Smartphones come in different sizes. Some time back, the norm was 3.5 inch smartphones which subsequently became 4 inch and hangs at 4.5 inch now. However, manufacturers try out various sizes. The conservative types hang in there in the 4 inch range under 5 inches. Some brave souls try smartphones that has bigger screen than 5 inches. This received with heavy criticism from the analysts in the mobile computing world, but the consumers seem to have taken a huge liking in this category. This was affirmed when Samsung released their sales records confirming that Samsung Galaxy Note was sold more than 10 million units within months after its release. Impressed by the success of their design decision, Samsung released a successor for Galaxy Note known as Galaxy Note 2. It is worthwhile to note that Galaxy Note line seems to concentrate primarily on taking notes, hence the name Note. They come with this awesome S-Pen Stylus which can perform attractive tricks on the capacitive touchscreen. So this would be an ideal smartphone for many students, sales persons and business executives etc. Today after the Apple iPhone 5 was released, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 becomes a top competitor for the new handset for several reasons. Some reasons are technical while other reason concern artistic value as well as prestige. Let us compare them individually where we can mention our initial impression about these two devices and move on to comparing them in the same arena.
Apple iPhone 5 Review
Apple iPhone 5 that was announced on 12th September comes as the successor for prestigious Apple iPhone 4S. The phone was launched on the 21st of September to the stores, and already getting some pretty good impressions by those who have put their hands on the device.. Apple claims iPhone 5 to be the thinnest smartphone in the market scoring a thickness of 7.6mm which is really cool. It scores dimensions of 123.8 x 58.5mm and 112g of weight which makes it lighter than most of the smartphones out there in the world. Apple has kept the width at the same pace while making it taller in order to let the customers hang on to the familiar width when they hold the handset in their palms. It is made entirely from glass and Aluminum which is a great news for artistic consumers. No one would doubt the premium nature of this handset for Apple has tirelessly engineered even the smallest parts. The two tone back plate feels genuinely metallic and is pleasing to hold on to the handset. We particularly loved the Black model although Apple offers a White model, as well.
iPhone 5 uses an Apple A6 chipset along with Apple iOS 6 as the operating system. It will be powered by a 1GHz Dual Core processor that Apple has come up with for iPhone 5. This processor is said to have Apple’s own SoC using ARM v7 based instruction set. The cores are based on Cortex A7 architecture which was previously rumored to be of A15 architecture. It is to be noted that this is not the Vanilla Cortex A7, but rather an in-house modified version of Apple’s Cortex A7 probably fabricated by Samsung. Apple iPhone 5 being a LTE smartphone, we are bound to expect some deviation from the normal battery life. However, Apple has addressed that problem with the custom made Cortex A7 cores. As you can see, they haven’t increased the clock frequency at all, but instead, they have been successful in increasing the number of instructions executed per clock. Also, it was noticeable in the GeekBench benchmarks that the memory bandwidth has been significantly improved, as well. So all in all, now we have reason to believe that Tim Cook wasn’t exaggerating when he claimed that iPhone 5 is twice as faster as iPhone 4S. The internal storage would come in three variations of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB with no option to expand storage using microSD card.
Apple iPhone 5 has 4 inch LED backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels at a pixel density of 326ppi. It is said to have 44% better color saturation with full sRGB rendering enabled. The usual Corning gorilla glass coating is available making the display scratch resistant. Apple CEO Tim Cook claims that this is the most advanced display panel in the world. Apple also claimed that the GPU performance is as twice better compared to iPhone 4S. There may be several other possibilities for them to achieve this, but we have reason to believe that the GPU is PowerVR SGX 543MP3 with a slightly overclocked frequency compared to that of iPhone 4S. Apple has apparently moved the headphone port all the down to the bottom of the smartphone. If you have invested in iReady accessories, you may well have to buy a conversion unit because Apple has introduced a new port for this iPhone.
The handset comes with 4G LTE connectivity as well as CDMA connectivity in different versions. The implications of this are subtle. Once you commit to a network provider and a specific version of Apple iPhone 5, there’s no going back. You can’t buy an AT&T model and then transfer the iPhone 5 to Verizon or Sprint’s network without buying another iPhone 5. So you will have to think rather carefully on what you want before committing to a handset. Apple boasts of an ultrafast Wi-Fi connectivity as well offering Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band Wi-Fi Plus cellular adapter. Unfortunately, Apple iPhone 5 doesn’t feature NFC connectivity nor does it support wireless charging. The camera is the regular culprit of 8MP with autofocus and LED flash that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 frames per second. It also has a front camera to make video calls. It is worthwhile to note that Apple iPhone 5 only supports nano SIM card. The new operating system seems to provide better capabilities than the old one as usual.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review
Samsung’s Galaxy line is the prominent and flagship product line that has earned much respect towards the company. It is also these products that have the highest return for Samsung’s investments. Hence Samsung always maintains the quality of these products at a very high level. At a glance, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 isn’t any different to that image. It has a majestic look that closely resembles the looks of Galaxy S3 with the same Marble White and Titanium Grey color combinations. It has a 5.5 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with vibrant color patterns and the deepest blacks you could ever see. The screen was viewable from very wide angles, as well. It features a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 267ppi with a 16:9 widescreen. Samsung promises that the screen is more optimized to today’s visually oriented apps. It goes without saying that the screen is reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, to make it extra scratch resistant.
Following the footsteps of Galaxy Note, Note 2 is slightly bigger scoring dimensions of 151.1 x 80.5mm and has a thickness of 9.4mm and a weight of 180g. The layout of the buttons hasn’t changed where it features the big home button at the bottom with two touch buttons on either side of it. Inside this housing has the best processor that is featured in a smartphone. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes with 1.6GHz Cortex A9 Quad Core processor on Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad chipset with Mali 400MP GPU. The powerful set of hardware components is governed by the brand new Android OS Jelly Bean. It also features a 2GB RAM with 16, 32 and 64GBs of internal storage and has the option to expand the capacity using a microSD card.
The information on network connectivity is bound to change given the unit produced didn’t feature a 4G. However, when it is introduced to relevant market, necessary changes would be introduced to facilitate 4G infrastructure. Galaxy Note II also features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with DLNA and the ability to create Wi-Fi hotspots to share your internet connection with friends. It also has NFC along with Google Wallet. The 8MP camera has become a standard in the smartphones these days and Note II features a 2MP camera on the front for the use of video conferencing. The back camera can capture 1080p HD videos at 30 frames per second with image stabilization. One of the specialties in Galaxy Note series is the S Pen stylus provided with them. In Galaxy Note II, this stylus can do a lot more compared to the conventional styluses featured in the market. For instance, you can flip over a photo, to get its virtual backside and scribble down notes just as we do on actual photos sometimes. It can also act as a virtual pointer on the Note II’s screen which was a cool feature. Galaxy Note II also has the function to record your screen, every key stroke, pen marking and stereo audio and save it to a video file.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 features a 3100mAh battery that may be able to survive for 8 hours or more with the power hungry processor. The increased mileage of the battery will suffice for the bag of tricks introduced with the Galaxy Note II compared to the original Note.
A Brief Comparison Between Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy Note II
• Apple iPhone 5 is powered by 1GHz Dual Core processor that is based on Cortex A7 architecture on top of Apple A6 chipset while Samsung Galaxy Note II is powered by 1.6GHz Cortex A9 Quad Core processor on top of Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad chipset with Mali 400MP GPU and 2GB of RAM.
• Apple iPhone 5 runs on iOS 6 while Samsung Galaxy Note II runs on Android OS v4.1 Jelly Bean.
• Apple iPhone 5 has 4 inch LED backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels at a pixel density of 326ppi while Samsung Galaxy Note II features a bigger screen of 5.5 inches featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 267ppi.
• Apple iPhone 5 is smaller, thinner and significantly lighter (123.8 x 58.6mm / 7.6mm / 112g) compared to Samsung Galaxy Note II (151.1 x 80.5mm / 9.4mm / 180g).
• Apple iPhone 5 has a different connectivity port compared to other Apple devices while Samsung Galaxy Note II provides the support of S Pen Stylus.
Conclusion
Samsung is obviously the strongest opponent Apple has. This was evident when the Galaxy S III sales exceeded to that of Apple iPhone 4S in the last couple of months. But with the new introduction from Apple, this is bound to revert back. We are eagerly waiting for more reports. However, today we are going to compare two different products. They are different because their usage patterns are different. Apple iPhone 5 is definitely a smartphone that is pockatable. But Samsung Galaxy Note II is a merge between a tablet and a smartphone which gave it the name ‘Phablet’. Samsung Galaxy Note was also sold more than 10 million according to Samsung sales records which shows that it has a significant demand out there in the world. Can Apple iPhone 5 beat the monster smartphone offered by Samsung? If I’m to take a guess, I don’t think Apple iPhone 5 will match the performance of Note II with its dual core processor. Yes it’s true that Apple has customized and improved it, but still, it’s difficult to fathom that iPhone 5 would overtake Note II. Another important fact to note is that Galaxy Note II is aimed at taking down notes. It supports S Pen stylus and gives you a bigger screen which is rather convenient for students and professionals out there. Even with the elongated screen, iPhone 5 cannot deliver this to you. Then again, what iPhone 5 can deliver is the prestige and unbeatable looks with that heavily detailed Aluminum Glass body we are in love with. So in conclusion, what we suggest is this. Wait for some time before you make your decision and have a look at the benchmarks. If you find it important to take note with an S Pen Stylus, Galaxy Note II is going to be your ideal companion. If you find the iOS rather fascinating and the build quality of iPhone 5 attractive, you can weigh towards Apple iPhone 5. But don’t make that decision unless you are ready to pay a premium for what you’re going to get.