[Galaxy S II General] nrk_2k:
Just pointless..

First off.. I9100 > I9100G (as far as technical specs and raw power go) The I9100 has a more powerful processor and GPU, Everything else is pretty much exactly the same!!

Now, as far as user experience goes, I think under normal everyday use you'd be hard pressed to notice much difference. So for those who like to have a phone with plenty of excess raw power, the I9100 is the far better option, but for those who are only concerned about it running what is currently available, there will be no difference between either. Its just the same as how a hardcore gamer will by a computer far more powerful than what they need, as they want a guarantee that it will be able to run whatever they throw at it both now and in the future without having to run the system at its maximum to do so.

Secondly, using benchmarks to try and prove that even with a less powerful processor and GPU, the phone is just as fast, if not faster, is an absolutely pointless exercise. Benchmarks are not an accurate display of a phones actual abilities at all. A benchmarking program is only as good as the methods they use. So ones like Antutu which are built to work on any android device do not take advantage of chipset specific functions, or even the more advanced features that high end devices use. You will notice that each time you run a benchmark on your phone, the result will be different. There are a few reasons why that happens, but I don't need to explain them as the shear fact that the result differs with every run of the benchmarks is enough to prove that they are not reliable for comparing a devices actual performance.

Thirdly, using the Galaxy Nexus as any sort of reasoning as to which variant of the SGSII is better is completely irrelevant! The Galaxy Nexus is a Google designed device. Samsung is just manufacturing it. The Galaxy Nexus is not a "next model up" from the SGSII, it is merely a reasonably high spec'd flagship for ICS. This is why Google chose the processor and GPU that they did, because the Android API virtual device uses these processors as "default". This is why ICS is available (I am not counting the leaked alpha & beta releases) on the Galaxy Nexus, and not on the SGSII as yet. The chipsets were not chosen for better performance, just for compatibility with ICS.

Fourthly, both the I9100 & I9100G have 1GB (1024mb) of system RAM. This is shared between CPU and GPU. And because the I9100 has a more powerful GPU, it is allocated more of the RAM for its use. So yes the I9100G has more "available" RAM. but yet again this is irrelevant as the Android operating system has processes in place to clear the memory of unnecessary processes to make sure there is always enough RAM for running programs. So having a few extra MB of available RAM provides absolutely no performance boost at all.

Lastly, the I9100 currently has better dev support as it has been out for a while and plenty of devs have one to work with. But give it time and the dev support for the I9100G will grow and there will be plenty of custom ROMs & Kernels available for use. Also, for those that brought in comments about banding and such other display issues, both devices are using exactly the same screens, any display issues you are having are software related, not hardware.

So, the final verdict is.. Yes the I9100 is more powerful than the I9100G. Does this matter.. NO! In the end regardless of which variant you happen to own, you still have a very high end device that is more than capable of doing pretty much anything you want it to currently. Owners of the I9100G shouldn't be upset with their device, it may not have much dev support at the moment, but this will grow as more and more devs start working on them. We should all just be happy the we are owners of one of the BEST (if not THE best) phones on the market at present and that we didn't fall for the Apple hype and buy an iPhail (iPhone) in any variant. We have android devices because we like to be able to do what we want when we want with our phones and not be restricted.

So regardless of which variant of the SGSII you own, just be happy and enjoy it!!

---------- Post added at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:21 PM ----------

This thread was turned from an informative post providing information as to the differences between the variants in to an Apple-Fanboy type "My phone is better than yours" argument. We are meant to be a community of users and devs working together to make our phones (regardless of variant, model, etc) better for everybody. My above post is intended to bring to light how pointless some of the arguments that were brought up really are. If there is any confusion about anything in my above post, please feel free to let me know, and I will clarify. :-D

Everytime we try to play the "this is better than that" game with our phones, we are only setting ourselves up for failure. As the only key thing about a phone is user experience. If the user is happy with how the device looks, feels, and works, then WIN! If they are not, then we work to make it better! :-D Simple as that!