Gadgets20.05.2012

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

Samsung versus Apple

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

Android smartphone benchmark comparison

Most popular mobile OS in SA: October 2011

Samsung Galaxy S3 SA launch date revealed

HTC One X quietly launched in SA

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