8 Reasons Why Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic Touch 4G Outshines Droid Bionic

Motorola Droid Bionic, another smartphone which was launched recently on Verizon, has tough competition ahead as Samsung's iPhone challenger makes its way into the U.S.

Samsung's super phone comes with high end specifications which are tweaked a bit from rest of Galaxy S2 devices around the world. Although it seems a hard choice when it comes to choosing between these two phones, there are certain finer points which win for both the smartphones in terms of software and hardware specifications.

Sprint's Epic Touch 4G will be available for $199.99 on a two-year contractual commitment while Droid Bionic is priced at $299.99 on a two-year contract with Verizon. Both these power houses feature the latest Android operating system and deliver desktop machine capable functionality.

Here is a look at how Samsung Galaxy Epic Touch fares better than Droid Bionic.

Display: Droid Bionic features qHD display whereas Samsung smartphone comes with Super AMOLED Plus display feature. QHD (Super LCD) refers to the resolution of a screen(960x540) while Super AMOLED plus are types of displays, it stands for Super active matrix organic light emitting diode.

The Super AMOLED Plus displays are known for very highly saturated colors and can produce very dark, rich, black levels. Edges are finer, and text is sharper and easier to read. Their manufacturing process allows them to be very thin and fairly power efficient. They also do well in direct light. The viewing angles are much better in AMOLED display compared to qHD LCD display and the colors have so much more contrast so they really pop, and the response time is significantly better.

At 180 degrees, the Samsung Super AMOLED Plus has the widest reported viewing angle compared to Super LCD's 160 degrees. Super AMOLED Plus screen rivals and arguably bests it in terms of reproducing color and sharpness on a larger display. Quality-wise, Super LCD screens are better, but the technology seems to trail behind the Retina display and the new Super AMOLED Plus. Hence Galaxy S2 offers the best viewing experience and some of the top smartphone experiences overall.

Moreover, the Samsung smartphone features a 4.5-inch display compared to Droid Bionic's 4.3-inch screen.

NFC support: The Epic Touch 4G has NFC support whereas Droid Bionic lacks this feature. NFC enables data to be exchanged wirelessly over distances of a few centimeters, meaning mobile phones can be used to pay for goods, store electronic tickets, download music and swap photos and business cards. The typical usage touted for NFC is to replace the bank cards we currently use, enabling the smartphone to become a method of payment for purchases. Wave the smartphone at the terminal and your money is transferred to the service or product provider.

Price Factor: Samsung Galaxy Epic Touch 4G is a cheaper alternative to Motorola Droid Bionic. Samsung's phone is priced $100 less than Droid Bionic. And many other retail giants are offering the phone for much cheaper price compared to Motorola Droid Bionic as well. And this is one of the world's best high-end smartphones coming at a cheaper price tag with powerful features.

Unlimited Data Plan: Even though Motorola Droid Bionic features a powerful 4G LTE network, it still offers tiered data plans limiting the data hungry consumers. According to Nielsen Co.'s analysis, data hungry consumers are on the rise. iPhone and Android users have downloaded apps, streamed online music and watched video or mobile TV in almost equal proportions.

In the first quarter of 2011, Android smartphone users consumed an average of 582 MB of data each month, compared to 492 MB for iPhone owners. Verizon's cheapest data plan is $30 a month with a 2 GB cap. That pricing could discourage some customers from upgrading to smartphones, according to Barclays Capital analyst James Ratcliffe. AT&T remains cheaper at the low end, whereas Verizon is cheaper at the higher end. As Sprint remains the last carrier to offer unlimited data plans, it's possible that Sprint could acquire more high-end smartphone users.

And the Samsung Galaxy Epic 4G Touch is going to be featured in Sprint's network. Combined with Sprint's truly unlimited data plans, it gives Sprint customers a powerful Internet and multimedia phone that can easily hold on its own with the best on other carriers.

Weight Advantage: Although Samsung's phone is bigger than Droid Bionic, yet it weighs less. The Epic Touch 4G weighs 130 grams whereas Droid Bionic weighs 158.8 grams.

Android phones are getting bigger, faster and thinner - a fact which is underscored by the host of upcoming devices. OEMs are differentiating phones on the basis of hardware specifications rather than making substantial changes to the overall ecosystem surrounding the platform. A recent report by J.D. Power and Associates states that the overall satisfaction with smartphones is higher for devices which are of a certain size and weight and have the wherewithal which includes good quality display, faster processors, long lasting battery and touch screen capabilities. The report states that customer satisfaction is higher for smartphones that don't weigh more than 5 ounces (142 grams).

Thinness: Droid Bionic is 1 mm thicker than Epic Touch 4G. J.D. Power and Associates report also shows that the customer satisfaction tilts in the favor of thinner phones; i.e., phones that are thinner than 0.45-inch (less than 12mm). As Epic Touch 4G feels thinner than Droid Bionic, this matters although small can be a deciding factor when choosing between these two phones.

In the press release posted on Engadget, J.D. Power and Associates states that customer satisfaction for smartphones is mainly influenced by the following key factors: performance (35 percent); ease of operation (24 percent); features (21 percent); and physical design (20 percent). In the light of these revelations, Samsung Galaxy S 2 scores over the most recently released Motorola Droid Bionic.

Equally bolstered Specs: Both Droid Bionic and Galaxy S2 has 1 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, 1080p video capture support, 8-megapixel camera and powerful battery to uphold the 4G speed.

However, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G has a faster dual-core processor compared to Droid Bionic's 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP4430 chipset processor.

Rave Review Dominance: The Galaxy S2 has received cent percent reviews across the world and is has taken hold of the position of being the second best selling smartphone ever.

The Engadget review statement reads: We also can't say for sure that the Galaxy S II would justify a long-term iOS user forsaking his investment into one ecosystem and making the leap to another.... There's simply never been an Android handset this smooth and this fluid in its operation. Nothing phases the GSII. Engadget gave the device a 9/10.

The Cnet UK review says: There's very little to dislike about the Samsung Galaxy S2. This smartphone is astonishingly fast, with a gorgeous display, a good camera and all the power of the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. And it's somehow all crammed into a case so slim and light that it seems to break the laws of physics. Cnet UK gave it a rating of 4.5/5.

Motorola Droid Bionic is considered to be the fastest smartphone yet. Although Engadget has given a very good review for the phone, yet a final retreating statement reads: The Bionic is a great choice for right now, the best combination of wireless and device speed that we've yet seen on Verizon.... But you should know that this isn't a world-conquering device.

Comparsion between Droid Bionic and Epic Touch 4G

 
Samsung Epic 4G Touch
Motorola Droid Bionic 4G LTE

Dimension
130 x 70 x 10 mm
127.5 x 66.9 x 11 mm

Weight
130 g
158.8 g

Display
4.5-inch 480 x 800 pixels Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen
4.3-inch, 540 x 960 pixels TFT capacitive touchscreen

Input features
Gorilla Glass display, TouchWiz UI v4.0, multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, touch-sensitive controls, proximity sensor for auto turn-off and Gyroscope sensor.
Multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, proximity sensor for auto turn-off and touch-sensitive controls.

Storage
16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, microSD up to 32GB
16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, 2 GB ROM, microSD up to 32GB

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot; WiMax/ Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, HS/USB v2.0 microUSB (MHL)
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot/Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, EDR/ USB microUSB v2.0

Camera
8MP 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization/ 1080p@30fps, 720p@30fps/secondary 2 MP camera
8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization/ 1080p/ secondary VGA camera

OS
Android OS, v2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
Android OS, v2.3.4 (Gingerbread)

Processor:
dual-core 1.2GHz Samsung Exynos Mali-400MP GPU, Orion chipset 3D Graphics HW accelerator
Dual core TI OMAP4430 chipset 1 GHz, PowerVR SGX540 integrated 3D graphics accelerator

Battery
Li-Ion 1800 mAh
Li-Ion 1735 mAh

Talk Time
8 h 45 min
10 h 40 min

Other features
Loudspeaker, 3.5mm jack, SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS, HTML browser, Stereo FM radio with RDS, A-GPS support, Java MIDP emulator, Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, NFC support (optional), TV-out (via MHL A/V link), SNS integration, digital compass, MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player, Organizer, Image/video editor, Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF), Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration, Adobe Flash 10.1 support, Voice memo/dial/commands, Predictive text input (Swype)
Loudspeaker, 3.5mm jack, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email, HTML browser, A-GPS support, Java MIDP emulator, SNS integration, Digital compass, HDMI port, active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+ player, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264 player, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Document viewer, Photo viewer/editor, Organizer, Adobe Flash 10.1, Voice memo/dial/commands, Predictive text input (Swype)

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