Finally have time to write my experience using both variants.
I9100 - the phone get hot very fast, and the battery dies very fast too. I'm a heavy user, Cisco AnyConnect to VPN and connect to Exchange, plus other mailboxes, IM, SNS, in other words, 24x7 unlimited data connections everywhere, and the phone cannot take it.
I9100G - the phone doesn't overheat easily, even after heavy use. the battery life is much better, can last 1 or 2 days without recharging.. see the attached cpuspy, it seems I9100G runs at 1008Mhz most of the time even when running CPU intensive apps like benchmarks.
Other differences :
- The processor for I9100G seems to be capped at 1008Mhz, even while doing Stress Test or benchmarks, it seldom goes up to 1200Mhz. Not sure if this is an optimization 'feature' to reduce battery usage, or if Samsung is cutting cost and using old stock of 1Ghz chip overclocked to 1008Mhz/1200Mhz, but everything is still smooth and you wont feel the difference
- The following apps dont work or cannot download/install from Market/Samsung Apps on I9100G even though they are advertised as working for 'Samsung Galaxy S2'
1) Asphalt 6 WCG for Galaxy S2 from the Samsung Apps - if try to download getting error
"Unable to download. Application not optimized for device (8002)"2) Cisco AnyConnect for Galaxy S2 might not install if using web-based market and selecting wrong version, error code -8. (If using phone Market it will only show compatible version now, previously I notice it was showing all versions).
I9100G users should install Samsung Anyconnect in the market for "Epic™ 4G Touch for Sprint (SPH-D710), Galaxy S™ II for AT&T (SGH-I777) & Galaxy S™ II for T-Mobile (SGH-T989)" instead of "Galaxy S model GT-I9000 and SC-02B, running 2.3.3+, Galaxy S II model GT-I9100 and SC-02C, Galaxy Tab 7 running Android 2.3.3+, Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 running Android 3.0+ with the Samsung TouchWiz MR"
3) "CamScanner" and "Scan2PDF free" - click on capture, the camera is dark, cannot see anything. If set to use System Camera can see image. The 2 apps cannot control I9100G camera? I9100 is ok with both..
If I find more incompatible apps I will update this list. Please let me know if u know any other apps that can work with I9100 but not I9100G. (not including rom, rooted apps etc, just normal apps)
I am attaching some benchmark comparisons. I9100 is running 2.3.3 factory standard firmware, and I9100G is running 2.3.5 factory standard firmware. Numbers might not be very accurate since both phones have lots of apps installed and running, no time to factory reset both and do proper comparison. These numbers are just for rough reference.