Comparing Galaxy Note vs Galaxy S2 vs Galaxy Nexus

We compare the Samsung Galaxy Note vs Galaxy S2 vs Galaxy Nexus. We’ll putting their specs and benchmarks side by side including screen, cpu, gpu, camera, battery life and more.

Samsung has released three very good devices in 2011, the Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone, the Galaxy Note phablet, and a Galaxy Nexus, their third Nexus phone. It’s no wonder that they’re the top smartphone manufacturer for the third quarter of 2011.

All three of these devices have solid spec sheets and are similar in hardware. There are some differences though and in this review, we take a look at these three – the best of the best from Samsung this year and see what each bring to the table.

 

Operating system

• The Galaxy Nexus gives you the most up-to-date version of Android – Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• In addition, the Galaxy Nexus gives its users the assurance that they will always be offered the most up-to-date versions of Android
• The Galaxy Nexus is already in line to receive the Android 5.0 Jellybean update

 

• Galaxy Note and Galaxy S2 are guaranteed for Ice Cream Sandwich, but it’s not that clear if they will be so for Jellybean
• The Galaxy Note has the S Pen, a feature that those in business or the creative just love
• If the Note does get the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, it would be great as it would mean that its Mali 400 GPU. So it would be fully used for memos and even sketching with the S Pen
• The Galaxy S2 considered one of the best phones of the moment. It comes with Ice Cream Sandwich can only improve the user experience

Fast processors

• Both the processors of the Nexus and the Galaxy S2 clock at 1.2 GHz. They are very fast.
• The Note has a chip that clocks at 1.4 GHz and its performance are about the same as that of the Galaxy S2 and the Nexus.
• The Galaxy S2 has two variants and these have two different processing packages

• I9100 – Exynos chip
• I9100G – TI OMAP 4430

• The Galaxy Note also uses an Exynos processor.

 

• Given how similar performance is for these three devices, processor speed isn’t really a factor for favouring one over the other.

Camera

• The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a 5 MP low light camera
• Both Samsung S2 and Samsung Galaxy Note has a 8 MP camera
• The Nexus can take acceptable photos and actually feels like a compact DSLR
• With the upcoming ICS upgrades to the S2 and the Note, however, users might find that they like the higher resolution cameras on these devices better
• All three of these devices can take 1920 x 1080 (1080 pixel HD) videos at 30 frames per second
• As it has a low light sensor, the Galaxy Nexus takes slightly better night videos
• The Galaxy Nexus has a 1.3 MP front camera
• Both the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Note have a 2 MP front camera.

Display

• The Samsung Galaxy S2 uses a Super AMOLED Plus display with a resolution of 800 x 480
• On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus have HD Super AMOLED displays which get resolutions of 1280 x 800
• The Super AMOLED Plus display uses the traditional RGB structure
• Moreover, the HD Super AMOLED display has a PenTile matrix
• Many people don’t like PenTile as they feel there is some pixelation

 

• However, we tested all three of the devices and didn’t see any difference. The images are vivid, crisp and bright.
• We have to admit we prefer the Note’s display. At 5.3 inches, the display on the Note is quite easy to read.
• The 5 X 5 grid used on the Note also allows for more items, widgets and apps to appear on the screen compared to the Nexus and S2’s 4 x 4 grid.

Battery Life

• The Samsung Galaxy S2 has a Li-Ion 1650 mAh
• For Samsung Galaxy Note has a Li-Ion 2500 mAh
• Moreover, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a Li-Ion 1750 mAh
• We got around 14 to 16 hours of battery life using the Galaxy Note
• For the Galaxy S2, we got around 12-14 hours of battery life
• We haven’t been able to test the battery life of the Galaxy Nexus personally, but reports say that it has a relatively good battery life

NFC

• There are currently very little devices that have NFC, but the Galaxy Nexus is one of those that do.
• It’s likely that the variants of the Note and Galaxy Nexus set to ship to the US will also have NFC.
• Lack or non-lack of NFC isn’t really a deal breaker yet, though. There are few uses for NFC except for Android Beam.
• If manufacturers really start releasing NFC capable MicroSD cards, NFC might become a more important factor.

 

If we assume that all three devices before us have already got Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, we would be really torn between the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Note. The S Pen is a very nice feature and a big help for business, but the Nexus’s OS update is just enviable.

The Galaxy S2 on the other hand is a pretty solid device and when it too gets the Ice Cream Sandwich update, it will still be a good choice.

Of these three devices, which sound more appealing to you?
JR

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