Smarphone wars: Which one is better?

BNN

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September 13, 2012

Apple announced on Wednesday, September 12, at a press event in San Francisco that the iPhone 5 will be available on September 21, with preorders starting today, for $199 for the 16 gigabyte model, $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB.

Now it’s decision time. Will the iPhone 5 be your next phone?

To make it easier to decide we compared some of the major features of three of the flagship smartphones for iOS, Android and Windows Phone: The iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III and Nokia Lumia 920.

Operating system: iPhone 5 – iOS 6; Samsung Galaxy S III – Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich; Nokia Lumia 920 – Windows Phone 8.

Size: iPhone 5 – 4.87 inches tall by 2.31 inches wide by 0.31 inch thick, 3.95 ounces; Samsung Galaxy S III – 5.37 inches tall by 2.77 inches wide by 0.33 inch thick; 4.69 ounces; Nokia Lumia 920 – 5.11 inches tall by 2.76 inches wide by 0.42 inch thick; 6.52 ounces.

Display: iPhone 5 – 4-inch, 1,136 by 640 pixel touchscreen; 326 pixels per inch; Samsung Galaxy S III – 4.8-inch, 1,280 by 720 pixel touchscreen; 306 pixels per inch; Nokia Lumia 920 – 4.5-inch, 1,280 by 768 pixel touchscreen; 332 pixels per inch.

Camera: iPhone 5 – 8-megapixel rear camera, LED flash, 1080p HD video recording, 720p front-facing camera, built-in panorama mode; Samsung Galaxy S III – 8-megapixel rear camera, LED flash, 1080p HD video recording, 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, quick-press burst shot mode; Nokia Lumia 920 – 8.7-megapixel rear camera, LED flash, 1080p HD video recording, 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, optical image stabilization.

Storage: iPhone 5 – 16GB, 32GB, 64GB; Samsung Galaxy S III – 16GB, 32GB, microSD expansion slot; Nokia Lumia 920 – 32GB + 7GB SkyDrive cloud storage.

Processor: iPhone 5 – Apple A6 processor; Samsung Galaxy S III – 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor; Nokia Lumia 920 – 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.

Battery: iPhone 5 – 8 hours talk time on 3G, 8 hours LTE browsing, 10 hours video playback; Samsung Galaxy S III – 2100mAh battery, 8 hours talk time on 3G (AT&T); Nokia Lumia 920 – 2000mAh battery, 10 hours talk time on 3G, 67 hours music playback, integrated Qi wireless charging.

Sensors: iPhone 5 - accelerometer, proximity, digital compass, ambient light, gyroscope; Samsung Galaxy S III – accelerometer, proximity, digital compass, ambient light, gyroscope, barometer; Nokia Lumia 920 – accelerometer, proximity, digital compass, ambient light, gyroscope.

Ports: iPhone 5 – Lightning 8-pin connector; Samsung Galaxy S III – Micro USB; Nokia Lumia 920 – Micro USB.

Notable features: iPhone 5 – New noise-canceling technology for clearer audio; Siri can now answer questions about sports scores, post Facebook status updates and more; Samsung Galaxy S III - S Voice personal assistant; picture-in-picture features lets you watch video while working in other apps; Nokia Lumia 920 – PureMotion+ HD display registers touches even if you have gloves on or long fingernails; supports Nokia City Lens augmented reality app.

Connectivity: iPhone 5 – GSM, UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA, CDMA, LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS; Samsung Galaxy S III – GSM, UMTS/HSPA+, CDMA, LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC; Nokia Lumia 920 – GSM, UMTS/HSPA+, LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.1, A-GPS, NFC.

Availability and carriers: iPhone 5 – Sept. 21; AT&T, Sprint and Verizon; Samsung Galaxy S III – Available now; AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon; Nokia Lumia 920 – TBA.

Pricing: iPhone 5 – $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB; Samsung Galaxy S III – Sprint, Verizon, U.S. Cellular: $199.99 for 16GB, $249.99 for 32GB; AT&T: $199.99 for 16GB; T-Mobile: $279.99 for 16GB, $329.99 for 32GB; Nokia Lumia 920 – TBA.

Colors: iPhone 5 – Black, white; Samsung Galaxy S III – White, blue, red (AT&T only); Nokia Lumia 920 – Black, white, gray, yellow, red.

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