So both these articles say the S2 is better

[PJnc284]

Some Nexus fanboys are saying that Samsung is slow so don't expect to see ICS any time soon. Fact is Samsung - the people in bed with Google and who make the Nexus, HELLO - already announced ICS for the S2 and the Note will be released it early in 2011. Put ICS on a Galaxy S2 Skyrocket or T-Mobile version and then make your comparison.

You've obviously never owned a Samsung device before. Them saying "soon" or "early 2012" means absolutely nothing.

 

[bxborn31]

since iphones sell about 3x as much as any one phone and its specs are sub-par compared to any phone released at the same time. Yes, Android sells way more devices overall but on a one to one comparison with ANY device, including the SGSII, it smokes it. So, tell me that specs matter?

the GN has ICS which wont be on any other samsung device currently out for AT LEAST another 6 months if not more... That, in my eyes, is superior.

PS most companies said ics will be
Available within 6 weeks not 6 months.

Sent from my Samsung galaxy S2 using Tapatalk

 

[Adrynalyne]

PS most companies said ics will be
Available within 6 weeks not 6 months.

Sent from my Samsung galaxy S2 using Tapatalk

Pretty sure it was an evaluation of 6 weeks on when phones may be upgraded, and only Motorola said it. In addition, it was a PR thing, which never jives with development.

http://www.androidcentral.com/motor...t-ice-cream-sandwich-within-6-weeks-code-drop

Unless you have evidence that says otherwise?

 

[Adrynalyne]

Some Nexus fanboys are saying that Samsung is slow so don't expect to see ICS any time soon. Fact is Samsung - the people in bed with Google and who make the Nexus, HELLO - already announced ICS for the S2 and the Note will be released it early in 2011. Put ICS on a Galaxy S2 Skyrocket or T-Mobile version and then make your comparison.

Did you ever watch Froyogate on the Fascinate? This was during the period that Samsung was 'in bed' with Google. How long did it take? 7 months!

Does the Samsung Continuum have official Froyo yet?
(same hardware inside as Fascinate)

Does the Fascinate have official Gingerbread yet?

Does the Charge for that matter, have official Gingerbread yet?

I'd love to eat my words and Samsung will have ICS on the GSII in early 2012 (I'm sure you meant 2012). I don't see it happening.

 

[jerrod6]

So the GS2 will get ICS, which is great. But what's even better is getting every single version of ICS, along with the new goodies Google puts out.

I haven't followed the GS2 updates closely, but I believe it launched with 2.3.3 and recently got an update to 2.3.4. This might be the last Gingerbread update it will get here in the states if ICS is really coming that soon. I'm currently on 2.3.7, so it is still 3 versions behind.

But who cares about such small updates? Well, if you like trying the latest from Google like Google Talk with video chat or Google Wallet, then these small updates are what let you get them hot off the presses. Google Wallet is still a Nexus exclusive, and Google even gives you a $10 gift card for trying it (got some brew with mine, and any phone that buys me beer is ok in my book). Also, Samsung isn't known for releasing fast incremental updates to fix bugs, so any bugs the phone has must wait to be fixed with the next OS update, which takes time because it must be skinned and carrier approved. With a Nexus phone, Google just makes a new version of the latest OS and pushes it to your phone to fix those bugs.

I keep reading this.. that Google just pushes the updates to your phone. I have never had a Nexus so I sure hope this will remain true with this GN on Verizon. How does Google know you have this phone so that they can push the update? Do we have to tell them, or sign in, or give them our phone number?

 

[Professor777]

Both moderators above have made sensible replies, Ragnarokx and Adrynalyne. To be able to get quick incremental OS updates is indeed an advantage, and Samsung does have a lousy track record, as others have also noted. (and yes, I did mean 2012 – thanks). I still contend that the issue on specifications between the nexus in the most recent SGS2 offerings does boil down to the screen and personal aesthetic preferences,otherwise it goes to the SGS2 skyrocket.
.
Regarding OS -- we are in a new ballgame All fanboy devotion aside.

The picture is bigger than just these phones we are talking about. The issue actually involves money, and power (Yes, as usual). Samsung is now really in bed with Google, obviously not to the extent that Motorola is. But the business world is polygamous and based on money not morals. Samsung is bigger than Motorola, and will never be bought by Google. But, they sell more phones, and more tablets.

So what's the big difference this time? Pressure from Google which becomes more powerful with each passing moment - literally. It is Google's drive for world dominance in operating system usage, affecting both the tablet industry in the phone industry tremendously. Even though this year, they achieved numeric dominance, Android's main problem was two platforms and schizophrenic software development for programmers. Ice cream sandwich not only solves that issue, but holds tremendous promise for the future. Google has objectives that Samsung agreed to comply with, and so has every other cell phone manufacturer. That objective includes ice cream sandwich running on every android device that has powerful enough hardware to make it look decent. More precisely, the objective is to update all such android phones within six months or less, and require new capable devices to carry it. Incremental updates to ICS ARE another thing, so point well taken.

Carriers are the biggest obstacle for both manufacturers and Google, the latter of which is now making efforts to compete with them.

The Android OS is far superior to iCaveOS which it is now copying in iOS5. Tables have already turned. Nevertheless the actual Android software-base is currently fragmented.

Back to the phones – when you compare these phones you can safely figure ICS on the SGS2, and the Galaxy Note within first quarter of 2012. No need to cry about Samsung's bad track record. That will not be an issue. True, Samsung has been less than hospitable to its consumers, and it is because all they care about is money. They already got your money when you bought the phone. But now they have to contend with Google on these recent releases, and Google is not messing around. The issue is not just these phones.

To be honest, we have to admit that Samsung cut corners on the Nexus. It is still an awesome phone, and I love it, but they were stupid for not putting removable SD cards, a faster processor (re Galaxy Note at 1.4), DLNA, a better battery, and gorilla glass. All of these technologies were available, but not employed.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Both moderators above have made sensible replies, Ragnarokx and Adrynalyne. To be able to get quick incremental OS updates is indeed an advantage, and Samsung does have a lousy track record, as others have also noted. (and yes, I did mean 2012 ? thanks). I still contend that the issue on specifications between the nexus in the most recent SGS2 offerings does boil down to the screen and personal aesthetic preferences,otherwise it goes to the SGS2 skyrocket.
.
Regarding OS -- we are in a new ballgame All fanboy devotion aside.

The picture is bigger than just these phones we are talking about. The issue actually involves money, and power (Yes, as usual). Samsung is now really in bed with Google, obviously not to the extent that Motorola is. But the business world is polygamous and based on money not morals. Samsung is bigger than Motorola, and will never be bought by Google. But, they sell more phones, and more tablets.

So what's the big difference this time? Pressure from Google which becomes more powerful with each passing moment - literally. It is Google's drive for world dominance in operating system usage, affecting both the tablet industry in the phone industry tremendously. Even though this year, they achieved numeric dominance, Android's main problem was two platforms and schizophrenic software development for programmers. Ice cream sandwich not only solves that issue, but holds tremendous promise for the future. Google has objectives that Samsung agreed to comply with, and so has every other cell phone manufacturer. That objective includes ice cream sandwich running on every android device that has powerful enough hardware to make it look decent. More precisely, the objective is to update all such android phones within six months or less, and require new capable devices to carry it. Incremental updates to ICS ARE another thing, so point well taken.

Carriers are the biggest obstacle for both manufacturers and Google, the latter of which is now making efforts to compete with them.

The Android OS is far superior to iCaveOS which it is now copying in iOS5. Tables have already turned. Nevertheless the actual Android software-base is currently fragmented.

Back to the phones ? when you compare these phones you can safely figure ICS on the SGS2, and the Galaxy Note within first quarter of 2012. No need to cry about Samsung's bad track record. That will not be an issue. True, Samsung has been less than hospitable to its consumers, and it is because all they care about is money. They already got your money when you bought the phone. But now they have to contend with Google on these recent releases, and Google is not messing around. The issue is not just these phones.

To be honest, we have to admit that Samsung cut corners on the Nexus. It is still an awesome phone, and I love it, but they were stupid for not putting removable SD cards, a faster processor (re Galaxy Note at 1.4), DLNA, a better battery, and gorilla glass. All of these technologies were available, but not employed.

Last I checked the Nexus S was made by Samsung... and they have yet to update their original Galaxy S devices to Gingerbread which is now about a year old. I have no faith that Samsung's goals to providing customer satisfaction with timely upgrades have changed. I would never consider a touchwiz device again. They may have pleased the development community by hiring Cyanogen, but last I check, the Galaxy S' red-headed step-brother (Epic 4G) hadn't received any love (despite source code dropping). I call it... Summer before the first GSII is upgraded to ICS in the US.

 

[ragnarokx]

I keep reading this.. that Google just pushes the updates to your phone. I have never had a Nexus so I sure hope this will remain true with this GN on Verizon. How does Google know you have this phone so that they can push the update? Do we have to tell them, or sign in, or give them our phone number?

Your phone having an internet connection makes it available to receive update notifications from Google. No need to give out any special info or take any additional steps

Sent from my Google Nexus S

 

[jerrod6]

Your phone having an internet connection makes it available to receive update notifications from Google. No need to give out any special info or take any additional steps

Sent from my Google Nexus S

Thanks for your reply. So my current phone an Og Moto droid has an internet connection but I don't get any updates from Google. So then there is something within the nexus phone that allows this to happen via internet and also something that tells Verizon not to bother sending me their software?

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

Thanks for your reply. So my current phone an Og Moto droid has an internet connection but I don't get any updates from Google. So then there is something within the nexus phone that allows this to happen via internet and also something that tells Verizon not to bother sending me their software?

Well the Droid wasn't a Google device. Yes it may be free of an overlay or "skin", but Motorola was still in charge of updating the device. Google is in charge of updating Nexus devices. So Google basically knows all of the Nexus phones that are out there and they just send the updates to all of the Nexus phones.

 

[adambomb6]

To be honest, we have to admit that Samsung cut corners on the Nexus. It is still an awesome phone, and I love it, but they were stupid for not putting removable SD cards, a faster processor (re Galaxy Note at 1.4), DLNA, a better battery, and gorilla glass. All of these technologies were available, but not employed.

We don't have to admit that. Samsung manufactured it to Google's specs. Google did not want an SD card. Google chose the processor. Google does not just request for Samsung to build them any phone, google dictates and has approval on everything that goes in the phone. We also know that the hardware decisions are made 9 months before the release of the phone. We know that ICS is hardware optimized, so I'm sure they chose the hardware they wanted for the best design.

For the folks that want a S2 with ICS, go get the S2 and put cyanogen mode with ICS on it when it comes out.

I'm planning to get the Nexus because I want a ICS 4g phone on verizon's network. I can accept that it may have lesser hardware, I want a pure google phone.

 

[DaPoets]

what does anyone need more than 32 gigs in a phone for anyway? seriously... My Xoom has 32gigs and I use it constantly with like 20 gigs free. Everything is in the cloud these day for me so what's the point of having much of anything of substance on an external memory card?

 

[qnet]

I'm planning to get the Nexus because I want a ICS 4g phone on verizon's network. I can accept that it may have lesser hardware, I want a pure google phone.

That's how I feel. I also believe the hardware the Gnex has will run very well with ICS and we won't be disappointed.

 

[Jaycemiskel]

what does anyone need more than 32 gigs in a phone for anyway? seriously... My Xoom has 32gigs and I use it constantly with like 20 gigs free. Everything is in the cloud these day for me so what's the point of having much of anything of substance on an external memory card?

I have to agree with your post.
For the people who think they were cutting corners, they weren't cutting corners by not putting an sd card slot in the device. That's what Google wanted. Why do you think that Honeycomb didn't support sd cards at first? Google is trying to move away from expandable memory. The last two Nexus devices should give you a hint. If you can't handle a phone without one, then you may never get a Nexus because it looks like this is clearly the direction Google is headed.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

 

[jerrod6]

Well the Droid wasn't a Google device. Yes it may be free of an overlay or "skin", but Motorola was still in charge of updating the device. Google is in charge of updating Nexus devices. So Google basically knows all of the Nexus phones that are out there and they just send the updates to all of the Nexus phones.

After a while I realized that when I log on to the Android Market it knows which apps are compatible with my phone so even it knows what phone I have so now I get it.

Thanks everyone.

 

[trivor]

Well, I think it would be easier to just do a comparison on what we already know versus what may or may not happen to either device. I'll use the LTE version of the Galaxy Nexus and the US version (AT&T) of the Galaxy S2.

-LTE vs HSPA+ is a no-brainer. While the adverse effects on the battery life aren't inspiring, it is the faster of the two. In my opinion, the Galaxy Nexus is a 4G device while the Galaxy S2 is 3.5G.

-The display is going to be difficult to compare only because the word "pentile" is going to be thrown around. I'm a fan of the higher resolution/bigger screen, but I've used the S2 before and I had zero complaints about the display. I'll call this a draw only because it really does boil down to preference.

-Exynos vs TI OMAP 4460 (and their respective GPU's) would be a pretty easy choice, but as of right now, only the Galaxy Nexus has ICS which not only utilizes both cores, but is optimized for the hardware. So if you're a benchmark junky, the Galaxy Nexus is going to have the better scores. In a fair fight, the Exynos/Mali combination would be the faster of the two. Since we're doing it as-is, the Galaxy Nexus has ICS and the Exynos isn't compatible with LTE.

-Software is a beat-down. Again, as-is, the Galaxy Nexus has ICS and the Galaxy S2 does not.

-The camera is tough for me to comment on because I haven't used the camera on the Nexus. I could be entirely wrong on this, but I'd have to give this to the Galaxy S2 for now (and not because it has 3 more megapixels). I have faith the camera on the Nexus will be more than capable, and definitely has more features, but for now I'll say the Galaxy S2 wins this round.

-And lastly, the design. I'm going with the Nexus here. While I'm sure some people have issues with no capacitive buttons on the device, it's just more appealing. And it has a multicolor notification LED. If you include that, with me, you win more often than not.



Just so we're clear, I'm stating that above as my own opinion, not as fact. A lot of you will agree with me, some of you won't. So do I disagree with the articles you mentioned? Yes, and I've actually owned 2 out of the 3 Galaxy S2's in the US. Will the S2 get ICS someday? Definitely. I just have a feeling there will already be a Galaxy S3 and possibly another Nexus device around before that happens.

Also, I think Samsung will have a lot of work to do getting ICS to work on the Exynos/Mali combo since ICS is optimized for OMAP