Although the Samsung Galaxy S3 is undoubtedly a remarkable device and incredibly popular with buyers, its predecessor was also very successful. If you do own an S2 at the moment, you might be wondering whether it is worth breaking your 2-year contract and swapping up to the Samsung Galaxy S3. Let’s check out the specs to find the answer.
Samsung Galaxy S3 vs S2: Save Your Money, Skip S3
Firstly, the Samsung Galaxy S2 it is a little smaller and easier to handle, sitting at 116g and 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5mm, to the 133g 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm S3. It also has more exterior colour options, offering black, white or even pink, whereas the S3 just has two right now – pebble blue or marble white. Then again these aspects are more to do with personal preference.
Also the size of the Samsung Galaxy S3 is slightly larger thanks to its 4.8-inch display versus the more pocketable 4.3-inch S2. You can find a Super AMOLED touch-screen on both devices, and the S2 has Corning Gorilla Glass while the S3 has Corning Gorilla Glass 2. Then again this glass does not appear to actually be superior. In a recent drop test by CNET, the S3 screen was actually discovered to shatter more easily than the iPhone 4S which was found to be as tough as the S2 in previous tests. However one area where the Samsung Galaxy S3 does very much overshadow the S2 is in resolution; the SIII has 720 x 1280p and the SII just 800 x 480p.
Both cameras are 8MP with the ability to take 3264 x 2448p resolution pictures, and they also offer many of the same features such as LED flash, smile detection and autofocus, The Samsung Galaxy S3 has burst mode and the ability to take photos and videos at the same time, as well as a front-a front facing camera with slightly more megapixels than the S2. We’re hoping though that some of these great camera software features make their way into the Samsung Galaxy S2 via the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update.
In terms of processor and operating system, the S2 has a 1.2GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor and runs Gingerbread (Android 2.3.4) which will be upgraded to ICS (Android 4.0) shortly, according to Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is also dual-core in the US with an S4 processor and it runs ICS already.
With regards to internal memory, the S2 comes with 32GB and the S3 comes with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB. With external memory, both devices have a microSD slot and the S2 can take up to 32GB additional memory, and the S3 can take up to 64GB additional memory. Generally though, most consumers barely can fill up the 32GB they have on base models so it is unlikely you will need all the memory the full 128GB capabilities the S3 can offer.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a better battery than the S2, with 2100mAh to the SII’s 1650mAh, increasing talk-time from 9 hours to 12 hours.
S3 features like S-Voice, Smart Stay and Smart Call are impressive, but then again ICS will come to S2 soon so a lot of new features will come with the roll-out.
Taking all of this into account, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is naturally better, as SII’s successor and it is definitely the best smartphone out at the moment. Despite this though, if you currently own an S2 it may not be worth updating the phone as it isn’t a huge enough upgrade as we saw between the original S and S2. Why not hang about and wait for the S4 if you are really patient, or the Note 2 if you can’t wait until next year? If you go for the Samsung Galaxy S3 you may be a little disappointed in that the changes will not feel so major once your S2 is also on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
