Standard Galaxy S II or the Skyrocket?

[mp847]

I'm looking at one of these phones, and I'm really on the fence about getting either one.

Basically, are there any downsides to the Skyrocket as opposed to the standard S 2? I live near Chicago, so I might see some use out of the LTE network. I know the Skyrocket is faster, has the new network option, and I know Skyrocket doesn't have ICS yet, but does the S 2? Any help and/or opinions are appreciated!

 

[Metroid Prime]

Hi and welcome to AF.

The skyrocket has a bit more power than the S2, but the S2 have the eynos processor which I think is better and makes the S2 a bit faster than the Skyrocket. The skyrocket has more screen real estate but both phones are really identical so there's hardly a difference. Both phones run android's Gingerbread, though, I am not sure if they will get ICS but it's possible they will do to the fact that they are both dual-core. What carrier are you on though?

 

[mp847]

I am currently on verison, but I'm willing to switch and I'll probably go to AT&T. I've been looking to see if either of those phones will get the ICS update and it looks to be looming at the moment, but honestly this will be my first smartphone, so I'll probably be happy with any OS.

 

[Metroid Prime]

IMO, I would probably say the S2 or you could wait and see about the Samsung Galaxy S2 HD which is just a upgrade from the S2 with a bigger screen, higher resolution, and more power. I don't know when it will be out though, or what carriers it will be with, but if you don't want to wait, then get the S2, plus, the Samsung galaxy nexus has ICS if you want to look into that.

 

[mp847]

Yeah, I literally just discovered the Galaxy Nexus just now, looking into that, and I guess amazon has a deal for it at the moment. It'll probably come down to between the Nexus and the S2, but I need to make a decision soon, since I need to get off of the family plan and onto my own sooner rather than later. Thanks for the help, and any extra info on the Nexus is appreciated!

 

[Metroid Prime]

Glad I could be of help. I have read the Nexus' camera isn't as good as the S2's but it takes pictures really fast! Are you looking for a phone in general that has ICS? Or is there any specific features in a phone you want?

 

[mp847]

Hm, I'm looking a decent phone, nothing really beyond that lol. ICS on the S2 isn't too big a concern for me, as some googling showed me some recent articles stating that it should be hitting the S2 within a few months. The 2 provides I'm looking at, AT&T and Verizon have very comparable plans for what I'm interested in, so no real issues there. I guess I'm just looking for a phone that is a newer model that's fast and can do just about anything I might possibly need. Just trying to pick apart the differences between the S2 and the Nexus now...

 

[Metroid Prime]

I read the nexus will get the updates before any other phone sense it's a google phone.
It has a bigger screen and has a nice resolution too. You could wait on the S2 or buy the Nexus and get ICS now. It has many other cool ICS features and is a great step forward from gingerbread. Though, I believe the Nexus is with Verizon and the S2 is with AT&T so there's also the matter of what carrier to go with.

 

[marc12868]

I read the nexus will get the updates before any other phone sense it's a google phone.
It has a bigger screen and has a nice resolution too. You could wait on the S2 or buy the Nexus and get ICS now. It has many other cool ICS features and is a great step forward from gingerbread. Though, I believe the Nexus is with Verizon and the S2 is with AT&T so there's also the matter of what carrier to go with.

There is a GSM version of the Nexus that works with T-mo and AT&T and that is the one sold on the Play store for $400 off contract. The S2 is on every Carrier, but Verizon. Each carrier has a different codename though (AT&T: Skyrocket, T-mo: Hercules, and Sprint: Epic 4g Touch, and there's the original S2 which is GSM I believe). The SGS2 will get ICS it's just a matter of time. The Nexus has ICS and will be the first to receive updates since it is Google's phone.

@OP If you are going to be switching to AT&T though might look into the Samsung Galaxy Note and the HTC One S as well.