Samsung Galaxy S2 vs Captivate Glide: Samsung Smartphone Shootout

Samsung's Galaxy S2 and Captivate Glide are two very different devices, mostly because the Captivate Glide has a slide-out keyboard for improved typing. A physical keyboard? What is this, 2009? No, the Captivate Glide is not an old clam shell feature phone or anything like that. Some people really just love to have a physical keyboard to type on.

It still has a 4-inch Super AMOLED display and runs the Android system on its dual-core 1Ghz processor. Although AT&T has not said how much it will cost, it will probably be at least $100 with a new two-year contract. Captivate Glide goes on sale Nov. 20, but in the meantime, for an extra hundred dollars you can wrap your mitts around the Galaxy S2, Samsung's flagship smartphone that features Voice Talk speech recognition. Galaxy S2 has a bigger screen than the Captivate and it features the patented Super AMOLED Plus display that makes the Galaxy S2 screen shine like no other. Both phones have front and rear-facing cameras, with the rear-facing an eight megapixel shooter.

It's also quite a bit thinner than the Captivate, but that's one of the trade-offs you have to make if you want a physical keyboard.

Furthermore, Galaxy S2 has the futuristic near field communication (NFC) chip built right in. NFC is what powers the Google Wallet app that allows for tap-to-pay functionality. Once the Android 4.0 update drops, the Galaxy S2 will be able to make use of the Android Beam. It uses the NFC chip to wirelessly transfer data from one NFC-enabled device to another just by holding the devices near each other.

Captivate should also get the Android 4.0 update, it just won't be able to perform the Android Beam. It will be interesting to see how well the Captivate Glide does because there aren't many high-end smartphones that still have a physical keyboard. Tell us if you are a texting demon and if you still prefer a physical keyboard.