Does The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus Make Sense In The Current Market? | TechTree.com

Does The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus Make Sense In The Current Market?

Is it a mere replacement for the Galaxy S II or an attempt to take Nokia's Lumia 820 head on?

 
Does The Samsung Galaxy S II Plus Make Sense In The Current Market?

After multiple leaks and speculations, Samsung finally unveiled its Galaxy S II Plus. The phone seems similar to the iconic Galaxy S II with new clothes and some neat tricks up its sleeve.

But is it really just a revival replacement for the S2 or there's more to it? Could this be the Korean giant's attempt to lure Nokia Lumia 820's customers to its nest? Although we don't know the S2 Plus' pricing yet, let's try to find out why Samsung is rolling out a phone that might just end-up eating into the Galaxy S III mini's market as well.

As opposed to the S2's Android 4.0 (ICS), the S2 Plus offers Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) out of the box. While that still counts as an upgrade, there's nothing new in terms of hardware specs. Both phones are powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU, and 8 MP camera. The 4.3" screen is exactly the same with 480x800 pixels and goodness of Super AMOLED. Morever, if you consider that the good old S2 is eligible for Android 4.1 in the future, the only differentiator for the two phones is the "hyperglaze" finish on the S2 Plus. So overall, the new phone doesn't seem like a serious upgrade over the original.

Most of you guys are already aware that the original S2 retails for 25 grand. Considering that the Plus version isn't a major upgrade, it won't be considerably more expensive than the S2. In fact, if Samsung keeps the new handset's price below the 27k mark, it can be a potential challenger to the Nokia Lumia 820, which costs around Rs 26,500. Starting off with the display, the S2 Plus goes head-to-head with Nokia's offering — both handsets feature a 4.3" AMOLED screen with 480x800 pixels. Moreover, the 820 as well as the S2 Plus packs in an 8 MP camera and dual-core CPU (based on a different chipset though).

After this comparison, the Galaxy S II rehash suddenly starts making sense: After all no one will pick up a year old phone over a new face in the market, the 820. Some may say, that the Galaxy S III mini with a 1 GHz dual-core CPU and 4" AMOLED screen served that purpose, but maybe Samsung wants to compete with the 820 with at least two phones, even if that involves these Galaxy phones cannibalising each other's market share.

Downsides of the "S2 Minus"
The consumer has an element of loss, and can legitimately feel deceived by the "new and updated" phone release from Samsung. The specifications bear this out clearly, when compared. Buyers of the new phone (i9105P) get hardware that's arguably worse than what was in the original two-year old Galaxy S II (model i9100). You can see that the two are almost identical - the battery, screen, camera, RAM and radio - except for three crucial areas where the i9105P actually... takes a step backward. The i9100 has a 16GB eMMC internally, whereas the i9105P has only 8GB of internal storage. Similarly, the i9100 runs on the optimized dual-core Exynos 4210 CPU and Mali-400MP GPU; whereas the i9105P runs on (relatively slower) Broadcom chips for both.

Besides meaningless product refreshes (S2 SLCD, S Advance), Samsung has also been guilty of the i9100G affair, where SGS2 phones packaged every bit similar to the i9100, were running on a TI-OMAP chipset instead of Exynos. The Android OS version is not truly a differentiator, considering that leaked Jellybean 4.1.2 firmware has been available for the i9100 since November 2012, possibly not pushed Over-The-Air to favour sales of Samsung's newer phones instead. Due to these deceptions, smartphone enthusiasts at online forums have begun mocking this phone as the "Samsung Galaxy S 2 minus!".

In the US, the i9105P offers NFC but is otherwise just a re-release of the i9100. Cellular subscribers whose contracts are coming up for renewal and are looking to pick a (better) Android phone may find it easier to choose what sounds like a new phone. Maybe Samsung just wants to make grandma look younger in your eyes? Selling what you claim to be a "newer" phone allows for a higher profit margin at retail, simultaneously cutting production costs at the back-end for even more margin. That's a great strategy for the company, but saddles users and custom ROM enthusiasts with even more hardware variants to support.

So finally, given a choice between the S2 Plus and 820, what would you choose? Or will you rather go for the GALAXY S III, which is now available for Rs 29,000 after the latest price cut? Sound off in the comments section below!

[With inputs from Madana Prathap]


Tags : Samsung

 
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