Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 5, who will be the winner?!?

by Antonio Wells Sep 13, 2012 9:48 AM – 10 Comments

In a battle of the Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 5, who will be the winner?!? Apple unveiled their worst kept secret, the iPhone 5, and we thought we’d put the most anticipated phone head-to-head against the best (and best selling) Android phone in a classic duel of technical specs. Psst… check out Part 2 article and hands-on with iPhone 5 & Galaxy S3 video.

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Specs	SGS3	iPhone 5

Display	4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED; 1,280×720 pixels, 306 ppi	4-inch IPS LCD; 1,136×640 pixels, 326 ppi
Faster	1.5 GHz Dual-core (U.S.) 1.4 GHz Quad-core (Int’l) Qualcomm Snapdragon S4	A6
Memory	16GB or 32GB; 2GB RAM (Expandable to 64GB)	16GB, 32GB, 64GB (Not Expandable)
Cameras	8-megapixel, 1080p HD video (rear-facing) 1.9-megapixel, 720p HD video (front-facing)	8-megapixel, 2.4/f, 1080p HD video (rear-facing) 1.2-megapixel, 720p HD video (front-facing)
Thinner	0.34″ (8.6 mm)	0.3″ (7.6 mm)
Lighter	4.7 ounces (133g)	3.95 ounces (112g)
Internet	LTE, HSPA+	LTE, HSPA+
Battery	Talk time: Up to to 11 h 40 min	Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G
NFC	Yes	No
Assistant	S Voice	Siri
Price	$199.99-$329.99, depending on carrier	$199.99, $299.99, $399.99

Conclusion

Display: we gave the display to the GS3 for sheer size as it offers more real estate for viewing although the iPhone 5 just recently expanded to 4 inches and probably has a crisper display due to slightly more pixels per inch (ppi) resolution.

Faster: to be honest, no one has been able to benchmark the two processors against each other (yet), however we can confirm both are lightning fast. Apple states twice the processor power of the previous generation and the Galaxy S3 remains the king of numerous benchmark test among Android phones.

Memory: Samsung takes the edge here as you can expand your phone with microSD card storage an additional 64GB!

Cameras: The optics in the iPhone have historically been superior. The 4S camera is actually better than the GS3, so if Apple says they have improved the successor, we’re going to have to take their word as gold on that.

Thinner: Apple wins and can claim “the world’s thinnest smartphone” at 7.66mm, a crown recently held by another Android smartphone, the Huawei Ascend P1 S at 7.69mm. Overall, both of these phones are incredibly thin.

Lighter: Apple takes this as well by losing some weight due to being thinner, but more importantly removing the back-side glass and shrinking the dock connector by 80% for the new ‘Lightning’ port.

Internet: We’ll have to call this one a tie as Apple finally stepped up to the plate and embedded an LTE chip so their phones can access the faster mobile data networks. Something Android phones had since early 2011.

Battery: the iPhone has always had an impressive battery, however, Samsung beefed up the GS3 with a 2100 mAh battery and in the manufacturer’s own specs, we based our decision on length of 3G talk time, offering nearly four hours more.

NFC: Apple has been known not to offer the bleeding edge of technology, as evident in 4G LTE only recently being offered. Therefore, you just won’t find NFC, near field communication, the tap to share or tap to pay next level technology offered in many modern Android phones.

Assistant: although most tech pundits will agree that Siri is half baked, it still is far superior to Samsung’s implementation of S Voice virtual assistant.

Price: both phones are very competitively priced, so we’re calling this a tie!

Winner: YOU! That’s right… you, the consumers are the winners as the technology, offerings, and pricing are so close and competitive, we all win with either choice. This is going to be an interesting holiday season this year!

What’s your take on this? Chime in on the comments below or on the YouTube video!

Sources: Samsung, Apple, GSM Arena, CNET

Categorised in: Android Advice, Android Devices, Android Phones, Featured, News

10 Comments

By Mike on September 13, 2012 at 10:20 am:

Can’t the s3 be extended to 96G? 32G built in plus 64G SDXC card?

Also, I think the better front camera on the s3 may make that a tie.

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- By Mikael on September 14, 2012 at 10:17 am:
  
  Why don´t they compare in the most interesting way how good the battery life is, in hours of surfing/video/playing games… Who gets the most talk-hours is the one with the bigger battery. Not so with the kind of usage that 99% of smartphone owners do. Most people talk less than an hour/day, but the battery is often almost empty @ the end of the day…
  
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By Mike on September 13, 2012 at 10:23 am:

The voice competitor to siri isn’t svoice, it’s Google Now. Google Now I think is a tie. It will come to the s3 with the jelly bean upgrade.

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By Moin Uddin Ahmed on September 13, 2012 at 10:40 am:

GS3 can be updated to Jelly Beans and with its Voice assistant. Siri is still far behind

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By Luis on September 13, 2012 at 12:18 pm:

Don’t forget the proprietary expensive everything of the IPhone.
Just bought a second USB cable for my G.Note to keep it at work for only $2.

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By Ray on September 13, 2012 at 1:13 pm:

RAZR Is the world’s thinnest phone actually at 7.1mm so don’t let apple fool us Android people now also. You guys should know this!

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- By Antonio Wells on September 13, 2012 at 2:43 pm:
  
  @Ray The new Apple phone is 7.66mm thick all over not 7.1mm at its thinnest and 10.7mm at the bulge that holds the camera like the RAZR. We’re talking overall thin, not at the thinnest point.
  
  Reply
By stillerwinter on September 13, 2012 at 4:01 pm:

Actually the oppo finder is the thinnest smartphone with 6.65mm thickness.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/17/watch-the-worlds-thinnest-smartphone-pound-a-nail-into-a-board

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By John Galea on September 14, 2012 at 7:52 am:

The S3 is compatible with the 64G xSD so can actually go up to 96G today. The S3 can also do USB OTG as well as HDMI output.

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By Bob Love on September 14, 2012 at 8:05 am:

LTE/HSPA+ is NOT a tie. S3 can do LTE AND voice simultaneously, i5 can do LTE OR voice. iFail.

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