Galaxy S3 vs. Nexus 4: The Battle Of The Android Smatphones

By Anu Passary | Nov 05, 2012 08:54 AM EST

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Google announced its much-rumored LG-made Nexus 4 smartphone on Oct. 29, whereas smartphone market leader Samsung's flagship Galaxy S3 has been creating waves since its May release this year.

The best-selling Galaxy S3 recently surpassed the 30 million sales milestone and is the current smartphone heavyweight, whereas the Nexus 4 will be released in November and will look to up the ante in the smartphone race.

Both the Nexus 4 and Galaxy S3 are high-end Android-powered devices that pack in robust features under the hood. Whether the Nexus 4 can oust the Android king Galaxy S3 in the long term remains to be seen.

Here's a look at how the Nexus 4 compares to the Galaxy S3.

Processor

Both the devices pack in quad-core processors. The Nexus 4 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, which is clocked at 1.5GHz, whereas the Galaxy S3 features a 1.4GHz Exynos processor.

Display

The Galaxy S3 features a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, which is fractionally bigger than the Nexus 4's 4.7-inch WXGA True HD IPS Plus display. The Galaxy S3 has a pixel resolution of 1280 x 720 versus Nexus 4's 1280 x 768 pixels.

Additionally, the Nexus 4 betters the Galaxy S3 with its slightly higher pixel density of 320 pixels per inch (ppi) vis-à-vis 306 ppi.

Weight, Thickness, and Body

The Galaxy S3 measures 5.38 x 2.78 x 0.35 inches and the Nexus 4 measures 5.28 x 2.72 x 0.36 inches. The Galaxy S3 is taller and slightly wider than the Nexus 4. Both the smartphones have nearly the same thickness.

Weight-wise, at 4.69 ounces, the Galaxy S3 is a little lighter than the 4.90 ounces of the Nexus 4.

Storage and Memory

The Galaxy S3 edges out the Nexus 4 when it comes to storage. The Galaxy S3 is available in 16/32/64 GB of on-board storage options, whereas the Nexus 4 is available in 8/16GB variants. Additionally, the Galaxy S3 has an expandable memory option (of up to 64GB) via a microSD card, unlike the Nexus 4.

However, memory-wise, the Nexus 4 (2GB of RAM) trounces the Galaxy S3 (1GB of RAM) by offering double the memory.

Software

The Nexus 4 has an edge over the Galaxy S3 when it comes to OS. The Galaxy S3 come pre-loaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), which has been updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in many countries. On the other hand, the Nexus 4 comes with the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software, which Google recently announced.

Battery

A 2100mAh battery powers the Galaxy S3 and Nexus 4. The Galaxy S3 support 10.8 hours (on 3G) of talk time, whereas the Nexus 4 Google claims will support 15.3 hours of talk time.

Camera

Both the smartphones have an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. However, the Galaxy S3 has a better front-facing camera with 1.9 megapixels, compared to the Nexus 4's 1.3-megapixel one.

Availability and Pricing

The Galaxy S3 is available for $199 and $299 with a two-year contract. The unlocked version will set buyers back by priced nearly $500. By contrast, the Nexus 4 is cheaper and the 8GB and 16GB versions (both unlocked) will cost $299 and $349, respectively.

The Nexus 4 will be available from the Google Play store from Nov. 13.