Samsung Galaxy S vs Samsung Galaxy S II Mini
Samsung’s hotly anticipated Galaxy S 2 goes on sale in the UK on 1st May and it’s already shaping up to be the smartphone of 2011, but its younger brother the Galaxy S 2 mini is on the horizon too, and far from being the poor relation it looks like it could be set to carve a decent slice of the market all for itself but how does the Galaxy S II mini shape-up against some of the big hitters already on the market? Well, we thought the best way to find out would be to let the young upstart duke it out against the head of the family, the amazing, popular Samsung Galaxy S. Let’s see how it got on.
Screen
Both devices weigh-in heavy when it comes to screen tech with the original Galaxy S offering a 4-inch Super AMOLED display that is both stunning and easy on battery life. The newer Galaxy S 2 mini offers a 3.7-inch Super-AMOLED though, which is one of the only displays out there able to pip the AMOLED. Expect deeper blacks, sharper images and more refined colours.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy S 2 mini
Power
The Galaxy S II mini weighs-in with significant power upgrade on the original device (which is powered by the perennially reliable 1GHz Cortex-A8 CPU ) and the included 1.4GHz CPU really makes a difference to more labour intensive tasks.
This upgrade aside the two devices are identical. Both feature 512MB RAM, come in 16 & 32GB flavours, offer 2GB ROM and support micro SD cards up to 32GB in size, so you’ll find no need for complaint with either.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy S 2 mini
Optics
The Galaxy S 2 mini comes packing a 5-megapixel camera with LED-flash which includes touch focus and face & smile detection, which is a fairly noteworthy upgrade on the original device’s 5-megapixel snapper.
Both devices feature the same functional VGA front-facing camera for video calling too.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S 2 mini
Software
The Samsung Galaxy S 2 mini runs on version 2.3 (Gingerbread) of Google’s Android operating system and having the latest and greatest iteration of the software is a huge advantage. Security, speed and stability fixes are perhaps the most important features of the update but you’re also treated to improved visuals, a new on-screen QWERTY and improved power management.
The original Galaxy S shipped with version 2.1 of Android but thanks to those diligent folks over at Samsung an official upgrade is in the works, it isn’t here yet though, so the new kid takes this round.
Winner - Samsung Galaxy S 2 mini
Build
Don’t expect a gulf of difference in build quality between the Samsung Galaxy S 2 mini and the original Galaxy S. Both devices are made of lightweight plastics which make them light, durable and easy to maintain but they do have the slightly off-putting cheap feel to them. They aren’t though, and if you can overlook this minor point you’ll be very happy with the device you choose.
Winner – Draw
The Galaxy S 2 mini has chalked up a fairly conclusive victory here and it will doubtless win plenty of admirers when it goes on sale. The small but carefully considered upgrades make a world of difference to the overall performance of the device and it will happily stand toe-to-toe with all but the most powerful of superphones out there. Don’t write-off the Galaxy S though, it still has plenty to offer and thanks to the impending software update you could end up with a hugely powerful Android device, running the latest software at a bargain price!
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