iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S3

Physical
Apple iPhone 4S - 115.2x58.6x9.3mm, 140g
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 136.6x70.6x8.6mm, 133g

Apple'siPhone 4S retains the distinctive iPhone ‘candy bar' shape from its predecessor, the iPhone 4, with the same rectangular format and fairly heavily rounded corners.

The build quality is top notch, but then you'd expect as much at Apple's price point. Some may be bored of Apple's visual style, while we're not the most avid fans ourselves we can appreciate good aesthetics and quality when we see it. The iPhone 4S has both of these in spades.

The Galaxy S3, Samsung's latest Galaxy S model, has gone for a more curvaceous shape than its predecessor and, indeed, its opponent for this comparison.

It reminds us of HTC's One S and the Galaxy Nexus, which is a good thing. What's not so good is the build quality. We thought the Galaxy S2 had a cheap feel but the Galaxy S3 really takes the cake. The plastic has a very unpleasant tackiness and shininess to it which doesn't lend a premium feel whatsoever.

We applaud Samsung for offering some interesting colour choices this time round with the Galaxy S3 being available in white or blue, but the build quality is a real let down.

Display
The iPhone 4S uses Apple's famous Retina display technology, which means a 3.5-inch IPS LED-backlit LCD touchscreen with a 960x640 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 330 pixels-per-inch (ppi). Other features include Corning Gorilla Glass and an oleophobic coating to repel fingerprints. Picture quality is incredibly sharp and the screen is bright.

Samsung's Galaxy S3 has one of the largest touchscreens on the market, coming on only slightly smaller than the Galaxy Note. It has a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD with a 1280x720 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 306ppi, this is also reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass.

The clarity for a screen this size is seriously impressive, although the iPhone's screen may be noticeably sharper by the more discerning eyes. Colours look good and there's plenty of contrast with deep blacks.

The iPhone's screen is technically better with the higher pixel density, but a 3.5-inch screen is a bit small for our tastes. Your mileage may vary, as they say. We're calling this one a draw and it'll swing differently depending on your preferences for clarity or size.

Storage
Apple's iPhone 4S has three storage variants with either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of space depending on how much money you're prepared to spend. All the different models have 512MB of RAM but there's no card storage to be found.

The Galaxy S3 has an identical range of options for internal storage at 16GB, 32GB and 64GB but each of these has 1GB of RAM and micro SD support up to 32GB.

A fairly easy win for Samsung here offering more RAM and greater flexibility through cards.

Processor
The iPhone 4S is Apple's first dual core smartphone running on a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 based processor with Apple's own A5 chipset and a PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics processing unit (GPU).

Running iOS, this setup glides along without a care in the world. That's partly due to the fact it's a powerhouse and partly the excellent optimisation of iOS, but either way, you're not going to see any chugginess here.

Just as the iPhone 4S is Apple's first dual core, the Galaxy S3 is Samsung's first quad core device. It's ARM Cortex-A9 based and runs Samsung's latest Exynos 4212 chip clocked at 1.4GHz with a Mali-400MP GPU.

Like its opponent, this processor build runs very fast and we didn't encounter any stuttering when we used it at Samsung's unveiling.

Samsung may have crammed a more impressive sounding processor into its handset but the performance output is, relatively speaking, comparable. They both offer excellent performance on their respective operating systems.

Operating System
With the Samsung Galaxy S3 on Android and Apple's iPhone 4S on the company's own iOS platform, this is something of a long-standing blood feud. The Galaxy S3 runs the latest build of Google's Android system, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) while the iPhone 4S is on iOS 5.1.

Ice Cream Sandwich is leaps and bounds ahead of the previous Android smartphone build, 2.3 Gingerbread, with a much cleaner menu layout, a more colourful and reworked interface and some handy multi-tasking app switching tools.

It also performs faster than previous builds and is generally more stable. On the Galaxy S3, Samsung has overlaid its TouchWiz interface, which we're not tremendously fond of but it doesn't exactly mar the experience completely.

Certainly we didn't notice it causing any performance issues. Added features, unique to the Galaxy S3, include‘intelligent' S-Voice control for performing smartphone tasks via spoken commands (not hugely unlike the iPhone's Siri).

iOS on the iPhone is one of the most straightforward and reliable systems available and if you're after a ‘no fuss' solution we can't recommend it highly enough. However, it doesn't have the same multi-tasking or customisation capability of Android, it's a much more static system, though in truth this is what gives it its stability and ease-of-use.

As usual with these operating system comparisons, it's impossible to pick a winner because it depends entirely on personal preference. If you want customisation then Android is a clear winner, and these days it's also stable. But, if you want something anyone can pick up with no problem then it has to be the iPhone.

Camera
The iPhone features Apple's iSight camera setup, which is an 8-megapixel back-illuminated sensor (BSI) with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution. On the features front there's an LED flash, geo-tagging, autofocus, touch focus, face detection and HDR mode.

For video it captures in 1080p with an LED video light, video stabilisation and geo-tagging. A front-facing VGA camera supports video calling via Wi-Fi on Apple's FaceTime service.

This is a really good camera setup, Apple has added an additional lens and a wider aperture to improve image quality and video recording with the stabilisation feature is excellent.

Samsung's Galaxy S3 has a similar setup with the same 8-megapixel BSI configuration at the same resolution. Picture and video quality looks great but what really makes the difference is the added features.

Not only does it have the usual run of autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilisation, but there's some excellent other stuff on top.

You can capture 1080p video and still images simultaneously and there's a rapid multi-shot mode which will pick the best photo from a stream of snaps. It also features a 2-megapixel secondary with 720p video capture and video call capability.

SUMMARY

	iPhone 4S	Samsung Galaxy S3	Notes
OS
Direct updates by OS vendor	Yes	No	It can be updated directly by the OS vendor, so no need to wait until the manufacturer or network provider releases an update
More apps available	425,000	400,000	7% more apps available
Plays Adobe Flash	No	Yes	Adobe Flash with Video and Sound is supported in the phone's browser
Has free navigation software	No	Yes	Free navigation software with free map data and updates included, no need to buy an dedicated navigation device
Camera
Has a dedicated camera button	Yes	No	A dedicated camera button lets you taking snapshots more easily
Has a back-illuminated sensor	Yes	No
Front camera	0.3	1.9	6.3x less megapixel (photo, front camera)
SCREEN
Slightly higher pixel density	326ppi	313ppi	5% higher pixel density
Two pixels share one subpixel	No	Yes	On some displays, especially AMOLED, two pixel share one subpixel like green; screens w/o sharing are crisper
Has a Corning® Gorilla® Glass display	Yes	No	Special glass that is durable enough to resist many real-world events that commonly cause glass failure
Screen resolution	640 x 960 px	720 x 1280 px	1.5x lower screen resolution
Screen size	3.5”	4.8”	37% smaller screen size
CONNECTIVITY
Vastly faster uploads	3.0MBits/s	5.76MBits/s	1.9x faster uploads
Has DLNA	No	Yes	It can stream videos and movies to other devices over-the-air
Has NFC	No	Yes	Near-field-communication (NFC) allows wireless transactions like payments
PHYSICAL
Significantly less body volume	60.6cm³	82.9cm³	27% less body volume
Considerably narrower	58.6mm	70.6mm	12.0mm narrower
Sizably shorter	115.2mm	136.6mm	21.4mm shorter
Weight	140.0g	133.0g	7.0g more
Thin	9.3mm	8.6mm	0.7mm bigger
CPU
CPU clock speed	2x 0.8Ghz	4x 1.4Ghz	3.5x slower CPU clock speed
MEMORY
Significantly more internal storage	64.0GB	16.0GB	48.0gb more internal storage
Lotsa more RAM memory	0.5GB	1.0GB	0.5gb less RAM memory

Interested in iPhone 4S Case SEE THIS Top 10 iPhone 4S Case

Top 10 iPhone 4S Case

Top 10 iPhone 4S Case

10. YummyPocket Vinyl Cozies For iPhone 4S

· Handmade out of red and black vinyl.

· The entire inside is lined with black felt

· Available in Black, Grey and Red colours.

9. Ted Baker Patent Leather Style Apple iPhone 4S Pouch

· The Ted Baker Patent Leather Style Pouch keeping you bang on trend.

· Available in black or red with an oversized stylish zip running down its back, the pouch boasts a luxurious satin-style lining designed

· Protect your precious iPhone 4Sfrom any knocks and bumps.

8. Fresh Fiber Camera 3D Printed Case For iPhone 4S

· Fashioned to resemble a pocket camera, this stylish nylon fibre case is perfect for all you snap-happy iPhoners.

· The Fresh Fiber is far from a novelty because it has been laser-crafted via a special 3D printing machine that replicates the design held on a digital file.

· As well as its striking aesthetic appeal, this slim textured case features curled top edges to help protect your precious screen, and although it feels fairly rigid it’s boingy enough to absorb the kind of impact that would incapacitate a butt naked iPhone.

7. Kenzo Patent Leather Pouch for iPhone 4S

· The Kenzo Patent Leather Pouch for iPhone 4S offers elegant yet robust protection against everyday scratches and dents.

· It is small and sleek enough to slide easily into a pocket or handbag, this chic Japanese inspired pouch features a glossy patent leather exterior embossed with the Kenzo logo on the front and back and a red, floral lining.

· Available in Black, Red and White colours.

6. Speck CandyShell Card Case For iPhone 4S

• · Turn your iPhone into a wallet: carry 1, 2 or 3 cards securely in the built-in slot
  · Side-loading iPhone card holder slot with rubber layer fully protects the back of your phone from scratches
  · Patent-pending one-piece design with soft-touch coated hard exterior and shock-absorbing rubberized interior
  
  

5. Neostitch Case For iPhone 4S

· This customisable case is covered with tiny perforations, just like a needlepoint canvas.

· Simply use the accompanying needle and thread to cross-stitch your design and presto – a completely original iPhone case designed by little ol’ you.

· Each case comes with two needles and thread in three different colours, so you can sew in band logos, pixellated gaming icons, infantile swear words – whatever.

4. Tuffwrap Shift Case for iPhone 4S

· It is a soft durable TPU form-fitting case that changes color with heat.

· It enables high degree of protection against dust, dirt and scratches.

· Available in Blue/White, Pink/White, Purple/Blue, Grey/White, Green/White and Orange/Yellow colours.

3. Envelope Icon Application Case For iPhone 4S

· This Mail Icon iPhone case is made from faux leather with love and care.

· It is closed with velcro to secure your phone.

· There’s also a soft pad cover with fabric inside for extra protection.

· Available in Light Blue colour only.

2. Ted Baker Hard Shell Case II for Apple iPhone 4S

· The Ted Baker Hard Shell Case II for your Apple iPhone 4S comes in three designs: Garden print, Fly Fishing print and Black with a subtle design.

· It has been designed with you and your Apple iPhone 4S in mind, adding minimal bulk and maximum style.

· Ted’s Apple iPhone 4S hard cover will not only protect your Apple iPhone 4S from scratches and scrapes, it’ll keep it looking pretty dapper too.

1. Cygnett Workmate Pro Case For iPhone 4S

· Textured surface for better grip

· Double layers of silicone combined with internal ribbing

· It provides maximum shock absorption

· If your lifestyle involves your iPhone being knocked………CHOOSE THIS!!!