You’re probably reading this thinking “the iPhone 4S has less RAM, a slower dual-core processor and a smaller display size, so how can it be considered a rival?” Well rather than sit here and compare specs side-by-side, today we are going to look at sales and performance.

We presumed that the Samsung Galaxy S II would outperform the iPhone 4S due to its superior tech specs, however if you check out this article you will see that in four benchmark tests the iPhone 4S outperformed the S II massively. We have embedded the benchmark results below (click on the image for a larger version).

It is clear to see that the benchmark results are not even close, however you have to remember a few things. Firstly, benchmarks don’t always equate to real-world performance, secondly the iPhone 4S is running iOS 5.0, which means we should really compare results once the S II gets its Ice Cream Sandwich update.

As previously mentioned the S II is currently considered by many as the best smartphone currently available, but the above benchmarks prove just how competitive Apple’s new offering will be. We see both smartphones battling it over the next months until we find out more about the Nexus Prime and/or the Galaxy S III. The last week or so has seen the rivalry really kick off, firstly we heard how the iPhone 4S pre-orders set new records and then told you about how Samsung would be shifting some S II smartphones for just $2 each, now we are hearing of a Vodafone iPhone 4S price cut – we wonder what smartphone will come out on top in the long run, but Apple’s dominance is hard to ignore.

What do you think is a better smartphone? Samsung Galaxy S II or the iPhone 4S?

The Galaxy S II or S2 is a pretty impressive phone, so makes us laugh how Samsung is reverting to these kinds of tactics? It could be one of two things, they are either upset with the ongoing lawsuit, or they are just plain scared that iPhone 4S sales will wipe the floor with their latest Android handset – we believe that it’s the latter?

As you would imagine there has been a huge deal of interest, and the public have be queuing for days to get the handset for less than you would pay for a latte. The Galaxy S II will go on sale in Australia on Friday at 8am – yet another coincidence wouldn’t you say? The Sydney Morning Herald says that Samsung hopes that the huge amount of people that will pass by the Apple Store on Friday to get new iPhone 4S might change their mind and go for the S II instead.

It is also said that Samsung representatives have been trying to poach customers queuing outside the Apple Store, which to us seems very low. It’s as if they are not confidant that their product will sell itself, instead they need to persuade people to change their minds. Do you think that this is an underhanded tactic?

The S II and the Bionic will be the main competition for the 4S, well just until the Nexus Prime is released. We already know just how much more powerful the new iPhone is compared to the current version, but the real test comes when it has to go head-to-head in a smartphone showdown with rival models. So let’s see how they fare, thanks to a little research from Engadget?

Now you may have thought that the 4S would have come out on top in almost all categories, but that is not the case. There are a few areas where each handset shines, but it will not be until real world tests begin that we will get a true sense of the power of the iPhone 4S.

We will always compare the 4S first, the S II next, which will then be followed by the Bionic. The first test is the CPU, here we have a 1GHz Dual-core A5 compared to a 1.2GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos or 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 and a 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430. Then there is the memory, likely 512MB compared to 1GB for each.

Screen sizes are 3.5, 4.3 or 4.5 and finally 4.3 inches. Storage is 16GB, 32GB and 64GB for the iPhone 4S, and 16GB for the other two. However, the latter two does benefit from microSDHC expansion.

All three handsets benefit from an 8-megapixel camera, but from what we have seen the 4S will have the edge, as it uses far better lens technology. These are the most important features, but we were shocked with the battery results, as the iPhone 4S performs poorly when compared to the Bionic, as it gives away at least 2 hours when using 3G.

Do you think that the iPhone 4S is worth the upgrade?

This is certainly a big deal, as to some this speed bump is almost as good as 4G LTE, so maybe this is the reason why Apple has refused to develop a full 4G iPhone? We already know that the company plans to improve 3G speeds – they need to get hold of O2 UK, as their speeds are shocking. The likes of AT&T have already started to improve speeds of HSPA+, so maybe they already knew what Apple had in store with the iPhone for some time now?

Currently the speeds available is just 7.2Mbps (again not on O2) and you will certainly notice the difference when downloading content from iTunes. This is needed, as Apple are planning to move a lot of iTunes over to in the cloud, so this speed bump is needed. Let’s hope that this is true, as this will finally put an end to owners of the S II and other such high-end phones tearing the iPhone apart – not likely to happen is it?

Electronista has made a very good point, this speed increase for data is not going to improve Verizon’s version of the iPhone, and not Sprint’s if they get the new version to. The reason for this is because those still using CDMA have not done any work to advance past EVDO Rev A. Wonder if this is a reason why Big Red is falling out of love with Apple – don’t hold us to that?

For most of the video we see the S II that we are all familiar with – the one in the UK with the home button at the bottom like the iPhone. However, if you keep watching until the very end the South Korean phone maker manages to sneak in a different version of the handset. It is this handset that we are uncertain of, as it could be any one of the big four US carrier models.

We would have to say that the design is closer to the Hercules, although the corners do not seem to be as round. As for the promo video itself, we have to admire how clever it all is. It starts of with an image of a Queens Guard standing at his sentry box; a SII then hovers in front of him to reveal some sexy underwear. However, our favorite is when it is put in front of the Mona Lisa and gives her luscious lips.

The Samsung Galaxy S II has been a long time coming, as Korea and the UK have been enjoying the handset for months now. Some consumers are now happy that it will soon be released stateside, while others cannot understand why Apple allowed such a thing to happen. These issues that Samsung and Apple have been going through in the courts is not good for consumers; all they want is a choice, and at the moment all phone makers want to do is stop each other from releasing new handsets.

T-Mobile has been a little quiet since Samsung announced their new handset, as they were the last to confirm that they were to join the party. The Hercules has a few similarities with a number of other handsets, such as the previous Galaxy S. However, the larger 4.5-inch screen and a 1.2GHz processor will certainly give the Droid Bionic a run for its money.

One other feature that you may notice is the rounded edges, as it looks very similar to the Within, which we now expect to be called the HTC EVO Design 4G. We are uncertain if it will come equipped with NFC or not. However, one would assume that it would, as other version of the S II will be packing Near Field Communication.

We have known for three months that the Hercules existed, but we did not know if it would be a variant of the Galaxy S II and when it will get its final release. We still do not have official confirmation, but the images are hard to deny – well unless someone has decided to have some fun with us that is? You are going to need x-ray vision to see what hardware it will be packing, but we cannot help but think how much it looks like the Nexus S.

Other specs that we expect to see are Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 1080p video recording and 42Mbps HSPA. With Sprint not offering any details we have to go off recent rumors as to when the device will be released, and the smart money is on September 26, 2011. Price will be a deciding factor on whether you will choose T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II variant or go for Verizon’s, AT&T’s or Sprint’s but Pocket Now expects it to be over the $300 mark. However, they do believe that there will be a number of discounts to make it a more attractive offer.

Which version of the Galaxy S II will you be buying and why?

The deal is a win win for Samsung, as they make both devices, so the likes of HTC and Motorola will have to sit around and admit defeat for today. The offer of a free Nexus S runs from 11.00PM CT yesterday to 11.59PM CT today. Just do not go into any other store by mistake, as you will look pretty stupid. You should not think too hard about this offer, due to the fact that there is not much time.

The Nexus S or Google Phone as some people call it is not going to blow you away with the hardware, but what you can be sure of is it being the first one to get future Android updates before most other handsets running the OS. Android 2.3 Gingerbread comes installed, but once Ice Cream Sandwich is released chances are you will have it before the S II, Droid Bionic and the ill-fated HTC ThunderBolt. However, we can tell you that the Nexus S does come with NFC, something that the iPhone 5 might no even get, depending who you listen to that is?

To benefit from this one-day offer you have to either be ready for an upgrade or if you sign up to a new two-year contract. This means that those of you who still have time left on your contract will not be able to take advantage of this offer. No doubt this will upset some customers who have only just signed up to a new contract?

Finding the deal on the Best Buy website is very easy, as it is shown right at the top of the normal or mobile store website. Now that you have saved money on this limited offer the retailer must be hoping that you purchase some accessories at the same time. We can see that they have nine accessories available, these range from cases, extra battery, car charger and a screen cover.

Will you be getting the free Nexus S, or would you rather wait for the Galaxy S II

We have also learned that Sprint’s version if the Galaxy S II has hit FCC, but we feel that the carrier should procrastinate its release, as the Within needs to be more like the Epic. There were four versions of the Galaxy S last year, with all four major US carriers going for different designs. However, it was Sprint who had the best due to a number of reasons, and one of those was to wait and bring theirs out last.

There is a saying “The best things come to those who wait,” and that was very true last year. Sprint just needs to take a little back seat just to see what Verizon and AT&T has to offer. As yet T-Mobile has not shown any interest in taking up the S II, but they would be stupid not to – although they might feel that they would rather put their efforts into getting the iPhone 5?

Sprint might be able to one-up Big Red, as it is believed that their version of Samsung’s new Android handset will lack LTE, and we do not expect AT&T to offer it either, However, AT&T is rumored to be launching two version, one of which will have a QWERTY slider just like the Epic did last year. However, we do not know if this is ture or not, as we believe that Verizon will offer LTE support for the S II.

This is where Sprint will be able to trump these two carriers if they time their release perfectly. Let AT&T and Verizon battle it out with each other, all the while Sprint then comes along makes their Galaxy S II the better looking, minor feature tweaks, Full QWERTY keyboard and finally the ace up their sleeve, 4G connectivity.

Playing the long game is the best way to succeed, but it is not without its drawbacks. If Sprint waits too long then by that time there will be a host of new handsets to worry about. OK, we know that the iPhone 5 will be one of them, but what about competition from Samsung, as they are to release the Galaxy R and Q later this year. The former is a more affordable Galaxy, while the latter is a more beefed up version. What ever happens, we are in for a few crazy months in the smartphone market.

The two are very similar, hence why we have called these handsets doppelgangers. We recently reported that the Galaxy R has a 4.2-inch LCD display, whereas the S II has that 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen. The difference in quality will be noticeable when you have the two in front of each other, for the average user the R will be more than up to the task for playing videos, games or viewing photos.

Taking photos will be a huge difference, as the R will have a 5-megapixel shooter and the S II or S2 an 8-megapixel. It will be the CPU where things will be a little different; one will have the NVIDIA Tegra 2, while the other will come packing Samsung’s Exynos 4210 processor. If you thought the gap between the two was big with hardware now, then wait until a little later in the year, as there will be a new version of the SII, which will come with NFC and a much faster processor.

You may already know some of this, but it is the two videos below that we are now interested in, as we have not seen the R and S II in video next to each other before. We could see Samsung coming under fire with the Galaxy R, as it looks very much like the iPhone 4 – just look at those curved edges. The R is a little thicker, so will come as a relief to some, as they felt that the S II was a little too thin and fragile.

The first video looks over all the differences between the R and S II, whereas the second video offers a demo of the cheaper Galaxy handset. There is no talking in this video, but you will get to see the new Android phone in action. Talking of Android, IntoMobile believes that you should hold off buying a new Android phone, as Ice Cream Sandwich will be out soon, so new handsets will come pre-installed with this.

Now we are not certain why they say this, as we have seen in the past how long it takes to rollout a new version of Android to not only old handsets but new ones as well.

That handset is all set to become a major headache for a number of Android handsets, such as the Thunderbolt, because it will come with Gingerbread 2.3 right from the get go. According to GottaBeMobile the main reason for the delay is due to the four main carriers in the US, as negotiations do not seem to be going anywhere.

Now there have been a few rumors that the S II will not even be released in the US, but that seems a little far-fetched. Going back to why the Droid Bionic could be affecting the launch of the S II, it seems that Motorola has a way of making their handsets work better for the US consumer on the CDMA network.

Now we can understand why this would have an effect on Verizon, but we see no reason why AT&T or T-Mobile has yet to launch theirs, as they use GSM? This is of no consolation to the consumer; all they want is a handset that has taken the UK market by storm. When they hear reports that the S II has outsold the iPhone 4 for two months now, it’s like rubbing salt in the wounds – it makes them want it all the more.

The S II will not even have 4G LTE like the Bionic, but is this really a big deal. We know that the iPhone 5 will not come with 4G technology, and we can be sure that this will not hurt sales. Although the idea of 4G is not good for the consumer, it is still not widely available – why have a handset with a certain feature that you cannot use is most of the US?

Let us look at this logically, not everyone in the US wants the Droid Bionic or the iPhone, and this also goes for 3D and LTE. What US consumers want it superb hardware and carrier choice, and the one handset that will offer these is the Samsung Galaxy S II – so come on US carriers it’s time to step up.