Sony Xperia S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II: S-hootout

09 March 2012
Released nearly a year apart, the Sony Xperia S and the Samsung Galaxy S II are not that different - both are flagship droids with dual-core CPUs and 4.3" screens. But the newer Xperia S brings some fine upgrades, like a 12MP camera and a 720p screen.

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  • G
  • Ghost
  • TL5
  • 10 Mar 2012

I think s2 and Xperia s are perfect.s2 has card slot,normal sim.but xs has great look,music performance.but i like xs more.

    • D
    • AnonD-38309
    • Hxc
    • 10 Mar 2012

    yham, 09 Mar 2012Sony LT29i Hayabusa - dual core Samsung Galaxy S3 (defin... moreAre you like the CEO of these companies or something?

    Tegra 3 is an epic failure, it doesn't support LTE and the Krait chips are way better performers.

    S3 is probably gonna use the new Exynos Dual core while the iphone will use the A5X....

    Remember the Moto Atrix? Was the first dual core but was sluggish and crappy..

    In another note, GS2 users can whine as much as they want, XS beats S2 in each and every single aspect including Specs, Hardware, Software, User Experience and Entertainment . Yes S3 will be better than XS, but then the Haybausa will speak for itself :)

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • Qxp
      • 10 Mar 2012

      Sammy is a copycat.. But their designs are even awful compared to Sony Xperia S. Crap.

        • N
        • NoBullS
        • IPt
        • 10 Mar 2012

        This is easily the best review of the Sony Xperia S. Very very informative, objective and unbiased. Excellent camera comparison section especially. Would also like to see a comparison of night time stills and video.

        The X-S may have come late, just when quad core phones are about to hit the market, but it could very well have been released last year if it weren't for the tsunami and subsequent nuclear power meltdowns in Japan and floods in Thailand last year. Sony have done well in the face of these disasters and to not complain about that I take my hat off to them.

        Given all the trash talk the spec obsessed have made about the X-S' dual-core CPU and that it only comes with Gingerbread out of the box, I was surprised to see how well it performed when put to the test - the combination of benchmark scores here are telling. This result has to come down to the work Sony has been putting into optimising it's much maligned Timescape UI, which now is the lightest manufacturer "skin" that offers the closest user experience to stock Android one can get on this side of a Google Nexus device.

        Well done Sony and thank you GSMArena for a great review.

          • Y
          • Yusei
          • 3pP
          • 10 Mar 2012

          AnonD-45775, 09 Mar 2012BTW, that "Sony just uses a tecnology that is stable a... moreGSII with a screen uncapable of white color, poor resolution, GPU with no proper SO optimized for him, no hdmi out, poor battery, poor GPS signal.
          And at launch, GSII had many defects just like Galaxy Nexus, blur colors, certain grain in the display, yellow and pink spots while in camera.

          and dude, i'm a Vodafone employ, so YES i've worked with GSII and MINE GSII is a little boy when compared with Xperia S...


          Common guys, Sammy make a good work, but for 2011. GSIII with 4.8"? A hypermegasuper GPU with NO SO OPTIMIZED FOR HIM? Rly Sammy?

          And i bet that Samsung will give a horrible design to GSIII.

            • g
            • genius
            • XMF
            • 10 Mar 2012

            hey guys, i think sony and samsung are different taste ! than you have question, tell me better? NO BETTER ! Because like you choose cake, chocolate cake or cheesh cake? It's up to you what you like one or both

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • M0N
              • 10 Mar 2012

              Oh my, so many haters... All I am going to say is, XS was planned to under-cut other companies 2012 flagships in the first place. O2, they are offering the XS for 21 pound per month, and this is at least 10 pounds a month cheaper than all those quad core flags.

              XS was never made to compete with top ends. Oh, and people, phones need to be compared according to their price-tag.

                • g
                • genius
                • XMF
                • 10 Mar 2012

                hey guys, i think sony and samsung are different taste ! than you have question, tell me better? NO BETTER ! Because like you choose cake, chocolate cake or cheesh cake? It's up to you what you like one or both

                  • a
                  • andyintelspeak
                  • LhZ
                  • 10 Mar 2012

                  I wouldnt buy the s2 for one reason and one reason only....it looks like an iphone.
                  And that really does put me so off, ive seen it in person and it just looks like a big I phone.

                  To me carrying such a thing around would be embarrassing as it can easily been seen as a chinese iphone clone by the illinformed.(several courts around the world have stopped its sale because of this).

                  Sony phones have always attracted me as they dont keep with the mold , their designs are different and unique hence why they always win design awards. Ipad 2, sony tablet s and xperia active won gold awards (highest rating)for 2012.

                  In relation to the cpu, people are just stupid, a dual core is perfectly adequate for what these phones do....its gpu the more important nowadays on a smartphone. But consumers simply do not understand this and its far more difficult to quantify gpu power. Cpu cores is just marketing rubbish.
                  What praticality does finding pie millisecounds faster have in real use? Real use is panning, fluid kinetic scrolling, smooth menus........this is gpu hardware acceleration and apple know this, they always use super fast gpus and mid range cpus.

                  The xs is the much better phone here, the s2 only gets a point for sd card and that is it, they have also missed sony killer features like the fast capture, exmor, ps store.

                  People will bash it as it doesnt feature the useless new quadcore cpu, which is so pointless(my mate which designs games for android agrees), these people have just been absorbed by pathetic marketing.

                    • H
                    • Hard Submitter
                    • pmj
                    • 09 Mar 2012

                    AnonD-1319, 09 Mar 2012Bith of them are arm processors.I ment cortex not arm
                    i guess everyone makes mistakes

                      • k
                      • kris
                      • q}m
                      • 09 Mar 2012

                      AnonD-30293, 09 Mar 2012So again, it's just the spec argument, not the user experie... morethe htc one s with sense running a krait s4 benched 4800 on quadrant

                        • D
                        • AnonD-1319
                        • K7g
                        • 09 Mar 2012

                        Hard Submitter, 09 Mar 2012"1.5GHz Cortex-A9 CPU over 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU" ... moreBith of them are arm processors.

                          • m
                          • me
                          • fsV
                          • 09 Mar 2012

                          U've gotta admit the xperia s is way 'cuter' than d SGS2

                            • s
                            • stealthmana
                            • pVP
                            • 09 Mar 2012

                            Sony has the worst update rollout for android. I would go with Samsung.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • mG@
                              • 09 Mar 2012

                              Anonymous, 09 Mar 2012Go ask for a new phone, my S2 is true pitch black, no glow ... moreWhy are you so silly?

                              My one year old Arc can easy up to the SG2 boy.
                              And no i have a XS far better than my SG2 boy.

                                • D
                                • AnonD-330
                                • pk0
                                • 09 Mar 2012

                                What i see here is a phone launched only a couple of weeks ago, barely managing to beat a phone who's one year old on the market.

                                Proud to be the owner of a SGSII.

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-6173
                                  • thu
                                  • 09 Mar 2012

                                  wow, so many 'number of processor core' fans here... software/hardware optimization does matter and sony did it as always.

                                    AnonD-30293, 09 Mar 2012Yet one who jumps the gun on numerics You've yet to use ... moreFirst of all, you have no freaking clue what so ever about the Galaxy S II.

                                    Yes i own the Galaxy S II and know what that phone can do.

                                    First you said this: HDMI hook up? The XS doesn't need it, it can transmit 1080p videos wirelessly and effortlessly to the television, the same way it can transmit it to laptops/desktops, and it can be networked to desktops/laptops, multiples of them, wirelessly pretty much effortlessly as well to pull content on and off the phone as needed. The SGS2's Wifi Direct isn't even designed to handle this.

                                    Here you are shooting your self in the foot, because my Galaxy S II can do all of that plus more. I can stream whatever i want via DLNA to any TV's that support that.

                                    Next you said this: Add on to the feel of the phone itself. Virtually all the SGS2 users I came across the past 2 days pretty much are either quite impressed, or very impressed by how comfortable the XS feels in hand VS the SGS2.

                                    To be serious, nobody wants a phone that just "feels good" to hold over a phone that is prooven by tests after tests that shows that the Galaxy S II is a very strong phone that can take lots off falls in the ground without even taking a crack.

                                    So who is dumb to take a phone for the feeling in the hand over the excelent quality on the chassis on a phone?

                                    Do i need to mention iPhone 4S?

                                    LOL, all i will say to that phone is :facepalm:.

                                    Then you say this: With that transparent antennae, forumers who own both phones have received better 3G signal connectivity as well, and given how 3G networks don't surpass certain speeds (depending on where you live), the average being 5mb/s where I am, the XS is stronger for websurfing for where it counts. I will provide the numerics when I get my SGS2 back from an AMOLED burn in replacement.

                                    Here i live i have absolutely no problems with my antenna on my Galaxy S II. I get max speed of what Netcom can deliver here i live.

                                    And if you have a burn in on your Galaxy S II screen, you have done something very wrong. Because either you have never turned off your screen or you have got a faulty display that is a warranty case. And when you think about that over 20 million users owns a Galaxy S II, then there is actualy VERY few cases where the screen have burn-ins on the screen and so on. Every phones have it's own problems no matter what.

                                    Now you say this: Let's bring websurfing into consideration, especially with the amount of white or bright neutral colours that go around the web today. See the SGS2 batery drop real fast and the temperature of the screen go up yet? While you have to try real hard to get the XS to hit over 41^C, the SGS2 hits beyond 45^C easy.

                                    I'm not sure, but do you live in the middle of the desert or in a sauna?

                                    My Galaxy never hits 40^C with normal usage.

                                    And the rest was just waah waah waah because everyone knows that Sony XPERIA S might be better than the Galaxy S II in some things, but i mean seriously, give me a break. A phone that is one years old can barly be beaten by Sony's flagship today?

                                    And not only that. In one or two months, Samsung will release Galaxy S III that will make the Sony XPERIA S to look like a little fluffy pink bath toy for kids.

                                    Enjoy your XPERIA S while it lasts.

                                      • T
                                      • TMach
                                      • sXM
                                      • 09 Mar 2012

                                      Numbers race? Simply not playing that game, I hardly optimise use of my dual core so cannot complain about this handset only having 2 cores. ICS should make this phone truly complete and having played with P4U's demo in store, I will most definitely get one. I usually have 2 or 3 phones on the go at any one time and have ordered the HTC One x from Clove. I get bored easily....lol. I used to have the GS2 and Nexus but sold them as did not feel they were all that loveable!

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-45775
                                        • LFv
                                        • 09 Mar 2012

                                        Yusei, 09 Mar 2012outdated? ROFL Dude specs isn't everything, look at WP, ... moreBTW, that "Sony just uses a tecnology that is stable and works perfectly" is BS! Did you ever try the GS2? Being one of the first dual-core phones, (a YEAR ago)you couldn't get a more stable, perfect working, fast as lightning phone than the galaxy S2... Oh, but I guess you weren't on the planet when almost EVERY tech critic out there said it... lol