Difference Between Samsung Galaxy S Advance and Samsung Galaxy S2 (Galaxy S II)

Samsung Galaxy S Advance vs Samsung Galaxy S2 (Galaxy S II) | Speed, Performance and Features Reviewed | Full Specs Compared
 

One might wonder why a manufacturer would keep pumping out new models with the same configuration only differentiated by name. There are several explanations we can give, but the prominent explanation would be to build up internal rivalry and improve collective profit. When you have a lot of handsets with different model names, you get the perception of choice, although most of the handsets are similar to another in a subtle way. This subtlety is not to be underestimated when you’re about to make a purchasing decision, and that’s exactly what vendors takes into consideration. When there are choices you can switch from and forth, it’s more probable that you get one from that basket than from another basket effectively increasing the collective profits of the vendor.

The two handsets we are going to talk about today looks exactly the same from outside apart from the fact that one is somewhat smaller. They are from the same family and have almost the same specifications. One handset addresses the high end market while the other tends to address the mid-range of the market as per our point of view. The Samsung Galaxy S II has been a deal winner for Samsung and has firmly established the name Galaxy in the consumers’ minds. Thus, Samsung takes cautious measure on which handset they include in the glamorous Galaxy family. The new bloke in the family is Galaxy S Advance. As we have said, Advance is targeted towards the mid-range market while Samsung Galaxy S II still stands to be a high end handset even after almost a year of existence. We will compare these two similar smartphones and try to identify the differences between them so that, one can effectively make the investment decision as needed per their requirements. We’ll look into the features of the handsets individually before branching into seeing the whole picture.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance

Galaxy S Advance is a smartphone anyone could easily mistake for Galaxy S II because they resemble with such level of similarity. It is only slightly smaller than the Galaxy S II scoring dimensions of 123.2 x 63mm and a thickness of 9.7mm. It has a smaller screen of 4 inches featuring a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 233ppi. The Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen panel adds value to the package because it has great color reproduction. It comes with 1GHz Cortex A9 dual core processor, but we have no information about the chipset. We can assume it to be either TI OMAP or Snapdragon S2. It has 768MB of RAM, which falls somewhat short but nonetheless, it has smooth and seamless operation, so we figured Samsung has done some tweaks. Galaxy S Advance runs on Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread, and we haven’t heard any news on an official upgrade to Android OS v4.0 IceCreamSandwich, but we hope it’ll come out soon.

Although this smartphone may sound like a low end phone, that’s not the case either. We actually have some trouble figuring out whether Samsung meant this phone to be an economical replacement for Samsung Galaxy S. In any case, this falls somewhere in the middle between Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Galaxy S II. It has 5MP camera with autofocus and LED flash with geo tagging enabled. It can capture 720p videos at 30 frames per second and it also has 1.3MP front facing camera bundled with the Bluetooth v3.0 for conference calling. It has 8GB or 16GB version with the support to expand the memory using a microSD card. It comes with HSDPA connectivity yielding up to 14.4Mbps of speed while having Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n for continuous connectivity. It can also act as a wi-fi hotspot and build in DLNA connectivity ensures that you can stream rich media content right from your phone. It comes in either Black or White flavors and has the normal sensors like any Android phone. Samsung has ported Advance with 1500mAh battery and we reckon it will comfortably power up your device for more than 6 hours.

Samsung Galaxy S2 (Galaxy S II)

Samsung is the leading smartphone vendor in the world, and they have actually gained much of their popularity though Galaxy family. It’s not just because Samsung Galaxy is superior in quality and uses cutting edge technology, but it’s because Samsung is also concerned about the usability aspect of the smartphone and make sure that has the due attention. Galaxy S II comes in either Black or White or Pink and has three buttons at the bottom. It also has the same curved smooth edges Samsung gives to Galaxy family with an expensive looking plastic cover. It is really light weighing 116g and ultra-thin too having a thickness of 8.5mm.

The renowned phone was released in April 2011. It came with a 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 dual core processor on top of Samsung Exynos chipset with Mali-400MP GPU. It also had 1GB of RAM. This was top notch configuration back in April, and even now only a few smartphones surpass the configurations. The operating system is Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread, and luckily Samsung promises an upgrade to V4.0 IceCreamSandwich soon. Galaxy S II has two storage options, 16 / 32 GB with the ability to expand the storage using a microSD card upto 32 GB more. It comes with 4.3 inches Super AMOLED Plus Capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and a pixel density of 217ppi. While the panel is of superior quality, the pixel density could have been somewhat advanced, and it could have featured a better resolution. But nonetheless, this panel reproduces images in a great manner that would catch your eye. It has HSDPA connectivity, which is both fast and steady, along with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, and it can also act as a wi-fi hotspot, which is really attractive. With the DLNA functionality, you can stream rich media directly to your TV wirelessly.

Samsung Galaxy S II comes with 8MP camera with autofocus and LED flash and some advanced functionalities. It can record 1080p HD videos at 30 frames per second and has Geo-tagging with the support of A-GPS. For the purpose of video conferences, it also features a 2MP camera on the front bundled with Bluetooth v3.0. Besides the normal sensor, Galaxy S II comes with a gyro sensor and the generic android applications. It features Samsung TouchWiz UI v4.0 which gives a good user experience. It comes with 1650mAh battery and Samsung promises a talk time of 18 hours in 2G networks, which is simply amazing.

Conclusion

Sometimes a conclusion is obvious after reading the rest of the prose, and that is because the differentiation is not subtle. But sometime, you’re left with a big question mark even after the conclusion because the differences are so subtle to pinpoint. The conclusion we are giving here is somewhere between the middle of those two extremes because the difference is subtle, yet easy to pinpoint at. Let us get straight to it. Samsung Galaxy S II is definitely better than Samsung Galaxy S Advance. If you ask me how, a couple of things would come to my mind. Galaxy S II has a better processor and a RAM which fortifies the configurations significantly. Together with Gingerbread it gives you a handset that hardly gets stuck. On the other hand, Galaxy S Advance is not so bad either, but it lacks in the division of RAM and processor. Further, Galaxy S II has better optics, bigger screen and a better screen panel. It can record 1080p videos while Advance can only record 720p videos. The bigger screen might be a slight disappointment for some people, but the screen panel is definitely to your advantage. What’s more, the Galaxy S II offers an amazing talk time which takes it right up to the top in the market and surpasses what Advance has to offer. But wait, the advantage in Advance comes at last; it has a low price tag compared to Galaxy S II and has better performance than Galaxy S. So after all, it might be an economical replacement for your Galaxy S.