Galaxy S II vs. Galaxy S Plus vs. Optimus 2X

Final words

All three droids performed admirably in our tests and they helped us make two things clear – you can’t beat the performance of modern dual-core CPUs by just overclocking an old chipset. On the other hand, an overclocked single-core chipset is powerful enough for almost everyone.

The Samsung Galaxy S II came out on top most often – not always by a lot, but it does seem like the winner in our tests. The big lead in Flash performance and the better 1080p videos give it a definite edge, while the 4.3” SuperAMOLED Plus display is miles ahead of any regular LCD and it seals the deal.

Not that it can’t learn a thing or two from the LG Optimus 2X – especially when it came to graphics (in benchmarks anyway) and reliable GPS performance. The still camera offered very solid performance and the video camera is still better than most on the market.

As for the Samsung Galaxy S Plus, it’s a solid overhaul. The original was an excellent phone and this boost in performance is a welcome lifeline. As long as it’s priced reasonably below the S II of course, which makes even the updated model seem slow and chubby.

It’s clear that dual-cores are the way of the future, but Android’s diverse nature means that devs have to support devices with much lower resources, so most things don’t even come close to pushing a dual-core chipset to its limit.

But grab a Galaxy S II or an Optimus 2X and you’ll be able to run everything in the Android Market in the near future. There’s a sizable price gap between the two models right now, but whichever way you go, you’ll get your money’s worth.