Samsung's Galaxy Nexus vs. the iPhone 4S: Side-By-Side Comparison

Though there has been no official word as yet about the exact date for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, rumors of a November 21 release have been circulating, thanks to a product launch roadmap supposedly leaked from Verizon. The November 21 date would make sense in that it is the Monday before Black Friday, which is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States and kicks off the holiday shopping season. Is four days enough to build sufficient hype around the Galaxy Nexus to result in noticeable Black Friday sales, though? It also seems unlikely that Verizon would be willing to discount the Galaxy Nexus - the first phone to debut with the coveted Android 4.0 operating system - to accommodate Black Friday bargain hunters.

If Samsung's newest device does roll out the week after next, it will have a month to take advantage of the Christmas rush and post its holiday sales to its fourth quarter earnings. The question is what demand will look like. One of the Galaxy Nexus' fiercest competitors this season will be the Droid Razr, on sale this Friday in the U.S. (For a comparison of these phones, see here), but the single most popular smartphone is still the iPhone. To help customers better understand the similarities and differences between the two units, we've laid out their technical specifications for easy side-by-side comparison below.

	Samsung Galaxy Nexus	Apple iPhone 4S
Display	4.65-inch screen with Super AMOLED HD curved display with 720x1280 pixel resolution at 316 ppi pixel density	3.5-inch TFT Retina multi-touch display with 960 x 640 resolution at 330 ppi pixel density
Processor	1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor (CPU), PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP4460 chipset	1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor (CPU), PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, Apple A5 chipset
Camera	5-megapixel rear-facing with LED flash; 2-megapixel front-facing; 1080p HD video	8 megapixel autofocus rear-facing camera with 3264×2448 pixels, LED flash camera, a .9 MP VGA front-facing camera and shoots HD videos of up to 1080p
NFC?	Yes	No
Operating System	Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)	Apple iOS 5
Data Speed	HSDPA+ (4G) 21.1 Mbit/s, HSDPA 14.4 Mbit/s, UMTS, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, EDGE	HSDPA, 14.4Mbps download, 5.8Mbps upload speed
Storage	1GB of RAM; 16GB/32GB internal memory	The iPhone 4S comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. No microSD card slot; 512MB RAM
Battery Life	1750 mAh lithium-ion battery	1420 mAh lithium-ion battery, with 480 minutes of talk time on 3G and up to 200 hours standby time
Dimensions	5.33 x 2.67 x 0.35 (135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94 mm)	4.5x2.31x.37 (115.2 mm x 58.6 mm x 9.33 mm)
Weight	4.76 oz (135 g)	140g/4.9 ounces
Price	Unannounced (possibly $299.99) on Verizon Wireless	$199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the 64GB model, with a new two-year contract from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint