Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. iPhone 5 Full Comparison
In this article we will analyze and see how the Samsung Galaxy S3 goes against the Apple iPhone 5, the newest and brightest Apple product. The advantage the Samsung Galaxy S3 has is that the Samsung Galaxy S3 is the first smartphone besides the iPhone to exit the hold carriers had on it and is now available through four different major carriers in the US. During 100 days after its launch, the Samsung Galaxy S3 sold more than 20 million units. For a device running a non iOS operating system that’s a pretty good number right there.
The Design
Apple is probably the best smartphone designer out there. They know what makes the consumer tick and they do it fairly well. Design-wise, the iPhone 5 doesn’t differ as much from the iPhone 4, but this is because the design is proven and trusted. And the buyers don’t seem to mind. It is considered to be the best-looking phone on the market today. It has a scratch-free surface, an aluminum back and it is overall more durable than other phones.
As a contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S3 uses a plastic casing, although a durable one.
The iPhone 5 is a very lightweight phone, weighting only 112 grams in total. The Samsung Galaxy S3 weighs 133 grams. The iPhone 5 is also very thin. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has 8.6 mm in thickness while the Apple iPhone is 7.6 mm in thickness.
There were various tests performed on the iPhone 5 and all conclude that the device is built like a small bunker. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has Gorilla Glass but somehow the iPhone is better at resisting shock.
The winner of this round is the iPhone 5.
The Feel of the two devices
The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a different size and feel than previous Samsung models. This lead to a bigger screen and implicitly to a bigger size of the device. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is large but not uncomfortable to hold because of the button placement of the device. The volume button and the power button are placed so that the user can reach for them with one hand without having to actually struggle to turn off the device or change the volume. The can also interact with the device using the screen and tap the menu buttons of the device. The iPhone 5′s power button is not well placed and this is because Apple seemed to have forgot they no longer have a short device.
People with big hands will be comfortable with both devices, but the majority of users will undoubtedly have to struggle a bit until they get a feeling of the Apple iPhone 5.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 also gets bonus points for when using it with both hands. Typing on the device is pretty comfortable and the bigger screen helps.
The winner in this case is the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The Screen
The iPhone 5 uses a technology called Retina Display and since Apple introduced this the other phone manufacturers tried to match the clarity of this screen. The Apple iPhone uses a 326 pixel per inch screen based on IPS LCD technology. Samsung uses AMOLED which is a variation of the OLED technology. We can surely say that the Samsung Galaxy S3 uses the best AMOLED screen yet released.
The iPhone 5 can use brighter colors though and although the Samsung Galaxy S3 has a great future in OLED technology, the LCD of the iPhone 5 is still the winner in this case.
The UI
There’s a famous lawsuit punchline in here somewhere. Apple and Samsung have been battling over who has rights o the design of the UI their devices use, but the truth is they couldn’t be more different. Apple uses their tried and tested UI design that has caught the eye of many of its customers. With the Samsung Galaxy S3, the guys at Samsung tried to turn Android in a more appealing design but this backfired sometimes. The new Android might look nice and pretty but the Samsung Galaxy S3 doesn’t make use of it the way it should.
The winner in the UI battle is the iPhone 5.
The Operating Systems
There are obvious differences between the two operating systems, although both of them have app stores, screen locks, menus for the Settings of the devices. The iOS is a more stable OS, tried and proven, but Android is full of new features. Because it can run Android, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has support for NFC and has better app and sync support than the iPhone 5.
While using the Samsung Galaxy S3 the apps can be run in the background and they can be killed with the help of a task manager. The Samsung Galaxy S3 allows many things to be done when the screen is off or when the phone is in idle mode. Applications can be opened on the Samsung Galaxy S3 without displaying them on the screen. On the other hand, this means the battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S3 can drain more quickly.
iOS doesn’t have rogue apps running in the background and if you double-press the home button you can even access a basic task manager.
Another point for the Android OS is that on the Samsung Galaxy S3 you don’t actually need the Google Play store to install apps while the iOS-based iPhone 5 is dependant on the App Store.
The winner of this round is the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The App Stores
The iOS App Store has better quality apps while the Google Play store has cheaper games and applications. The reason the Play Store has cheaper apps is that most of these are ad-driven. The Android on the Samsung Galaxy S3 can update all apps with one tap and even supports auto-updating which is a plus.
We advice you to stay away fro the custom Samsung App Store though and stick with Google Play.
This round is a tie between the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Personalizing your device
When talking about personalization we an talk about cases and accessories and about what you can do on a software level. On the iPhone 5 you can certainly change the ringtone of the device, set backgrounds, move around icons or group these icons into folders. But that would be it. But when talking about accessories, the iPhone 5 has a lot of those, more that the custom ones made for the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 does not have many accessories but it shines in terms of software customizations. You can choose between seven different home screens and pick icons for your apps. You can even install CyanogenMod, customize the ringtones, pick and set animated backgrounds and whatnot.
It’s a tie in this round between the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The Maps App
This shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone. Since Apple decided to drop Google Maps in favor of their own Maps app, many of their users felt disappointed. Apple Maps has a 3D view but not much else to compete with the Google Maps installed on the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The best Maps app award goes to the Samsung Galaxy S3 because Google Maps has excellent turn-by-turn navigation and it represents a fairly good mapping option.
The winner is Samsung Galaxy S3.
Multimedia
When it comes to multimedia, the iPhone is still king. While Apple locks you in their ecosystem, iTunes is till a good app and a viable solution when it comes to podcasts and movies and TV shows. It’s a unified solution for transferring your multimedia files, something that the Android devices do not yet have. Also, iTunes allows one to access Pandora, Spotify and a myriad of other apps.
The downside of Apple’s ecosystem is that some music stores do not allow you to buy music right from the iDevice. Amazon for example doesn’t like Apple’s policy of charging up to 30 percent for each song you download via iTunes.
When talking about the Samsung Galaxy S3 you have a choice of deciding which app you want to use to transfer music and multimedia files on your device. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is plug-and-play. Just like inserting a USB device you can access your files right from your file manager and don’t actually need something like iTunes to transfer music and movies. The downside is that the Samsung Galaxy S3 also has a music store but it can’t be accessed from some carriers so it’s useless if you’re on AT&T or U.S. Cellular.
The winner by a small margin is the Apple iPhone 5.
The Cameras
The camera in the Samsung Galaxy S3 work much better than that of most Android-baste smartphones, but the camera in the iPhone 5 is till better than that. The UI of the Apple camera app is incredibly simplistic and you don’t have to be a genius to use it. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a lot of features when it comes to the camera app, most of them social-media related, but they are only suable if you have friends using a Samsung Galaxy S3.
Both devices can record videos at 1080p.
The winner of this round is the iPhone 5.
Hardware
The above chart displays the hardware specs of both devices. It’s a tie between the two since in terms of performance they’re both pretty much the same. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has NFC, a microSD slot, removable battery and 2GB of RAM memory. The iPhone 5 has only 1GB of RAM. Also, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has a bigger screen.
Personal Assistants
Apple made waves when it introduced Siri on the iPhone S4. You can ask the personal assistant questions and it will answer you. You can find movies this way, check out restaurants and sport scores, you can dictate e-mails, messages and do much more with the help of the Apple Siri. The app is not perfect but it works.
The winner is the iPhone 5.
Voice and LTE
Both devices can do HD Voice but it yet remains to be seen on which carriers. It’s a tie between the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Apple iPhone 5.
Connection Accessories
With the introduction of the new iPhone 5, Apple dropped their old 30-pin connector and introduced a new 8-pin connector. This sets a new standard as there aren’t yet many accessories supporting this new type of connector. There’s an adapter available but it will cost around $30. A steep price to pay just to be able to use your old accessories with the new iPhone 5. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has an advantage and it’s because it uses a standard Micro USB cable, the same used by almost all other Android phones and tablets. So if you have two or more Android devices you can use the same cable for all of them. On the other hand, if you happen to lose your iPhone 5 8-pin connector cable, you will have to get a new one.
The winner of this round is the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The life of the battery
The Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 didn’t make great strides in improving battery life but both of them can last for up to a day if you take care of them. The Samsung Galaxy S3 can last a little bit longer than the Apple product while using it to check emails and send SMS messages and browse the Internet. With WiFi on the iPhone lasts about 20 minutes longer than the Samsung Galaxy S3 but it may also depend on what apps you are running. The Samsung Galaxy S3 can last between 9 to 11 hours while Apple said the iPhone 5 can do 8 hours.
The winner in the battery life contest is the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Updates for the future
Apple updates their iOS every year so they’re a sure bet when it comes to future updates. The Samsung Galaxy S3 should get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean but the company didn’t provide any specific date for this. The Samsung Galaxy S3 updates may also be dependent on the carrier or on Samsung if you happen to have an unlocked version of the phone.
The winner is the iPhone 5.
The champion
The Apple iPhone 5 my have some downsides but it scored higher than the Samsung Galaxy S3 during our tests. The iPhone 5 is the best smartphone on the market and it looks good in terms of design. It works well and performs well when talking about tasks and the company behind it supports the software like no other.
