Samsung's flagship smartphone Galaxy S2 took all the limelight in 2011, leading the charts for almost eight to 10 months in a row until Apple's iPhone 4S arrived.

Although iPhone 4S seem to have taken the market with storm, Galaxy S2 seemed to be a worthy competitor until Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which is considered to be the next big thing in the smartphone world, arrived. Samsung Galaxy Nexus was unveiled last month with its sleek but very noticeable features.

Usually Google gives special attention to the Nexus version of smartphone, adding many special features compared to any other smartphones. Hence one can expect the latest software, best features and looks a smartphone can pose. And with Samsung providing the hardware support and Google providing software power, Apple has to overcome the combined threat in the form of Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Last year, Apple's delay in releasing the iPhone 4S was quite evident with Galaxy S2's release, which shattered the sales record.

Here is a look at how Samsung Galaxy Nexus outsmarts Apple iPhone 4S.

Display: Samsung Galaxy Nexus has bigger screen of 4.65-inch capacity HD wide screen compared to Apple iPhone 4S which has 3.5-inch 640 x 960 pixels.

The Super AMOLED HD display found in Samsung Galaxy Nexus delivers superior colour, enhanced readability and helps reduce power consumption. Samsung Galaxy Note is the only other device which comes with Super AMOLED HD display. The PenTile matrix used in the HD screens are arranged differently compared to RGB matrix used in Galaxy S2.

With 720P HD resolution viewing HD videos, playing games, browsing the Web, reading email and reading e-Books a real treat. One doesn't have scroll constantly because of the higher resolution compared to Apple iPhone 4S.

Screen: As usual, Android phones are one step ahead of iPhone when it comes to screen layout and customization. Galaxy Nexus has reconfigurable Widget Size brought over from Honeycomb and one can put the entire folders to the main toolbar instead of single icons. In addition to smarter built-in Gmail and Calendar widgets, you can customize the layout of most widgets with a drag and drop to fit the way you want your home screen to look.

Size and Weight: With bigger dimension and wider screen Galaxy Nexus is 5g lighter and 0.5mm thinner than iPhone 4S.

Free Navigation Software: Samsung Galaxy Nexus has free navigation software with free map data as well as updates while iPhone 4S doesn't offer any free navigation software. Also Android Ice Cream Sandwich provides support for turn-by-turn voice navigation for driving directions which can effectively replace in-car dash or GPS navigator helping you save hundreds of dollars.

4G LTE: Galaxy Nexus 4G LTE support provides the extra advantage as the handset enjoys ten times faster speeds than that of iPhone 4S on 3G. Downloading huge files and apps can be done with ease and personal hotspot ensures that Galaxy Nexus enables you to work almost anywhere.

NFC Support: Near Field Communication (NFC) technology used in Galaxy Nexus makes life easier. It makes money transactions and exchange of digital content easier. But iPhone 4S doesn't have NFC.

Better and Faster Web Browsing: Both these handsets perform estimably in their class, with a little difference in their performance. Samsung Galaxy Nexus scores here as it has Adobe Flash support as many of the websites rely on flash. According to benchmark results, Galaxy Nexus provides faster Internet browsing experience.

Memory: Samsung Galaxy Nexus has 1 GB RAM capacity enabling high level of multitasking compared to iPhone 4S which has 512 MB RAM.

Processor: Also the new Galaxy Nexus phone has sizably faster CPU clock speed which is 1.5x faster than iPhone 4S.

Multitasking: Both these smartphones are capable of doing multitasking, but the major difference can be noticed under the hood. Android apps are capable of something closer to PC-like multitasking, where apps do whatever they want in the background. However, iOS forces all apps that aren't currently being used into suspension unless they use one of the specific background functions that Apple allows.

Open Source Platform: Entire Android OS is an open source system. The open source movement has inspired increased transparency and liberty. It also constitutes an example of user innovation. Being made publically available enables anyone to copy, modify and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or fees. Also when weaknesses are found in the open source community, they are quickly fixed. There is hardly any cap on how much you can tweak your Android experience. Galaxy Nexus can be unlocked, rooted and customized with a new ROM to completely change the user experience. iPhone 4S doesn't provide this freedom.

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