Are you ready for more heavyweight droid action, with superclocked punches thrown around and more blood on the floor? It’s time for round two of our dual-core battle of the flagships. The Samsung Galaxy S II and the LG Optimus 2X are fully updated and ready to show their best. We’ve also thrown the Samsung Galaxy S Plus in the ring to see if one, faster core is better than two slower ones.
The first time around, we had a pre-release Galaxy S II on a 1GHz dual-core CPU and the Optimus 2X has since received a few firmware updates up to stock V10B, which made it noticeably zippier.
Not only that, but we also got the latest 1.2GHz Galaxy S II, we felt obligated to redo the tests now that we’ve got a final Galaxy S II with a 1.2GHz processor (updated to the I9100XWKE7 firmware). A Galaxy S Plus with a faster than usual single-core processor makes it a three-cornered fight.
Now, our Galaxy S Plus unit runs at just 1.2GHz instead of the 1.4GHz planned for the final version. Stil, we can’t wait to see if 2 x 1GHz is better than 1 x 1.2GHz – a 20% increase in clock speed should bring a big improvement in single-threaded tasks of which there are many, considering we’ve only recently entered the world of dual-core phones.
Samsung Galaxy S II official photos
Now, the Plus version could breathe new life into the old Galaxy S but it’s still using the old 5MP camera with “just” 720p video recording and the old PenTile SuperAMOLED screen.
The Samsung and LG flagships on the other hand boast 8MP cameras with 1080p video capture. And in the case of the Galaxy S II, the screen is a massive improvement.
LG Optimus 2X official photos
So, here’s what we’ll cover in this repeat head to head comparison.
For starters, we’ll look at the screens again but having seen the Galaxy S, S II and Optimus 2X last time there’s nothing really new to say here – the screens of the phones are exactly as before.
After that we’ll test the 8MP sharpshooters (the Galaxy S Plus need not apply) and see if the firmware changes affected the camera. Maybe improved bitrate for the video recording has allowed finer detail in the videos, we’ll have to check.
Then, we’ll be testing the processor and graphics performance – cutting edge CPUs and GPUs simply beg to be benchmarked. Browser performance is another topic we plan to cover – it’s taxing on the system (especially with Flash) and is used almost daily.
What else? Some real-life games, of course, we shouldn’t put too much trust in benchmarks. We’ll also want to try out the GPS capabilities of the phones – it’s got nothing to do with fast processors but flagships should be good at everything, right?
Well, let the tests begin. It’s about which one’s the best if money is no object and what the latest and greatest phones can deliver.
The original Galaxy S had an amazing display. But as great as the SuperAMOLED tech is, it did have its drawbacks, mainly the PenTile subpixel matrix. The Galaxy S Plus has the exact same display so that goes on its record too. The new generation SuperAMOLED Plus increases the size of the available panels up to 4.3”, it improves performance and it 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 the PenTile matrix to give you an idea of what you’re looking at. PenTile uses only two subpixels per each pixel of the screen, unlike traditional matrices 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 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 prominent, unless you’re looking at them from really close. Sharpness isn't a problem for the traditional LCD matrix of the LG Optimus 2X. The WVGA 4-incher gives the Optimus 2X the highest pixel density of the trio. That’s taking into account the subpixels, of course and not counting the iPhone 4, which isn't a part of this test. The SuperAMOLED Plus display of the Galaxy S II has exceptional viewing angles but the old screen in the Samsung Galaxy S isn't half bad either. LCD units however, especially without IPS or similar enhancements, suffer a sharp decline color and contrast when viewed at an angle. For this comparison we’ve put the first and second generation Galaxy S phones next to the LG Optimus 2X. The Galaxy S Plus uses the same screen as the I9000 Galaxy S, so the findings here are valid for it too. The new Super AMOLED Plus display reportedly has improved brightness and power efficiency. We were surprised however to see the SuperAMOLED Plus screen is no brighter than the previous generation used in the original Galaxy S. Here are our measurements.SuperAMOLED, SuperAMOLED Plus and LCD
Macro shot of the screens of the Galaxy S II, the original Galaxy S (middle) and iPhone 4 (bottom)
LG Optimus 2X • Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II • Samsung I9000 Galaxy S
| Display test | 50% brightness | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | |
| iPhone 3GS | 0.84 | 134 | 2.51 | 504 |
| iPhone 4 | 0.14 | 189 | 0.39 | 483 |
| Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc | 0.03 | 34 | 0.33 | 394 |
| LG Optimus 2X | 0.23 | 228 | 0.35 | 347 |
| HTC Incredible S | 0.18 | 162 | 0.31 | 275 |
| Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II | 0 | 231 | 0 | 362 |
| Samsung Galaxy Ace | 0.23 | 160 | 0.34 | 234 |
| Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo | 0.05 | 68 | 0.10 | 134 |
You’ll notice we didn’t measure the contrast ratio of either SuperAMOLED display – that’s due to how OLED works. Contrast is the ratio of how bright a white pixel is compared to a black pixel while both are visible on the screen. Since black pixels in OLED type displays don’t emit any light at all, the contrast tends to infinity (which isn't really a meaningful comparison).
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