Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy S 2?

[pejsaboy]

My evo is still pretty awesome despite its age, so my wife is taking it back (only partially on her own choice) because she bought, yet another, crappy low/mid range phone that has slowly started being stupid. In my current financial state, I'm not really prepared to shell out for a galaxy s3 (even with upgrade credit), but I know that the s2 has been a solid phone and every review that I've read for it has been equally reassuring. Also being a samsung, I figure that the hardware portion of the gnex will be a solid performer. Both phones are now on ice cream sandwich, but the nexus is obviously going to get updates straight from google.

I have never used a "pure" android device, and only used the Samsung and HTC UI's, so what I am really looking for here is a quick comparison of things that I might be losing or gaining by picking the gnex over the gs2. Also:

-visual voicemail on the gnex? (not a deal breaker, but super nice)
-which one's faster?
-any important differences?

I can get either of these phones at the same price, although the s2 currently has an offer to get a free extended battery. About the only real selling point between the two is that the gnex has the 1280x720 screen vs the s2 at 800x480.

 

[Knufire]

The Nexus is a Pentile screen, while the S II isn't. This sort of cancels out the resolution difference, I've heard that they're very comparable in quality, with maybe the Nexus having a slight edge.

Rooting the phone will let you change off the Samsung UI.

IMO the biggest difference between them is the screen size (and LTE capabilities depending on the carrier). Camera seems to be a tad better on the S II. GNex has Jelly Bean if you root, I'm not sure if its been ported to the S II yet.

 

[pejsaboy]

Ok, based on a quick googling of the pentile, there's a chance I might hate the screen on the nexus, but I won't know unless I see one firsthand. Good to know! Too bad there aren't working display phones in any of the sprint stores I've been into...

 

[Knufire]

The difference between non-Pentile and Pentile is only slightly noticeable at the same resolution. The higher resolution on the GNex more than makes up for it. To put it in perspective, I'm fairly sure Samsung hasn't even released a AMOLED+ screen since the S II came out. The S3 is Pentile as well.

 

[dejo]

the screen on the nexus is very nice. I think the s2 is the faster phone at stock. but rooting changes that as well. its a tossup, either one you would be happy with. if you watch vids or movies I would go nexus

 

[pejsaboy]

The difference between non-Pentile and Pentile is only slightly noticeable at the same resolution. The higher resolution on the GNex more than makes up for it. To put it in perspective, I'm fairly sure Samsung hasn't even released a AMOLED+ screen since the S II came out. The S3 is Pentile as well.

Ok, that makes sense. For some reason I wasn't thinking of the extra resolution on the nexus. Thanks for the extra comment about that, it could have been a premature strike-out on the gnex!

 

[Bluefalcon13]

I say nexus, as samsung is generally terrible about their updates. The nexus lines generally enjoy firsts in the update arena assuming the hardware can support it, and the carrier doesnt drag their feet. Then again, sammy also has the same issues with carriers dragging their feet, on top of the delay samsung updates...

 

[pejsaboy]

Bluefalcon12, am I mistaken in understanding that the Nexus devices get their updates directly from Google? For some reason, I was under the impression that they were "immune" to slow carrier updates because they are more of a Google device than a carrier device.

 

[Knufire]

I say nexus, as samsung is generally terrible about their updates. The nexus lines generally enjoy firsts in the update arena assuming the hardware can support it, and the carrier doesnt drag their feet. Then again, sammy also has the same issues with carriers dragging their feet, on top of the delay samsung updates...

Bluefalcon12, am I mistaken in understanding that the Nexus devices get their updates directly from Google? For some reason, I was under the impression that they were "immune" to slow carrier updates because they are more of a Google device than a carrier device.

These two posts say the same thing. Whenever Bluefaclon said Samsung, he was referring to the S II.

I'll say the same thing I said before though, rooting is within the technical capabilities of 99% of people posting on these forums and alleviates the update problem.

 

[pejsaboy]

Yeah,i was just clarifying something that I wasn't sure I understood. I don't necessarily need to be rooted, but I will anyway just so that I can have free wifi tethering...

 

[Knufire]

Yeah,i was just clarifying something that I wasn't sure I understood. I don't necessarily need to be rooted, but I will anyway just so that I can have free wifi tethering...

FoxFi is free tethering, doesn't require root.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

I have a Galaxy S2 (US Cellular as carrier), and I love it. Came stock with Android 2.3.6 (GB), and I very shortly after rooted and installed Android 4.0.4 (ICS). I have installed and have a working version of Google Now, which is nice. There are Jelly Bean ports for the S2, and I have tried a few, but they were in their infancy when I did. It's been said that the Google phones get updates first, but that doesn't mean the other phones don't get them, as long as you can be patient.

I LOVE my GS2, and probably wouldn't trade to a Nexus if given the option. Hardware wise, I would say it's a toss up between the two phones. They each have pluses and minuses, but for the most part, they are nearly the same. My $.02 is that you try out both phones in store, and see how they feel. Unfortunately, the GS2 will be running GB and the Nexus will be running JB, but you can still get a feel for the phones.

 

[Rich'[ard]]

I believe the S2 has slightly better hardware. They are both dual cores but use different CPUs. I remember watching a youtube video comparing the S2, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note all clocked at 1.4GHz on Ice Cream Sandwhich.
The S2 outperforms the Nexus by a fair bit in terms of 3D tasks because of the better CPU, but for everything else it is fairly even. the Note uses the same CPU as the S2 but 3D performance wasn't as great due to it's larger resolution.

So technically S2 is still the faster phone but i'd personally much rather the bigger and higher res screen over slightly better performance since i don't play games much on my phone.
Can't seem to find the video on youtube anymore =(.

 

[pejsaboy]

FoxFi is free tethering, doesn't require root.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll investigate that!

I have a Galaxy S2 (US Cellular as carrier), and I love it. Came stock with Android 2.3.6 (GB), and I very shortly after rooted and installed Android 4.0.4 (ICS). I have installed and have a working version of Google Now, which is nice. There are Jelly Bean ports for the S2, and I have tried a few, but they were in their infancy when I did. It's been said that the Google phones get updates first, but that doesn't mean the other phones don't get them, as long as you can be patient.

I LOVE my GS2, and probably wouldn't trade to a Nexus if given the option. Hardware wise, I would say it's a toss up between the two phones. They each have pluses and minuses, but for the most part, they are nearly the same. My $.02 is that you try out both phones in store, and see how they feel. Unfortunately, the GS2 will be running GB and the Nexus will be running JB, but you can still get a feel for the phones.

Unfortunately my local store doesn't have any demo phones, but sprints website shows both phones as having ICS now. I guess the s2 got an upgrade! I may stop into one just in case they have any phones live...

I believe the S2 has slightly better hardware. They are both dual cores but use different CPUs. I remember watching a youtube video comparing the S2, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note all clocked at 1.4GHz on Ice Cream Sandwhich.
The S2 outperforms the Nexus by a fair bit in terms of 3D tasks because of the better CPU, but for everything else it is fairly even. the Note uses the same CPU as the S2 but 3D performance wasn't as great due to it's larger resolution.

So technically S2 is still the faster phone but i'd personally much rather the bigger and higher res screen over slightly better performance since i don't play games much on my phone.
Can't seem to find the video on youtube anymore =(.

I'm the same way, really not a phone gamer so the nicer screen is definitely a perk over 3d performance

 

[Bluefalcon13]

These two posts say the same thing. Whenever Bluefaclon said Samsung, he was referring to the S II.

I'll say the same thing I said before though, rooting is within the technical capabilities of 99% of people posting on these forums and alleviates the update problem.

Unless you have a system with totally opensource drivers, you more than likely will lose cameras (front, back, or both) and possibly other features when upgrading to an unreleased firmware that was built with ASOP. I can live with losing my camera's on my Galaxy Tab 8.9, but losing them on my phone would not be a good solution. Again, YMMV depending on device. Samsung is slow with updates generally, and so are many other OEMs. At this point, I've pretty much decided to go Nexus as they tend to get updates on time.

Yeah,i was just clarifying something that I wasn't sure I understood. I don't necessarily need to be rooted, but I will anyway just so that I can have free wifi tethering...

CMDA Carriers tend to push the updates slightly later than GSM carriers. IIRC it has something to do with the CDMA licenses, unless that has been resolved.

 

[pejsaboy]

Yeah, I've definitely read comments (about various devices, not just the gnex and s2) where using unofficial roms and the like have lost functionality. It may only be because I haven't yet done it, but the only reasons I like to have root access are to gain free tethering, which Knufire has eliminated the need for, and to delete bloat from the stock rom using Titanium Backup. That's the only reason I can get close to 4 days between charges on my evo under normal usage. Well, that and I'm smart about display brightness and turning off radios when I don't need them...

Talked to a girl in the local sprint store today though, and was pleasantly surprised to see working demo phones for both s2 and gnex. I'm 90% sure I'm going to go back later and snap up a gnex. I'm not thrilled about having no sd card slot, but with 32Gb of internal I should be more than ok for my usage.

 

[Bluefalcon13]

In my opinion, thats the best choice if you dont like waiting eons for updates... Just for reference, my Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is still waiting for ics, 8 months later. Ironically, the 10.1 has almost the same hardware, and got ICS a few weeks ago. Thankfully the devs at XDA ported the 10.1's rom to the 8.9, so I dont totally loath it anymore, but 8+ months to get an update that Asus pushed out in 4, is annoying. To add the icing on the cake, samsung was the first oem to get ics as it developed the Galaxy Nexus, and yet they are behind most of the other tablet OEMs...

 

[pejsaboy]

Yeah, I really haven't used it much so far since I had to get the evo ready for my wife, but I'm really impressed by it so far. It currently has 4.0.4, but the page on the google play store says that it has/can be updated to jelly bean... Is this still something that I have to wait on sprint for if I don't want to root?

 

[pejsaboy]

omg... vanilla ICS is amazeballs... mind = blown.

 

[Knufire]

omg... vanilla ICS is amazeballs... mind = blown.

Wait until you try Jellybean. ICS but smoother.

IMO, CM9/AOSP>vanilla, but they're really similar.