[XPERIA X10 General] DooMLoRD:
[LONG POST WARNING :P]

there might be some typos and some unintentional things (tone of writing this may be)... I do not mean to offend any one... u can consider the following as a random blog post not targetting anyone ;)

please dont laugh.. i am not good at these kind of things...

Ok now before u start flaming and start fanboy-wars on this, I suggest that u read the full content…

I AM NOT A SE FANBOY!

I have tried to provide an unbiased review of Samsung Galaxy S2 from point of view of a Xperia X10 user/android user… oh btw I am writing this considering that u use custom kernels on X10!

Some background… I have primarily used Symbain phones for almost 4-5 yrs… just last year I bought my first android phone the Xperia X10! Since then I have bought many androids for myself, my friends & family… I have personally used Motorola Milestone, SE Xperia Arc, LG Optimus One and now just last week I got the Samsung Galaxy S2 (SGS2)…

this will be sort of comparison between SGS2 and X10 and my personal opinion regrading both these devices as they CURRENTLY stand

[ THE SPECS ]

The SGS2 is a beast!

The most significant difference is the screen… Super AMOLED PLUS which quite frankly is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DISPLAY I have EVER USED! It just blows away the LCD/LED displays (compared to X10 which has LCD display) Now before some ppl catch my throat saying that “colors are not ‘natural’” let me share with u that there is a setting provided by Samsung called “Background Effect” which basically can allow u to adjust the saturation & contrast of the images on screen! For the “natural color” minded folks u can use the “movie” option… others can enjoy the “Standard” or better “Dynamic” options…

It has 4.3’’ screen which is slightly bulky in hand and little bit hard to grip (compared to X10 which has 4’’ screen) frankly the difference is only noticeable if u are watching videos…

It has 1.2 Ghz dual core ARM-9 chips (compared to X10 single core 1 Ghz Arm-8 chip)

very powerful dedicated GPU [Mali-400] which will handle any of the latest games u can throw at it! (compared to Adreno 200 on X10)

sgs2 has 836 MB User accessible RAM (compared to 280 MB on X10)

The internal memory is eMMC so there is actually an microSD card used for system, data, etc… so the actual usable /data partition is 2GB!!!! (compared to 465MB on X10)

Also the internal sdcard has 12 GB free space [I have the SGS2 16GB version] AND there is room for additional external SDCARD!!! (compared to 8GB supplied by SE for X10)

SGS2 supports simultaneous 10 point finger recognition! Take that multi touch games!

SGS2 has lots cool features like HDMI output/USB On-the-GO [but u will need to buy these adapter/cables separately]

Front facing camera and fullHD (1920x1080p) recording are few other perks (x10 can do 720p recording)

SGS2 has 1650 mAh battery compared to 1500 mAh of X10

SGS2 has HSPA+ (21 Megabit/sec) compared to HSDPA (7.2 Megabit/sec) on X10

And ofcourse SGS2 comes with unlocked bootloader (there is a thing called download-mode binary counter which keeps a tab on how many time u flashed using the flashing tool ODIN, though this can be reset using a hack ;))

[ ACTUAL USAGE ]

SGS2 just comfortably cruises thru menus/etc… no lag whtsoever... menu scrolling/web browsing anything u throw at it SGS2 will just devastate it ;)

Using live wallpaers, having 10 tabs open in browser, multitasking with a game running in the background and then scrolling thru menus it doesn’t LAG!

[ THE GOODIES ]

Ok now comes the dev aspect, with SGS2 being adapted by so many users/devs, within just 2 months of release, there are already tons of ROMs/Kernels/themes/etc…

U have the freedom to choose overclock/undervolt/overvolt kernels… there are even apps to control voltage of every frequency set! U can overclock/regulate the GPU too! Some guys over at SGS2 forums run it at 1.9Ghz without a hitch! (compared to X10 which only is able to handle 1.1 Ghz overclock)

btw this doesnt mean that i dont respect/honor our devs here at X10 sub-forums... i have a HUGE respect for them and all that they have achieved and are currently doing/working on... they have done / are doing a great job to make our terribly limited device (cause of manufacturer policies) awesome & rocking ;)

[ THE BAD / UGLY ]

Ok the screen resolution on SGS2 is really bad... I mean seriously, a 4.3’’ screen deserves 960×540 (qHD) resolution not 800x480… sure u can change dpi but then that’s NOT TRULY changing resolution…

There is no hardware camera button! It is very funny but seriously I miss the camera button…

when will they get good XENON flash in top end android devices? i really miss the xenon flash from my old Nokia N82 :P

another problem is that there is NO LED FOR NOTIFICATIONS :(

A lot of defective display units are there… I myself had this problem and had to get it replaced with a new piece… also many users at SGS2 forums have reported this…

Device heats up even using stock FW… I was playing Modern Combat 2 for 15-20 mins and I could feel the back of the device getting really warm…

NOW THE BIGGEST ISSUE there are not many apps currently available which can make use of dual core processors… may be multi-threaded/multi-core optimized apps will take time to get in but currently not many apps can make use of this…

[ MY VIEWS ]

Now from this point forward are my personal views/opinions... I am not telling u to do something… this is just wht I personally feel… if u wish u can read this whole thing and say “wht a bunch of crap… he doenst know wht he is talking abt” I don’t mind that, those are ur views these are mine ;)

The final decision if u want to buy a new phone ALWAYS is with YOU AND YOU ONLY!

As I said before SGS2 is a great device but there are some thing to consider before u UPGRADE… keep in mind that the following views/opinions are only valid if u are upgrading from an X10 to a SGS2… if u are upgrading from sub-1Ghz phone then this will not matter...

I wouldn’t call an upgrade from X10 to SGS2 a BIG GAME CHANGING thing… there is not much difference in 4.3’’ and 4’’ screen sizes… also if u have been using custom kernels on X10 (fps uncapped /overclocked) then SGS2 feels slightly smoother… the screen/image quality is obviously better on the SGS2... But honestly 16million colors (SGS2) vs 65k colors (x10) is not that great a difference, it is only noticeable in some images/videos which have heavy gradation…

The big issues is that currently there are not many apps that can use this much power… then there is the practical issue… see u can play games/overclock/etc for some time BUT most of the time (>80%) u will be running the device @ 800Mhz to 200 Mhz (lowest speed which can be set)…

Though if u are upgrading from a 600Mhz phone (with < 3.5’’ screen size) then SGS2 is a TOTALLY different experience…

One thing to keep in mind currently most of the issues faced by us X10 users (like camera not fully working in 2.2+ custom roms, stability of custom kernels) are related to the restrictions imposed by SE… thing may improve once we get the GB update…

[ FINAL REMARKS ]

So keeping all of the above in mind here are my recommendations

Why u shouldn’t jump to dual-core bandwagon? (AS OF NOW)

If you still have a few months left on you contract and if u don’t mind a few sec delay/slight lag I recommend that u WAIT FOR NEXT generation phone… I am not talking about quad core/etc… frankly CURRENTLY there is just no point for a 2+ core phone… even 2 cores is an overkill! What I suggest is that u wait for next gen technology (28nm fabrication) which will greatly improve battery life… hold on till the apps/games can actually make use of the tremendous processing power packed into today’s dual core phones…

Who should go for this upgrade?

u just liked it

u are upgrading for < 1Ghz phones

u have the money and don’t mind spending that much for the BEST PHONE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

u are a POWER USER and do heavy multitasking, need to play latest games at max frame rate

u want an additional phone to use (like me ;))

u are stuck on X10 stock 2.1 rom and don’t want to install custom roms/kernels

u are totally frustrated with the X10 and don’t want to wait for GB upgrade

why currently u shouldn’t “upgrade” to any other single core phone?

See single core phones are already very old hardware… there is no point spending so much money on a single core phone which will be outdated in next 6 to 8 months (tops)…

Instead wait for a few more months and then get a dual core phone ;)

I hope u guys appreciate this and it helps those who are currently planning to u buy a new phone…

P.S.:

I hope u have noticed that I keep saying CURRENTLY, cause all that I have psoted above (my views/opinions) is only valid for things UPTO THIS POINT (July 8, 2011 01:00 AM GMT+05:30)… technology is an every changing thing and wht is best today wont be the best (or even good) tomorrow!