Advise required for buying a SmartPhone

[bencilal]

Hi All,

I am planning to buy a smartphone. Following are my requirements as of now.Please add the list if I missed any important features.

1) OS Android.

2) Primary Camera with flash.

3) Front facing camera for video calls.

4) Connectivity :

a) 3G
b) Wi-Fi
c) TV out - via mini HDMI or MHL
d) Bluetooth
e) USB support

5) Entertainment :

a) Video player should play HD movies,MKV,WMV,Divx,avi etc
b) FM radio support

6) Document viewer/editor for Word/Excel files.

7) Capacitive touch

8) GPS support.

9)Better battery backup.

10) Budget Max 500$

The model under consideration as of now are

1) Samsung Galaxy S 2
2) Sony Xperia S -- un removable battery sad

Please help me to choose one.Please update the lits with other models.

Thank you all in advance for your valuable suggestions

 

[techlover]

Sony Xperia S
highly better screen resolution , better camera , better processor

 

[coolest111]

XS +1

 

[Nighthawk12]

Or you can have a look at S2.

 

[randomuser111]

Xperia S

 

[aroraanant]

+1 to Xperia S

 

[diagus]

sony experia s battery can be easy removed you just need to just know to
remove 4 torx screws thats it.

looks like sony just put nfc chip and antenna behind the battery.may be nfc antenna need to be at surface


*www.xperiablog.net/2012/03/12/xperia-s-battery-can-be-changed-if-you-really-need-to/

 

[bencilal]

Hi,

If we remove the screw and takeout the battery from Sony Xperia S,Will it be a violation of the warranty terms and conditions ?

 

[bencilal]

If we remove the screws and takeout battery ...it will violate the terms and conditions for warranty???

If the Phone is some how hanged taking out battery is the simplest solution.Don't know why Sony missed that point for such great phone ?

 

[daksh]

S2 over xperia S .
1. Chipset . Xperia has the old and dated S3(the one in sensation) where as with S2 you will get either the exynos or Omap4 ( Gnex(ocd gpu) , playbook , galaxy tab2 , moto razr, atrix 2 ) .
2. Screen - Even though the PPI of XS is high but the non pentile Super amoled of S2 is to die for .
3. ICS out of the box.

If youre looking for a good looking yet powerful phone you could consider the Razr too .

 

[randomuser111]

^
1. Xperia S beats Galaxy S2 in a lot of benchmarks and is overall faster than S2.

2. There is simply no competition. Go to a store like Croma and compare Xperia S and GS2 screen and then tell me which screen is to die for.

3. Not really a factor as the Xperia S can be upgraded to ICS as soon as the buyer unboxes it.

 

[daksh]

1. Which S2 are you talking about Exynor or Omap ?
If Exynos , then you are highly mistaken coz its the fastest dual core out there , ofc apart from dual core Kraits .
If Omap 4 then also youre wrong coz Omap 4s GPU( PowerVR sgx540 ) is faster and better than Adreno 220 . As far as CPU is concerned OMAP 4 is faster than S3 by qualcomm , higher benchmarks scores are due to it being clocked at 1.5ghz .

2. Yes , Seriously go to a store and then tell me which one is to die for . Ive used both .

3. Agreed .

A little edit in the previous post- If you can get the Exynos version of the S2 then you dont have to look further . If its the OMAP one then they are comparable .

 

[randomuser111]

1. I am talking about the one with Exynos. Go check out comparison reviews on both and then say S2 is much more powerful. Read the Xperia S vs Galaxy s2 shootout on GSMArena

2. That's your personal preference. There is no comparison between the sharpest HD screen on the market with realistic colors and Super Amoled with dull screen and cartoon ish colors

Xperia S is a better device than S2. If you think otherwise, then its nothing but personal preference/or fanboyism.

S2 is great no doubt, it was the best phone last year but sorry its not better than Xperia S.

Read my Xperia S review thread and let me know if your S2 Exynos can beat the scores I got.

Anyway I'm done arguing though. OP can go to a store himself and judge which one is truly the better phone.

 

[daksh]

Oh now I see why the love for Xperia S . I own an HTC One X hence my opinion would be completely neutral .
And mate how are you even arguing that Qualcomm S3 is faster than the Exynos ? Update your phone to ICS and then see benchmark scores if thats what you want . S3 was in the sensation last year and it was left in the dust by S2 with Exynos last year .
And super LOL for dull screen with cartoonish colors . Go again to GSMarena and read about the screen .

Moreover if OP is interested in rooting , kernels, custom roms etc I dont think there can be a better phone than the S2 coz of the support it has got .

 

[bencilal]

How about the battery backup ?
Almost all sites are mentioning 18.5 hrs of talk time for S2 and just 7 hrs of talk time for Xperia S even though Xperia battery(1750 mAh) is powerful compared to S2(1650mAh) ?
Can somebody explain the reality ?

 

[shashankm]

Xperia S is preferred. Afterall a phone is not meant to be screwed the moment it gets out of the box by rooting the bejesus out of it (what if he bricks it?). No doubt S2 was the brighteset star in Galaxy [sic] but since then, there have been enough of big bangs and several new stars have managed to outshine the S2.

My personal experience with tells that S2 is a bit fragile than Xperia S thanks to high quality plastic body *check YT tests*.
Xperia S has got sharpest and most crazy screen clarity (342ppi) on planet, S2 comes nowhere near it.
Yeah, S2 surprisingly being powered at 1650mAH excels in battery backup whereas Xperia S (1750mAH) is yet to prove its mettle. But still there's no point buying a phone over 1 year old when you have the option of buying a phone a bit advanced...S2 is legendary for the modding capabilities it offers, ease of use and the storm by which it took the mobile market in '11. And that A9 arch is still to be rivalled...classic!
Point is pick whichever feels good to you in hand and in eyes!

And oh yeah, S2 is huge, great to watch movies and play games, hope Xperia S is same!

 

[randomuser111]

See the problem is you base your opinion about the S3 chipset on Htc Sensation. That phone was terribly optimized. Xperia S isn't like the Sensation.

Xperia S Antutu score is 6700, S2 exynos scores around 6000. Quadrant 3600. Similar.

On Linpack Xperia S scores closer to One X and S2 is far behind. Nenamark 2 Xperia S with HD resolution scores 38fps whereas Galaxy Note which has faster Exynos chip than S2 scores 33 fps in the same benchmark.

On browsermark Xperia S is higher too, and on Peacekeeper HTML5 benchmark it scores higher than One X and way ahead of GS2.

Same goes for the Passmark performance test. Xperia S average score is 2200. Gs2 average score is 1700.

On Vellamo Xperia S scores 1600 whereas S2 is again left behind.

Sunspider Javascript benchmark also Xperia S scores better than exynos S2.

So tell me how is Xperia S a dud performer with such scores ?? Obviously you don't have a clue what you are talking about.

Also sound quality of the Xperia S is way superior, on par with Iphone 4S. S2 has quite poor sound quality.

 

[daksh]

Well , why do you compare Galaxy note's benchmark with Xperia's when we clearly are talking about the S2 here .
Vellamo is a benchmark by qualcomm and it favours snapdragons , it is a known fact .
And Nenamark does not reflect CPU capabilities hence Note being higher clocked doesnt matter .
Alright now lets talk facts with sources.
BenchmarkPi (lower is better)
S2- 452
XS-536
NenaMark2 -
S2-51.6
XS-37.5
Sunspider(lower better)
S2-1849
XS-2587
Browsermark
s2-111853
XS-74990
Source- Samsung Galaxy S II ICS review: Sugar coated - GSMArena.com
So please dont pull out facts from your ass .
Youre an owner of the XS so I wont blame you for being biased .

And if we are to nitpick , S2 is cheaper as well .

 

[randomuser111]

Well buddy its you who's pulling out facts from your ass not me. Why are you comparing Galaxy S2 ICS scores against Xperia S Gingerbread scores ? Compare Xperia S GB scores with S2 GB scores and see how S2 gets whooped by XS.
Or compare ICS S2 scores with ICS Xperia S scores.

And do you even understand the basics of GPU benchmarking ? You comparing Xperia S nenamark 2 score when its running 1280x720 resolution against Galaxy S2 which is running at 800x480 resolution ? This is why I compared Xperia S score against Note as both run on similar resolution unlike the biased GS2 score you showing me.

 

[daksh]

Well that galaxy note runs at 1200*800 and not 1200*720 so they are not same . And I couldnt find Xperia S ICS scores else I would have compared but I know it as a fact that Exynos whops S3's ass .

But on a serious and non argumentative note its down to personal preferences and Id suggest the OP goes to a store and see which suits him , both phones are good and you wont regret any .