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Iphone 4S vs Galaxy S II head to head review
THE APPLE IPHONE 4S and Samsung Galaxy S II are two of the best smartphones around so we've decided to put them head to head to see which one comes out on top.
Design
In the beauty stakes the handsets are very similar, with both available in black or white. The most noticeable difference is the display, with the Galaxy S II having a screen that is almost an inch bigger the Iphone 4S at 4.3in compared to 3.5in.
Despite being the bigger device, the Samsung is extremely slender with a thickness of just 8.49mm and weight of 116g. The downside is the cheap, plastic cover on the back, which slightly lets down the overall finish. Apple's device is thicker and heavier at 9.3mm and 140g respectively.
Even though the Iphone 4S has a lovely glass finish, the Galaxy S II is thinner, lighter and more a tad more comfortable to hold. The Iphone 4S also appears to be much more fragile. In drop tests, we've seen the Iphone screen has shattered whilst the Galaxy S II survived the same punishment relatively unscathed.
Performance
We could run all kinds of benchmarks to gain figures on both phones to see which is better, but it's the real life day to day performance that really matters. Both phones are quick when it comes to handling everyday tasks. The Galaxy S II has a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 chip and the Iphone 4S has the A5 dual-core processor found in the Ipad 2. However, the exact speed of the chip in the Iphone is not known, but is believed to around 800MHz.
From these numbers Samsung looks to have one up on its bitter rival. This is far from the truth in reality, though. Navigating the interface and loading apps is smooth on both devices, but if we had to pick a winner we would choose the Iphone because we saw slightly less lag.
When playing games the phones are again capable of rendering demanding 3D content smoothly. We tested games that are available for both phones such as Heavy Gunner and could see no difference in performance.
However, in the future there could be games that only the Iphone 4S will be able to run as developers begin to use the graphical capabilities of the A5 chip.
Tags: Hardware
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Galaxy S2 has worst graphics than 4s bcz of the weaker graphic card.But its faster overall,faster core,bigger ram.Also s2 screen is bigger and with more lively colours.Less Dpi and resolution though.Camera and video quality are almost the same with 4s taking slight advantage.(s2 with ics gets some quality boost on camera rivaling the 4s even more) Both phones are great and it comes down to personal choice.4s is maybe better for games and shooting pics/videos(difference is microscopic especialy when s2 is on Ics though)4s build quality is better but with less endurance than gs2 plastics.S2 is better to watch videos or movies ,and also better for browsing(4s is better for reading though bcz of its better dpi).Id go with the s2 bcz of its screen size and technology,and its better conectivity.But iOs fans will propably prefer the 4SI also have a feeling that iphone5 will give s3 a hard time xD.
OBVIOUSLY The iPhone is Classier and Better ... Mine's called iBat by the way
The Iphone is clearly prettier,better,faster and more expensive than the Galaxy s2,only poor people buys it
I think this review is biased. It's all based down to opinion, and the writer seems to be an apple fan.
They are very evenly matched phones, but the sgs2 takes the cake in my opinion. Size, screen, cameras (seem equal), battery life, OS (soon to be on ICS). Sir is better, however vlingo is rather impressive, and i find even though I can do all sorts of things with voice, I tend not to, especially if there are ppl around. Sgs2 is also much better to type on with the bigger screen, and a better multi-tasker in my opinion.
The droid sounds real nice! But as a old iPhone 3GS jailbroken user, I'm glad to be back with the i! Just ready for the jail break and this phone will do wonders! Screen size is cool with me, who really watches that many movies On there phone? Get a life! Siri is fifth ttiiiiggghhhttt. Camera great. O n da video? I took videos in the strip club n they came out great! Dmx2901 on YouTube if u don't believe me :)
Also, you have never mentioned the storage. Not being able to add storage card or swap them is a big minus. Thus you are stuck with whatever files and storage capacity your iPhone offers. On the Galaxy you can swap cards and music with video. Don't take me wrong, I like iPhone but some features should be for granted as an inclusion for all phones.
Wow after reading all the bitching and whining from android users I'll be goin the iPhone path for my next phone. No way would I want to be a part of such a rude and egotistical community.
My one year old Nexus S is better than your Iphone4S. This would be much better if upgraded to ICS soon.
You do know that SGII LTE edition came out right? Both iPhone4S and SGII LTE came out in September.
it's got 1.5Ghz dual Core
better battery life
800 Megapixels camera
4.5 inch super-amoled display (which is 1 inch larger than iPhone)
iPhone is 140g whereas SGII LTE is 130.5g
This is why i prefer SGII
I know that Apple has nice design and UI friendliness, but there are lot more things you can do with android after you root it (such as overclock and system editing. You can even change your phone model).
So if you wanna go for stability, design and comfort, i recommend to go for iphone.
if you want to do some more adventure ,like to customize your phone, and want the best performance, i would recommend SGII LTE
and the writer was supposed to compare "Smartphones", but not the variety of application available in market.
So knock yourself out with this.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/27/unlike_apples_ios_android_phones_not_getting_updates.html
People who get paid the big bucks get paid to understand product and support lifecycles when evaluating purchases.
Granted this link is from an Apple site, but there is no reason to disbelieve any of the content.
Funny how the comic book press seems to think that this stuff is unimportant.
Ah, your point is thus that because I am not a specs spouting wanker such as yourself, then I am in some way incompetent and my current employer would be more successful without my services? Or have I missed the gist of your rant?
It's people like you, whom I have had the enormous privilege and pleasure of showing the door - more than once.
My CV is in good shape, and my bank balance is as well. Amazingly, our company is doing just fine - without you and your ilk.
My SG2 takes great panorama shots. Just change the shooting mode.
Well, I would like the iPhone 4S. The iOS 5's new feature iCloud and iMessenge really attracted me.
And I have already got ifunia video converter and many other apps for it.
@nodroid my guess is you and 'your office' are blinded by the apple is the cool one to have (like some 15yr old schoolgirl with rich parents. You are talking about older android devices (HTC desire & Asus transformer, have you even tried an sgs 2 or 10.1? As for your specs are irrelevant argument, sure why did I bother buying an i7 to replace my old Phenom, hell I should have kept my 486 from 1994. The sgs2 could play full 1080p mkvs with no lag, could the iPhone 4? No, so don't talk crap about specs. For what its worth the 4s has a proven faster gpu than the sgs2 (had 6 months since sgs2 mind). Sure ios is a little smoother but its so locked down it had better be!! Don't forget ICS will use hardware acceleration and bridge driver gaps in device models. lets see whether the better CPU specs are irrelevant in sgs2 and sgs3 in Feb/March (Ish). As for being high in a software company? Wonder how well the company would do with people who knew wtf they were talking about.
@nodroid English please?
Why would I care what part is in the phone? As long as the complete package is crisp and smooth, I couldn't give a toss if it was running a NEC V20* powered by tuna sperm. I repeat, the technical specs are essentially irrelevant for anything (other than assigning blame for a poor user experience for a device - not enough RAM, too few Ghz, not enough GPU power, not enough bollocks etc.)
And, FWIW I have a senior position at a software company these days, and am personally responsible for a very big chunk of the software and technical infrastructure of largest web scraping operation on the planet. I am surrounded by über-geeks all with healthy 6 figure salaries and a penchant for geeky things. "Vogue" is hardly where we are are or what these guys are - although we are all hip enough to eat at Moma when the opportunity affords itself. Android phones are in the minority here, as are Android tablets - and trust me, if we can afford to eat at Moma, the price of a toy is hardly at issue - the user experience is, however.
* for you old guys who might actually know what that was
I do like to laugh at those who fail to understand the processor-load relationship. Yes, any number of Hz means more cycles/second, but what does the processor do during those cycles?
Even if you accept that Android is more resource hungry, therefore requires more effort from the processor (through better design or higher frequency operation), you introduce another argument;
what the hell are you paying for as an Iphone user? It might well be new hardware, but Apple have got form for using lower spec parts. Seeing as they haven't announced their specs, I would suggest they're at it again.
haha, sounds like you work at Vogue magazine.
Anyone with a serious task on their hands uses Blackberry or Android. I work at a multinational engineering company, people are managing several email accounts, business oriented applications and internal software. It's just not worth the hassle to use Apple products
Listen i phone jurkeys, the people who vote for apple smartphones please check sgs2 touchwiz4 then dare to compare iphone 4s with sgs2.Better you confine with iphone4s
I spent an hour with a desire HD. Since I never read the specs too deeply, I have no clue what lolly it is running or how many vibrations a second it operates at.
Too big for a phone, nice looking screen, crap OS and UI.
Subjective opinions, but I allow myself that luxury. Anyone who thinks that reading the marketing specs tells the story is a fool.
The HD Desire is sitting in the cupboard, no one here wants it. A quick look around the office reveals a 3GS (me), several 4s, a couple of HTC something or others with keyboards, some N8s.
I think not one of the phones is as big as an SII or the Desire. I guess we all have lives and use a phone mainly as a phone. Those who need a tablet have one. 3 iPad2s vs 1 ASUS Transformer. I carshjed the transformer in 15 secondswhich says all you need to know about Android.
@Abe concise and unbiased? You reading the same review never mind the comments! Lol
Do yourself a favour, go to a shop and play with both for an hour, even better talk to an ex iPhone owner with an sgs2 and see if they regret the move....
The SGSII is still the better phone even though the iphone 4S is the latest tech, i.e. almost 2 years later, to me this shows that apple are still way behind in phone tech. Lets wait till we see the next gen SGS, that will be a true comparison.
So I would expect the iPhone to win. I bought one to replace my 3GS and because the GS2 is 18 months newer than that it is superior. Having played with the iPhone 4S though I am looking forward to the 5 but don't feel the need to sell the GS2 and buy a 4S instead. It will be interesting to see how good it is once Ice Cream Sandwich is released for it. As for Android needing more grunt than IOS? I don't believe that at all, I had to root my 3GS just to turn off the rubbish to free enough ram up for it to run smoothly.
You guys gave a great review, I've been struggling a lot to pick between these two phones for when I next have the money, and you guys really helped! Your clear, concise handling of each different sector and unbias approach sure won me over, now all I need is £500! Thank guys
amazed how many spec heads don't realize that Android phones need more "grunt" - a technically more powerful processor chip as measured by GHz - because the OS itself and those standard chips are both technologically inferior to iOS and the custom A5 chip.
I'm amazed you put that rubbish down in writing, have you even used an Android Phone? Have you seen the range of processor clock speeds (or "grunt" as you so elegantly put it) on which the many various Android phones run at? Your beloved iPhone 4 is running at 1Ghz same as my HTC Desire and Android works wonderfully. My wife's slower 750mhz (note the m there not G!) OMAP processor also runs the same release of Android perfectly and is very responsive.
Clearly you have an opinion of Android but lack any facts. You should perhaps stop offering your opinion as it makes you look kinda silly.
Oh and...
"complex like processor chip GHz" - we're all using this as a catchphrase in our office now - ta!
My Mum has an iPhone, she thinks it's neat.
I laugh at all Fanboys sporting an iPhone, you love my mums phone!
what the shit are you talking about..
apple cretaes a dumb phone with an unknown processor speed and you are talking abt sgs2 which is miles ahead in terms of specs...
does apple dare to reveal its specs to users ????????
who the hell on earth wants a product with unknown specs..only fools will buy iphone 4s after getting to know sgs2..
a higher processor speed is an advantage...u are mentioning it as an disadv despite apple having an inferior processor speed of 800MHZ...
hope that iphone 5 will have no processor and it seems that u ll still claim that iphone 5 is better..
apple is moving to stone age phones where nothing can be done in the phone..
no widgets..no home screens..just swipe to unlock..
look at android which gives multiple choices to do the basic things..
IOS sucks and iphone users are moving towards stone age
amazed how many spec heads don't realize that Android phones need more "grunt" - a technically more powerful processor chip as measured by GHz - because the OS itself and those standard chips are both technologically inferior to iOS and the custom A5 chip. which means it takes more power for them to do the same things, dummies. and even then, nearly all reviewers, including this review, note a persistent slight lag in the Android OS compared to none in iOS.
grow up, spec heads. the mosts megapixels do not necessarily equal the best camera. it is more complex than that. same with processor chip GHz.
the proof is always in the pudding, not the specs of the oven.
Not a good review. You recognise that the SGSII has 50% more processing grunt, but give it to the iPhone? If you need that grunt, the android phone has it and the iphone doesn't. Whining about 'slight difference in lag' is subjective, not objective.
And you miss out on the major features the SGSII has over the iPhone; screen size, widgets and control. Frankly I could never go backwards to an app tray only OS, widgets get the most use of all. And if you don't like something on the SGSII, the keyboard, the launcher, the entire OS, just about anything - you can swap it out. Apple won't even let you have access.
Sorry, but we are in the situation where apple have fallen significantly behind. There is clear blue water, but you keep on comparing what the iPhone can do against the Android versions of it. Start comparing what the iPhone can't do, or apple won't let you.
It's not even close anymore.
Admit it Inq, most of you are just waiting to beatify Jobs. The 4S is the weakest Apple launch yet. Anyone that can say that the tiny 4S screen is better than the S2 OLED and that "welcome to super saturation" Apple pics are "more representative" is not being objective.
Guys i am really surprised by your comments, you picked the S2 up for the only thing it sucks at, the battery!
I have no idea how could you get your S2 to feel laggy compared to an iphone and as for the screen it's really hard to believe what you wrote, minus rep for you guys.
As for the reader that commented about it being buggy, well have you tried one? I know the answer already, you have not!
Boy you fandroids can't take it if someone dares decide that the iPhone is better....lol! Newsflash: not everyone wants a laggy, buggy, too big, pretend iPhone with a malware infested app store and an OS called "ice cream sandwich" (makes me laugh everytime I hear that)
"The SII has an almost 23% larger screen - something app junkies might love but it is not a universal positive that a bigger screen is better, so again, just Android fanboiism really"
Not fanboiism, just better to watch movies, tv and yes - play games on.
As for the maximum acceptable size? buttocks! (siri in japanese) Unless you wear particularly tight trousers (perhaps lycra?) the extra size of the sgs2 doesn't really bother my trouser space.
Maybe if Apple can actually be arsed to make significant improvements to the next Iphone (instead of flogging this overpriced mediocre upgrade) the faithfull followers will get a bigger screen in their next Ipurchase.
Yes the iphone is thinner (according to a court case) due to no small bulge, I will admit that. But by the time you've shoved it in a case to protect the easy shattering screen, you wont really see the difference.
As for the OS being better?
Without taking ICS into account (which will make a big difference when its on the sgs2) I prefer the freedom of Android, as do so many others jumping ship.
According to my handy iPhone app, .81mm is equal to 3.188976E-2 inches or for those wanting a less precise measurements, just over 3 hundredths of an inch - I think. It would appear from the pictures that the Samsung has a couple of bulges which are certainly larger than that amount. I doubt whether in a blindfold test, anyone would be able to discern the difference in thickness of the two devices (even excluding the bumps). Saying "Apple's device is thicker..." is disingenuous bullshit for the Android fawning geek masses and is just APPL bashing (I guess because you were trying real hard to give Android a better showing than it deserves)
The iPhone is heavier by just over 20% - something some people might care about, so worth a mention.
The SII has an almost 23% larger screen - something app junkies might love but it is not a universal positive that a bigger screen is better, so again, just Android fanboiism really. Personally I find the iPhone about the maximum acceptable size for a phone, a size above which phone usage is cumbersone.
I don't give a shit about Flash, and neither should anyone else. The sooner it dies the better for all.
the 4S does better phoography, has a slicker OS and runs better. YMMV
@LPF
Why would I want another phone which has the same operating system as to what I used to use, and got bored of, bored so that I jailbroke it and Apple made it difficult for me to do that and update.
If I wanted ios5 I would of kept my 3gs.
After two years of ios, I'm going to want to change aren't I? Sure I may get bored of android, but I don't think I will with more customization and easier root process.
Ok so don't mention sgs2 has way better contrast ratio, don't mention sgs2 has been out since MAY and is yet to get ICS which will use hardware acceleration. Don't mention or highlight this iPhone has had a long time to be worked on. By the time apple lemmings are 5 months into their 2 year contracts the sgs3 will be out and completely spank the iPhone 4s AGAIN
Reccently just purchased a Galaxy SII after 2 years with an iPhone 3GS. The ios operating system is nowhere near as good, the phone can play a combination of video formats(no more converting to MP4 as I had to do on ios).
Sure the 3gs is different to the 4s, but software wise, they're pretty much the same.
The best thing I did 2 years ago was get an iPhone, the best thing I've done to date is get rid of the iPhone and go Android, the iPhone 5 better be uber special now to make me convert.
I rarely used apps on iPhone, if I did I used them once and never again, on android I use my apps a great deal more, especially as Widgets are right on the home screen.
SGSII is better than the 4s in my opinion
In other words ytou the only one who bought an samsugng and your trying to justify it to yourself lol
After years of being IPhone users, half of our family have changed to Samsung S2. Brighter screen with better colors at an angle or stright, better bluetooth, better music sound and signal level, replaceable battery, 32 GB micro SD support, great apps management, photos are amazingly clear, etc.
For us the IPhone was a marketing scheme with little to offer, and the Samsung S2, we felt it more of a phone with many of the IPhone issues solved.