Comparison Apple iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 2/SIII

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Comparison between Apple's new device with its main competitor the Samsung Galaxy.

This is the choice faced by a lot of people are thinking about upgrading their smartphone and it is a tough call to make, so hopefully our articles can help people choose between two of the best smartphones in the world!


Design and Dimensions

When it comes to the designs of Apple iPhone 5 versus Galaxy Note 2 smartphone, this is the bone of contention for many mobile techno freaks. From first impression, the designs of both these phones are different. Without question, the iPhone 5 is definitely much thinner than the Galaxy Note 2.

They both come in two attractive colors, which are black and white. If we analyze the display of the screen however, it is easy to notice that the Galaxy has a huge display that is ideally a 5.5-inch screen. It has a 1280 X 720 pixel resolution which a different from the iPhone that comes with a 1136×640 resolution on its 4 inch display screen.

Apple iPhone 5 (59 x 124 x 7.6mm and 112g) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (71 x 137 x 8.6mm and 133g)

The first thing that is immediately obvious from the dimensions listed above is that Apple's iPhone 5 is smaller in every-way than Samsung's Galaxy SIII.

Those who don't like large smartphones have an easy choice to make and should go with Apple's device because it's ultra-slim, weighs a lot less and is a lot more compact overall.

However, the decision isn't as simple as it might first appear. That's because the Samsung Galaxy SIII has a huge 4.8 inch display , while the iPhone 5 has a much smaller 4 inch display. This accounts for the differences in dimensions and the larger display will definitely be favoured by some users especially those who value gaming and multimedia playback.

The other thing to consider is that Apple's iPhone 5 has a stylish and robust aluminium case, while the Samsung Galaxy SIII has a cheap plastic feel with a very thin back cover. For us there is no competition between the two in terms of build quality with Apple's iPhone coming out strongly on top.


Touchscreen Displays

Apple iPhone 5 ( 4-inch IPS LCD; 1,136x640 pixels, 326 ppi) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (4.8-inch HD Super
AMOLED; 1,280x720 pixels, 306 ppi)

As we mentioned in the previous section the Samsung Galaxy SIII has a much larger 4.8 inch display compared to the iPhone 5's 4 inch touch-screen. Those favouring smartphones with huge touch-screens with love the Samsung Galaxy SIII's display and should stop reading now.

However, for the rest of us we also might want to consider the resolutions and the relative PPI's of each of the displays.

The Galaxy SIII's touch-screen runs at the higher resolution (720p), which is useful for playing back movies and watching games. However, Apple's display isn't far behind and because of the smaller screen-size actually has a higher PPI (pixels per inch) rating , which means it looks sharper to the human eye.



Processing and Graphical Power !

Apple iPhone 5 (A6 Processor) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (Quad-Core Exynos 1.4 GHz Processor)

Concluding who is a better contender simply from the smartphones’ displays however is cheating yourself. When it comes to the OS on each phone, the Galaxy employs the use of Jelly Bean-one of Androids newest software. Apple on the other hand uses the all-new iOS 6 to run this new device together with an A6 processor that is 22% smaller than the older A5 processor.

Both the Samsung Galaxy SIII and the Apple iPhone 5 use processors made by the manufacturers themselves. The Samsung Galaxy SIII uses the very latest Exynos quad-core chipset which runs at 1.4 GHz, while the iPhone 5 has a new A6 dual-core processor running at just over 1 GHz.

This processor is two times faster than the A5 processor works spectacularly better in terms of the computing rate and graphics level. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 however uses that 1.6GHz quad core Exynos processor.

When you look at the figures on paper you'd think a no contest should be called because Samsung's smartphone has more cores and a faster clock-speed. However, it's not as simple as that because Apple's processor performs way above their specifications.

In fact, early benchmarks suggest the performance of both processors is very close with 9to5mac reporting that Apple's iPhone 5 just outscores Samsung's Galaxy SIII in Geekbench tests. Graphical performance should also be just as close and 3G expects Apple's device to win by a small margin due to its lower resolution display.


Cameras !

Apple iPhone 5 ( 8-megapixel, 1.2 mega-pixel front-facing) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (8-megapixel, 1.9-megapixel front-facing)

They also have cameras that differ in megapixel size. If you are obsessed with pictures, you will definitely want to get a hold of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that comes with an auto focus LED flash camera. The iPhone 5 is equally good with an 8-megapixel camera that is fitted with iSight.

Both the Galaxy SIII and the iPhone 5 have rear-facing 8 mega-pixel cameras which are capable of record 1080p HD videos. There is very little between the two cameras on paper and it all comes down to which software you prefer.

Apple have now introduced some features that Android has had for a while, such as Panoramic shooting and the capability to take photos at the same time as filming HD video which makes this a very close call.

Both front-facing cameras are capable of recording 720p HD video, although the Galaxy SIII's snapper comes in with a slightly higher mega-pixel rating. However, there is very little between the two and for video calling they'll both perform equally well.


Operating Software

Apple iPhone 5 (iOS 6) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (Android Ice Cream Sandwich)

Apple's iPhone 5 runs on the very latest version of Apple's iOS (iOS 6)  which includes a whole new version of Apple Maps, improvements to Siri , better web-browsing, deeper Facebook integration and the option to send automated text responses when you can't answer a call.

Currently the Samsung Galaxy SIII still runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich and  won't be upgraded to the latest version of Android (Jelly Bean) until next month. This is pretty disappointing especially when you consider a whole host of older smartphones run on Google's latest Android platform.



Battery Life


Apple iPhone 5 (Standby 225 hours, Talktime 8 hours) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (Standby 780 hours, Talktime 11.4 hours)

It can be very annoying to purchase a phone that turns out to be a disappointment because it cannot stay on for as long as we wanted it to be. With the latest mobile tech devices, most people have raised concerns about how many phones end up having powerful specs and great features but short battery life.

The Apple iPhone 5 is a very promising phone that offers its users stronger batteries. It offers about 225 hours after being fully charged and left on standby. This we have found to be very impressive. According to Phil Schiller and Tim Cook, the phone can also give you about 8 hours of either LTE or 3G talk time. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 runs on the 3100 mAh battery, which is equally dependable. However, from users’ opinions, the iPhone tends to discharge its battery much faster so iPhone 5 should not be an exception.


Storage

Apple iPhone 5 (16GB , 32GB or 64GB) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (16GB, 32GB or 64GB with microSD support)


Both the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SIII come in a choice of 16, 32 and 64GB of on-board memory with the prices being very similar for each smartphone. What wins this category for Samsung's device is that it supports microSD cards which increases the capacity of each model by up to 64GB.


NFC Support

Apple iPhone 5 ( No NFC Support) v Samsung Galaxy SIII (NFC Supported)

NFC has become a big part of the mobile world in the last year because it enables you to pay for items in store with your smartphone. Additionally, in the last couple of month it's started being used in other ways,  such as to configure your mobile . For example, when entering the office your smartphone can automatically be set to silent mode.

We're puzzled why Apple have chosen to leave out NFC support on the iPhone 5 , while Samsung have included support for the technology on its Galaxy SIII. We thought this might be important enough to some people to warrant a category of its own in our comparison and it goes without saying that Samsung's smartphone wins this category !