iPhone 5 on Oct. 4? Smartphone War to Heat up with AT&T Samsung Galaxy S2 Coming on Oct. 2

The AT&T customers have started showing their frustration after the much anticipated Galaxy S2 failed to appear on September 18 while Sprint consumers had their new handset, the Epic 4G Touch.

On the other hand, iPhone 5 may be unveiled by Tim Cook as early as Oct. 4, reports All Things D. The report says: “While Apple could certainly change its plans anytime, sources said that the Oct. 4 date has been selected by the company to showcase the iPhone 5. Sources added that the plan is now to make the new device available for purchase within a few weeks after the announcement.”

Given the emergence of Samsung Galaxy S2 on different carriers it will be interesting to see what Apple has to offer when iPhone 5 is released.

Both these devices from Apple and Samsung are capable of setting their own individual benchmarks, and hence a vicious battle is on the cards. Just as Apple fans are hoping for Apple to deliver yet another surprise, Android users surely will hope for Samsung Galaxy S2 to offer a stiff fight against iPhone 5.

With advancement of technologies, there is no end for product innovation and each smartphone vendor wants to ensure they have the device that can be the dominant player in the smartphone market.

The AT&T’s model of Galaxy S2, which will feature the thinnest dual core smartphone in the American market, has been appreciated by the whole world. It had even overtaken iPhone 4 in UK market.

AT&T's chief rival Verizon will have a similar portfolio of products including iPhone 5 and Motorola Droid Bionic. Sprint and T-Mobile are also hoping to get their piece from the Apple pie.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 on AT&T will be priced at $199 with a new two-year contract, according to AT&T Facebook page which also mentioned that the phone will be available both online and in retail stores on the launch date. With 5 million units sold around the world in 85 days after its launch Samsung’s phone claims to be the fastest selling handset around.

Here is a look at how Samsung Galaxy S2 can give a stiff competition to iPhone 5.

Display: Samsung Galaxy S2 sports the Super AMOLED Plus 4.3-inch display which is the best available technology for mobile displays. Samsung is the only manufacturer of Super AMOLED Plus displays and if one wants to experience the best screen there is no other choice in the market as the conventional RGB matrix makes the display sharper as well, helping you to read the smallest of text. The Real-Stripe panel technology brings 30 percent more pixels per inch for a brighter, clearer and richer viewing experience compared with the first-generation AMOLED.

The iPhone 5 is expected to feature a 3.7-inch or 4-inch display. With major smartphones releasing a 4.3-inch display, it will be interesting to see what iPhone 5 will offer. Galaxy S2 clearly dwarfs the iPhone 5 in terms of display and technology.

Design: As Samsung was sued by Apple for copying its design, clearly the design of Samsung phone cannot be disputed. Samsung has offered one of the finest products in the thinnest form.

Apple products are known for their beautiful design. The iPhone 5 is expected to adopt a teardrop design that is supposed to be slimmer and lighter than previous iPhone models. The iPhone 5 is expected to come with Apple iPad 2’s design as rumors suggest that a more uniform design across Apple’s entire mobile platform is imminent. And Apple is expected to bring not just iPhone 5 but another model known as “iPhone 4S” spotted by various case leaks.

The Galaxy S2 will come in various designs on different carriers. Sprint is already up with Epic Touch 4G while AT&T and T-Mobile are the last carriers waiting for their version. Although Verizon is not going to feature Galaxy S2, there are rumors about the carrier getting the high-end Samsung phone to compete with iPhone 5. According to reports, Verizon is waiting to get “Nexus Prime”, the ultimate Android flagship phone which will most likely be the first phone to feature Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”

Operating System: Apple’s iOS 5, which was officially announced recently, is expected to come along with iPhone 5. But most of the features which were unveild during the iOS 5 even back in June points that these features are already found in the Android operating system. And with Android Ice Cream Sandwich lurking in the corner, it will be interesting to see how the new operating system from Android can overshadow iOS 5. Recent reports show that the Ice Cream Sandwich OS has some features of Gingerbread and Honeycomb combined together with better tweaks and the new OS will definitely help reduce the majority of the fragmentation issues on Android devices. Android is more customizable, has more widgets, and has fewer restrictions. Also, the OS will be more functional and will feature a more fluid interface. The iPhone 5 is going to have to top this in order to do better.

NFC: There have been reports since early this year that Apple is testing an iPhone that incorporates Near Field Communication technology. Users can simply pay for goods by waving their iPhone in front of a contactless payment scanner. Mobile-payment services using NFC will be a hot segment in the future. The technology could offer features that allow multiple mobile devices to sync for speedier information exchange and gaming.

However, Galaxy S2 supports the NFC chip that allows for simplified transactions, data exchange and connections with a touch. Some rumors have revealed that Apple’s fifth generation iPhone will have mobile payment accessibility. Apple is expected to team up with PayPal for this.

Connectivity: The Galaxy S2 device offers amazing connectivity as it offers high-speed data transfer with 4G technology enabled in it. Also, the Galaxy S2 offers Bluetooth 3.0 HS transfer, Wifi Direct, Allshare (DLNA) and HDMI through MHL. Unlike Apple iOS, where you can’t even transfer the pictures taken with the camera through bluetooth, there is no restriction here.

Processor: Galaxy S2 is equipped with Samsung’s own Exynos processor (previously known as Orion), which is a dual core processor based System on Chip (SoC) with a clock speed of 1.2 GHz. It is backed by a Mali 400 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. This is almost equal to the processing power of a desktop machine. The result is that one can play even full HD videos smoothly. With improved versions of Samsung Galaxy S2 about to feature 1.5 GHz processor with 3D graphics support, iPhone 5 needs more to match up to Samsung’s flagship phone. Meanwhile, the iPhone 5 will come with the iPad 2's processor but it is doubtful if it would exceed the 1.2 GHz barrier.

Apps and open source power: Though Apple's iOS is not an open source, 200 million users have downloaded over 15 billion apps from Apple's App Store. As of May 2011, Apple approved its 500,000th app. Meanwhile Android Market has unofficially passed through 500,000 apps. Anyone can get access to the source of Android to better the system. If any weaknesses are found in the open source community, they are quickly fixed.

Battery and Memory: There is removable battery and expandable memory in Samsung Galaxy S2 whereas iPhone’s previous versions don’t offer this privilege. In case of iPhone users have the exchange the entire handset to find a solution for battery fix.

Quite a few smartphones have slots that support a range of memory cards which allow you to keep one card in the device for a permanent storage solution, and still have a slot available for cards from your camera or other device. With the falling price of memory cards, you could have several cards with music and videos tucked away in the carrying case.

HDMI: Apple offers an expensive HDMI adapter to satisfy geeks. However, Galaxy S2 has MHL port with HDMI support functionality. HDMI connects digital audio/video sources (such as set-top boxes, DVD players, HD DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, AVCHD camcorders, personal computers (PCs) and video game consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and AV receivers) to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, video projectors, tablet computers, and digital televisions.

Meanwhile, the rumors about iPhone 5 suggest that the smartphone will be a world phone with SIM-less Design and curved glass display. The fire-proof iPhone will have wireless charging, rectangular home button, 8-megapixel camera, multi-core A5 processor and Imagination Technologies' PowerVR Series6 mobile graphics processing architecture for gaming support, HSPA 4G support and iCloud support.