Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Galaxy Nexus vs iPhone 4S vs HTC One X

With the HTC One X becoming available on MTN in May 2012, and the Samsung Galaxy S3 set to launch in SA on 7 June 2012, this year’s super-phone battle will soon be in full swing.
The new entrants from HTC and Samsung are up against the likes of Google’s Galaxy Nexus (which is made in partnership with Samsung), and the iPhone 4S.
The Nokia Lumia 800, built on the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 platform, should not be ignored either.
Although Windows Phone may be struggling to gain market share against the iOS and Android mobile operating systems, the Lumia remains a worthy contender.
The table below shows a side-by-side listing of key specifications from the upcoming smartphones against those of flagship devices currently on the market.
Component | Samsung Galaxy S3 | HTC One X | iPhone 4S | Galaxy Nexus | Nokia Lumia 800 |
Display | 4.8″ 720p (720×1280) AMOLED | 4.7″ 720p (720×1280) IPS S-LCD2 | 3.5″ Retina (640×960) LED IPS | 4.65″ 720p HD (720×1280) Super AMOLED | 3.7″ WVGA (480×800) AMOLED |
Camera, primary | 8MP | 8MP | 8MP | 5MP | 8MP |
Camera, secondary | 1.9MP | 1.3MP | VGA | 1.3MP | No |
Storage, internal | 16/32/64GB | 32GB | 16/32/64GB | 16GB | 16GB |
Storage, expandable | microSDXC (64GB) | No | No | No | No |
RAM | 1GB | 1GB | 512MB | 1GB | 512MB |
Processor | 1.4GHz Exynos 4212 quad | 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 (quad core) | 800MHz Apple A5 (dual-core ARM Cortex A9, underclocked 1GHz) | 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 (dual core ARM Cortex-A9) | 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 |
Graphics | Mali-400MP | ULP GeForce | PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU | PowerVR SGX540 @ 384 MHz | Adreno 205 |
Battery | 2,100mAh | 1,800mAh | 1,432mAh | 1,750mAh | 1,450mAh |
Cellular data | 21Mbps HSPA+ | 21Mbps HSPA+ | World phone (HSPA+CDMA) | HSPA+ | 14.4Mbps HSPA |
SIM type | Micro SIM | Micro SIM | Micro SIM | Mini SIM | Micro SIM |
A comparison of the screens reveals that while Apple and Nokia are content to keep theirs below the 4-inch mark, Android manufacturers are putting 4.65-inch displays and larger in their top-tier devices.
Other contenders from the Android camp such as the Motorola Razr and Sony Xperia S have 4.3-inch screens, while Samsung’s massive Galaxy Note boasts a 5.3-inch display.
Though the Razr, Xperia S, and Note aren’t shown in the table above, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X will be going toe-to-toe with them as well.
MyBroadband has reviewed some of these devices and the table below ranks the devices based on their review score.
Device | MyBroadband score |
Samsung Galaxy Nexus | 88% |
Samsung Galaxy Note | 85% |
iPhone 4S | 85% |
iPhone 4 | 85% |
Nexus S | 82% |
Samsung Galaxy S2 | 80% |
Motorola Razr | 78% |
Nokia Lumia 800 | 75% |
Nokia N9 | 75% |
Sony Xperia S | 65% |
The price to beat
Platform, specifications, and features only tell part of the story, however. Another important aspect of a device’s competitiveness is its price and the contracts on which it is offered.
MTN offer the HTC One X on a 2-year Anytime 200 contract that includes 75MB of data per month for R349.
This is significantly cheaper than MTN’s iPhone packages (which aren’t even listed in its latest deal book).
The yellow network does not sell either of these devices outside of its contracts according to MTN store staff.
A comparison of Vodacom per-minute Business Call contract pricing (with 250MB of data per month), alongside indicative online retail pricing gives an idea of where the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3 should slot in to be competitive.
Retail prices in the table below were taken from online shops such as Expansys and Vodacom.
Device | Vodacom contract | Retail |
iPhone 4S 32GB | R419 | R8,900 |
iPhone 4S 16GB | R329 | R7,700 |
Samsung Galaxy Note | R399 | R6,805 |
HTC One X | N/A | R6,800 |
Samsung Galaxy Nexus | R329 | R6,700 |
Sony Xperia S | R299 | R6,160 |
Nokia Lumia 800 | R279 | R6,000 |
Samsung Galaxy S2 | R299 | R5,700 |
Motorola Razr | R269 | R5,399 |
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