Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Nokia Lumia 800: Will the Windows Mango Phone Beat Android's Best?

The Nokia Lumia 800 is the first Windows Phone device to emerge from the joint venture between Microsoft and Nokia that was announced almost a year ago. Imitating the exterior styling and design concept of the Nokia N9, the Lumia 800 comes with a downscaled screen size (3.7in) and display resolution (800 x 480), as opposed to N9's 3.9in screen with 854 x 480 pixels resolution. Given the smaller screen size and support for relatively good display resolutions, the Lumia 800 offers vivid colours and superior image sharpness in the sub-4in smartphone category.

Samsung's Galaxy S3, on the other hand, is making waves across the world owing to its software and power-packed hardware. Boasting a quad-core 1.4GHz processor based on Exynos 4 quad chipset and a monstrous 4.8in Super AMOLED display, the Galaxy S3 sets the benchmark for forthcoming high-end smartphones.

Check out how these two leading smartphones square up against each other:

Dimensions and Weight: Following the increasing popularity of ultra-slim smartphones, the S3 flaunts a strikingly stylish design and sleek form-factor. It measures 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm and weighs 133g. The S3 is thinner than the iPhone 4S (9.3mm) and the Galaxy Nexus (8.9mm).

The Lumia 800, on the other hand, feels a bit bulky despite the smaller screen size. It measures 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm and weighs 142g.

Display: The Galaxy S3 sports a massive 4.8in Super AMOLED display with a capacitive touchscreen running at 720p (720 x 1280 pixels) resolution and a pixel density of 306 pixels per inch (ppi). The S3 also adds the second-generation damage resistant Corning Gorilla Glass protection for its display.

By comparison, the Nokia phone ships with a smaller 3.7in AMOLED capacitive touchscreen running at native 480 x 800 pixels resolution and a pixel density of 252ppi.

Processor: The S3 boasts a powerful quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 processor based on the Exynos 4 quad chipset and a Mali-400MP GPU for graphics applications, which is suitable for high-performance computing like gaming and multi-tasking. The Lumia 800 features a single-core 1.4GHz Scorpion processor coupled with Adreno 205 GPU. The processor is based on the Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset and is known for power-saving features.

Memory and Storage: The Galaxy S3 ships with 1GB of RAM and supports three versions of internal storage - 16/32/64 GB. The Nokia Lumia, on the other hand, has only 512MB of RAM with a single 16GB internal storage model. The S3 offers microSD expansion support up to 64GB while the Lumia 800 has no such support.

Operating System: The Lumia 800 comes loaded with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 Mang. In comparison, the Galaxy S3 ships with Android 4.0.4 (the latest version of Ice Cream Sandwich) factory-installed.

Camera: Both the S3 and the Nokia Lumia flaunt powerful eight megapixel rear cameras with a few common features such as auto-focus and geo-tagging. The former supports 1080p video recording capability at 30fps (frames per second) while the latter offers 720p video recording at 30fps. The S3 features a decent 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, while the Nokia phone lacks a secondary camera. The S3 camera also supports special functions such as simultaneous HD video and image recording besides touch focus, face and smile detection, and image stabilisation.

Connectivity: The Galaxy S3 offers Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR and NFC (Near Field Communication). Its 4G connectivity speeds are HSDPA, 21Mbps and HSUPA, 5.76Mbps. The Nokia Lumia 800 has similar connectivity options, like Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR. The only exception is the lack of NFC. It offers 3G download connectivity speeds up to 14.4Mbps on HSDPA and upload speeds up to 5.76Mbps on HSUPA network bands.

Battery: The Galaxy S3 is powered by a massive 2100mAh Li-Ion battery that is rated to deliver up to 590 hours of standby time on 2G and up to 790 hours on 3G networks. The battery also delivers an impressive talk time of approximately 22 hours on 2G and 12 hours on 3G networks. The Nokia smartphone, in comparison, features a weaker Li-Ion 1450 mAh battery rated to provide up to 265 hours of standby time or up to 13 hours of talk time over 2G, and up to 335 hours of standby time or about 9 hours of talk time over 3G.