With the Apple iPhone 4 hitting stores in India, followed by Samsung’s announcement to launch its coveted Galaxy S2 smartphone in the country, mobile enthusiasts here will soon have a tricky but pleasant choice to make: Whether to buy the most advanced iPhone or to go for a Samsung Galaxy S2 instead.
Galaxy S2 has seen record sales in some countries; while Apple’s iPhone has proven its worth in others. We understand that considering the price of these handsets, it will be tough to decide which one to buy, and an informed recommendation will go a long way.
In order to help you out, we have compared the two devices based on their features and hardware.
Display
Apple, even with the launch of a totally new device, is still sticking to it regular screen size of 3.5 inches, which is small compared to the mighty 4.3 inch screen of the Galaxy S2. So in terms of screen size, the S2 definitely has an edge; but wait.
The Retina Display of the iPhone 4 comes with a Resolution of 640 x 960 pixels, compared to the 480 x 800 Pixel resolution of the S2. Hence, the Apple device is capable of showing much more detail than the Samsung handset.
Processor
The iPhone 4 has a 1GHz ARM cortex A8 architecture-based processor; but the Galaxy S2 has the next generation Arm Cortex A9 dual core Processor running at 1.2 GHz, giving it the advantage of an extra 200 MHz, which will definitely be evident in command execution and overall functioning.
Moreover the Apple iPhone 4 comes with 512 MB of RAM relative to 1GB of RAM on the S2. So even where processing muscle is concerned the S2 scores over iPhone 4.
OS
iOS 4 has received positive reviews across the globe for being the most stable and user friendly smartphone platform. On the other hand, Android, which features in the S2, went on to become the leading operating system in a very short span of time.
Its open source nature might be one of the reasons for its popularity, and Android has an EDGE over iOS when it comes to the number of applications available to it as well.
Memory capacity
Although Samsung Galaxy S2 is available in two different memory capacity variants around the world, Samsung has confirmed that only the 16GB version will be available in India. Apple iPhone 4, on the other hand, can be had in either 16GB or 32GB versions. Nevertheless, the 16GB S2 has a Memory card slot that can support up to 32GB over and above the in-built storage capacity; although, who wants that much memory? The more you store in your phone, the slower it will get. With a 32GB memory card, any phone will lose some speed. Therefore onboard memory wins over expandable memory.
External communications
Both the devices have a quad Band mobile radio built in. Galaxy S2 is an HSDPA+ smartphone, which means it can use high speed 3G networks, which the iPhone 4 can’t do.
Moreover, unlike S2, the iPhone does not support Near Field Communication technology (NFC). Most importantly, the S2 will also allow users to connect USB drives and HDMI compatible devices with the help of accessories that can be bought directly from Samsung retailers.
Battery backup
Samsung has invested a lot in R&D to optimise the device to use the battery in the best possible way, and that is why the company claims a Talk time of almost nine hours, which is an honourable figure for a smartphone.
In contrast, Apple iPhone 4 has seven hours of talktime, which is not bad at all, but considering the long periods that a smartphone is normally used for, longer battery backup will definitely be appreciated by most people.
Price
Apple iPhone 4 16GB is priced at Rs 34,500; whereas the Samsung Galaxy S2 16GB version costs Rs 32,890. Samsung turns out to be marginally cheaper than the iPhone 4, but only marginally.