Samsung Galaxy S

Samsung Galaxy S, There’s a new Samsung Galaxy S II around the corner, though it’s not the previously rumored Galaxy S II Plus. It’s (quite unintuitively) called the Galaxy S II v2, or at least that’s what one retailer chose to call it. There’s absolutely no difference between this unit and the ‘vanilla’ Galaxy S II, save for the fact that the processor of the new version is manufactured by Texas Instruments, and not Samsung. It’s still clocked at 1.2 GHz, and it’s still a dual-core unit. It’s just a TI part (unknown number, but it’s safe to assume that it’s the same as that found in the Samsung Galaxy Nexus).

Cyberport, a German retailer, has already started taking pre-orders for this new Galaxy S II, which it priced at €469.90. Shipping is expected to begin on March 15.

The probable reason for this launch is that Samsung simply can’t make enough of its own Exynos processors to fit in all the Galaxy S II units it expects to sell in the near future. So it’s decided to also have a version with a third-party processor. And it’s probably not chosen TI as the supplier at random – the fact that Samsung already makes an Android smartphone (the Galaxy Nexus) with the same processor had to count.

Anyway, if you’re in Germany and want to pre-order a Samsung Galaxy S II with a TI processor, head over to Cyberport right now.

Samsung Galaxy S2

Samsung Galaxy S2, There is an interesting battle brewing among carriers providing 4G LTE services in Android smartphones. The competition is intense between the country’s top two carriers – AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and the HTC Rezound are among the more recent smartphones offering 4G LTE support. The Skyrocket is carried by AT&T and the Rezound by Verizon.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) version of the Galaxy S2 and debuted on Nov. 6. It has a Scorpion dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm APQ8060 Snapdragon chipset, 4.5-inch screen, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory, 4G LTE support, an 8 megapixel rear-facing LED flash camera with 1080p video capture and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.

The HTC Rezound, earlier called HTC Vigor, was released on Nov. 14 and is available on Verizon. The Rezound, which runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, is said to be the only phone in the United States with Beats Audio integration. Apart from this, the smartphone sports a 4.3-inch super LCD screen, 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660 processor and Adreno 220 GPU, features an 8 megapixel camera in the rear and a 2 megapixel camera in the front.

Let’s see how these two smartphones fare against each other…

Display: The Skyrocket touts a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus Gorilla Glass display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels and about 207 pixels per inch (ppi) density. The Rezound has a 4.3-inch screen with super LCD display which provides 720 x 1280 pixel resolution at 342 ppi density.

Size: The Skyrocket comes with 129.8 x 68.8 x 9.5 mm dimensions and weighs 130.5 grams, while the Rezound has dimensions of 129 x 65.5 x 13.7 mm and weighs 170.1 grams.

Operating System: Both phones run Android’s 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and both have been promised upgrades to Goolge’s latest OS, the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Processor: The Skyrocket features a 1.5 GHz Scorpion dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm APQ8060 Snapdragon chipset with 1GB RAM. The Rezound is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660 processor and Adreno 220 GPU.

Camera: Both smartphones sport rear-facing 8 megapixel cameras as well as 2-megapixel camera on the front for video calling. Both devices can capture high-definition videos with 1080p resolution.

3G/4G: The Skyrocket has HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and supports 4G LTE, while the Rezound supports 4G LTE and Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps, HSDPA and HSUPA.

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB: The Skyrocket has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0 version+HS, Optional NFC, microUSB 2.0 version (MHL), and USB On-the-go. The Rezound supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot along with Bluetooth v.3.0 with A2DP and microUSB (MHL) v2.0.

Storage: Both smartphones have fixed 16GB of internal storage, expandable, via a microSD card slot, to 32GB.

Battery: The Skyrocket comes with a standard Li-ion 1850 mAh battery that gives up to 7 hours talk time and up to 256 hours of standby. The Rezound comes with 1620mAh battery that provides talk time of over 6 hours and standby time of 261 hours.

Pricing: AT&T offer the skyrocket for $249.99 with a two-year contract, while Verizon offers the Rezound for $299.99.