Difference Between LG Nitro HD and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket

AT&T has been offering new 4G handsets for some time now, and here comes another addition “LG Nitro HD”, which was only announced yesterday (28th of November). It is obviously going to be one great phone for AT&T that has undertaken the effort to feature it. On the other hand, we are going to compare it with AT&T’s flagship LTE device Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. Can we expect a better fight from anything? Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and LG Nitro HD are the BEST two 4G phones offered by AT&T with the same price tag. While Galaxy was released in the mid November, Nitro HD is yet to be released. This gives Skyrocket the favor of been tested and reviewed more than the Nitro HD as of now.

AT&T has decided to promote LG Nitro HD as their ‘first True HD LTE Smartphone’, which is a catchy phrase in itself. The fact is that, LG Nitro actually manages to stay in the scope of the tagline comfortably as you can see when we go down to the micro details of the handsets. While Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket has a slight disadvantage compared to Nitro HD on the context of resolution and pixel density, it is a fair match, and even better than Nitro HD in some features. Without further ado, let’s look into AT&T’s new Android LTE handsets.

LG Nitro HD

LG has come up with a gigantic 4.5 inches AH-IPS LCD Capacitive Touchscreen featuring a True HD resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. It has a pixel density of 329ppi, slightly exceeding that of Apple iPhone 4S (326ppi). What this means in layman’s terms is that, crisp razor sharp images with unmatched resolution and amazing text readability. LG Nitro HD would be one of the few handsets that feature such high pixel density and screen resolution. Thus, it is quite fair that AT&T has come up with the tagline for their promotions.

It’s not just the screen or True HD capability that raises LG Nitro HD to the Top. There is a beast inside trying to break out like never before. Nitro HD comes with a 1.5GHz Scorpion dual-core processor that is the best processor offered on the block. The 1GB RAM gives it the rightful boost and makes it more like a mobile computer, rather than a mobile phone. The 4GB internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB using a microSD card adds to that. These resources are efficiently and brilliantly managed by the stock OS Android v2.3 Gingerbread. LG is said to provide an upgrade to v4.0 IceCreamSandwich, which is only the right choice. It has the usual LG build quality with smooth curved edges and a pitch black design. It may feel somewhat bulky due to its screen size, but the dimension of 133.9 x 67.8 mm is only fair. LG has managed to make Nitro HD thinner to a mere 10.4mm, as well. LG has made sure to include the accelerometer, proximity sensor, multi touch inputs, as well as, a Gyro sensor to Nitro HD. They make this handset a feature rich phone.

LG Nitro HD is capable of utilizing the high speed LTE 700 network connectivity of AT&T to deliver high speed internet connectivity, and optimized Android browser enables PC like web browsing seamlessly, which is totally brilliant. The specialty is that, with the beast of a processor inside, the user can simultaneously use both voice and data, or in simple terms, you can browse, email and stream a youtube video while talking with your friend on the phone. You think that’s impossible; welcome to LG Nitro HD you’re going to experience just that. Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n enables the handset to keep connected continuously, and act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, to host up to 8 other devices, which is just awesome.

LG hasn’t forgotten to address the camera lovers either. Nitro HD comes with an 8MP camera with autofocus and LED flash along with face and smile detection. Geo-tagging is also enabled with the support of A-GPS. The camera can record 1080p HD videos @ 30 frames per second, and it also features a front camera for the delight of video chatters. LG has also optimized the use of Bluetooth for connectivity with the inclusion of v3.0 with A2DP and HS. It provides an optional headset to listen to songs while you’re on a call and even access a Bluetooth printer, all untethered. The microUSB v2.0 connection enables fast data transfer between the handset and the PC. LG promises a battery of 1820mAh, which falls to the high capacity range, and the talk time information is still not available. However, with the available battery information, we can assume that the talk time would be somewhere around 6-7 hours, which would be pretty decent.

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket

As the name suggests, Samsung has released the next version of its legendary Android smartphone Galaxy. Skyrocket has the same look and feel of the previous members of the family and almost the same dimensions of 129.8 x 68.8 x 9.5mm. Smartphone manufacturers are thriving to produce thinner and thinner phones, and this is a good addition to that compared to the LG Nitro HD. But Samsung has made sure to keep the level of comfort intact. The battery cover of the Skyrocket is ultra-smooth though, which makes it prone to slip through the fingers. It has a 4.5 inches gigantic Super AMOLED Plus Capacitive touchscreen, featuring a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels with a relatively low pixel density of 207ppi, which means the crispness of the image would not be as good as Nitro HD. However, the Super AMOLED Plus display presents rich, vivid colors. Skyrocket has a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 (SnapDragon S3) dual core processor, which is the same as LG Nitro HD. As predicted, the performance is boosted by the 1GB RAM and storage of 16GB, which can be expanded up to 32GB worth of storage using a microSD card.

Skyrocket comes with a 8MP camera as like other members of the Galaxy S II family, and it can record 1080p HD videos @30 frames per second. It also promotes the video chat with the 2MP front camera along with Bluetooth v3.0 HS for ease of use. Galaxy S II showcases the new Android v2.3.5 Gingerbread, which is promising while it is capable to enjoy the LTE network of AT&T for fast internet access using built in Android browser with HTML5 and flash support. It is worthwhile to note that Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket manages to score a good battery life, even with the high speed LTE connectivity. It also comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n enabling it to access the wi-fi networks, as well as, act as a wi-fi hotspot. Samsung hasn’t forgotten A-GPS support together with the unmatchable google maps support enabling the phone to be a powerful GPS device. It also supports Geo-tagging feature for the camera. Like most of the smartphones nowadays it comes with an active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, microUSB v2.0 for fast data transfer, Near Field Communication support and 1080p playback of videos. Samsung also introduces a Gyroscope sensor for Skyrocket which is a new feature for Galaxy family. Samsung Galaxy Skyrocket promises 7-hours of talk time with 1850 mAh battery, which is brilliant compared to its screen size.

Conclusion

The two are best Smartphones in the market, and it’s not going to be an easy task, to conclude which is actually the best one. As a start, LG Nitro HD has its own strengths and weaknesses while it’s the same for Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket, as well. If you are a downright fan of True HD video and appreciates high resolution and high pixel density resulting crisp-sharp images and text as a trade-off for the battery life, LG Nitro HD is your phone. That is the only differentiating factor it has compared to Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket, which, unfortunately, lacks the resolution and pixel density. But Samsung has compensated it with the sleek and slim design, admirable battery life and super-fast network connectivity with AT&T’s 700MHz LTE waves. Thus, if you want a handset that can let you surf on the high-speed connections and still save your battery until you get back home after a stressful day, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is your choice. As a comfort, if you’re not hard and fast into details, you won’t notice the difference between the screens much.