Recommendation for Smart Phone

[Linus]

I am planning to buy a smart phone soon, have shortlisted two of them:-

1. Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II - http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Galaxy-S-II_id5106

2. Sony Xperia S - http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Sony-Xperia-S_id6220

Kindly share your views which one is better from the above two.

[didialdi]

ok, i'm getting confused. both are good. sony wins in bigger cpu clockspeed, more megapixels, more resolutions, bravia

samsung wins in GPU, although just mali 400, but in some reviews, it is still one of the best in mid range phone, also wins in super amoled, faster jelly bean update, slimmer, samsung's android seems more stable, expandable storage, usually touchwiz is lighter than other launcher -_-....

you can see this http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_s_vs_samsung_galaxy_s_ii-review-734.php

[majithia23]

Samsung Galaxy S 2 , hands down b/w these two .

A very good sturdy smartphone .

Sony is good but , is a little delicate when compared to Samsung .

[nIGHT]

Sony warranty policy sucks big time, and they fail a lot of consumers on its update on jelly bean.

Think real hard when buying sony, you better do some research as they lost consumer support credibility.

Samsung has been great on consumer support, even updated SII with jelly bean! That is a great sign they value their consumer.

[majithia23]

Agreed with kenmelagi .

In todays times , before weighing in any other options , lay special attention on Customer Care .

Even though i live in a quite good city , but picture this -- There is no official Sony service center here ( although for other products there is , but nothing dedicated for mobile phones ) !

Any company offering good after sales support is the one to go with ( bundled with a good product ) ! ;)

[RadioActive]

Both are great phones. But I'd go for the Xperia S assuming its price is close to the SII.

[GRiM]

No question about it, get the SGS2, much better device.

[rahuldohare]

my choice samsung galaxy .......

[Nautilus]

I would go for Samsung

[RadioActive]

No question about it, get the SGS2, much better device.

I disagree. If you're comparing apples-to-apples, then the Xperia S is better.

[DKT27]

Though I personally feel S II is better, I'd go with Xperia S. Simply because it's newer. S II is 2 years old, it's painfully getting Jelly Bean now, consider what you may (or may not, for that matter) get in future.

I'd say, look for something even newer.

[mara-]

If you can wait around 2 months, S2 Plus will be out. Mostly the same specs, but since it will be a new product it will be longer supported.

Cheers ;)

[Linus]

Though I personally feel S II is better, I'd go with Xperia S. Simply because it's newer. S II is 2 years old, it's painfully getting Jelly Bean now, consider what you may (or may not, for that matter) get in future.

I'd say, look for something even newer.

You are right! S II has become outdated now & future updates will be a concern.

Any other smart phone's I should look out for, other than these two?

[shought]

Both phones are fine. Just pick whichever is cheapest/which design suits you best.

[DKT27]

Though I personally feel S II is better, I'd go with Xperia S. Simply because it's newer. S II is 2 years old, it's painfully getting Jelly Bean now, consider what you may (or may not, for that matter) get in future.

I'd say, look for something even newer.

You are right! S II has become outdated now & future updates will be a concern.

Any other smart phone's I should look out for, other than these two?

What's your budget? :)

[Lyon275]

Sony warranty policy sucks big time, and they fail a lot of consumers on its update on jelly bean.

Think real hard when buying sony, you better do some research as they lost consumer support credibility.

Samsung has been great on consumer support, even updated SII with jelly bean! That is a great sign they value their consumer.

Fully agree with you. They don't care about their customers. They just want your money , nothing else . They said earlier that all 2012 devices will get Jelly bean and guess what now only few of them will get it (Most expensive models) Cheaper models wont get Jelly bean of course (Ex. Xperia Miro , Xperia Tipo this models are launched on ICS and they will die on ICS ) Also and they won't update any 2011 device beyond ICS EVEN THE MOST EXPENSIVE OF 2011 WON'T GET JELLY BEAN. If you want updated phone from sony you need to buy monster like Xperia Z or to buy new phone every year.

They just care about money...

BTW. Linus buy Samsung (some new model) don't let Sony fool you . Samsung respect it's customers ;)

[Linus]

Though I personally feel S II is better, I'd go with Xperia S. Simply because it's newer. S II is 2 years old, it's painfully getting Jelly Bean now, consider what you may (or may not, for that matter) get in future.

I'd say, look for something even newer.

You are right! S II has become outdated now & future updates will be a concern.

Any other smart phone's I should look out for, other than these two?

What's your budget? :)

My Budget is INR 25,000

[GRiM]

Though I personally feel S II is better, I'd go with Xperia S. Simply because it's newer. S II is 2 years old, it's painfully getting Jelly Bean now, consider what you may (or may not, for that matter) get in future.

I'd say, look for something even newer.

lmao, official updates from Samsung are completely irrelevant unless you only want those updates. I had JB on my device months ago via AOSP/CM10 base or even the leaked Samsung JB and then public Sammy JB since last week. Yeah you may wait a long time if you wait for OEM or carrier updates via kies but you have no need to wait for them when there is an abundance of dev support in form of custom roms or flashing official Sammy roms early via ODIN. Even if you dont see keylime pie via kies you will still get it via custom rom (maybe not with touchwiz) but via rom built from AOSP Android.

Just visit xda-developers.com and do some reading/research.

Samsung devices have a lot of following on XDA so even if abandoned or slow to update by Samsung you have assurance that you will still have the very latest OS updates from dev community. If you want a cheap but excellent device/hardware get a S2 (International version - I9100) its no contest.

[DKT27]

Though I personally feel S II is better, I'd go with Xperia S. Simply because it's newer. S II is 2 years old, it's painfully getting Jelly Bean now, consider what you may (or may not, for that matter) get in future.

I'd say, look for something even newer.

lmao, official updates from Samsung are completely irrelevant unless you only want those updates. I had JB on my device months ago via AOSP/CM10 base or even the leaked Samsung JB and then public Sammy JB since last week. Yeah you may wait a long time if you wait for OEM or carrier updates via kies but you have no need to wait for them when there is an abundance of dev support in form of custom roms or flashing official Sammy roms early via ODIN. Even if you dont see keylime pie via kies you will still get it via custom rom (maybe not with touchwiz) but via rom built from AOSP Android.

Just visit xda-developers.com and do some reading/research.

Samsung devices have a lot of following on XDA so even if abandoned or slow to update by Samsung you have assurance that you will still have the very latest OS updates from dev community. If you want a cheap but excellent device/hardware get a S2 (International version - I9100) its no contest.

Agreed. But you didn't get my point. S II is highly unlikely to get any major future updates whatsoever. So, if he can find a good phone with similar specs and but newer phone with future updates possibility, why go for something old? This especially when S IV is near corner (me suggesting that S II will be too old by then).

@Linus: From what I can understand, you might well like to keep the phone with you for more than a year or two, so invest very carefully.

[nIGHT]

Sony warranty policy sucks big time, and they fail a lot of consumers on its update on jelly bean.

Think real hard when buying sony, you better do some research as they lost consumer support credibility.

Samsung has been great on consumer support, even updated SII with jelly bean! That is a great sign they value their consumer.

Fully agree with you. They don't care about their customers. They just want your money , nothing else . They said earlier that all 2012 devices will get Jelly bean and guess what now only few of them will get it (Most expensive models) Cheaper models wont get Jelly bean of course (Ex. Xperia Miro , Xperia Tipo this models are launched on ICS and they will die on ICS ) Also and they won't update any 2011 device beyond ICS EVEN THE MOST EXPENSIVE OF 2011 WON'T GET JELLY BEAN. If you want updated phone from sony you need to buy monster like Xperia Z or to buy new phone every year.

They just care about money...

BTW. Linus buy Samsung (some new model) don't let Sony fool you . Samsung respect it's customers ;)

When I bought my phone it was the most expensive and flagship model at that time.

I paid it with its price inclusion that it is going to be updated to jellybean.

We already paid for that upgrade and they will not deliver that product.

In short, sony scammed us. :(

But the worst I experienced is the warranty policy and the services.

You might go thru what I went with them and you'll know what I'm talking about how their warranty policy sucks.

Don't buy extra years of warranty and don't believe the accidental coverage damage, they won't honor it. :angry:

@Linus: From what I can understand, you might well like to keep the phone with you for more than a year or two, so invest very carefully.

He is right, invest very carefully.

You don't want to carry an expensive brick in your pocket and so its later use will be a very expensive paper weight. ;)

[GRiM]

Though I personally feel S II is better, I'd go with Xperia S. Simply because it's newer. S II is 2 years old, it's painfully getting Jelly Bean now, consider what you may (or may not, for that matter) get in future.

I'd say, look for something even newer.

lmao, official updates from Samsung are completely irrelevant unless you only want those updates. I had JB on my device months ago via AOSP/CM10 base or even the leaked Samsung JB and then public Sammy JB since last week. Yeah you may wait a long time if you wait for OEM or carrier updates via kies but you have no need to wait for them when there is an abundance of dev support in form of custom roms or flashing official Sammy roms early via ODIN. Even if you dont see keylime pie via kies you will still get it via custom rom (maybe not with touchwiz) but via rom built from AOSP Android.

Just visit xda-developers.com and do some reading/research.

Samsung devices have a lot of following on XDA so even if abandoned or slow to update by Samsung you have assurance that you will still have the very latest OS updates from dev community. If you want a cheap but excellent device/hardware get a S2 (International version - I9100) its no contest.

Agreed. But you didn't get my point. S II is highly unlikely to get any major future updates whatsoever. So, if he can find a good phone with similar specs and but newer phone with future updates possibility, why go for something old? This especially when S IV is near corner (me suggesting that S II will be too old by then).

@Linus: From what I can understand, you might well like to keep the phone with you for more than a year or two, so invest very carefully.

And you miss my point, It IS highly likely to get major updates in future, Just not direct via Samsung/Kies.

For example the CyanogenMod team will be releasing CM official updates for many Android versions to come aswell as many other types of roms built from Android source code. Plus we also now have a the Galaxy SII+ which will get official Sammy updates which should be easy to port over to standard SII.

Official carrier updates (which is what you're referring to) are simply not a factor when considering buying a 1-3 year old popular device as the dev community will still release roms/updates for it.

I myself will likely be getting a Galaxy SIV once released, however if I was looking for a still near high end device for reasonable price it would 100% be the SII simply for the dev backing behind it compared to Sony devices.

[chlorophyll]

s2 gonna get official JB update this month ending.in some region already its been rolled out.

[DKT27]

And you miss my point, It IS highly likely to get major updates in future, Just not direct via Samsung/Kies.

For example the CyanogenMod team will be releasing CM official updates for many Android versions to come aswell as many other types of roms built from Android source code. Plus we also now have a the Galaxy SII+ which will get official Sammy updates which should be easy to port over to standard SII.

Official carrier updates (which is what you're referring to) are simply not a factor when considering buying a 1-3 year old popular device as the dev community will still release roms/updates for it.

I myself will likely be getting a Galaxy SIV once released, however if I was looking for a still near high end device for reasonable price it would 100% be the SII simply for the dev backing behind it compared to Sony devices.

Unlikely to get an update but still go for a phone? Also, which is 2 years old?

Why root if you can have it officially? Like I've mentioned in other threads, people here don't want to void their warranty by rooting things.

By no means I'm suggesting Sony. Instead, I'm suggesting to look for more options.

[nIGHT]

I feel the need to intercede here to clarify some matter.

@DKT27 and @GRiM were actually right in their own perspective but they do not share the same aspect.

Let me iterate the process of upgrading a smartphone to a new version of Android OS.

There are two ways to upgrade your smartphone to a new OS; it is through an

official (smartphone manufacturer) update or through manual flashing using cyanomods files.

The easiest way to upgrade to a new version of Android OS is to use the official update file

released by your smartphone manufacturer through their smartphone management software

like the samsung KIES or sony pc companion.

This will have a high reliability as this update, that also contains the official ROMs (the files that used to

communicate with your smartphone's hardware), is compatible with your phone and therefore are less likely to have

a major bugs in it. It is the safest and most recommended way to upgrade as this will not damage your phone.

The downside of this method is that you can only upgrade to a higher version of Android OS and not be able to

downgrade it. Also, you cannot have your own choice of kernel and User Interface.

The other way to upgrade or downgrade your smartphone OS is by means of manual FLASHING your smartphone with any

combination of official (release by manufacturer) and custom files (not made by your smartphone's manufacturer).

Flashing writes your Android OS files to your smartphone's ROM synonymous to installing windows to your pc.

Although the preferred/safest way is to use the official ROM files with your own choice of custom kernels and custom UI,

there are times that support for official ROMs are not instantly released or may not be given at all.

Thus, we are forced to use custom ROM files which are not 100% compatible to our smartphone's hardware and may damage it.

If it will not damage our phone then there may be bugs like the camera flash problem, unable to utilize the camera,

random reboots and many more. So until you're satisfied with the current release of these custom files only then you

do the upgrade/Flashing.

Before you can manually flash your phone you need to ROOT it. It is synonymous to windows administrator privilege.

ROOTing is the process of allowing users of smartphones, tablets, and other devices running the Android mobile

operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's subsystem. ~wikipedia

ROOT is useful as you can remove bloatware installed by your manufacturer and you are able to customize your

phones UI as well as the choice of kernel. You have access to your phones core files, rom files, kernel files etc.

You may adjust your processor speed, but be sure to read a lot about its danger and safety boundaries.

[DKT27]

Use report button when double posts by mistake. ;)

You forgot to mention, rooting, in most cases, means warranty void. Some repair centers don't care, some brand don't care, but there are people who don't care how or why you rooted it.