Samsung Galaxy S II vs Motorola Droid X2 "Dual Core Face Off"

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Samsung Galaxy S II vs Motorola Droid X2 "Dual Core Face Off"

Face Off Samsung Galaxy S II vs Motorola Droid X2

Today’s Face Off contestants bring dual core processors to the fight along with 4.3” displays and 8MP camera’s. The current smartphone to beat, Samsung Galaxy S II sports a 1.2GHz dual core processor while the Motorola Droid X2 offers the NVIDIA 1GHz Tegra 2 dual core processor found on the Atrix 4G. The two 4.3” displays cover the gambit from vibrant colors, Super AMOLED Plus on the Galaxy S II, to the qHD resolution, 540×960 pixels, on the Motorola Droid X2. They both offer HDMI out, although an adapter is needed for the Galaxy S II, and video capture on the Droid X2 is only 720p vs the full HD 1080p on the Galaxy S II. So does the new comer, Droid X2, have the right stuff to displace the current champion?

Build Quality – Motorola Droid X2
The Droid X2 is built with what appears to be the same quality materials used in the original Droid X. Gorilla Glass, metal chassis and a nice soft texture coat over the entire phone giving it a very solid feel when held. Colors are flat black and glossy black, around the ear piece, with the Droid X2 logo in red on the battery cover just below the Motorola logo. The battery cover is made of metal, imagine that, and the keys just below the display are all physical keys with the usual Android assortment. The Droid X2 feels solid and gives the feeling of durability and wear.
Display – Samsung Galaxy S II
Picking the Galaxy S II as the winner for the best display is a personal preference not a declaration that the Super AMOLED Plus display is better than the qHD display on the Droid X2. Both displays are outstanding with cutting edge tech for smartphones. The qHD display on the Droid X2 is very clear and bright. In the video I had both displays set on automatic brightness and you could see how much brighter the Droid X2 display looked vs the Super AMOLED Plus display of the Galaxy S II. At the same time the qHD display, while offering more pixels, doesn’t offer the jump off the display colors that the Galaxy S II Super AMOLED Plus display does, which I prefer. I don’t think you can go wrong with either display both are outstanding.
Camera – Motorola Droid X2/Samsung Galaxy S II
I thought the Droid X2 offered better looking still pictures with richer colors, better detail and better contrast. The colors were a bit over done but very little. The rose isn’t that red but it isn’t as washed out at the photo taken by the Galaxy S II either. I also thought the video taken by the Galaxy S II was superior to the one taken by the Droid X2. The Droid X2 did a better job dealing with the sun in all of the still pictures but seemed to have a lot of trouble with it in the video. The Galaxy S II video offered better detail, contrast and color in my opinion.
User Interface – Samsung Galaxy S II
I think the latest addition of Motorola’s MotoBlur on the Droid X2 is the best they’ve offered to this point, an improvement over what’s on the Atrix 4G, but I don’t think it offers the sex a peel that Samsung’s TouchWiz 4.0 UI does. This is again a personal preference thing because there is nothing wrong with the UI on the Droid X2 but when comparing the look of the widgets the Galaxy S II looks cool and the Droid X2 looks, well you know.
Processing Power/Speed – Samsung Galaxy S II
The GS2 won the Quadrant Standard Benchmark test, Unofficial Speedtest, loaded all of the YouTube and web pages faster so I think it deserves to be the winner when it comes to processing power and speed. While both devices offer dual core processors when browsing the web the GS2 is just amazing. There really isn’t another smartphone yet that comes close to the effortless way GS2 moves about on web pages.
Data Speeds – Samsung Galaxy S II
The Galaxy S II supports AT&T’s HSPA+ 4G connectivity which doesn’t muster up to Verizon’s LTE 4G in terms of download or upload speeds, however the Droid X2 doesn’t have Verizon LTE 4G so this category has to go to the Galaxy S II.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy S II
The Samsung Galaxy S II is still the champ as far as I’m concerned but the Droid X2 put up a good fight. The Droid X2 offers a superb 4.3” qHD display, great build quality, NVIDIA 1GHz dual core processor, HDMI out, 8MP camera, good battery life and enough other goodies to make it a worthy contender. It just doesn’t have enough to get it over the top or the ability to put down the Galaxy S II. So for now, the Galaxy S II reins supreme. Did someone say EVO 3D?