Key Difference: The Galaxy S3 is a slate-format multi-touch smartphone that was launched in May 2012. It is the successor of Galaxy S2 and Galaxy S but abandons the rectangular design of the predecessors and opts for more rounded corners making it resemble the Galaxy Nexus. The S3 sports a 4.8 HD Super AMOLED screen with corning gorilla glass 2. Samsung Galaxy S4 is the successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone. The screen is a full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a greater resolution of 1080 pixels, almost 441ppi density.

Samsung is one of the key players in the smartphone market. Their innovative Galaxy line of phones and tablets has been making public loyal to the brand. With the launch of the S4, the newest phone on the Galaxy line, the company has even further strengthened its position in the smartphone market. Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 are similar in many ways; however, they are also different. S4 has more advanced features though it does retain most of the look of the S3. Technology is a dynamic sector and it requires that companies constantly update and renovate their older models. The constant requirement for innovation has made technology quite expensive. Hence, it is always best to compare two or more devices before deciding to spend money on the latest gadget that is available on the market.

After building anticipation for almost three months, Samsung has officially released the newest variant of its flagship phone. To many the time spend waiting has not been wasted, while others seem to believe that the phone is not that intriguing to make them upgrade from their current S3s and iPhones to the S4.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is a slate-format multi-touch smartphone that was launched in May 2012. It is the successor of Galaxy S2 and Galaxy S but abandons the rectangular design of the predecessors and opts for more rounded corners making it resemble the Galaxy Nexus. The S3 sports a 4.8 HD Super AMOLED screen with corning gorilla glass 2. It is offered with Android v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and can be upgraded to 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean). The Galaxy S III has a polycarbonate plastic chassis and is available in a variety of different colors. The S3 supports a 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 Quad-core processor, Mali-400MP GPU and 1 GB RAM. The S3 is available with 16 or 32 GB internal storage capacity, which can be expanded up to an additional 64 GB.

The phone boasts an 8 megapixel Auto Focus camera with flash, zero shutter lag and BSI. It also supports a 1.9 megapixel secondary camera that is capable of recording HD videos @30fps. When the phone was initially launched in May, the phone was considered to have been backed with innovative features and the TouchWiz "Nature UX" GUI was considered to be advanced. The GUI also included the “Water Lux” effect which can produce water ripples on contact. The phone also offered S Voice in response to Apple’s Siri, which enabled users to verbally control 20 functions on the phone. It was effectively considered as a iPhone killer. It also received additional publicity because of the ongoing patent infringement lawsuits against Apple.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is the successor to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S3. The company boasts new features into a slightly smaller and sleeker design. The phone’s screen has been increased to a stunning almost 5 inches with only slight decrease in size of the phone. The screen is a full HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that provides a greater resolution of 1080 pixels, almost 441ppi density. The weight of the phone has also been decreased to 130 g and the width of the phone has been reduced by 1mm. The phone has sharper and straighter lines with just curved edges. In terms of design it is quite similar to the S3. The chassis is made up of polycarbonate plastic and the display is highly sensitive that accepts touch through gloves. The phone is available with either the 1.6 GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 5 processor or the 1.9 GHz Snapdragon Fusion Pro quad-core processor, depending on the market. It is available with 16/32/64 GB internal capacity options and if that is not enough it can be upgraded by another 64 GB using the SD slot. The S4 comes with 2 GB RAM, which has become a norm for smartphones these days.

The phone comes with a stunning 13 MP primary camera, a 2 MP secondary camera and HD video recording capability. The S4 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but it has yet to be seen if it will offer an upgrade to the new Key Lime Pie version when it is available in mid-2013. The phone is available in two colors Black Mist and White Frost, though there may be chances for other colors once the phone is available for purchasing. Now for the fun part! The phone offers brand new features that are sure to pull in some big spenders. The S4 offers hovering capabilities known as Air Wave, which allows users to swipe between screens, videos, photos without actually touching the screen. Another fun feature is the Smart Scroll and Smart Pause; Smart Scroll uses a sensor and the front camera to automatically scroll when a person is done reading a certain paragraph. The scrolling can also be controlled using tilt. Smart Pause uses the sensor to pause videos automatically when the phone senses that the person is no longer looking at the screen and then resumes when the person looks back at the screen.

Group Play is a feature that allows users to use NFC or Bluetooth to tap and transfer videos, photos, music and even engage in multiplayer games with other S4 users. There are many new camera features as well including dual camera, sound & shot, drama shot, story album, cinema photo and eraser mode. Dual camera allows users to use both the cameras at the same time including when trying to take a photo. The person taking the photo can place their face to the photo taken using the secondary camera or vice-versa. Sound & Shot feature takes 9 seconds of audio when capturing a photo. Drama Shot combines all the actions from a Burst shot into one screen. Story album enables the users to create an album using their shots and audio. Cinema photo feature allows the users to animate one portion of an image, while keeping the rest simple. Eraser Mode allows users to erase objects from the image that they do not wish to include. Other features also include S Health (users can track their diet, steps, exercises, etc.), S Translator, S Voice assistant, Galaxy S Voice Drive and Integrated Optical Reader. Samsung has yet to announce the release date and the price of the S4.

The information for the detailed table about the two phones has been taken from the Samsung website, knowyourmobile.com, expertreviews.co.uk, and GSMArena.com.

Images Courtesy: samsung.com