Samsung Galaxy S2 vs HTC One X

Every year sees a ground-breaking phone arrive that has the rest of the pack scrambling to catch up. How well does last year’s golden boy, the Galaxy S II, stack up against this year’s top dog the HTC One X?

Screen Size

Samsung Galaxy S 2 4.3 Inches

HTC One X 4.7 Inches

At the time of its release last year, the Samsung’s 4.2” screen seemed gargantuan compared to the competition but now seems positively paltry next to the gorgeous 4.7” display on the One X. There isn’t much to choose in screen quality between the two, with the One X just edging it for us.

Processor

Samsung Galaxy S 2 1.2 GHz Dual Core

HTC One X 1.5GHz Quad Core

One would assume that doubling the amount of processors in a phone and increasing their clock speed would have a negative effect on battery life, and normally that would be true. However, the Tegra 3 chip in the One X has a neat trick up its sleeve. It has a fifth, lower-power core that it uses to manage the majority of every day tasks, such as swiping about the menus and web browsing. For tasks that require a bit of extra grunt, such as watching HD videos or gaming, the process can automatically switch on its more powerful cores to rise to the challenge.

Android Version

Samsung Galaxy S 2 Upgradable to 4.0

HTC One X 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

The HTC One X comes pre-installed with the latest version of Android powering its revamped HTC Sense UI. While the Galaxy S 2 comes pre-loaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the upgrade to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has rolled out across most regions putting it on par with the latest phones.

Battery

Samsung Galaxy S 2 1650mAh Removable

HTC One X 1800mAh Fixed

HTC have followed the Apple model by including a fixed battery inside their phones for the first time. While the battery is larger than the Samsung (it needs to be to power that lovely screen!) I felt the removable battery of the Galaxy S 2 offers more flexibility. A user can either choose to carry around a spare battery or fit an extended battery to the phone if they need a bit more juice, whereas a HTC user will not have this option.

Storage

Samsung Galaxy S 2 16GB + SD Card Slot

HTC One X 32GB + 25GB of Cloud Storage

HTC has chosen not to include an expansion slot on the HTC One X. Normally this would be a pretty big deal for me, however they have included a whopping 32GB of internal memory as well as a free (for two years) 25GB of cloud storage on Dropbox.com. This has the added benefit that you can use this cloud storage space with any computer or device and should make syncing files to your phone even easier. That being said, the SGS2 is no slouch either, with 16GB of internal memory being plenty for most users, along with the option of adding up to an extra 64GB of storage with a microSD card.

Weight

Samsung Galaxy S 2 116g

HTC One X 130g

There’s not a terrible amount to choose between the weight of the two phones, and the One X being heavier is hardly unexpected, although it still feels terrifically light for the size of the device without feeling cheap

Conclusion

Bigger and better is undoubtedly the order of the day for the HTC One X and using it does feel like a step up from the Galaxy S 2. However, the Galaxy S 2 has shown it can still compete with the latest phones almost a year after release, which is remarkable considering the speed at which the smartphone market moves. Both handsets are available from Clove in different colour variants.