Comparison: iphone 4s vs samsung galaxy s2
Once the iPhone 4S is presented, the 2011 smartphone menu can be considered already served, even if it arrives late. Given this, and now, with all the laws, it is possible to ask what is the most powerful and attractive mobile on the market? Logically, put to establish a comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S2 would be the first rival to beat on the canvas.
When considering the comparison, a small detail must be taken into account, even at the risk of being repetitive: the Samsung Galaxy S2 is a phone that, although it underwent some small modification between its presentation in February and its launch at the end of April, has been with us for a few months, while the iPhone 4S will not hit stores until October 14 (28 of the same month in the case of the Spanish market). We note this because we consider that the release timeline is essential to be able to make sense of the comparison. And with that said, we started.
Design and display
Let us approach design in a double dimension: innovation and practicality. Regarding the first, Apple's effort is conspicuous by its absence. They have limited themselves to repeating the iPhone 3GS play, reissuing a format that we already knew from the iPhone 4. Some might think that, once the mobile is renewed, what less than feeling a new phone in your hands, an experience that begins with a renewed appearance. Unfortunately we will not have that feeling with the iPhone 4S.
Not so with the Samsung Galaxy S2: thinner, lighter and more robust than the previous Samsung Galaxy S. It is true that this device is made of plastic materials that in principle give it a feeling of greater fragility. However, we have already told you many times the criticism that the beautiful design of the iPhone 4 has also raised, something that will continue to be evident in the iPhone 4S, with a glass case that, unless we protect with a case, is subject to danger scratches and, even more, cracks in case of receiving blows.
Regarding the screens of one and the other, the bet of each phone is far too far to enter a confrontation even in terms. The Samsung Galaxy S2 loses in definition, but gains in panel quality. The Super AMOLED Plus that the Samsung phone carries achieves very vivid colors and a truly spectacular brightness, while the iPhone 4S has its best ally in the brutal concentration of 326 dots per inch to defend its IPS Retina screen. Of course, in size it is 3.5 inches compared to 4.27 inches of the European model of the Samsung Galaxy S2. Thus, the question of rigor that the user should ask to assess this chapter is none other than, does size matter?
Connectivity
The iPhone 4S equips a dual antenna system that makes it homogeneous to all markets where it will be marketed, something that, in principle, the different regional users should not care too much (not the operators). In addition, it presents as a novelty the inclusion of the HSPA system for 3G connections, with theoretical transfer rates of 14.4 Mbps. Little discussion at this point of the confrontation: the Samsung Galaxy S2 equips the HSPA + system, capable of developing a download speed of up to 21 Mbps.
The rest of the features in wireless connections are very similar, with a slight nuance: the multimedia data sharing system. Apple has its own standard, called AirPlay, compatible with home terminals (iMac or AppleTV), which allows us to activate a mirroring function using Apple accessories, as well as print documents with compatible printers. For its part, the Samsung Galaxy S2 opts for a more widespread standard, DLNA, currently compatible with many more devices that participate in the same Wi-Fi network . In this sense, the Samsung phone wins again for better integrating with third-party devices.
And as for the jacks of the phone itself, the Samsung Galaxy S2 has a microUSB port compatible with an MHL adapter, which would allow us to launch a high definition signal. The iPhone 4S, meanwhile, insists on the Apple philosophy with its proprietary dock socket, which, via adapter, can also connect the phone to a high-definition screen via HDMI.
Multimedia
Here the question becomes more sensitive. Saving the dialectic between both terminals in the playback section, where the Samsung Galaxy S2 would win on the street (being compatible with practically all multimedia formats without resorting to third-party applications or intermediate conversions, including native Flash files), the confrontation would focus on the camera.
In capture quality, the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the iPhone 4S would be even on paper: both have eight megapixel sensors with FullHD video function with a scan of 30 frames per second and LED flash. However, perhaps it should be recognized that Apple has made more efforts to stand out in this section. The sensor of the iPhone 4S is faster and brighter, two fundamental points in a camera and that rarely focuses the concern of mobile manufacturers (with the exception of Nokia, which in both the Nokia N8 and the recent Nokia N9 put a deep effort in filing this section).
Thus, the iPhone 4S camera would allow you to activate and launch the first photo in just 1.1 seconds, compared to the two seconds that the Samsung Galaxy S2 system would take. In addition, it gains in brightness, with an aperture of f / 2.4 and an infrared filter that mitigates color aberrations in the captured photo, achieving much improved results. And that 's not to mention the stabilizer involved in video recording, one of the features claimed since there are more mobile with camera and coming to cushion the tremor in the shootings. For all this, the multimedia section could remain in tables, withone point for the Samsung Galaxy S2 for its player and another for the iPhone 4S for its camera.
Hardware
The iPhone 4S was expected to install the processor of the iPad 2, the dual-core A5 at one GHz speed. And yet his confirmation left the crooked gesture among those who eagerly attended the presentation of this phone. The blame for their arid reaction is not Apple, but the competition. And we are already, so to speak, ill used to seeing phones that carry very fast chips, such as the Samsung Galaxy S2, with dual-core architecture and power between 1.2 and 1.4 GHz. Or, in other cases, devices such as the LG Optimus 3D, which although not as fast a priori (one GHz), they develop systems to significantly increase their speed (in this case, dual-channel memory, capable of participating in the data processing with a power much higher than expected).
It is true that the iPhone 4S has multiplied by seven its graphic power. However, this margin makes sense in the iPad 2, with a screen of more than nine inches, something that perhaps does not quite look in all its splendor in a 3.5-inch panel. Objectively, the 0.77-inch increase in the Samsung Galaxy S2 should not be so noticeable, but users who have held the terminal of the South Korean firm and the iPhone 4 at the same time will have noticed that the difference is more than palpable. Especially, launching video or games. And that's where the iPhone 4S would have made a differencewith its renewed graphic processing, something that, for many, will remain in borage water.
And going back to memory, the debate at this point is a classic subject to opinions. There are those who do not find fault in the fact that the iPhone does not have an expansion slot, as we do see in the Samsung Galaxy S2 (using microSD cards of up to 32 GB). Others, however, find it interesting to have an integrated fund with a complementary one. For tastes, colors. The objective, however, is due to the fact that the iPhone 4S has three models according to storage (16, 32 and 64 GB), while the Samsung Galaxy S2 discriminates between 16 and 32 GB models. It is difficult to make an absolute assessment of this section, so we invite you to plan your needs in the memory chapter.
Applications
Here you have to get more serious. Apple went to great lengths to emphasize that the iPhone 4S is a more patent renovation in software than in hardware, so that the system in general and the applications in particular are the workhorse of the Cupertino to face their competitors. However, is there really any reason to highlight the iPhone 4S for its applications? It is true that Apple's phone is the one with the most downloadable apps available through its online store (more than half a million). But that doesn't make the iPhone 4S attractive, at least not compared to the iPhone 4., a phone that we could agree on without too much risk as already surpassed by the latest generation competition. That being the case, where does the appeal of the iPhone 4S lie in the applications chapter?
One of the arguments would be Siri, the personal assistant that exclusively installs the iPhone 4S. It is a system that interprets and executes orders through voice commands. The system works with a natural voice, that is, we would not have to speak to it like a robot. Of course: it only recognizes English, French and German for the moment, and there is no date to know when he will speak the language of Cervantes.
It is a failure of such astonishing magnitude that it does not need justification, although we will provide it: more than 500 million Spanish-speaking users worldwide, and the corresponding quota they represent, are left out of the game. And that's not to mention the Chinese users. A disastrous move by Apple, especially when we know that the Samsung Galaxy S2 does integrate a function of these characteristics that, although not so sophisticated, does understand the Spanish-speaking user. In addition, the Samsung mobile offers that service through two ways: from the native exclusive option that integrates this model, and throughGoogle Voice Commands, recently integrated into Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
For the rest, the iPhone 4S integrates other functions inherent to iOS5, Apple's new system update for mobiles and tablets, available from October 12: iMessage (to send messages between iOS devices as if it were WhatsApp), Cards (a strange system for making postcards that doesn't make much sense on mobile phones, since the postcard would be physical and it costs money to print), the new notification system (a classic on Android that Appleis awarded as the discovery of gunpowder), integration of Twitter (ditto), Find my Friends (a function to locate friends, which seems like a cousin-brother of Google Latitude) or Remider (an agenda that integrates other functions to inform the user of their appointments and chores).
Autonomy
The Achilles heel of these small electronic pocket beasts is the fateful autonomy providing their, admittedly, obsolete batteries. However, manufacturers are striving to continue to squeeze the current technology of power supply of mobile phones, something that sometimes happy and sometimes frustrates.
In this specific case, Apple promises that the iPhone 4S will last eight hours in 3G use. True? Judge for yourself: the index that the iPhone 4 theoretically supported under the same circumstances was seven hours. If you are or have been a user of that issue, remember how you put up with the battery giving normal use and add one hour. Or perhaps less, out of prudence.
In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S2, the autonomy is around seven and eight hours as well, although in this case, we can tell you that it is capable of supporting those days of use. On the other hand, an apparently insignificant detail that ultimately is not refers to an option as simple as it is recurring: the possibility of exchanging the phone's battery.
The iPhone 4S, following the tradition of Apple, this task impossible, while the Samsung Galaxy S2 yes we can replace the battery. Thus, in case we have to resort to a very long day of use and we know that we will not have a margin at our disposal to recharge, by carrying another well-charged battery we ensure double autonomy. It is not a very glamorous option, but it is very practical.
Conclusions
We will not beat around the bush: iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S2? Simple: Samsung Galaxy S2. Why? It is more complete, powerful, new and attractive. Logically, it is an assessment subject to opinions, and whoever finds the iPhone 4S better, more beautiful and more useful does not have to feel reproached. However, the new Apple phone is inevitably touched with a sanmbenito that is undeniable: the little innovation that the manufacturer has shown in its presentation, especially if we consider that it has been unveiled almost a year and a half after its predecessor (which Incidentally, it already had notable technical and commercial failures, such as the problem of the antennas and the incidence with the white housing model).
Like it or not, Apple generated high expectations with its new terminal. Furthermore, the scenario of smart mobile telephony is not the same in October 2011 as in June 2009, when the iPhone 3GS was presented, perhaps the model closest to the philosophy of this iPhone 4S among the five models that have been released to the market. Today the competition no longer sees the need to label itself as iPhone Killer , and sets its sights on what other manufacturers in the same segment do: Apple no longer walks alone in innovation, and of course, not only Samsung, but also HTC, LG, Sony Ericsson or Nokia are sure to breathe easierafter having announced the new phone that Cupertino proposes.
In short, part of the game in the field of smartphones is not only to get the best (something that can be subject to opinions), but to get it out before anyone else. In this sense, a large part of the disappointment of the iPhone 4S lies in the fact that everything it has presented may have been surprising or novel during the first quarter of the year, but not when we are closing an exercise with an eye on CES 2012, where Android- focused manufacturers are preparing a new revolution in the sector. And let's not talk about the surprises that Nokia and Microsoft could show in their joint journey.
