TechSource: Apple iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. Nokia Lumia 920

Apple iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. Nokia Lumia 920

Posted: 21 Oct 2012 07:31 PM PDT

Though the launch of iPhone 5 has generated a lot of hype among the ifanboys, Androiders are busy gawking at Samsung's latest offering, that is Galaxy S3. The South Korean company, apart from taking jabs at the iPhone 5, is busy recovering from an expensive lawsuit. Meanwhile as these two giants are at loggerheads, Nokia's latest smartphone, which is the Lumia 920 is making headlines, especially among Windows Phone enthusiasts. The Metro UI and the amazing features of the phone are becoming quite popular among new users. Of course, nothing beats the iCrowds that throng to the Apple Store as soon as a new model is released. However, these days, customers are slowly exploring new options like Windows Phone 8 and others.

As of now, the iPhone 5 is the frontrunner in the smartphone battles and Android-based Samsung Galaxy S3 is trailing behind it. Let's have a quick look at some of the important features and see how these three phones stack up against each other.

Display

Apple's iPhone 5 sports a LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen with 16M colors. The phone as compared to its predecessor is slightly longer at 4 inches. Samsung's Galaxy S3 is 4.8 inches giving it the biggest display of all three phones. Both Nokia Lumia and Samsung Galaxy S3 feature Corning Gorilla Glass display; however Samsung features the latest version. So, who wins here? Well, Samsung's Galaxy S3 undoubtedly. It has a bigger resolution, bigger display and a tough Corning Gorilla Glass 2 to keep it all intact.

Winner: Galaxy S3

Camera

Nokia Lumia 920 features an 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, optical image stabilization, autofocus, and dual-LED flash. Apple's iPhone 5 also comes with a similar 8MP camera albeit with less features, same with Samsung Galaxy S3. Thus, there's very little doubt as to who is the winner here. It's Nokia Lumia 920.

Winner: Nokia Lumia 920

Processor

Nokia Lumia 920 features a Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor with an Adreno 225 GPU. Apple's iPhone on the other hand comes with a dual-core 1.2 GHz A6 processor (which, quite surprisingly is manufactured by Samsung). Samsung's Galaxy S3 comes with a powerhouse Exynos 4412 Quad quad-core processor that clocks in at 1.4 GHz. Undoubtedly Galaxy S3 wins again.

Winner: Galaxy S3

Battery Life

Nokia Lumia 920 comes with an impressive 17 hours of talk time on 2G and 10 hours on 3G. Apple's iPhone 5 on the other hand offers up to 8 hours of battery life both on 2G and 3G. This is slightly lower as compared to what Galaxy S3 offers at 9 hours. Undoubtedly Nokia wins the battle here.

Winner: Nokia Lumia 920

Software

This is a tough battle here. Apple's iPhone 5 is loaded with the new iOS 6. Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich (upgradable to Jelly Bean) operating system. The Nokia Lumia 920 runs Windows Phone 8, a neatly designed and polished user interface that looks like the best thing Microsoft did to a smartphone. That said, neither the Nokia Lumia 920 nor the iPhone 5 match up to the Samsung Galaxy S3 in terms of overall features of the software.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S3

Verdict

Though iPhone 5 has managed to get a lot of attention, its failed endeavors in the Maps department leaves a lot to be desired. People expected a lot from Apple this time, however, as the competition intensifies, the hysteria surrounding iPhone releases seems to be dwindling. These days, more and more people are switching to Android and with Samsung Galaxy S3, they can rest assured that it will be their best Droid experience ever. The Nokia Lumia 920, though promising, might never achieve the popularity the other two smartphones enjoy. In terms of features and overall value-for-money, our verdict: the Samsung Galaxy S3 is the best smartphone of the lot.

Written by: Abhishek, a regular TechSource contributor and a long-time FOSS advocate.