Samsung Galaxy S II vs LG Optimus 2X
Ah, the power of dual-core processors – it lets you do cool stuff like buttery-smooth multitasking, exciting 3D portable gaming or Full HD videos. The latest Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II packs the new Exynos chipset, which pairs a couple of Cortex-A9 cores with a Mali-400MP GPU. Sounds like a potent mix – at least on paper, so we’re eager to pit it against one of the first phones to offer Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform – the LG Optimus 2X.
What we have in our hands is a pre-release test unit of the Galaxy S II, successor to one of the best selling Android phones. Ours runs its two CPU cores at 1GHz but Samsung announced that the speed will be bumped up to 1.2GHz.
Once that’s done, the I9100 Galaxy S II would be the most powerful droid – until the competition catches up, which won’t take long judging by our rumor mill. Anyway, we’re going to use the chance to put Samsung’s Exynos chipset head to head with NVIDIA’s Tegra 2. We’ll be using the LG Optimus 2X for the benchmarks, which runs at the same clock speed as our Galaxy S II – 1GHz.
We’re already working on our Galaxy S II preview but until that’s done, we just couldn’t resist testing some of the most interesting new features of Samsung’s latest flagship. Here’s what this comparison will be about.
First off, this is our first encounter with the Super AMOLED Plus technology, which improves on an already excellent screen. We’ll run the new display through several tests to determine how it stacks up against the old one and other leading displays on the market.
Next, we’ll get to the camera department – the Galaxy S II comes with an 8MP still shooter that can capture 1080p FullHD videos. That’s our second encounter with such a beast and we’ll be pitting it against the LG Optimus 2X camera, that’s for sure. A surprising guest star in the camera test is the Sony Ericsson Arc, which we recently reviewed as well.
After that comes the test of what makes the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II tick – the new dual-core Exynos chipset. Just keep in mind the Galaxy S II retail version will have 20% more clock speed for each of the two CPU cores.
Finally, we’ll wrap things up with a real-life performance test – how does the Galaxy S II stack up in real world tasks (we’ll be testing the user interface, web browser and games) against a phone with a Tegra 2 chipset (which is quite popular among new smartphones and even tablets).
Super AMOLED Plus up close
The original Galaxy S had an amazing display. But as great as SuperAMOLED tech is, it did have its drawbacks, mainly the PenTile subpixel matrix.
The new generation SuperAMOLED Plus should increase the size of the available panels up to 4.3”, it should improve the performance and it’s comes with a conventional subpixel matrix. We expect nothing but excellence – let’s see if the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II delivers.
First, a few words on PenTile matrix to give you an idea what you’re looking at. PenTile matrices use only two subpixels per each pixel of the screen, unlike traditional matrixes that use three (LCD displays use this arrangement too). The image below demonstrates the difference though in an exaggerated way.
Even though both the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II have screens with equal resolution – WVGA, or 480 x 800 pixels. The use of a conventional matrix has given the SuperAMOLED Plus screen 50% more subpixels, making the display noticeably sharper (especially when it comes to small text).
Here are a few shots we took of the displays of the original Galaxy S, the Galaxy S II and the iPhone 4. You can see that the subpixels look as we expected them to.
The iPhone 4’s Retina display is easily the sharpest of the bunch. There is a very noticeable difference between the two Galaxies in the following extreme close-up shot, but in reality, the difference isn’t that strongly pronounced, unless you’re looking at them from really close.
The 8MP sharp-shooter put to the test
The Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II is razor thin but the engineers have found enough room for an 8MP auto-focus camera and an LED flash. It snaps photos with maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels and it’s really good at it.
The camera interface has been changed and we’re not quite sure it’s for the best. We’ll take some more time to get used to it and share our impressions of the camera UI later. For now, let’s just focus on the camera performance.
Shooting FullHD videos like a pro
Bumping up the resolution in video recording is one of the most processing-intensive things you could do but any self-respecting flagship should capture 1080p video, it’s a matter of pride.
But good 1080p video is hard to achieve even with a powerful chipset. From first glance it seems that Samsung had done all the right things – picked capable hardware, a suitable container (.MP4) and good bitrate.
The Galaxy S II adversary in the FullHD video recording test for today is the Optimus 2X. The Galaxy S II uses the better container (.MP4 vs. .3GP) and much more bitrate – 17Mbps over 10Mbps in the Optimus 2X.
The difference is readily apparent – the Galaxy S II manages to record much more detail. If you look at a still frame from the S II, you’d be hard pressed to tell it’s not in fact a 2MP photo.
The Exynos benchmarks show great potential
It’s time to put the Exynos chipset to the test – both the CPU and the GPU. We’ll be using the Optimus 2X, which uses Tegra 2, for comparison. Both chipsets are running at 1GHz so we’re expecting similar results (the underlying ARM architecture isn’t all that different between the two).
Keep in mind however that the Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II should launch with its chipset clocked at 1.2GHz, which should give it the upper hand.
Testing web browsing performance
Dry specs and synthetic benchmarks aside, it’s real-life performance that really matters to users.
So we decided to put the dual-core powerhouses toe to toe and throw in the original Galaxy S just for laughs. We were surprised to find that in most cases the original Galaxy S held its own pretty well, even beating the Optimus 2X in some rare cases.
Before we continue we’d like you to keep in mind one thing – both Galaxy’s are running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, while the Optimus 2X is still stuck on Froyo 2.2. And that casts a shadow on its performance – it could be handicapped to an extent.
We hooked-up all three smartphones to the same Wi-Fi network and began our browser test. We tested load times, reload times and the general feel of browsing. Zooming in and out by pinch-to-zoom, double tap, panning around. Plus the screen technology also makes a big difference on browsing.
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