Difference Between Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 and Samsung Galaxy S Advance

Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 vs Samsung Galaxy S Advance | Speed, Performance and Features Reviewed | Full Specs Compared
 

We used to get a majestic and glamorous feeling when we heard the name Samsung Galaxy because the ancestors of the family were the best in the market. At present, Samsung is losing this glamour since they have included some low end smartphones under the Galaxy family, as well. We don’t question the quality of those handsets since as usual, Samsung pays the utmost care to keep the Galaxy family line intact, but the loss of glamour may cause them some problems in the future. On the other hand, it can be a great marketing strategy as well for Galaxy family is one glamorous family, people do want to buy Galaxy smartphones, and thus they even offer low end ones. The only catch is that, if they keep doing it for much longer without a break, the reputation of being glamorous is going to vaporize which won’t be good for Samsung. In any case, we are going to talk about one such mid-range device that was announced at the MWC 2012, and compare it to a similar device announced at the CES 2012.

The first device is not exactly a phone, rather a similar device for Apple iPods. Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 is a perfect media player and a personal digital assistant with WiFi connectivity. It resembles the Samsung Player 4.0 which was released a year back. The other device we have in hand is a similar mid-range smartphone Samsung Galaxy S Advance. We will talk about these handsets individually before comparing them in the same arena, although you have to keep in mind that these two handsets are addressed at completely different market segments and set of people.

Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2

Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 is rather a beautiful handset that comes in a white chromed plastic trim. It is slim, looks elegant and light weight; to be exact, the dimensions are 124.1 x 66.1mm and 8.9mm thick with a weight of 118g. It differs from the normal Samsung design by the corners which are not that rounded. It only has one physical button and two touch buttons, which is a normal design pattern for Samsung. Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 has 1GHz of processor on top of TI OMAP 4 chipset and 512MB of RAM. The Android OS v3.2 Gingerbread is the operating system for this handset, and looking at the hardware specs, we got to say that we aren’t that pleased with the single core processor. Samsung does promise an upgrade to Android OS v4.0 ICS, but we have our doubts about how smooth the performance would be.

It comes with 4.2 inches IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, but we think Samsung could have given a better screen panel for this handset. Don’t get me wrong because the panel is great, but there are greater panels from Samsung and greater resolutions. Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 has 2MP camera and a VGA camera at the front for video conferencing. As we have been saying, it’s a non-GSM version, and the only connectivity is Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. It has two variant, an 8GB version and a 16GB version with the option to expand the storage using a microSD card up to 32GB. Samsung claims that this handset is built for gaming. However, what we can say is that the newly introduced six axis gyro sensor is rather sensitive in terms of gaming. It also has 1500mAh battery, and it may give a usage time around 6-7 hours in average.

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, which we assume it to be either TI OMAP or Snapdragon S 2. It has 768MB of RAM, which falls somewhat short; 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.

Conclusion

These two handsets are addressed at completely different markets, which don’t seem to converge anytime sooner. The Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 is addressed at the non-GSM device market where it can be used as a perfect substitution for Apple iPods. It can act as a media player, a gaming device, an emergency camera, a personal digital assistant as well as a network browsing device. However, looking at the past records of Samsung Player 4.0 and 5.0, we have some doubts whether this would succeed in the market. It is eminent that this device is targeted to claim a market share from Apple iPods, but Player wasn’t able to send a message, and yet we have to wait for Samsung’s penetration strategy to understand whether Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 can send a message. Even though that is the case, it may have been better if this device was high end so that the device itself would define the market.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S Advance is a GSM device that falls in the mid-rage Android devices range. It is an acceptable smartphone in all aspects, and the price is also acceptable. If we compare it with Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2, Galaxy S Advance would definitely be my choice, as it can serve both of those purposes. However, the purchasing decision is really up to you. If you’re trying to locate a similar device for Apple iPod, then Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 is a perfectly suitable candidate. Otherwise, if you are trying for a mid-range Android smartphone, Samsung Galaxy S Advance can narrow down your search substantially.