Google Nexus 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S3

The Google Nexus 4 is the latest phone to bear the Google name. LG made it, but to most people, it's the "Google phone". It's here to show off Android 4.2, and it supplies a huge amount of smartphone goodness for not all that much money.

But can it hold a candle to the Samsung Galaxy S3, the most successful Android phone of the year? We've taken apart each phone piece-by-piece to find out which of these Android mammoths you should buy.

Read our iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 comparison

Price and Deals

Google Nexus 4 - From £239 SIM-free, £36 a month on contract
Samsung Galaxy S3 - From £400 SIM-free, £30-odd a month on contract

The fantastic thing about the Google Nexus 4 is that it's super-cheap, if you go to the right place. Buy direct from Google and it costs just £239 for the 8GB edition or £279 for the 16GB version. That's around half the price of the Samsung Galaxy S3, making it a wee bit of a bargain, and something that should get many a mid-range phone running scared.

SIM-free, the Samsung Galaxy S3 will set you back around £400. It has gotten a little cheaper since its launch in May, but not by a great deal. 

If you want a contract deal, the price difference is much less significant. Compared to the price the Nexus 4 sells at direct from Google, contract deals at present are poor. You're looking at around £36 a month to get the phone free from O2, which is the price of a top-end phone like the Galaxy S3. 

Design

Google Nexus 4 - glass rear, plastic sides, black sparkly finish
Samsung Galaxy S3 - plastic removable battery cover, white/blue/black/red finishes

One of the most common criticisms levelled at the Samsung Galaxy S3 is that it doesn't feel all that swanky because it uses a pretty unimpressive, thin, glossy plastic battery cover. It's a classic Samsung design move - one seen in both previous Galaxy flagship phones. 

The LG-made Google Nexus 4 doesn't go plastic fantastic, topping the rear of the phone with a layer of glass. However, it doesn't feel quite as high-end as something like the iPhone 4S. You could quite easily mistake the glass layer for a sheet of transparent plastic. This may be in part down to the plastic sides, robbing the phone of that cool-to-the-touch feel. 

The Google Nexus 4 has an unusual spangly finish, with a disco ball-style shiny pattern on its rear. However, it doesn't look as garish in person as it does in pictures. It's less "1970s" in the flesh, thankfully, and it comes in black only at present.

At launch the Samsung Galaxy S3 was available in white and pebble blue finishes. The blue version had a brushed metal effect look, which turned off a few prospective buyers. Since then, a couple of extra editions have surfaced. There are now black and red versions, both using the metallic-look finish of the pebble blue handset. Neither phone is perfect, but the Galaxy wins out with a slightly higher-end feel, in spite of the plastic construction.

Thanks to their huge screens, both phones are quite large, and we recommend getting your mitts on a phone this size before buying, to check it's simply not too big for your paws.

Screen

Google Nexus 4 - True IPS 4.7 inches, 720 x 1,280 pixels
Samsung Galaxy S3 - Super AMOLED 4.8 inches, 720 x 1,280 pixels

The Google Nexus 4 screen is a smidge smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S3's display, 4.7 inches instead of 4.8. Resolution is exactly the same, though, at 720p 

Aside from the similar numbers, the tech used in the displays is completely different. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has an AMOLED screen, and the Google Nexus 4 a variant of IPS. 

AMOLED screens supply superb contrast as they don't use a universal backlight, which tends to make blacks look a little grey or blueish when in a dark environment, or when held at an angle. IPS screens like the Google Nexus 4 tend to supply more natural-looking colours and higher brightness, though. 

There's an additional downside to the Galaxy S3's display. It uses a Pentile subpixel layout. Instead of teeny, tinny red, green and blue subpixels (RGB), as seen in the Google Nexus 4, the S3 has a RGBG (red-green-blue-green) array. To see this directly, you'd have to use a pretty strong macro camera lens, but it has a negative effect on general image quality, reducing sharpness - especially in text. 

The Google Nexus 4 screen is sharper, has generally more relaxed-looking colours and higher top brightness, but the Galaxy S3 brings unbeatable contrast to the table. We tend to favour IPS over AMOLED.

Power

Google Nexus 4 - Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait, 1GB RAM
Samsung Galaxy S3 - Exynos 4412 Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9, 2GB

Six months is a long time in the world of tech, and the time gap shows up in the specs of these two phones - the S3 was released around half a year before the Google phone. The Qualcomm quad-core chip in the Google Nexus 4 comfortable outperforms the Samsung Galaxy S3's chip in some benchmarks, including Geekbench. However, it's not a winner across the board and the Exynos pips the Qualcomm in the Sunspider java benchmark. In summary, both phones are highly-specced powerhouses. 

The RAM situation is much easier to call - the Google Nexus 4 has 2GB, where the Samsung Galaxy S3 has just 1GB. 2GB is a whole lotta RAM for a phone, and it ensures that the Google Nexus 4 will be able to hack new versions of Google Android for a long time to come.

In practice, though, both phones are extremely quick and there's nothing on the Google Play app store they can't handle. It's more a case of future proofing rather than a boost in power that's going to dramatically change what the phones are like to use. That said, the Google Nexus 4 is a tiny bit faster as it isn't weighed down by any additional software beyond vanilla Android.

Software, Storage, Camera and Verdict

Software

Google Nexus 4 - Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Samsung Galaxy S3 - Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI
When the Samsung Galaxy S3 launched, it ran Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. However, the Jelly Bean update has now been applied, giving it the crucial speed boost that Google hardwired into the system's programming. 

It's called Project Butter, and makes much more aggressive use of CPU power to give phones and tablets extra grunt when it's needed - such as loading apps and transitioning between parts of the interface.

The S3 lock screen
However, the Google Nexus 4 once again benefits from being that little bit newer, running Jelly Bean 4.2 instead of Jelly Bean 4.1. Some of the new features that 4.2 brings are included in the custom TouchWiz UI anyway, such as Beam - which lets you transfer files using NFC - but there are a couple of extra bits. Our favourite is a complete faddy frill, called Photoshphere. This is effectively a 360-degree panorama shot, letting you see your entire surroundings rather than just a slice. 

Both the notifications menu and widgets have been given a tweak in 4.2 Jelly Bean too. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has its own share of extra bits too, though. One of the most headline-grabbing of the lot is the ability to play a video over the top of other activities - an extra bit of multi-tasking.

Storage

Google Nexus 4 - 8/16GB, non-expandable
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 16/32GB (in UK), expandable

The Google Nexus 4 continues a relatively new trend in Android devices by not letting you expand the internal storage. There's no microSD memory card slot, making the choice between the 8GB and 16GB models all the more important. 8GB will only store around five movies at good SD quality, or a petite music library. 

You have to pay £40 extra for the additional 8GB, which is an annoyance but certainly not a surprise. 64GB microSD cards can be bought for around £40 and 8GB cards for under £4. The extra space will come in extremely handy, though, especially when you consider that a chunk of the 8GB is taken up by the Android OS and its core apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 sticks to its geek guns, with at least 16GB of internal memory and a microSD slot hidden under the battery cover. This lets you boost storage into the stratosphere very cheaply. 

32GB and 64GB editions of the Samsung Galaxy S3 exist too, although the 64GB version is not widely available in the UK. We'd advise opting for the 16GB edition and jamming in a memory card if you find you need more memory. 

Connectivity

Google Nexus 4 - HSPA, Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth, NFC, MHL video output
Samsung Galaxy S3 - HSPA, Wi-Fi, DLNA, Bluetooth, NFC, MHL video output

The Google Nexus 4 and Samsung Galaxy S3 are evenly matched on connections, in that they include just about everything you could hope to have. The one thing missing is some form of HDMI video output, although the microUSB socket on both phones is MHL compliant, meaning with the right cable you can output video and surround audio to a TV. However, the Samsung Galaxy S3 demands you use the Samsung brand cable, although you can find cheapy knock-off cables if you don't want to spend the £15-20 the official cable costs. 

Not too au fait with technical jargon? Other connection types include NFC and DLNA. NFC stands for Near-Field Communication and is a short-distance communication standard that can be used to transfer data. Its most exciting implementation is on the high street, though.

The Galaxy S3 MHL adapter
NFC can be used to buy low-cost items in certain shops. Generally it's used in food chains, such as sandwich purveyor EAT. It works a little like the contactless payment system now used by debit cards, requiring little more than a quick swipe.

Video playback

Google Nexus 4 - HD quality, Divx/MP4/H.264 support
Samsung Galaxy S3 - HD quality, Divx/MP4/H.264/MKV support

Samsung is renowned for packing excellent video support into its high-end phones - it has been going the extra mile on this front for years. As it runs stock Android, the Google Nexus 4 does not have any particularly impressive video skills. 

The Google Nexus 4 has the power to handle just about any video you could fling at it, but it won't play back MKV files without a third-party app. The Samsung Galaxy S3 will. It's still one of the best mobile phone media players on the market. Expandable memory boosts its video potential too - with a 64GB in tow, you could store quite an impressive video library on the thing.

Patchy video support doesn't need to be a deal-breaker as there are plenty of half-decent third-party video players available from Google Play. 

Camera

Google Nexus 4 - 8-megapixel rear sensor, 1.3MP user-facing, LED flash
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 8-megapixel rear sensor, 1.9MP user-facing, LED flash

Specs-wise, the cameras of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Google Nexus 4 are very similar. Both main sensors have eight megapixels a piece and both use an LED flash. The only difference is that the user-facing sensor is a little higher-powered in the Samsung Galaxy S3 - 1.9 megapixels instead of 1.3.

In practice, though, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is significantly better. Much like the video skills of the Galaxy S3, imaging is something that Samsung is good at, and it shows in the phone camera. 

Of course, you do miss out on Photosphere, which is fun. However, there are apps available from Google Play that do pretty much the same thing. 

Verdict

If you're after the best buy, the Google Nexus 4 is simply better value than the Samsung Galaxy S3 if you buy direct from Google. It's a cracking buy. Look into buying one on contract from a carrier and the argument is a lot less clear. 

The Google Nexus 4 has a newer processor, more RAM, more up-to-date software and, in our opinion at least, a slightly better screen. However, for real power users, being able to increase the Samsung Galaxy S3's memory with a microSD card will be a huge benefit. Still, the Google Nexus 4 wins this fight.

iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3

iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 - Design, Screen and Power

The iPhone 5 is here, and selling by the million. As expected, it features a larger screen, a faster processor and a slightly-improved camera. But the real question is - which one should you buy, the iPhone 5 or the Samsung Galaxy S3?

We’ve taken a look at the features of both phones, put them in the ring and told them only one is coming out alive. Here's how they fared…

iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 - Video Comparison

If you want the full scoop on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5, we urge you to read on below. There are plenty of insights to be found right here. 

However, if your eyes are a bit weary, we've also produced a video comparison of the two phones, complete with side-by-side shots. 



UPDATE: November 2012
According to uSwitch, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is actually the most popular phone in the UK at present, with the iPhone 5 taking the second place position. You'd be right to question the legitimacy of these claims, which the company says are based on live searches, pre-orders and pay monthly sales, but it's an interesting suggestion.

The only figure Apple has announced so far about iPhone 5 sales is the five million units soldin the phone's first three days. Samsung has been - as usual - less coy. At the beginning of November, Samsung announced that the Samsung Galaxy S3 had sold 30 million handsets in its five months of life. This was the company's aim for the whole year, according to Samsung's JK Shin, talking back in September. The phone has proved and incredible success. 

Is this really more than the iPhone 5 has sold, though? At present there's no sure-fire way to know, as Apple simply hasn't released its figures. Sales of the latest iPhone has been strong, though, and Samsung has not won the sales battle yet.

UPDATE: Two months on...We've spent a good old while with these two phones, and have come to some conclusions about which is right for you. Below you'll find the same old specs comparisons if you want in-depth technical info, but here's what they're actually like to use.

Firstly, the difference in feel, thanks to the metal and plastic finishes respectively, soon fades away - more so than with the previous iPhone 4S. It's down to the type of metal used in the iPhone 5's construction. The new iPhone is made of aluminium, and it feels so very light that it doesn't quite have the solidity of the previous-gen models. A bit like a size-0 model, the iPhone 5 is teeny but it doesn't quite feel as healthy as some of the old phones.

Conversely, you get used to the plastic bod of the Samsung Galaxy S3 after just a short time. Quite how lightweight its plastic armouring is only becomes apparent when you take the battery cover off. And who really does that too often?

The adaptability of us humans makes us get used to things terribly quickly, and it helps on the screen front too. Upon first getting hold of the Samsung Galaxy S3 it felt that bit too big, but two months on it just doesn't. We even got used to the 5.5in Galaxy Note 2 pretty quickly. 

However, if you have small hands you should definitely take note of the size issue. Even adaptability has its limits. 

The giant screen of the Samsung Galaxy S3 makes it our top choice for web-browsing. With a screen this big, this high-resolution, there's so need to even thing about using mobile sites any longer. On this front, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has the edge over the iPhone 5.

On the fun front, though, the iPhone 5 has this argument on lock down. With such a healthy games and apps ecosystem, we found that we downloaded far more games with the iPhone 5 than the Samsung Galaxy S3. Yes, we spend more money but had more fun (or wasted more time) in the process.

If either gaming or web browsing are your key priorities, the choice seems a fairly easy one. Have other priorities? Check out the rest of our comparison below. 


Release Date and Sales
iPhone 5 - Available now, 12 September unveiling, 21 September available date
Samsung Galaxy S3 - Available now, unveiled May 2012

The iPhone 5 is out there. Early supply issues meant that demand oustripped supply, but looking at the numbers it's no surprise. The iPhone 5 sold five million units in its first weekend on sale, and two million in its first 24 hours. 

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has already been released, of course, and has done extremely well in its short time on this Earth. Back in July we heard that the phone had already broken through the 10 million sales barrier, making it a faster seller than either of its predecessors, the original Galaxy S and the hugely popular Galaxy S2. 

By the end of 2012, analyst predictions suggest the iPhone 5 will sell around 26 million units. Samsung's own JK Shin has said he expects the Samsung Galaxy S3 to sell 30 million by the end of the year. Let's not forget that the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been on sale for a lot longer, though.

Design
iPhone 5 - 7.6mm thick, metal casing, non-removable battery
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 8.6mm thick, plastic casing, removable battery

Apple has taken aggressive measures to make the iPhone 5 as thin as possible. The rear layer of glass has gone, the phone uses a teeny nano-SIM and the screen technology merges its constituent layers to squish everything down as far as possible. As a result it's just 7.6mm thick, a full millimetre less than the Samsung Galaxy S3 - which is 8.6mm thick. 

It's extremely impressive, and Apple has also tweaked the design of the phone to make it feel a bit less severe in the hand, despite being mega-thin. Its edges are slightly bevelled, rather than stepped, so it feels little more… hand-friendly. You still might want to grab a case for the utmost in hand comfort though. Crucially, the new etched aluminium back is much less slippy than previous versions and build quality is exceptional. 

There is one slight issue, though, that's a bit of a problem if you opt for the black version of the iPhone 5. As its rear is aluminium, it is quite scratch-prone. In the black edition, any scratches are clearly visible as they reveal the bright silver of the aluminium underneath. 

It's not such a problem with the white version, but has already left many new iPhone owners a little annoyed. Apple has admitted this issue, but says it's normal for an aluminium device.


Samsung's great white (well, pebble blue and white) hope for 2012 has an all-plastic finish that uses a flimsy, ultra-thin back cover.  This is the one part of the phone that has caused the most criticism, as it doesn't make it feel all that much like a device you should be spending £500 on, even if in practical terms it's just as tough.


The Samsung Galaxy S3 is also significantly larger than the iPhone 5, thanks to its ginormous 4.8in screen. It's 71mm wide, while the iPhone 5 is around 58mm wide. Our top recommendation is to get hold of a Galaxy S3 before buying if it's on your hit list. Some will find it a bit too big for comfort. 

Accessories
iPhone 5 - new-design Earpod headphones, new Lightning power connector
Samsung Galaxy S3 - microUSB charge cable, Samsung noise isolating IEM earphones, adapter

We don't normally compare the accessories of phones when we give them the head-to-head treatment, but Apple's accessories this time around are of note. The iPhone 5's headphones have been given a completely new design, one you just don't see elsewhere. 



The headphones are called Earpods, and they're not the typical iPhone buds of old, or the common noise isolating IEM type either. They're small, made of plastic and are designed to nestle into your ear canals, offering a bit more noise isolation than the earbuds of old. 

They're incredibly comfortable and fit securely too, and crucially for fellow train/coach/car/plane passengers, the Earpods leak much less sound to the outside world. They also sound pretty good too. Apple has completely redesigned the sound ports to boost bass and even out mid-range. The result is a surprisingly good listen, with good bass response and a notably wide sound stage. That said, they still don't block out external noise enough for our liking and we're only talking good for a £25 set of earphones - don't ditch your custom IEMs just yet.

The power cable of the iPhone 5 is also different, using the new 8-pin socket rather than the 30-pin type that has been in use for years. Apple calls it Lightning, which linguistically fits-in rather nicely with its Thunderbolt computer port. You also get a power adapter for the cable and a SIM removal tool.

Samsung's Galaxy S3 is more ordinary in its approach, though no less useful. It features a microUSB charge cable, a power adapter to plug this cable into and a standard pair of Samsung-branded IEM noise isolating earphones. The latter offer some external noise isolation but aren't actually that great when it comes to sound quality.

Screen
iPhone 5 - 4in IPS, 1,136 x 640 resolution
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 4.8in Super AMOLED, 1,280 x 720 resolution

Every generation of iPhone since the original of the species back in 2007 has uses the same size screen - 3.5in. That has all changed with the iPhone 5. It now has a widescreen 4in display of 1,136 x 640 pixels. 

It's this change of screen style that will make the iPhone 5 able to offer a larger screen without making the phone any wider. Pixel density is the same as the iPhone 4S too, although the new aspect will make it much better to watch movies on. 

Many apps have already been tweaked to support the new longer screen while older ones will just leave bars where the extra pixels now live. 


The Samsung Galaxy S3 cares a lot less about how wide it is than the iPhone 5. With a gigantic 4.8in display, the Galaxy will be too wide for some hands - it's a whopping 7.6cm across. Screen pixel density will be comparable to the new iPhone, though, with 720 x 1,280 spread across the display.

Each phone uses quite a different screen tech type. The Samsung Galaxy S3 features a Super AMOLED panel, while the iPhone 5 uses a new take on the IPS technology that has been used in iPads and iPhones for years. 

Super AMOLEDs offer superb black response and vivid colours, but IPS screens tend to look a little more natural. In our recent comparison of the Samsung and the HTC One X, we found in favour of the HTC's IPS type. 

In bright sunlight, the iPhone 5 is the clear winner of the two. It's less reflective, offers greater maximum brightness, supplying much better visibility in this sort of challenging situation. In a dark room, though, AMOLED comes into its own.

Software
iPhone 5 - iOS 6
Samsung Galaxy S3 - Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (4.1 incoming), TouchWiz UI

The battle of iOS versus Android is one we've been watching ever since 2008, when Android was born. Android has changed a good deal more than iOS in that time, and is finally getting close to becoming as slick and quick as iOS. Apple's OS has always been pretty nippy.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 isn't quite there yet, as in most territories it still uses Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich rather than the latest Jelly Bean version. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean sees the start of an initiative called Project Butter. This is designed to take full use of the processor power available, with the aim of running Android at a solid 60fps. 

Android offers more integrated features an flexibility than iOS too. You can even change the way your phone responds to basic functions, such as replacing the SMS app with a third-party one. Apple doesn't let you do anything like this. And, of course, the home screens of Android give you much more control over how your phone looks than the rigid app menu layout of iOS.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 also benefits from a blunder made by Apple. iOS got rid of the Google mapping solution that had been in use since the early days of iPhones, replacing it with Apple's own stab. At present, Apple's new Maps app doesn't work too well though. Its maps are out of date, with towns mis-named and many roads simply missing. 

The Samsung Galaxy S3 uses good old Google Maps, which works a treat. And actually features maps from this decade.

Samsung's phone also benefits from a few tweaks added-in with the TouchWiz UI. Most notably, it brings features that were only introduced in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. These include monitoring for eye movement before switching off the backlight and integrated NFC pairing.

Power
iPhone 5 - 1GB RAM, A6 processor, power TBC
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 1GB RAM, Exynos 4412, Quad-core 1.4GHz

One area where the Samsung Galaxy S3 might beat the next iPhone is its processor's figures. The Samsung Galaxy S3 uses the impressive Exynos 4412 chip, which has four cores and runs at 1.4GHz. 

Annoyingly, Apple hasn't revealed in-depth technical information about the CPU. At present, we only know that it is two times faster than the iPhone 4S's chip, which has a dual-core 1GHz CPU and PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics. Will it be quad-core? Will it offer face-melting speed? You'll have to come back in a while to find out. We'll update this feature as soon as we have the full details. 

Connectivity
iPhone 5 - new proprietary 8-pin connector, no microSD, microSIM
Samsung Galaxy S3 - microUSB, microSD, microSIM

Perhaps the most earth-shattering change in the iPhone 5 is that it rejects the 30-pin connector used across iPods, iPads and iPhones in favour of a much-smaller 8-pin model. This is comparable in size to the microUSB standard, although it's not exactly the same as microUSB. Apple is never keen on going with the bog-standard option when it can make its own version.



The problem with changing connector is that the new iPhone will be incompatible with current iPhone docking accessories - not good news if you own something like a B&W Zeppelin. However, Apple does offer a connector that acts as a bridge between the old 30-pin socket and the new 8-pin one.

It's all change, but the iPhone 5 doesn't bring expandable memory to the series - no iPhone to date has offered a memory card slot. You're also mostly tied to iTunes when transferring content like music and pictures to the phone.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is pretty much the polar opposite in its approach. It lets you use microSD cards and uses the microUSB standard. Handily, it's MHL compliant, too, able to output HD video with surround sound audio to an HDMI port when used with the right cable. Unlike the iPhone, the Samsung doesn't rely on sync software to transfer files directly either - you can drag and drop files when plugged into a computer over USB.

Cameras 
iPhone 5 - 8MP, LED flash
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 8MP, LED flash

Although many elements of the iPhone 5 have been improved hugely over its predecessor, the camera has only been given a slight upgrade. It's still an 8-megapixel sensor, and it still uses a pretty standard LED flash. Its aperture is f/2.4 and it uses a five-element lens. Like the iPhone 4S, the sensor offers backside illumination. 


The Samsung Galaxy S3 has an 8-megapixel sensor and reams of features including image stabilisation, touch focus, 1080p video capture and an LED flash. However, its image quality is at best on-par with the iPhone 4S's camera (and outperformed by it in some conditions) and we hope that the iPhone 5 will offer some significant improvements. 

The iPhone 5 also offers an impressive looking panorama mode - just tap and pan to automatically create an image. Unlike other similar panorama modes we've seen this one keeps the full size image, giving you up to 28 megapixel images - nice.

Battery
iPhone 5 - 1440mAh
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 2100mAh

The iPhone 5 hasn't gotten a huge battery increase over its predecessor.  The iPhone 4S has a 1430mAh unit, and the iPhone 5 a 1440mAh unit. It'll last for 40 hours of audio playback, or up to eight hours of talk time, with 3G enabled. 

Also, like previous iPhones you can't swap out the battery on the iPhone 5, so if you're caught short without power you're done for... well, your phone is anyway.

Samsung made a particularly strong effort with the latest Galaxy's battery, outstripping most of its rivals by around 20 per cent. For example, the HTC One X uses an 1800mAh unit and the Sony Xperia S a 1750mAh battery. 

In spite of the larger screen and only slight capacity increase, the iPhone 5 betters the stamina offered by the iPhone 4S. Apple must have put some real effort into this.

Verdict
More than is often the case, the battle between the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3 is the very definition of the case between iOS and Android, between Apple and Google. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is more flexible, with expandable memory and a more malleable OS. However, the metal body of Apple's phone feels a lot more premium, and is a much friendlier design for those with less than giant hands. And with the larger 4in screen, it won't feel quite so tiny next to the Samsung Galaxy S3, either.