Samsung Galaxy S2's Different Versions Pitted Against Verizon’s Motorola Droid Bionic

The fact that Samsung’s best-selling phone is not making its way to Verizon has posed many questions to consumers who were eagerly waiting to get their hands on Samsung smartphone with Verizon data plan. This clearly reveals the threat Galaxy S2 models pose to  Droid Bionic. Although Verizon has said that it has a varied portfolio of Android smartphones, that doesn’t seem to a convincing answer. In fact, Motorola introduced this year its revolutionary device, the Atrix 4G. This is termed as a beast but hasn't demonstrated much impact.

As sales of Atrix failed to impress, Motorola delayed the Droid Bionic for close to 9 months, citing modification reasons as the handset maker was trying to gain back its momentum. The Motorola Droid Bionic is expected to be launched this month. Several leaks have it that September 8 could be the release date.

Other carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint are going to offer their versions of Samsung Galaxy S2. During a special event in New York this week, Sprint unveiled its Samsung Galaxy S2 version known as Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic Touch 4G which retains all the basic specifications of Galaxy S2 except for the 4.5-inch display. The AT&T version will retain the 4.3-inch display whereas T-Mobile version has not received any official name but the “Hercules” is expected to come along with 4.5-inch screen. The Galaxy S2 will be available on Sprint starting September 16, on AT&T September 18, and on T-Mobile sometime this fall (most probably on October 26). Sprint will be selling its phone for $200 while AT&T and T-Mobile haven't revealed their plans.

Here is a look at how all the versions of Samsung Galaxy S2 will fare against Motorola Droid Bionic.

Size: Samsung Epic 4G Touch on Sprint comes with a 129.5 x 68.6 x 9.6 mm dimension and weighs 129 g, while T-Mobile version, fondly known as Hercules, has 131 x 70 x 9 mm dimension. As the AT&T version retains 4.3-inch display, it is expected feature 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm and weighs 116 g. With Motorola Droid Bionic looking very similar to Motorola Droid X2, it is expected to come with 127.5 x 65.5 x 9.9 mm and weighing close to 155 g.

Display: T-Mobile and Epic Touch 4G version of Sprint has 4.52-inch display screen whereas AT&T version retains 4.3-inch screen of original Galaxy S2 version sold worldwide. All versions feature a 480 x 800 pixels resolution with Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touch screen.

Motorola Droid Bionic will come with 4.3-inch 540 x 960 pixels TFT capacitive touch screen.

Input features: All the Galaxy S2 versions have input features like 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. The Droid Bionic has features like touch-sensitive controls, multi-touch input method, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and proximity sensor for auto- turn-off.

Storage: All the Samsung Galaxy S2 versions have 16GB/32GB storage and 1 GB RAM. Motorola’s phone comes with 1 GB LP DDR2 RAM and 16 GB storage.

3G: T-Mobile Galaxy S2 version has HSDPA 42 Mbps support while AT&T version has HSDPA 21 Mbps support. And Epic 4G Touch has Rev. A up to 3.1 Mbps similar to Motorola Droid Bionic.

WLAN/Bluetooth/USB: The Galaxy S2 phones have Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot with Sprint version having WiMax support. There is Bluetooth version 3.0 with A2DP and HS along with MHL microUSB version 2.0 for HDMI support.

Droid Bionic has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot (connect up to 8 devices and when on 3G connect up to 5 devices), Bluetooth version 2.1 with A2DP and EDR technology and microUSB version 2.0.

Camera: Galaxy S2 phones have 8-megapixel 3264x2448 pixels camera with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilization features similar to Droid Bionic.

Both Galaxy S2 and Droid Bionic smartphones can capture video at 1080p and there is a secondary camera. Motorola Droid Bionic has improved low-light performance and shutter lag that rivals that of a digital camera.

Operating system: Both Motorola and Samsung phones feature the latest Android OS version 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Processor: All the Samsung phones come with dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 Mali-400MP GPU Exynos chipset processor and Droid Bionic will come with 1 GHz dual-core TI OMAP4430 processor.

Battery: The Galaxy S2 versions of T-Mobile and Sprint feature a Li-Ion 1800 mAh battery whereas AT&T versions retain Li-Ion 1650 mAh battery found in original Galaxy S2. Motorola Droid Bionic is expected to come with Li-Po 1930 mAh battery.

The Droid Bionic will also have access to the same HDMI-out Mirror Mode, allowing you to take content on your phone and play it on your HD television. But Samsung Galaxy S2 phones have NFC support and TV-out (via MHL A/V link) support. The Motorola phone has fast 4G LTE support, HDMI port, free ZumoCast app that lets Droid Bionic access or stream data straight from your home or work computers. The Webtop app extends Droid Bionic into something beyond the average smartphone with a full Firefox 4.0 browser, multi-window capabilities, full keyboard and mouse support, all on the big screen. And Droid Bionic will be priced at $299 but an advertisement leaked by Costco revealed that a number of extras will be included in the $299 price tag of the device.