When Apple rolled out its iPhone 4S, it was billed as one of the leading electronic innovations of the year, but that was before Samsung rolled out its I9100 Galaxy S II that offered many of the same feautres such as an 8MP rear-facing, autofocus camera, high-contrast/collor display and front-facing camera for videoconferencing and chats.
With the exception of the screen size - the Samsung's superAMOLED Plus touchscreen is slightly larger than the iPhone 4S, but not much - they are for all intents and purposes the same pieces of hardware. For example, the Samsung uses a dual-core 1GHz processor with software that has been optimized to used each processor, while the iPhone 4S offers the same style of Apple-centric dual-core processor whose operating system software has been optimized, as well.
Indeed, the systems are so close that Apple has opted to go to court to try and enjoin Samsung from using the technology it has developed for the I9100 Galaxy S II. The case is still in process, so there has been no decision yet. For example, both can use up at least 32 GB of memory so there's plenty of storage available for play lists and other items such as calendars and to-do lists.
The key differences, though, are at the software, not hardware level. The Samsung uses the Android 3.1 operating system to run its applications, while the Apple iPhone 4S locks you into its iOS 5. And, while Android can claim up to 300,000 applications developed for its Google-backed software, Apple does claim that iOS has about 500,000 applications developed for the system.
Where the Samsung has a distinct advantage over the iPhone is that any app developed for the Galaxy S II is free, while you must go to Apple's app store and purchase the applications you need. This is nothing new to the Apple-centric world that is used to paying for tunes, applications and other upgrades. Apple has had its iTunes store for some time, as it has had its App store as well. And, Apple does have an iTools branch of the store, as well.
If you are used to living in Apple's store-driven world, then this is no shocker, but if you are coming out of an Apple and into a free Samsung, then you will find that there's a universe of applications software out there that doesn't have to cost you anything to purchase. Your just download the app, install it and you are off.
Perhaps the biggest difference - one that does put the iPhone 4S well ahead of Samsung's Galaxy - is the Apple Siri personal assistant software. In looking at it closely, you will find that it does give your iPhone a real workout as most of the applications that are installed in the phone are involved in making Siri work.
For example, Siri is voice-driven. In other words, if you tell it to do something, it will not only respond to you but you but when the request is achieved, Siri will announce it. That's not all, though, Siri offers you the ability to turn spoken words into text, which is a nice piece of work. And, it will go on to set your calendar, remember your to-do list, if you have programmed it beforehand and more.
In other words, Siri is truly a digital analog to a real administrative assistant, all contained in your iPhone 4S.
That's not to say there are not pieces of Siri-like software apps available for the Galaxy because among the 200,000 to 300,000 - and growing - number of apps available, there are bound to be text-to-speech; calendars-to-text, and more available. It's just that they don't have an umbrella piece of software over them.
As for the rest of the differences between the iPhone 4S and the Samsung, you would have to use a micrometer to find any real difference. The screen resolutions are about the same as are the camera resolutions and the 1080p native high-definition native resolution are the same on both phones.
The key difference is the "personal assistant" Siri. It's a big one, but, as noted, who knows how long it will be before someone finds a way to make a similar assistant for the Samsung.
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