The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the latest smartphone from the Samsung stable and was awaited with bated breath. A comparison between the features of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is presented below.
The Design
The design of the Samsung Galaxy S3 goes back to the traditional era where the smartphones had curvy shapes. Instead of the modern rectangular look, the S3 opts for more rounded edges which gives it an oval-like shape, but loses none of the stylishness and sleekness. Inspite of the big screen size it is fairly comfortable to hold and can be easily pocketed. The rear portion has no unusual bumps as the back camera snugly fits into the casing. The camera is bordered by a chrome finish which gives it a stunning look. Despite the size, the S3 is only 8.6 mm thin and weighs just 133 g. This is due to the predominantly plastic material that has been used to construct the device. So if you are averse to plastic and prefer metallic phones, then the S3 may not be one for you.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus also comes with a sleek and speedy design adorned with very subtle curves. This makes it very comfortable in the hands. It is a wee bit heavier than the S3, at 135 g and has the dimensions 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9mm. The body has a glossy and textured finish to it. There are no physical keys on the Nexus. Instead, a touch sensitive home button is present on the bottom-center of the screen, with the search and back buttons on either side.
The Screen
The Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with a whopping 4.8 inches of HD Super AMOLED screen that supports a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. It does not have the ‘Plus’ display technology, which means that the sub-pixels get shared between the neighboring pixels. However, this will not result in any marked display difference for the user, as one can clearly see the vivid and vibrant colors in photos and can seamlessly watch high definition videos with the deep contrasts that make even the brightest of whites and the darkest of blacks visible. The big screen size just adds to the viewing pleasure of a user.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus also comes with a spacious 4.65 inches display. One may however note that 0.65 inches of the screen space is permanently used for the shortcut options that can be seen on various internal screens and the home screens. Thus, only one has only 4.0 inches of HD Super AMOLED with 1280×720 pixel resolution to play with. From a technical viewpoint, the pixel density between the S3 and the Nexus varies, as the S3 provides 309 ppi whereas the Nexus comes with 315 ppi. This does not result in a great deal of difference in the display qualities.
The Software and Apps
The Samsung Galaxy S3 comes loaded with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system which is the best in the business. Samsung has customized the operating system with its own new version of user interface called TouchWiz UX. This has led to a number of unwanted, preinstalled widgets, apps and bloatware. However, this fact is compensated by the plethora of wonderful features and apps that come along with the S3. It has S Voice which allows user to carry out voice commands to access music, movies, calls, etc. Also, one can use voice control to unlock the S3 along with face recognition. S Beam allows the transfer of large files via a Wi-Fi connection and Pop up Play feature allows a user to access videos while performing other boring tasks such as texting, etc. Additionally, every purchase of the Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with a 50 GB, two year DropBox facility.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus also comes with the Ice Cream Sandwich OS. However, it does not any modified user interface. This means that a user can upgrade the OS on the Nexus with an update, without having to wait for an update from Samsung. It has all the features that come with ICS, other than the new features available in the S3. One of the best options on the Nexus is the ‘dictate to text’ speech feature.
The Performance
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is powered by a quad core processor which can clock speed of 1.4 GHz. This is considered as the best processor in smartphones. One can easily play hefty games and watch full-length HD videos without any lag or stutter. The S3 comes in three variants of 16, 32 and 64 GB along with 1 GB of RAM. There is a slot for microSD card that can support up to 64 GB. The battery is an equally powerful one at 2,100 mAh.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 1 GB of RAM. It comes in 16 and 32 GB variants and has a 1750 mAh battery.
The Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S3 definitely has a one up on the Nexus when it comes to the camera. As compared to the 5 megapixel rear camera and the 1.3 megapixel front camera, the S3 has a powerful 8 megapixel primary camera and a 2 megapixel front facing camera capable of recording HD videos. There are a number of new features that have been added to the S3 cameras, such as zero shutter lag, burst photography, etc
