New to Android!!! Need help on deciding which device I should get. AT&T has 2 nice devices that I'm considering, the SGS2 and the Moto Atrix 2. The SGS2 has the nice screen, double the memory, Kies Air, and Media Hub. The Atrix 2 has a slightly less vivid screen, qHD Amoled if I'm not mistaken. It has awesome accessories like the lapdock, and the HD Station. ZumoCast is nice feature as well. I can't make up my mind!!! Someone please help!!! I never had so many choices with Apple!!!
Samsung Galaxy S 2 or Motorola Atrix 2
- Thread starter PostalJ
- Start date
SGSII. Touchwiz > Motoblur. The screen is also better.
Past that, it's more or less a wash. I do think this phone is better looking, though that's all subjective.
Past that, it's more or less a wash. I do think this phone is better looking, though that's all subjective.
SteveISU
Well-known member
jsntrenkler
Trusted Member
shamelin73
Well-known member
Atrix 2
I have been debating for a week whether to get the Atrix 2 or the SG2.
After having used both phones I would honestly pick the Atrix 2 hands down. Friday I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the Atrix 2 and after using it all weekend couldn't be happier with my decision.
Here are a few points for the Atrix 2.
1. Build. Just the pure feel of the Atrix 2 is nicer.
The sg2 never felt very solid to me. It just seems too cheap plastic feeling. Also, if you twist the phone from corner to corner (lightly) you can feel a lot of play in the sg2 whereas the Atrix 2 feels rock solid.
I personaly just like having a phone that feels like its built rugged.
The Atrix 2 is also alot more comfortable to hold in the hand and operate.
As mentioned before, single handed operations are much easier on this phone.
The SG2 just feels like a big soft brick to me.
2. Screen. While the sg2 arguably has a more superior screen, I am not a fan of the high gloss. There was a lot of glare using this phone in daylight, and it was also not very bright. THe Atrix 2 had little glare and was extremely bright. Also, the Atrix2 has a much better resolution than the SG2. There have also been a lot of complaints and returns of the SG2 based on screen issues.
3. Speed. Although the SG2 apparently has better benchmarks, I did not notice any speed difference between the two devices. The Atrix 2 really seems to fly when loading apps, switching apps ectd. When i finally asked an ATT rep why the Atrix 2 seemed just as fast, he claimed that SG2 does not utilize dual channel processing where the Atrix 2 does. So even though the processor is a little weaker on the Atrix 2, it is optimized by the dual channel processing. Now whether or not this is true i have yet to research. What I can tell you is that I thought the SG2 was going to outperform the Atrix 2 but I could not notice any difference in speed. To me the Atrix 2 seemed to be just as fast if not more responsive than the sg2, although this could just be because I feel the UI is much better on motorola than samsung.
4. UI. I felt the overall UI and operator experience was much nicer on the Atrix 2. The SG2 wasn't bad, but the Atrix 2 just seems quite a bit smoother. (keep in mind the UI is new, not the old "blur")
5. Battery. The Atrix 2 has a larger capacity battery than the SG2. I haven't compared the battery usage on both devices but what I can tell you is that the Atrix 2 seems to go a long way with heavy use. ATT also offers an extended battery (double the battery life) for $50. This comes with a new battery door but only adds a few mm to the thickness of the phone.
Not a bad option if battery life is a major concern.
6. Price. Lets be honest, Atrix 2 is 50% of the price as SG2. So even if the SG2 is a little bit faster and the screen slightly better (though not in my opinion), is it worth double the pricetag? No to me.
Overall the Atrix 2 seems like it is better built. The battery life is also great. The UI is nice and smooth. So far the atrix 2 has handled anything i throw at it.
I have no regrets with my decision and would probably still opt to buy the Atrix 2 even if both phones were the same price. Yeah, I said it.
Either way at $99 the Atrix 2 is a steal and one hell of a phone.
I have been debating for a week whether to get the Atrix 2 or the SG2.
After having used both phones I would honestly pick the Atrix 2 hands down. Friday I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the Atrix 2 and after using it all weekend couldn't be happier with my decision.
Here are a few points for the Atrix 2.
1. Build. Just the pure feel of the Atrix 2 is nicer.
The sg2 never felt very solid to me. It just seems too cheap plastic feeling. Also, if you twist the phone from corner to corner (lightly) you can feel a lot of play in the sg2 whereas the Atrix 2 feels rock solid.
I personaly just like having a phone that feels like its built rugged.
The Atrix 2 is also alot more comfortable to hold in the hand and operate.
As mentioned before, single handed operations are much easier on this phone.
The SG2 just feels like a big soft brick to me.
2. Screen. While the sg2 arguably has a more superior screen, I am not a fan of the high gloss. There was a lot of glare using this phone in daylight, and it was also not very bright. THe Atrix 2 had little glare and was extremely bright. Also, the Atrix2 has a much better resolution than the SG2. There have also been a lot of complaints and returns of the SG2 based on screen issues.
3. Speed. Although the SG2 apparently has better benchmarks, I did not notice any speed difference between the two devices. The Atrix 2 really seems to fly when loading apps, switching apps ectd. When i finally asked an ATT rep why the Atrix 2 seemed just as fast, he claimed that SG2 does not utilize dual channel processing where the Atrix 2 does. So even though the processor is a little weaker on the Atrix 2, it is optimized by the dual channel processing. Now whether or not this is true i have yet to research. What I can tell you is that I thought the SG2 was going to outperform the Atrix 2 but I could not notice any difference in speed. To me the Atrix 2 seemed to be just as fast if not more responsive than the sg2, although this could just be because I feel the UI is much better on motorola than samsung.
4. UI. I felt the overall UI and operator experience was much nicer on the Atrix 2. The SG2 wasn't bad, but the Atrix 2 just seems quite a bit smoother. (keep in mind the UI is new, not the old "blur")
5. Battery. The Atrix 2 has a larger capacity battery than the SG2. I haven't compared the battery usage on both devices but what I can tell you is that the Atrix 2 seems to go a long way with heavy use. ATT also offers an extended battery (double the battery life) for $50. This comes with a new battery door but only adds a few mm to the thickness of the phone.
Not a bad option if battery life is a major concern.
6. Price. Lets be honest, Atrix 2 is 50% of the price as SG2. So even if the SG2 is a little bit faster and the screen slightly better (though not in my opinion), is it worth double the pricetag? No to me.
Overall the Atrix 2 seems like it is better built. The battery life is also great. The UI is nice and smooth. So far the atrix 2 has handled anything i throw at it.
I have no regrets with my decision and would probably still opt to buy the Atrix 2 even if both phones were the same price. Yeah, I said it.
Either way at $99 the Atrix 2 is a steal and one hell of a phone.
jsntrenkler
Trusted Member
I have played with both and the atrix 2 feels slower than the GS2. I will agree with you on build quality.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
Here is a great website that compares the 2.
Motorola ATRIX 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy S II AT&T - GSMArena.com
8 GB of internal storage for the Atrix 2? No NFC? NFC is the future, it has to be on all new phones to be future proof. Ice Cream Sandwich will utilize it beyond the purchasing of items. I am glad I got the Samsung Galaxy S II. Even after 6+ months after being announced it is still king. In my opinion of coarse.
Why do you think they are selling this thing for $99?
Motorola ATRIX 2 vs. Samsung Galaxy S II AT&T - GSMArena.com
8 GB of internal storage for the Atrix 2? No NFC? NFC is the future, it has to be on all new phones to be future proof. Ice Cream Sandwich will utilize it beyond the purchasing of items. I am glad I got the Samsung Galaxy S II. Even after 6+ months after being announced it is still king. In my opinion of coarse.
Why do you think they are selling this thing for $99?
I too was debating between the two but the hardware acceleration that Samsung has built unanswered the already existing dev community of the galaxy won me over. Just open the browser on each and you will definitely notice that the galaxy browser is much smoother
planoman
Well-known member
I have to agree that the Atrix 2 is a superior value! Beep 13's comments are spot on.
I too got the SGSII on launch day and liked it fine. Once ICS was announced, I became worried the SGSII would not be upgraded in a timely manner. There was also a security flaw which has yet to be fixed to my knowledge and I started to get the sinking feeling that this phone would not be upgraded to ICS a timely manner. I picked up the Atrix 2 last Saturday. I bought it off contract and returned my SGSII to preserve my upgrade.
I have owned the Captivate, OG Atrix prior and like the build quality of Moto over Samsung. The OG Atrix was updated 4 times in 8 months the Captivate once at the 9 month mark.
While the SGSII does have some advantages they are not overcome by the price hence my value comment.
The Atrix does feel better in the hand to me. It just feels more solid! I guess I've become accustomed to the higher resolution on the Moto phones because the icons on the Samsung looked so big! They both have some bugs but the Samsung has a lock sceen pin bug and a data gobbling AP News widget. In the 3 weeks I owned the SGS II, I used 1.8GB of data. I do have unlimited data but have never used over 1 GB before. If you do not have unlimited data, beware of that issue. Also I have not noticed any difference in practical speed when using both phones. Both are fast and fluid in all operations. I must say I like Touch Wiz better than MotoBlur but both versions are manageable now and I can even go without launcher pro on my Moto now due to the improved UI on the Atrix 2.
I give the slight edge in the camera and video to the SGSII but the GPS is superior on the Atrix 2. Also the Atrix 2 has a dedicated camera button which I really like. I also like the fact that the Atrix has a micro HDMI port that takes a standard micro cable and does not need a special cable to mirror onto a TV. I like to plug into the hotel TV when on business trips and watch Netflix and the Moto makes it easy.
Battery life is no contest. The Atrix is 20 to 25% superior for my usage patterns which was to unplug at 6:30 - 7:00 am and run until about 9 or 10 pm. After a few days of using, I never worried about the Atrix 2 battery running out.
A top reason for me returning the SGSII and picking up the Atrix was the announcement of ICS and living in an LTE market for ATT. I just felt that given Samsung's upgrade record across all carriers that this phone would not get IC in a timely manner. ( For all you SGSII owners, I hope I am wrong)Also here in Texas there are many rumors flying on why the SGSII was not available in Houston or San Antonio/Austin and that is because they are saying they will launch LTE phones after Thanksgiving. Some even say a SGSII LTE version in LTE markets of which I live in one (DFW)
Overall I think they are both very capable phones. For me, the Moto fits my needs at this time better in the value proposition while freeing up my upgrade to see what comes after Thanksgiving or the New Year. With the Atrix 2, I feel fine waiting a bit longer.
PS The Atrix 2 actually has an FM radio!
I too got the SGSII on launch day and liked it fine. Once ICS was announced, I became worried the SGSII would not be upgraded in a timely manner. There was also a security flaw which has yet to be fixed to my knowledge and I started to get the sinking feeling that this phone would not be upgraded to ICS a timely manner. I picked up the Atrix 2 last Saturday. I bought it off contract and returned my SGSII to preserve my upgrade.
I have owned the Captivate, OG Atrix prior and like the build quality of Moto over Samsung. The OG Atrix was updated 4 times in 8 months the Captivate once at the 9 month mark.
While the SGSII does have some advantages they are not overcome by the price hence my value comment.
The Atrix does feel better in the hand to me. It just feels more solid! I guess I've become accustomed to the higher resolution on the Moto phones because the icons on the Samsung looked so big! They both have some bugs but the Samsung has a lock sceen pin bug and a data gobbling AP News widget. In the 3 weeks I owned the SGS II, I used 1.8GB of data. I do have unlimited data but have never used over 1 GB before. If you do not have unlimited data, beware of that issue. Also I have not noticed any difference in practical speed when using both phones. Both are fast and fluid in all operations. I must say I like Touch Wiz better than MotoBlur but both versions are manageable now and I can even go without launcher pro on my Moto now due to the improved UI on the Atrix 2.
I give the slight edge in the camera and video to the SGSII but the GPS is superior on the Atrix 2. Also the Atrix 2 has a dedicated camera button which I really like. I also like the fact that the Atrix has a micro HDMI port that takes a standard micro cable and does not need a special cable to mirror onto a TV. I like to plug into the hotel TV when on business trips and watch Netflix and the Moto makes it easy.
Battery life is no contest. The Atrix is 20 to 25% superior for my usage patterns which was to unplug at 6:30 - 7:00 am and run until about 9 or 10 pm. After a few days of using, I never worried about the Atrix 2 battery running out.
A top reason for me returning the SGSII and picking up the Atrix was the announcement of ICS and living in an LTE market for ATT. I just felt that given Samsung's upgrade record across all carriers that this phone would not get IC in a timely manner. ( For all you SGSII owners, I hope I am wrong)Also here in Texas there are many rumors flying on why the SGSII was not available in Houston or San Antonio/Austin and that is because they are saying they will launch LTE phones after Thanksgiving. Some even say a SGSII LTE version in LTE markets of which I live in one (DFW)
Overall I think they are both very capable phones. For me, the Moto fits my needs at this time better in the value proposition while freeing up my upgrade to see what comes after Thanksgiving or the New Year. With the Atrix 2, I feel fine waiting a bit longer.
PS The Atrix 2 actually has an FM radio!
Last edited:
Not trying to dis anyone's choice and this is just my own opinion... While I was swapping my GS2 earlier today I had some time to kill and walked around AT&T store. Saw Atrix 2 and checked it out. While it has the same 4.3" screen size it's overall just a tad smaller, which I liked. Screen looked rather 'OK" to me and certainly had no GS2 wow factor. It does have a notification light, which I thoroughly miss on GS2. It could be all the AT&T bloatware on it, but Atrix 2 felt laggy to me. Not as bad as other less powerful phones but definitely noticeable compared to GS2. Again, that could be some configuration issue but GS2 next to it had the same demo bloatware and it was very fast. It wasn't as thin as GS2 but wasn't too bad. Overall, it's probably a safe mid-level and less expensive choice. I'd definitely pick GS2 if I was going for a better phone. My .02.
Best Buy has the Atrix 2 for $49 (northern CA AT&T corp stores aren't going to carry this phone either)...I was going to run over there and compare it side by side with my SGS2 since I'm still in my 30 day period.
One of the biggest draws for me is the notification LED honestly, since I'm not overly concerned with a 25% increase in battery life (charging dock at work), and the price difference is negligible (got the SGS2 for $149/no tax).
If it's even remotely laggy compared to my SGS2, then it's a dead issue, I'll deal with the noLED until I upgrade again next year.
One of the biggest draws for me is the notification LED honestly, since I'm not overly concerned with a 25% increase in battery life (charging dock at work), and the price difference is negligible (got the SGS2 for $149/no tax).
If it's even remotely laggy compared to my SGS2, then it's a dead issue, I'll deal with the noLED until I upgrade again next year.
jsntrenkler
Trusted Member
It is remotely laggy compared to SGS2, play with them side by side and you will see. For everyday use I am sure that it is fine.
Wow both phones now arent gonna be carrying?! (bay area) they should really clue us in its getting really annoying waiting to upgrade my phone (gps is finally getting to me on captivate).
And whats the LED do? I ask because i have cappy and i guess no LED.
jsntrenkler
Trusted Member
Like on a BlackBerry, the light blinks to let you know you have a message or a missed call, etc...I just came from BlackBerry to Android two weeks ago and it was tough to give that feature up.
Similar threads
Trending Posts
-
[Chatter] "Where everybody knows your name ..."
- Started by zero neck
- Replies: 53K
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram