The Galaxy S3 and iPhone 4S goes head to head with the each other. Both smartphones have similar suggested retail prices at £499 for the 16GB models, which also makes them the most expensive mainstream handsets on the market.
Here we have quick comparision which will give you an idea on who outclasses whom and help you purchase the better one.
Storage & Memory
The base 16GB models will probably do the most business, but the S3 can scale up to 128GB . The maximum internal storage is 64GB, but the microSDXC slot means that the storage complement in Samsung’s flagship handset can be augmented by a further 64GB. The Galaxy S3 also comes with 50GB worth of Dropbox storage, free for two years!
The iPhone 4S , by comparison, also tops out at 64GB of internal storage, but thanks to Apple’s need to keep its devices locked down, you won’t be able to increase that. You do also get Apple’s iCloud service thrown in, which allows you to keep your iPhone backed up to the cloud, making it easy to recover your data if you ever lose the phone.
As far as system memory goes, the iPhone 4S has 512MB while the Galaxy S3 doubles-down to 1GB.
Processors
On paper, the iPhone 4S is no match for the raw processing power of the Galaxy S3. Both phones’ chips are based on ARM’s Cortex A9 but Samsung’s Exynos 4412 has twice the number of cores, which run nearly twice as fast - four 1.4GHz cores vs. two 800MHz cores in the Apple A5.
The Galaxy S3 is powered-by the Samsung 1.4 GHz Quad-core Exynos 4212 processor
iPhone 4S is powered-by 1 GHz dual-core processor and has 1GB RAM onboard.
Operating Software
Samsung Galaxy S3′s latest Android 4.0 version is affectionately called as the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Ever since the release of ICS, it has become the preference of most of the mobile phone users, given the numerous features- S3 enables easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, deep interactivity and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing. The tech experts, meanwhile, perceive that Android is the mobile platform of the future.
iPhone 4S runs on Apple’s iOS 5 software and can be updated to latest iOS 6 once it is released for users. iOS 6 has been packed with over 200 new features, including Apple-developed navigation maps as it has dumped Google’s maps. The new Apple Maps promises turn-by-turn guidance to the users.
Display
Both displays are protected by Corning’s Gorilla glass but use different technology. The iPhone 4S uses an IPS LCD while the S3 incorporates a PenTile HD Super AMOLED.
the iPhone 4S is packed with a 3.5-inch TFT Retina multi-touch display, with 960 x 640 resolutions at 330 ppi pixel density
In contrast,Galaxy S3 has a huge screen, that sports Super AMOLED capacitive full touchscreen, 16M colors, 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches (306 ppi pixel density), multitouch, Corning Gorilla Glass 2, TouchWiz UI v4.
Camera
Both can record full HD footage, both have eight megapixel sensors and both have front facing cameras (VGA for the iPhone 4S and two megapixel for the S3). In theory, both handsets have similar photographic capabilities, but we’ll be testing them side-by-side soon to evaluate which makes the better pocket camera.
The iPhone 4S features a primary 8-megapixel camera with 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash and has a VGA front facing camera for video calling.
Galaxy S3 boasts 8-megapixel camera with 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilization features to mix. The handset also packs 1.9-megapixel front facing camera for video calling.
Galaxy S3 and iPhone 4S, however, both offers to shoot HD videos of up to 1080p.
Battery
The iPhone 4S sports a 1432mAh battery with an estimated talk time of 480 minutes on 3G. The S3 has a far larger battery capacity at 2100mAh, which translates to a slightly higher talk time of 620 minutes. Samsung needed to equip the S3 with as large a battery as possible, with the large screen and quad-core processor likely to put a real strain on battery life.
Connectivity
Both phones have Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI out (both via adaptors), GPS and Wi-Fi. However, the S3 comes with NFC, GLONASS, Wi-Fi Direct, HDMI out and a microUSB port. An easy win for the S3, assuming, of course, that you actually need or want the extra features.
Software
The S3 runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich while the iPhone 4S runs iOS 5.1.1 , two distinct and different mobile platforms altogether.
While Ice Cream Sandwich is the best Android outing yet, the Galaxy S3 runs a customised version of the OS, just like every Android phone without a Nexus moniker. The problem with customised versions of Android is that updates can take an age to appear - the Galaxy S2 has only recently seen an upgrade to ICS, for example.
