Samsung Galaxy S3 vs BlackBerry Curve 9380: The Galaxy Charges, Can BlackBerry Defend?

The BlackBerry smartphone has a surprisingly strong foothold in the UK market. Indeed, it counts as the top-selling smartphone, according to a January study by GfK, which states the phone enjoyed 26.3 percent sales in December and an average of 27.11 percent for 2011. The Canadian manufacturers, Research in Motion (RiM), earlier launched the Curve 9380, the company's first all-touch phone.

Samsung, meanwhile, chose London as the venue for the launch of its next-gen Galaxy S3 smartphone. The device should be available in the UK by the end of May.

Check out how the two stack up:

Display: The Samsung Galaxy S3 features a 4.8in HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels, designed, the company hopes for a large and vivid viewing experience. The BlackBerry Curve 9380, on the other hand, features a 3.2in 24-bit colour TFT LCD screen with a resolution of 360x480 pixels. The touchscreen of the smartphone, RiM claims, is packed with pixels for a crisp, clear display and responds quickly. An Optical track pad is located on the front of the device which detects the movement of a finger.

Dimensions: The Galaxy S3 measures 136.6x70.6x8.6mm and weighs 133g. The Curve is both thinner and lighter than the Galaxy S3, measuring 109x60x11.2mm and weighing 98g.

Operating System: The Galaxy S3 will run on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The BlackBerry Curve runs on BlackBerry's native OS v7.0.

Processor: The S3 will be powered by a 1.4 GHz Exynos 4 quad-core processor and has 1GB of RAM. The BlackBerry Curve is powered by an 806 MHz processor and packs 512MB of RAM.

Camera: The Galaxy S3 will sport a primary camera of eight megapixels, with auto-focus and LED flash. The camera has a technology called Zero-Lag Shutter Speed that allows users to capture moving objects. The smartphone also features a 1.9 megapixel camera which can record HD video at 30 frames per second. The Curve, in contrast, sports a five megapixel primary camera with technology including LED flash, face detection, image stabilisation, scene modes, geo-tagging and 4x digital zoom capacity. The camera is capable of capturing VGA quality video with a resolution of 480x640pixels.

Connectivity: The Galaxy S3 offers Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi HT40 and Bluetooth version 4.0, as well as Near Field Communication (NFC). The Curve offers Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UMA and Bluetooth version 2.1 with A2DP and EDR. The smartphone also offers NFC.

Storage: The Galaxy S3 offers storage options of 16GB and 32GB, with a 64GB version expected to be available soon. The smartphone also supports microSD cards. The BlackBerry Curve has storage capacity of 32GB and also supports microSD cards.

Battery: Samsung's phone will be powered with a 2,100mAh battery and the company has promised longer battery life. The Curve is powered with a JM-1 lithium-ion battery delivering talk time to 5.5 hours.