many phones.
Till the above is sorted I'm not going anywhere near Android.
I love how rich the black looks on the SGS2.
If we could combine the amazing contrast on the SGS2 and the pixel density and clarity of the Retina display, we would be in for somewhat of an orgasmic screen, let me tell you.
One thing I definitely have always been a fan of is the way that this phone implements the clock and text on the lock screen. I love those big thin San Serif letters but I still hate the way those apps look. They just don't look clean.
Well I decided to have another play with the SGS2 again last night, so I did some side by side performance comparisons. Opening and closing app's etc. What I found is that the opening time of say BBC News etc would usually be the same but very often marginally slower on the SGS2. It was almost nothing but thought it was worth noting mainly because the SGS2 has a higher spec than the iPhone 4, and I have seen a lot of people make bold claims about its performance blowing the iPhone away. From my side by side comparison I can safely say that the performance of the SGS2 only matches the iPhone 4 in the majority of situations.
I have also taken some screen shots comparing the same app's on each of the devices for people who have not seen the difference between the two. I took the shots using the home & power keys so they are direct from the handsets in the correct resolution. Not sure when I will have time to add these, but hopefully in the next few hours or so.
I am even more convinced that I want haptic feedback in IOS5, I dont know why but for some reason it really adds to the experience, however Ive got a feeling its not one of the 200 new features :/
I have also taken some screen shots comparing the same app's on each of the devices for people who have not seen the difference between the two. I took the shots using the home & power keys so they are direct from the handsets in the correct resolution. Not sure when I will have time to add these, but hopefully in the next few hours or so.
I am even more convinced that I want haptic feedback in IOS5, I dont know why but for some reason it really adds to the experience, however Ive got a feeling its not one of the 200 new features :/
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Yeah I love the lock screen too, what I noticed though is that if you activate the pattern lock the font of the clock and date changes to a completely different one. I actually turned the lock back off to restore it back to its original look as per the picture above.
That phone looks incredibly nice in the pictures.
Thanks for you indepth review and any possible follow ups
Thanks for you indepth review and any possible follow ups
I see orange have ruined the handset with their custom icons. Why they insist on changing from the stock ones to those horrid orange ones is beyond me.
That orange "Internet" icon for example is horrid. Great pictures tho.
maybe i'm being blind, but the example you gave is the only icon that has been changed from a standard/unlocked phone.