Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Nokia Lumia 900: Two Top iPhone 5 Competitors Do Battle

Samsung's Galaxy S3 smartphone is the Korean manufacturer's new flagship device, and the Nokia Lumia 900 is Nokia's real first attempt at a smartphone in the U.S. That's no knock against the Nokia Lumia 710 on T-Mobile, but it doesn't compete against the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S2 and now S3. Both Nokia and Samsung have a chance to take on the reigning smartphone king in the iPhone, so here's how their new front-line devices compare.

Samsung is not that far behind Apple, and outside the U.S., their devices are seen in the same reverent light as many Americans see the iPhone. The Galaxy S2 was Samsung's most popular smartphone ever, so the new S3 should be a handsome, well-built device like its predecessor. The Galaxy S3, as a premium device could debut at more than $200 on contract, but Samsung has not given any indication of when it will launch or how much the actual price will be. They may announce it at the Mobile World Congress in late February, but even that is not confirmed. The Galaxy S2 was announced there last year, so it does seem logical Samsung would keep that time frame. It's rumored to be debuting a slightly larger HD screen with 4G LTE support, better resolution, a 12 megapixel camera, two full gigabytes of memory and a quad-core processor. It Samsung can pack all that plus other features already on the S2 like Voice Talk, AllShare and a near field communication chip into the S3 for less than $250, iPhone would have quite a rival.

Nokia is rumored to be debuting the Lumia 900 March 18, so it may be released around the same time as the Galaxy S3. However, it is also rumored to be $100 on contract, and if that turns out to be true, it would be nearly as good of a deal as the Galaxy S3. It features a 4.3-inch AMOLED display with 800x480p resolution, access to AT&T's 4G LTE network, 16 gigabytes of storage, the Windows Phone operating system by Microsoft and an eight megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. Carl Zeiss lenses are used on professional style cinematic quality cameras, so this is a fine phone camera.

Additionally, it's quite a stylish device, and if it weren't for the three hardware buttons and prominent AT&T branding on the front of it, the Lumia 900 would catch people's eyes with regularity. Anyone walking around with the cyan colored version of it will likely be asked about it because most smartphones just don't come in that color. It lacks the dual-core system and full gigabyte of memory many high-end devices now offer (including the Galaxy S2 and S3), but Microsoft says the software is maximized for the hardware. This smartphone battle is too close to call, especially because the Galaxy S3 is still such a mystery. But, unless the Galaxy S3 debuts at $300 on contract, it would be the winner. Tell us in the comments what phone you are waiting for most this year.

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