Samsung Galaxy S II vs LG Optimus 2X

Samsung Galaxy S II vs LG Optimus 2X

Ah, the power of dual-core processors – it lets you do cool stuff like buttery-smooth multitasking, exciting 3D portable gaming or Full HD videos. The latest Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II packs the new Exynos chipset, which pairs a couple of Cortex-A9 cores with a Mali-400MP GPU. Sounds like a potent mix – at least on paper, so we’re eager to pit it against one of the first phones to offer Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform - the LG Optimus 2X.

     

Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II official photos

What we have in our hands is a pre-release test unit of the Galaxy S II, successor to one of the best selling Android phones. Ours runs its two CPU cores at 1GHz but Samsung announced that the speed will be bumped up to 1.2GHz.

Once that’s done, the I9100 Galaxy S II would be the most powerful droid – until the competition catches up, which won’t take long judging by our rumor mill. Anyway, we’re going to use the chance to put Samsung’s Exynos chipset head to head with NVIDIA’s Tegra 2. We’ll be using the LG Optimus 2X for the benchmarks, which runs at the same clock speed as our Galaxy S II – 1GHz.

We’re already working on our Galaxy S II preview but until that’s done, we just couldn’t resist testing some of the most interesting new features of Samsung’s latest flagship. Here’s what this comparison will be about.

First off, this is our first encounter with the Super AMOLED Plus technology, which improves on an already excellent screen. We’ll run the new display through several tests to determine how it stacks up against the old one and other leading displays on the market.

Next, we’ll get to the camera department – the Galaxy S II comes with an 8MP still shooter that can capture 1080p FullHD videos. That’s our second encounter with such a beast and we’ll be pitting it against the LG Optimus 2X camera, that’s for sure. A surprising guest star in the camera test is the Sony Ericsson Arc, which we recently reviewed as well.

After that comes the test of what makes the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II tick – the new dual-core Exynos chipset. Just keep in mind the Galaxy S II retail version will have 20% more clock speed for each of the two CPU cores.

Finally, we’ll wrap things up with a real-life performance test – how does the Galaxy S II stack up in real world tasks (we’ll be testing the user interface, web browser and games) against a phone with a Tegra 2 chipset (which is quite popular among new smartphones and even tablets).

   

Super AMOLED Plus up close

The original Galaxy S had an amazing display. But as great as SuperAMOLED tech is, it did have its drawbacks, mainly the PenTile subpixel matrix.

The new generation SuperAMOLED Plus should increase the size of the available panels up to 4.3”, it should improve the performance and it’s comes with a conventional subpixel matrix. We expect nothing but excellence – let’s see if the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II delivers.

First, a few words on PenTile matrix to give you an idea what you’re looking at. PenTile matrices use only two subpixels per each pixel of the screen, unlike traditional matrixes that use three (LCD displays use this arrangement too). The image below demonstrates the difference though in an exaggerated way.

Even though both the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II have screens with equal resolution – WVGA, or 480 x 800 pixels. The use of a conventional matrix has given the SuperAMOLED Plus screen 50% more subpixels, making the display noticeably sharper (especially when it comes to small text).

Here are a few shots we took of the displays of the original Galaxy S, the Galaxy S II and the iPhone 4. You can see that the subpixels look as we expected them to.

The iPhone 4’s Retina display is easily the sharpest of the bunch. There is a very noticeable difference between the two Galaxies in the following extreme close-up shot, but in reality, the difference isn't that strongly pronounced, unless you’re looking at them from really close.

  

Macro shot of the screens of the Galaxy S II, the original Galaxy S (middle) and iPhone 4 (bottom)

The SuperAMOLED Plus display of the Galaxy S II has exceptional viewing angles but the old screen in the Samsung Galaxy S isn't half bad either. Especially compared to a regular LCD unit, see for yourselves.

For this comparison we’ve put the first and second generation Galaxy S phones next to the LG Optimus 2X. Let’s just say, the screen is not among the strongest features of the LG smartphone.

  

  

LG Optimus 2X • Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II • Samsung I9000 Galaxy S

The new Super AMOLED Plus display reportedly has improved brightness and reduced power usage. We’ll leave the battery tests for the review, but we did test the brightness levels. We were surprised to see that the SuperAMOLED Plus screen is no brighter than the previous generation used in the original Galaxy S.

Here are our measurements.

Display test	50% brightness		100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2
iPhone 3GS	0.84	134	2.51	504
iPhone 4	0.14	189	0.39	483
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc	0.03	34	0.33	394
LG Optimus 2X	0.23	228	0.35	347
HTC Incredible S	0.18	162	0.31	275
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II	0	188	0	269
Samsung Galaxy Ace	0.23	160	0.34	234
Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo	0.05	68	0.10	134

You’ll notice we didn’t measure the contrast ratio of either SuperAMOLED display – that’s due to how OLED works. Contrast is the ratio of how bright a white pixel is compared to a black pixel while both are visible on the screen. Since black pixels in OLED type displays don’t emit any light at all, the contrast works out to infinity (which isn't really a meaningful measurement).

The 8MP sharp-shooter put to the test

The Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II is razor thin but the engineers have found enough room for an 8MP auto-focus camera and an LED flash. It snaps photos with maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels and it’s really good at it.

The camera interface has been changed and we’re not quite sure it’s for the best. We’ll take some more time to get used to it and share our impressions of the camera UI later. For now, let’s just focus on the camera performance.

  

   

Shooting FullHD videos like a pro

Bumping up the resolution in video recording is one of the most processing-intensive things you could do but any self-respecting flagship should capture 1080p video, it’s a matter of pride.

 

But good 1080p video is hard to achieve even with a powerful chipset. From first glance it seems that Samsung had done all the right things – picked capable hardware, a suitable container (.MP4) and good bitrate.

The Galaxy S II adversary in the FullHD video recording test for today is the Optimus 2X. The Galaxy S II uses the better container (.MP4 vs. .3GP) and much more bitrate – 17Mbps over 10Mbps in the Optimus 2X.

The difference is readily apparent – the Galaxy S II manages to record much more detail. If you look at a still frame from the S II, you’d be hard pressed to tell it’s not in fact a 2MP photo. 

Final words

We’ll this is it. Our comparison of the Samsung Galaxy S II and the LG Optimus 2X is over. We had a lot of fun with both, and we’re actually sad to finally get to the end. That exciting feeling of the unknown before every test, the anticipation of the results – we gadget geeks live for that stuff.

We have to say that each contender had its handicaps. The Optimus 2X is still on Android 2.2 Froyo, while the Samsung flagship is a pre-release unit that hasn't still got the promised factory overclock to 1.2Ghz. 

The Samsung Galaxy S II feels like the top dog in this head-to-head. It has the upper hand with the SuperAMOLED display, the amount of available RAM, and the still and video camera. Plus software-wise, it comes with the latest Android version with better overall UI customizations (if you are into that stuff).

  

Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II

The Galaxy S II had more time to prepare for this fight than the Optimus 2X – that’s the price of being the first dual-core smartphone out there. Rushing to be first in the world, the Optimus came out without the latest Android build and without competition, while the Galaxy S II had time to check out its opponents and give its best. A little like cheating, we have to say. But the end result is what counts above everything else.

But don’t take this as a total defeat for the Optimus 2X. It’s still a nice and powerful device. And it stood its ground with pride. It has a relatively good display and camera plus a great processor that’s still almost unmatched in smartphone terms. It’s a great smartphone, it's just not the best – that would have to be the Galaxy S II's title.

Posted in: anroid,LG,Mobile,Samsung