Apple recently instigated legal proceedings against Samsung based on the premise that the latter has been copying the former in hardware and software design in the mobile space. It is easy to look at this as yet another lawsuit in the mobile industry and to just dismiss it, but the more I use Samsung smartphones the more I see similarities. When I look at these two phones, I see the following-

The large home button on the Galaxy S 2 is sat on its own flanked by two virtual keys that only light up when pressed.

You can take a screenshot on the Galaxy S 2 by holding down the power and home keys.

You can move icons around the home screens by dragging them to a new place and while many operating systems do this, it is hard not to see the similarity in use here.

There are some aspects of what Samsung does with Android that sail very close to the wind in my opinion. The hardware has long been a source of contention, but the software tweaks are sometimes too close to how iOS does things. The addition of the screenshot mechanism in the Galaxy devices, while very welcome, is almost identical to the iOS screenshot method. I’m not sure if these areas are patented, but Samsung could have chosen any number of ways to implement this and they chose one that is the same as iOS.

When Samsung does things differently the results are highly impressive. When it copies others the results are still impressive, but it does feel as if I have seen it all before, which I have of course.

If someone asked me today which smartphone they should buy out of these two, I would almost certainly say to go for the Galaxy. The screen is bigger and better, the camera is better, the phone is lighter and the call quality is much clearer. Battery life between the two is similar and from a hardware perspective the Galaxy is some way ahead. The Retina screen in the iPhone 4 was much touted as being the next big thing, and it is indeed fantastic, but I find myself wanting to use the larger Galaxy screen for films and most other tasks because there is just so much space to play in. Retina is lovely, but high resolution is more than enough for me and it seems as though dimensions are more important than pixels per inch to me.

The software is mightily important when choosing a smartphone and there is little doubt that Android is catching iOS quickly and the birth of Google Movies will be one of the final pieces of the puzzle. I can’t really tell you which is the better phone for you, but I can say that the S 2 is ahead in terms of hardware and that Android is closer to iOS for usability than it has ever been.

On a personal level I am torn between these phones. The Galaxy S 2 is a better phone of that I have no doubt, but like many others I have been enchanted by the reliability, completeness and usability of iOS. A year with one phone is unusual for me and a year in which I have had no real inclination to move is remarkable, but Apple has done a very good job of keeping me within the iOS fold. Many iPhone users will stick with their phones for a long time to come and will enjoy the new found loyalty they have developed to one platform, but new users now have some deep questions to ask themselves. Apple needs to be careful of that because Android is finding itself in a more diverse range of products every month and it could outsell the rest by a massive margin eventually.

So, these are both stunningly good smartphones. When I use the Galaxy S 2 and revert back to the iPhone, the screen feels tiny. When I use the iPhone and revert back to the Galaxy S 2 the interface feels slightly messy in comparison.

It is like comparing apples and oranges and it depends on your taste as to which is right for you. The really good news is that both will do everything you want them to do yet it is amazing that one is almost a year old and still competing with the best the competition can offer.

6:30am: Wake up and download latest Podcasts for trip to work.

7am: Drive to work with TomTom running to check the traffic and any diversions. At the same time Podcasts will be playing through an FM transmittor to break the monotony of the journey.

8am: Check emails and the latest Tweets, calendar appointments etc.

Morning: Occasional use of email, Twitter and the internet.

Lunch: Read a bit of an eBook or check up on TUAW and a variety of other sites. Maybe send some links to my email for addition to 247.

1pm-5pm: As previously, checking emails and social networks.

Evening: Check notes and emails from the day for 247 content, Word with Friends and some minimal game playing.

11pm: Read a bit of an eBook, maybe watch a TV episode or part of a film and finally get some sleep.

My smartphone is there all of the time and seems to be getting more usage than ever before, but with less effort. Smartphones are bloody brilliant!

It’s no secret that everyone uses the toilet, but it’s something we do mostly in private.

It’s no secret that most people have a bank account, but the details of how to access the account are secret, and most people choose to keep the details of their account private and secret.

It’s no secret that people occasionally change job, but they keep it private and secret from existing employer to protect their position.”

There are, however, things you can use to make an iPhone (and iPad) feel more independent and here are just a few examples-

The first example is hardware related and a problem that all smartphone owners suffer with- the need to connect to a wire to charge the phone. For those of you in the UK, HMV is currently selling the Logic3 Power Sleeve (for iPhone 4) for only £9.95 in store. You charge it up and take it with you and when you need to charge your phone just slip it into the cradle. It charges the iPhone much faster than my Mac Mini via USB does and has proved useful on multiple occasions so far.

Photo organisation is one area where the iPhone is poor to say the least. To manage your photos you have to sync your phone with iTunes or at the vest least connect to use iPhoto or a similar tool. PhotoSync takes away a lot of this pain and will let you synchronise photos wirelessly between a desktop and the iPhone. Unfortunately due to restrictions by Apple you cannot specify folders on the iPhone so you are still left with a slightly limited experience, but one which is way better than the default settings. Phanfare ($29 / year) is another option which covers many bases. You can save all of your digital photos online and access them directly from an iPhone. It will sync with iPhoto and any photos or videos that you take on your iPhone are automatically uploaded and stored on the service. If you are serious about looking after your photos, this is a very good option.

Podcast management is terrible on the iPhone, but not so with Instacast. For $1.99 / £1.19 your entire Podcasting experience will be changed forever and it really should be snapped up by Apple for a future upgrade.

For notes I have to recommend EverNote and Awesome Note as a combination that never needs to touch a desktop computer. It’s all so seamless that I can’t imagine not using either now.

There are many restrictions imposed by Apple, some with good reason, that limit how mobile an iOS device can currently be, but have a look around and you will find many more apps that can help to get around these restrictions.

Many times I think of going back to an old phone that I used to have like two years ago just to get some peace of mind!”

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to see where this could go. The next Apple TV may be an actual Television that can stream movies from iTunes, play apps and games, surf the internet and use the entire iOS ecosystem. Console quality games for a couple of dollars, movies and TV shows on tap and all connected to an iPad, Mac or whatever else is lurking in the house. A wireless Apple keyboard to use the internet and send and receive emails and all in crisp high definition. And the amount of development needed to achieve this is tiny in comparison to what has been done so far.

Good TV could be revived through Android and the media services just announced. Again, apps and games and everything else can be invisibly shuffled to the TV in an instance and the home entertainment world will change forever.

I have one question. Why hasn’t it already happened?