The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 came out in September 2012, shortly after the iPhone 5 was released. Both phones represent top-of-the-line smartphones and either one is a fantastic choice, but which one is better? It’s not a question easily answered - while the Note 2 features an impressive 5.5 inch AMOLED screen, the iPhone 5 has seen some major improvements in speed with the A6 chip and the introduction of 4G LTE.

It’s NFC versus Passbook, thin and light against a massive display and the S-Pen duking it out with the Ear Pods. Very little about these two phones is the same, but they’re both magnificent examples of extraordinarily powerful, fast and feature-rich mobile phones.

If you just want to know who we’ve crowned the victor, skip to the results. Otherwise, let’s get this battle of the giants (well, one giant and one average size) underway!

Samsung Galaxy Note II and iPhone 5 Overall Specs Comparison:

	Galaxy Note II	iPhone 5
Width	80.5 mm	58.6
Height	152 mm	123.8
Depth	9.4 mm	7.6 mm
Weight	182 g	112 g
Screen Size	5.5 Inches	4 Inches
Aspect Ratio	16:9	16:9
Screen Type	HD Super AMOLED	TFT IPS LCD
	(Non-Pentile)	In-Cell Touch technology
	Gorilla Glass 2	Gorilla Glass 2
Resolution	1280 x 720, 267 ppi	1136 x 640, 326 ppi
Camera	8 MP + Singl LED Flash	8 MP + Single LED Flash
Front Facing	1.9 MP	1.2 MP
Processor	Quad core Exynos	Dual Core A6
	1.6 GHz	1.2 GHz
RAM	2 GB	1 GB
Battery Type	Li-ion	Li-Po
Battery capacity	3100 mAh	1440 mAh
Storage Options	16 GB, 32 GB	16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB
Expandable Storage	Yes - Up to 64 GB micro SD	No
SIM	Micro	Nano
Packed-in Accessories	S-Pen	EarPods
4G	Yes - 800, 900, 1800, 2600	Yes - 840, 1800, 2100
	(N7105)	(GSM A1429)
Ports	Micro USB	No
NFC	Yes	Lightning Dock Connector
Platform	Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean	iOS 6
	TouchWiz UI
GPS	GLONASS	GLONASS
Colours	Titanium Grey / Marble White	Black & Slate / White & Silver
Voice Command Assistant	S Voice	Siri

Design - At a glance

The entire iPhone range has long been lauded for its sleek design, a reputation which the iPhone 5 has rightfully inherited. A crystalline diamond-cut bevelled edge, the aluminium casing matched by two 29 MP cameras to one of 725 unique inlays and sapphire glass used to house the camera, all of which make the iPhone 5 a design feat that is unparalleled by any other handset on the market.

The Note 2 holds its own in this department quite nicely. The Galaxy range has seen a trend towards sleek, rounded back casings made of polycarbonate plastic. While many argue that the plastic makes the design feel cheap, you have to give props to Samsung for making a device that feels comfortable in the hand, despite being a monster, phablet sized handset. compared to the iPhone 5’s bevelled edge, the rounded edges of the Note 2 make getting a grip easier and less taxing on the hand.

External Walk around

Galaxy Note 2

Both phones feature a centered home button on the front of the device, a speaker above the screen next to a set of sensors and volume buttons (iPhone 5) or a rocker (Note 2) on the left side of the phone. The iPhone 5 features the lock-screen/power button on the right side of the top of the device, while the Note 2 has it on the right edge of the phone. The iPhone 5 changed form by dropping the headphone jack down to the bottom edge of the phone while the Note 2 keeps it on the left of the top edge. The sim tray for the iPhone 5 pops out from the side, an element not necessary with the Note 2 as the backing tray is removable. Both have their charging ports at the bottom, standard Micro USB for the Note 2 and the Lightning for iPhone 5. The Note 2 also has the holster slot for the S-Pen on the bottom right of the phone, slanted towards the back to hide it from a front-on view.

iPhone 5

I’m not sure if it’s prudent to mention, considering all the recent legal battles, but the Note 2 design calls to mind the early iPhone 3/GS with a rounded plastic backing and a silvery trim around the front of the phone. At least with the Note 2, as is customary in Samsung Galaxy phones, you can remove the back cover to replace it should it get dirty or scratched, to swap out the battery or add in a micro SD card to up the device’s storage.

Scratches are a major issue with the iPhone 5, especially on black models. The anodising agent used to colour the black iPhone 5 is prone to dents and nicks, scraping of the black coating to reveal the silver beneath. It can make the otherwise otherworldly iPhone 5 look very worn and cheap, even if you’ve only been using it for a short while.

Both phones come in two colour variants that are essentially a white and a darker version - for the iPhone 5 this is the Black and Slate and in the Note 2 it’s the Titanium Grey. While the Titanium Grey version does look sleek, with the faux brushed metal, it doesn’t hold a candle to the actual metal casing of the iPhone 5. If looks are what you’re after, the iPhone 5 is sure to catch your eye, and keep you looking long after your first glance.

• Winner: iPhone 5

Form Factor - Phablet versus 4 inches

The very big elephant in the room here is the very big 5.5 inch Note 2 screen. It’s impossible to miss. You sit the iPhone 5 next to Samsung’s updated phablet and you can instantly see how the former is dwarfed by the latter. Everything about the Note 2 is bigger than the iPhone 5: the screen, the thickness, the weight, the processor, the RAM, the battery … it’s difficult to ignore.

The Note 2 is huge. You put it to your ear and you’ll feel silly - it’s a comically large phone. If you’re used to using a bluetooth handset or hands-free kits, then you probably won’t care much about it. If you’re the kind of person who can’t get on board with talking to people via an earpiece, then maybe rethink getting the Note 2.

The iPhone 5 on the other hand is a comfy 4 inches diagonally across and fits nicely in the hand. You have to stretch your thumb a bit to get into the top corners, but you can use the phone one handed without needing to know hand-yoga. You won’t fumble with the phone or need to adjust your grip just in order to use the thing properly.

But there’s the rub - using the Note 2 properly can greatly nullify it’s giganticism. There is a setting to get your keyboards to show up grouped on either the left or right hand side of the screen so you can grip the Note 2 one-handed and still reach most of the keys.

Not to mention the S-Pen. The Note 2 isn’t optimally designed for one handed use. With the S-Pen, you can hold your phone in one hand and scribble away with the other. It’s incredibly useful and has been revamped over the original Galaxy Note version to include an asymmetrical shape to better fit in the hand and a side button to make use of the handy AirView feature. You can now use your S-Pen like a mouse on an actual desktop, complete with hover capabilities and some new functions.

A last note about the Note 2 size - if you’re a girl, chances are that the phablet won’t fit in any of your pants pockets. It’s unfortunate, but female pockets aren’t very deep and the Note 2 requires some serious real estate there if you plan on carrying it around. If you’re more of a handbag sort of gal, that shouldn’t be a problem.

It all comes down to what you’re willing to sacrifice: if you’re a bigger-is-better supporter, the Note 2 is for you, but if you want to be able to pull your phone out of your pocket and type away with just your thumb, then the iPhone 5 is the way to go. I’ve got to say that usability takes precedence in my way of thinking - it is a mobile phone after all. A bigger screen does make watching movies, editing documents and a whole heap of other tasks much easier and more enjoyable, but I wouldn’t want that at the cost of a colossal handset that’s hefty as well as bulky - the Note 2 is 71g heavier than the iPhone 5’s 112g. Maybe a happy medium is the answer here - like Samsung’s Galaxy S3 whose screen is a manageable, but still spacious, 4.8 inches?

• Winner: iPhone 5

Display - AMOLED, LCD, PPI and more acronyms

Comparing AMOLED and LCD is always difficult as the first has great energy saving capabilities and very deep blacks while the other tends to shows up brighter, clearer whites. Do you value your blacks or your whites more?

Samsung’s new devices utilise the Super AMOLED HD displays, while Apple utilise LCD screens with in-cell touch technology for the iPhone 5. The biggest points for comparison here will be image quality and screen size, as very little else differs between the two displays: they’ve both got impressive viewing angles and show up with clear images in direct sunlight. When we pit them against each other, we’ve got to focus mainly on the 5.5 inch size of the Note 2 and the Retina display 326 ppi of the iPhone 5.

A whole 1.5 inches separates the Note 2 screen from the iPhone 5 - that’s a whole lot of screen. With the Note 2’s novel 16:9 aspect ratio, both of these phones can watch films natively in widescreen without having to letterbox or stretch the the images. The only difference here being the that Note 2’s screen will show you a much larger version of that film. Alternatively, with Note 2’s Pop Up Video, you can watch a movie that’s resized to your liking while you’re editing a document or browsing the net. It’s a great part of Samsung’s Note 2 specific software that really make use of the larger screen size.

The big screen does come at a price though. Ppi. Pixels (or dots) per inch. The more there are in the smaller amount of space, the less you can notice the distinctions between each individual point of light that makes up the images you can see on screen, thus resulting in much higher quality visuals. The iPhone 5 utilises Apple’s brand ppi, the Retina Display of 326 ppi. Simply put, Retina Display means that the human eye cannot distinguish between individual pixels at a typical viewing distance. The Note 2 only has a 267 ppi, so the images won’t be as clear or as crisp as on the iPhone 5 display.

Larger devices need smaller ppis to be classified as Retina, owing to the fact that you don’t need to hold the device as close as you would with a smaller one. Regardless of that fact, the Note 2 does have an inferior image quality, which is expected; preserving a high quality display over a greater area is difficult. The screen on the Note 2 is still excellent though and is actually somewhat of an improvement over the S3 screen in that it is no longer Pentile.

Pentile displays refer to the specific arrangement of the subpixels which make up a screen. Non-Pentile displays have the complete RGB (Red, Green, Blue) spectrum, each subpixel (those individual colours), making up the pixel whole. In Pentile arrangements, pixels share a sub pixel between them, making them much more energy efficient but skewing the overall colour or quality of the screen towards that more-often-used colour. In Samsung’s original Galaxy Note and in the Galaxy S3, the pixels would share a green sub pixel (a RGBG layout), making the screen appear slightly colder than the colours should have shown up.

Non-Pentile arrangements typically have a lower lifetime than their Pentile counterparts, considering that they have less sub pixels to worry about. In the Note 2, the subpixels are rearranged in an S-Stripe RGB pattern so that each pixel is made up of each colour, the full RGB spectrum, but laid out in a specific way. This arrangement differs from the typical striped RGB layout by arranging the sub pixels so that blue is lined up vertically against horizontal red and green sub pixels, effectively tinting the screen a blue hue. While this may help with the lifetime and energy saving properties of the screen, this novel RGB layout does not rectify the old Note screen temperature issue completely.

The blue squares represent one pixel - so you can see that in the two Pentile screens (Original Note and the S3), each whole pixel has one less subpixel.

Compared to the iPhone 5 layout, we can see that the Note 2 shows up colours that are slightly skewed towards a colder visual, despite this effect not being as noticeable as with the S3. This makes the iPhone 5 images more true to life than the Note 2, most noticeable when the screens are set to bright settings or with images that are largely white or showing light colours. Still, the AMOLED display means that black and dark images will show up much better on the Note 2 than on the iPhone 5.

As a result, we’ve given the award here to the iPhone 5. The deep blacks and super saturated colours on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 may look amazing, but the quality, clarity and authenticity of the iPhone 5 visuals win out in the end.

• Winner: iPhone 5

Battery - Who lasts longer?

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2, hands down. With a colossal 3100 mAh battery up against the iPhone 5’s measly 1440 mAh, there isn’t much of a contest here. Still, there are a few battery life factors that even the footing a (very small) bit.

The thing to note with these times is that they are a) approximation of an ideal test and/or b) theoretical maximums - you likely won’t get the exact same amounts in your typical usage.

Screen size

The Galaxy Note 2’s screen is 47% bigger than the iPhone 5’s, which means it’ll need much more energy to light it up and keep it running. At the same time, the Note 2’s screen is AMOLED, so as long as you’ve got a considerable amount of black/dark visuals running on your screen, this energy spike won’t be too noticeable.

iOS is energy efficient

All iPhones run on an iOS platform, and as such, the system has been tailored to work with Apple hardware. iOS 6 is specifically designed to work with the iPhone 5 A6 chip, the screen, the battery, etc., so the energy which is used is much more streamlined and focused than on the Note 2 - running on a ported version of Android, this kind of effect isn’t as developed in the Galaxy Note 2.

In this way, the iPhone 5 makes much better use of its limited energy capacity while the Note 2 suffers some level of wastage.

Li-Ion or Li-Po?

The Note 2 runs a Li-Ion battery (Lithium Ion) while the iPhone 5 houses a Li-Po (Lithium Polymer). Typically, the Li-Po batteries tend to have smaller capacities than Li-Ion, but their main advantage lies in the fact that they can be made much smaller and have more unique shaping attributes than their Li-Ion kin. They can also be very lightweight. On the reverse, Li-Po batteries tend to have less cycles (charges from completely zero to a full battery) in their lifetime and can cost more for the same amount of energy in a Li-Ion counterpart.

Removable Battery

The iPhone line is notorious for ignoring removable batteries - if you’ve got battery problems or if the battery dies for good, you’ll have to pay to get your battery replaced or fixed since the iPhone body does not open up. While this greatly improves the integrity of the phone and makes it less susceptible to damage from drops, aside from making tampering with the phone much harder and ensuring people don’t void their warranties by doing so, it does mean that Apple can charge a hefty sum for diagnosis and repair.

The Note 2 has a removable backing plate that you can swap out should it get damaged. This also allows you to take out the battery and get a new one if you want a larger battery capacity, if your current battery is dead or damaged or if you want to carry a spare for emergencies.

To sum up, the iPhone 5 battery may run more efficiently thanks to some clever hardware and software workarounds, but the Note 2 has a much larger battery that’s likely to last longer per charge and in overall lifetime, even despite the phone’s larger screen and more demanding power requirements.

• Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Speed - Processor, RAM and 4G LTE

You might think, just by looking at the hardware specs, that the iPhone shouldn’t be able to hold a candle to the Note 2. Not so fast. Despite being bested in terms of on-paper capabilities, the iPhone 5 is a lot faster than it has any right to being for a dual-core, 1 GB RAM device.

Real world tests are always central to how you should compare anything and certain metrics exist to make that possible for electrical devices. One such method is the Geekbench scoring system which measures actual speeds of processors and rates them against an industry standard. The result is a respective scoring that we can use to determine which handsets are the fastest, regardless of what their hardware specs are.

It might surprise you, but the iPhone 5 fares remarkably well for a dual-core processor (all the other phones on this list are quad-core). This might be because the A6 chip set layout was manually designed by hand rather than automated or because the iOS is streamlined to work in conjunction with the hardware. Either way, we see the iPhone 5 making full use of it’s limited specs.

Still, the iPhone 5 can’t compete with the Note 2. The phablet wins out in the end and that extra processing power is put to great use with multitasking capabilities and a superb internet browsing experience.

The only way that Apple’s iPhone 5 competes here is with its super fast 4G LTE connectivity. The Note 2 does not have 4G unless you buy the slightly more expensive 4G variant of the handset. If you do pit the 4G Note 2 against the iPhone 5, then there’s a clear winner. Even without 4G, just through using wi-fi and general usage of the phone itself without internet, we can clearly see that the Note 2 is a speed machine, outstripping the iPhone 5 (who is no slouch either, mind you).

• Winner: Samsung Galaxy note 2

Camera - 8 MP

The Note 2 has taken a lot from the S3 in terms of software, which makes sense since the S3 has been incredibly popular. Why mess with the formula if it works? You can really see this in the camera interface, and even with the hardware itself, the Note 2’s 8MP rear camera and the 1.9 MP front-facing camera both having the same base specs as those in the S3.

The iPhone 5 camera brings quite a few upgrades from the 4S. First off, you’ll see that the low light performance is leaps and bounds ahead, and indeed the iPhone 5 beats out the Note 2, the S3 and many other phones in this field, save for the Lumia 920. You’ll also find that speed is vastly improved in the iPhone 5, although the Note 2 beats even that with its ‘Burst Shot’ mode and a ridiculously fast zero shutter lag like like as was featured in the S3.

If you take a granular look at the camera software, then the iPhone 5 gets left in the dust. The Android system coupled with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface brings a heap of functions to the Note 2 camera, including some iOS inclusions like HDR, tap to focus and panorama. Features that are lacking on the iPhone 5 are more numerous, namely live filters, scene modes, white balance and ISO control, among many other things. If you’re looking for complete control over how your photos turn out, pick the Note 2.

But that’s not what most people will want. If you need to have that much of a handle on your photos, then maybe you should be investing in a DSLR or something with a bit more finesse. For the average joe, point-and-click-ability is core, and for that you should choose the iPhone 5. Light on the options but not lacking for quality, the iPhone 5 will turn out consistently stunning shots with very little input from the photographer’s end.

• Winner: iPhone 5

Software - Unique Android and iOS features

We can talk ad nauseum about Android and iOS and which one is better for what and when, but we won’t here. While both of these handsets come with the latest version of their respective platform, there are a few software features unique to the devices.

The Note 2’s OEM Skin is a refreshing add on to the already innovative Android platform, especially since it runs on 4.1.1 Jelly Bean out of the box. Samsung’s TouchWiz UI makes full use of the Note 2’s hardware to make sure your usage of the handset is as complete as it can be.

Pop Up

The Galaxy Note 2 has a big screen (understatement) and it stands to reason that you’d be able to do a lot more on that screen than on a typically sized phone. Reason here holds true - Samsung have revolutionised the Android base system and even their own TouchWiz skin in order to fully make use of the Note 2 screen’s massive display area.

One of the most notable examples of this in action is with the Pop Up feature. It brings a true multitasking experience to the mobile stage by letting you run programs in conjunction with one another.

If you want to watch a video while browsing the net, if you want to look up a reference from a film but don’t want to pause or if you’re just really busy and need to type while watch, set your movie up in a floating window that can be placed over other apps and can be resized to your liking.

Using Pop-Up Notes

Air View

The new S-Pen is akin to the old note’s S Pen in its core functionality, but a revamped design and some new software features make it a whole lot better.

With the new rubber nib and ridged button, using this stylus is easy and useful. The rectangular shaped barrel of the S Pen makes it much more comfortable to hold in the hand and the button on the side is easy to press so using it feels natural. It’s this button that turns the Note 2 into a next level mobile device.

Using Wacom (a popular design tablet manufacturer) technology, the S Pen has 1024 levels of pressure you can make use of to create incredibly detailed drawings and surprisingly realistic-looking handwriting input. The new S Pen brings the Note 2 much closer to those high end tablets used for desktop and laptop PCs - but with even more functionality than even most of them.

Using the button on the side, you can utilise Air View, the note 2’s step towards a mouse-like experience for a mobile device. It’ll act like ‘hover’ would on a desktop PC - enabling pop up menus on websites and thumbnail previews, zooming and scrolling, as well as being able to select and highlight text or groups of objects much more intuitively than with traditional touchscreens.

A few nifty features include Page Buddy - it pops up when you take out the S Pen and offers a few stylus-centric options like S Note, or the screenshot - hold the S Pen button and tap the screen, and the reminder that pops up if you start walking without the S Pen in the cradle.

iOS 6 has a few drawbacks, but on the whole it’s a welcome upgrade to the Apple mobile operating system. While very little about iOS 6 is iPhone 5 specific, some benefits are worth looking at that really enhance one’s interaction with the phone.

Take images while recording video

While this feature has been available on Android phones for a fair while now, it’s only just been introduced to iOS. The new iSight camera in iOS 6 sees improvements across the entire iPhone range (save for the 3G and original), but only this feature is an iPhone 5 exclusive.

All other camera features, like Panorama, can be used on older iPhone models. Hardware wise though, the iPhone 5 takes much better low-light pictures than its predecessors.

While the iPhone 5 is a great phone in its own right, and the iOS 6 platform a wonderful system, it still stands that there is very little innovation in terms of maximising its hardware features and bringing something new to the table. The Note 2 though, largely because of its humongous screen, has been able to employ some astonishingly new usability functions that make it stand out from its Android (and even Galaxy) brethren.

• Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Which one should you buy?

It’ll come down to whether or not you value a large screen or not. If you’ve got smaller hands, the iPhone 5 might be more on your level. If you’re a multitasking, note scribbling, hard of seeing kind of mobile user, the Note 2 could be your new best friend. Android or iOS, speed or visuals, design or hardware? Not all comparable fields, so a choice like this is largely subjective.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 2

	Phone	Provider	Deal	Total Cost / Month	Est. Minutes	Est. SMS	Data
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$30 Vodafone Plan over 24 months	$42Min. Total Cost is $1,008 over 24 months			200MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$40 Vodafone Plan with Infinite TXT over 24 months	$48Min. Total Cost is $1,152 over 24 months			500MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$40 Vodafone Plan with Infinite Vodafone to Vodafone over 24 months	$48Min. Total Cost is $1,152 over 24 months			500MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$50 Vodafone Plan with Infinite TXT over 24 months	$50Min. Total Cost is $1,200 over 24 months			750MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$50 Vodafone Plan with Infinite Vodafone to Vodafone over 24 months	$50Min. Total Cost is $1,200 over 24 months			750MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$60 Vodafone Plan over 24 months	$60Min. Total Cost is $1,440 over 24 months			1GB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$30 Vodafone Plan over 12 months	$62Min. Total Cost is $744 over 12 months			200MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$40 Vodafone Plan with Infinite TXT over 12 months	$68Min. Total Cost is $816 over 12 months			500MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$40 Vodafone Plan with Infinite Vodafone to Vodafone over 12 months	$68Min. Total Cost is $816 over 12 months			500MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$50 Vodafone Plan with Infinite Vodafone to Vodafone over 12 months	$74Min. Total Cost is $888 over 12 months			750MB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$80 Vodafone Plan over 24 months	$80Min. Total Cost is $1,920 over 24 months			2GB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$60 Vodafone Plan over 12 months	$80Min. Total Cost is $960 over 12 months			1GB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$80 Vodafone Plan over 12 months	$94Min. Total Cost is $1,128 over 12 months			2GB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$100 Vodafone Plan over 24 months	$100Min. Total Cost is $2,400 over 24 months			3GB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More
	GALAXY Note (Black)		$100 Vodafone Plan over 12 months	$105Min. Total Cost is $1,260 over 12 months			3GB	Call1300 304 516orLearn More

* Comparison Calculations by Mobile Phone Finder - The estimated number of minutes quoted is based on a standard national call of 2 minutes with a standard flagfall fee. Estimated minutes do not include calls on the same mobile network (also referred to as "on-net calls"), calls to overseas numbers, calls made while you are overseas, calls and messages to premium numbers, and voicemail deposits and retrievals.

Subjectively, we’d have to go with the Note 2. It wins out by miles in terms of processing power and battery life, but only narrowly came second for its camera. It’s display may not be as crystal clear or have colours as authentic as the iPhone 5’s, but it still looks spectacular, especially when you’re viewing a HD movie on the gorgeous 5.5 Inch screen.

As always, make sure you compare plan prices for each handset to make sure that you’re getting a phone you like but that also fits into your budget. Since both of these handsets are premium, top of the line devices, you could be looking at some pricey plans. Take the time to look at all the plans first before making your choice.

For years the technology of voice recognition controlled commands has been around in mobiles (Including the Blackberry with its "say a command" feature), although, the function itself hardly left the ground - until now.
The S Voice is an Android integrated built-in App for selected Samsung handsets including the GALAXY S3 and the GALAXY Note 2. Using a natural language user interface, S Voice would process voice commands to recommend, reply or process actions, making the mobile experience not only more intuitive but also efficient for its owner. It is one prime example of Samsung's pioneering ability to allow its users to live closer to the digital age and below we will show you how to harness the S Voice to help you become a savvy power user.

Express Yourself With S-Voice

Voice Commands and Launching Apps

Samsung's Android integration of S Voice has proved to be a close rival of Apple's Siri. Using direct Voice Commands, it is possible to execute actions such as making phone calls, launching apps to scheduling!
Here are some voice commands you may not already know that you can try for yourself.

• Voice Dialling: "Call Batman"
• Message: "Text Julia Roberts, 'Are we still on for coffee tomorrow?'"
• Search Contact: "Look up Captain Planet in my contacts"
• Navigate: "Navigate to Harbour Bridge, Sydney"
• Memo: "Memo, How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
• Schedule: "New Event, Lunch with Will Smith, March 16 at 2:00PM"
• Task: "New task, finish world peace strategy"
• Music: "Play, We will rock you"
• Social Update: "Twitter update, Happy birthday to Me"
• Search: "Search, full lyrics to Bananas in Pyjamas"
• Record Voice: "Record Voice / Voice Memo"
  [Note: This will only launch the App to voice record]
• Driving mode: "Driving mode on/off"
• Set Alarm: "Set alarm for 2:45AM"
• Timer: "Set the timer for 60 seconds"
  [Note: This will only launch the timer on screen, Control by "Start/Stop" commands]
• Weather: "What's the weather like tomorrow?"
• Simple Settings Controls: "Open Camera"
• Local Listings: "Where is the nearest Italian restaurant"
• Turn on/off Wifi: "Turn on/off Wifi"
• Turn on/off Bluetooth: "Turn on/off bluetooth

How to Use S Voice

Configuration for all Users

First time: Preparation and Setup

1. From the home screen, touch Apps > S voice.
2. The Samsung Disclaimer will appear, after reading touch Confirm to continue.
3. Read the Terms of Service and proceed by touching Agree to continue.
4. The About S Voice screen will provide you a with a short description: “S Voice is a function that enables you to perform various tasks simply by speaking”, touch Next to continue.
5. The Say what you want screen will explain information on using S voice. Touch Next to continue.


6. Review the information on the Wake up S Voice screen and touch Next to continue.
• By default settings you can say “Hi Galaxy” when you are in S Voice or the locked screen to automatically wake up S Voice.
• From the first set up you can also choose your own phrase or word to wake up S Voice just touch Change now to record your new voice command.
Did you know?

You can change your recording at any later stage, just read Step 2 of - Managing your Wake up commands and Lock Screen options below.



7. The Help screen will display some commands you could say to have S Voice perform an action. Just touch Finish to when you have completed reviewing the examples.

Example commands include:

• Dialing a mobile number - “Call Charlie mobile”
• Navigate to a location - “Navigate to Harbour Bridge, Sydney”


Want to learn more Voice Commands?

Note: Jump down to Express Yourself With S-Voice - Voice Commands and Launching Apps for more tips on voice commands.

8. Test out S Voice! Speak your mind

Managing your Wake up commands and Lock Screen options

1. Open up Settings > Security and lock Screen > Lock screen options > Set Wake-up Command.
Also Note:

• This is a generic thread to follow to navigate to the Set Wake-up command options for most Samsung android platforms compatible with S Voice.
• *If you would like the S Voice app to open when you use your voice command to unlock your phone, make sure “Wake up in Samsung Unlock” is checked*

[Settings > Security and lock Screen > Lock screen options > Wake up in lock screen ]

2. Once reaching the Set wake-up command screen you will be able to manage your recordings and wake up functions.
   You can now either select:

   • The first option: Wake up S Voice which will allow you to change your Wake up S Voice command recording.

   • Select any Wake-up function to add or manage a function that can be executed.

   
3. Once you have selected a Wake up function the following screen displays instructions to record your command.
• “You will need to say the word or phrase 4 times”
• "Maintain a distance of approx 20cm - 30cm from your device"
• “Use 3-5 syllable words and maintain constant intonation”


4. Touch the mic button at the bottom of the screen to start recording your word or phrase 4 times after each beep. The device will indicate the amount of recordings it accepts and update as you record.
• Once the Wake-up command recordings have been accepted a Done button will be displayed on screen.
• Touch Done and you have successfully recorded your message - you can now try out your new Wake-up Command.

S Voice Opinion

S Voice lacks the humor and personality of Apple's Siri, making it clear out of the two which has character of more of a digital socialite. But without a Doubt S Voice's capabilities add intuitive functionality that are not to be overlooked, "Designed for Humans", the voice commands are more integrated into the Androids software which allows the specific execution and launch of device actions such as "turning on/off WiFi" - which is outside the functional limitations for Apple's Sir,this comes at an advantage to differentiate Samsung's S Voice benefits over Apple's Siri.

General Usage Tips

Samsung Smart Stay

Smart Stay is a feature that Samsung have promoted around the world. When Smart Stay is activated, the S3 will track your eyes and keep the screen lit while you are reading off the screen. This is an excellent feature to use when reading emails, newspapers and more.

Activating Smart Stay:

1. Slide the Notifications bar down
2. Press the Settings icon
3. Tap on 'Display'
4. Check the box for 'Smart Stay'

That wraps up our look into some of the best time saving tips and shortcuts to utilise on the Samsung GALAXY S3. Feel free to comment with any other great shortcuts or tips for using the S3.

In response to the Apple Fanatics video, Sh*t Android Fanatics Say has finally arrived! Don't deny it, we know you have said a few things from the video. If you use an android, tell us what you say the most

Transcript:

• Office - Oh there's your problem ... it's an iPhone
• Cafe - How did you even get here using Apple maps?
• Shop - Nah, I got a 'Droid
• Office - Why is your screen so small?
• Sofa - It doubles as a portable drive
• Magazine - And I didn't even need to jailbreak it
• glasses - Oh, I love this widget
• Office - I can hold it any way, and I still get full reception
• Cafe - Full reception

• Office- Full reception
• Dungeon - I can play slot cars in my dungeon and I still get full reception
• Cafe- Cheap
• Street- So Cheap
• Sofa - Cheap
• Office - Best camera phone, ever
• Store - with Steve Jobs dead, Apple is going downhill
• Magazine- Apple is going downhill
• Street - How do you even see anything on that tiny little screen?

• Cafe - It's so cute!
• Bed - Hey, let me root your phone
• Office - Woo, look at me, I'm Steve Jobs
• Street - Steve Jobs. Blah blah blah.
• Bed - It's not copying if it's better
• Street - Blah blah blah
• Hairdresser - Blah blah blah
• Bar - I run the world
• Street- I'm Steve Jobs
• Cafe- Blah blah blah
• Shower - I hate Apple
• Street - So durable
• Office - Customisable
• Glasses - Ah, I love this camera

• Office - What are your specs?
• Magazine - It's all about widgets
• Bed - Uuhhh, this is my favourite widget
• Magazine - Even the magazine is twice the price

• Office - What ROM are you running
• Bar - Dude check out my ROM
• Dungeon - No, it's a standard micro USB cable
• Cafe- It's just a standard micro USB cable

• Bed - Aww, shame. Pity it's not a standard micro USB cable.
• Sofa - Ugh, if only you had NFC
• Dungeon - I'm controlling the slot car with my phone ... just kidding.
• Bar- Siri's a bitch
• Bed - Blah blah blah

]]> http://www.mobilephonefinder.com.au/blog/shit-android-fanatics-say/feed/ 0 http://www.mobilephonefinder.com.au/reviews/best-camera-comparison-android-vs-apple/ http://www.mobilephonefinder.com.au/reviews/best-camera-comparison-android-vs-apple/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2012 01:41:53 +0000 Todd Foot http://www.mobilephonefinder.com.au/?p=22963

Mobile phones do so much more than just call and text. They’re communication hubs, social media access outlets, handheld gaming consoles, productivity drivers, office tools and more. Chief among these duties is being a camera. The gap between point-and-click cameras and camera phones has narrowed so as to be almost non-existent. But which is the best of these astonishingly capable camera phones? Well, let’s find out!

If you can't wait to see who wins, just jump straight to the result.

HTC One X vs iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 5

The iPhone 5 was released on the 21st of October, 2012, to critical and commercial acclaim. It sold out of preorders, 2 million of them, within the first 24 hours. The 5 faced much scrutiny during its initial reception, but has gone on to sell an astounding number of devices.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 came out on the 29th May 2012, and has since faced a serious battle with its Apple counterpart. Amidst lawsuits and commercials poking fun at the competition, the S3 has been heralded as the Samsung flagship device and is largely considered the iconic Android handset.

Although that isn’t meant to belittle the HTC One X. Released a month earlier on the 2nd April, the One X caps off the list of the top 3 2012 mobile phone choices, although they may face serious competition from the Motorola Razr Maxx HD and Nokia Lumia 920.

The oldest phone, having been released on the 7th of October, 2011, on this list occupies a large share of the market, being the predecessor to the iPhone 5. The iPhone 4S is slower and not as feature packed as its successor, but it is still an excellent phone in its own right with brilliant photography capabilities.

Whichever phone you’re considering, we’ll make sure you know all about its camera so you can make the best decision possible.

The Experiment: How We've Tested the Handsets

In order to keep the comparison as balanced as possible, we’ve tried our hardest to keep the settings, both software and environmental, consistent across all the tests.

Let's Compare the Handset Camera Specifications

Feature	iPhone 5	Samsung S3	HTC One X	iPhone 4S
	iSight	TouchWiz UI	HTC ImageSense	iSight
Platform	iOS 6	Android 4.0	Android 4.0	iOS 6
Megapixels	8 MP	8 MP	8 MP	8 MP
Resolution	3264×2448	3264×2448 (adjustable)	3264×2448 (adjustable)	3264×2448
Video	1080p HD 30 fps	1080p HD 30 fps	1080p HD 30 fps	1080p HD 30 fps
Front Facing Camera	1.2 MP & 720p HD video @ 30 fps	1.9 MP & 720p HD video @ 30 fps	1.3 MP & 720p HD video @ 30 fps	0.3 MP & 480p video @ 30 fps
Flash	Single LED	Single LED	Single LED	Single LED
Aperture	f/2.4	f/2.6	f/2.0	f/2.4
Lens	33 mm	27 mm	28 mm	35 mm
Simultaneous Recording and Image Capture	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
ISO Control	No	Yes	Yes	No
Lock Screen Shortcut	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dedicated Shutter Button	Yes	No	No	Yes
Voice Activated Camera	No	Yes	No	No
Slow Motion Video	No	No	Yes	No
Burst Mode	No	Yes	Yes	No
Geotagging	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Autofocus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Touch to Focus	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Face Detect	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Smile Detect	No	Yes	Yes	No
HDR	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Filters & Effects	No	Yes	Yes	No
Timer	No	Yes	Yes	No
Grid-lines	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Image Stabilisation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Panorama	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Social Media Upload	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Auto Upload	Photostream (iCloud)	Dropbox & G+/Picasa	Dropbox & G+/Picasa	Photostream (iCloud)

All of these handsets share a few base software features and hardware specs: 8 MP camera, BSI CMOS sensor, Panorama capability, lock screen access, grid line viewing, image stabilisation, face detection, 1080p HD video, geotagging, HDR, autofocus and some sort of auto/social media upload system. Despite the similarities, these four camera phones are distinctly unique.

The iPhone 5 sports a Hybrid IR filter and 5 element lens, covered by a Sapphire Glass (9/10 on Mohs hardness scale) casing that is incredibly scratch resistant. Both the 5 and 4S utilise the same iOS 6 camera interface, very limited in terms of shooting options, but simple to use and offering consistently great photos. Both phones also feature volume buttons that double as dedicated shutter buttons, bringing the feel of a pocket camera further into the iPhone camera experience.

While neither the One X nor the S3 have this feature, you’ll find that the Android system has a multitude of other options to choose from.

Android Camera Software Features

The average user may not be too familiar with concepts such as 'white balance' and 'ISO', but to the practiced photographer they are the key to creating excellent photos in any situation. While the auto settings on most of these handsets will deliver astoundingly high quality pictures, some settings can make all the difference in certain situations. Being able to adjust the ISO will make it easier to take better low-light photos - ISO is the level of sensitivity to light that a camera has; the higher the ISO, the more light a lens can take in. Bear in mind that high ISOs increase the amount of noise. White Balance will alter the temperature of the picture - warm shots turn out red/orange/yellow while cold shots tend towards the blue/green. You can adjust the white balance to get your images away from or towards one of these settings.

Adjustable Options:

Shooting modes tell the phone what sort of situation you are in and what kind of image you'd like as a result of that. In Night/Low-light settings, this can set the flash to a stronger grade or ramp up the ISO so that more light is taken in and shapes can be made out easier. For a macro mode, the aperture would be adjusted so that close objects are in focus while the backgrounds are blurry. Each option will optimise the camera's settings to work in that particular situation.

Shooting Modes:

Filters add special effects to images, such as tinting them a certain colour, inverting the colours or desaturating the image completely. Real-time filters will let you see these effects before you even take a picture.

Filters:

Compared to the very basic camera options available in iOS 6, the Android system phones give the user a lot more control in how images turn out. Of course, this is in addition to a few other features specific to each handset.

The S3, for example, has zero shutter lag and a quick access camera feature: simply tap and hold the lock screen while you turn the phone to horizontal. The quirkiest, and most braggable, S3 gimmick is the voice control feature, allowing users to take pictures by saying words like ‘cheese’ or ‘shoot’. You’ll also have fun using Share Shot - the ability to set up a session whereby all the other S3 phones that you connect to via wi-fi or bluetooth automatically receive (or send) the photos from (or to) your S3. Buddy Photo Share is pretty nifty too - facial recognition in all your photos will, after an initial contact-by-contact input, tag your photos with the names of the people in them, then letting you send those photos to those people with just a few taps.

The One X is not without its own innovative features: slow motion video, 0.7 second snapshots, 4 frames per second (fps) shooting up to 99 photos, and a single stream camera mode which means you don’t have to change to a video mode to record film - you just press the video icon and it’ll start recording.

And all of these are just the basics! With every handset here, you can purchase apps that’ll give you access to 360º panoramas, enhanced digital zoom, more filters, more sharing options and an ever expanding repertoire of photography tools and toys.

Colour: Saturation, Contrast and Noise Distortion

We’ve used a colour card and a white backdrop to compare the intensity of the colours on each of the handsets. You have to keep in mind that the image which shows up on the phone’s screen isn’t always the image that’ll show up on the computer screen or on another device.

Take for example, the One X. On screen, the images were clear, vibrant and bright, but here they seem dark and greyed. The One X is clearly the darkest shot of the four handsets, even though lighting conditions remained the same across all the photo shoots. It also has the most noise distortion, showing a grainy, film-like quality despite fairly average shooting circumstances.

The iPhone 5 and the 4S show up nearly the same, although if you look at the high-res version you’ll notice a bit more intensity from the 4S - the colours are a bit detached from the real colours. With the 5, you’ll notice the reflection of the white background reflecting off the red side of the Rubik's cube, but the other colours show up bright and, the white and blacks especially, pure.

The S3 tends to show colours at a more true to life hue - while the whites aren’t as bright and the blacks not as deep, they do look closer to reality than on the other handsets. The colours aren’t as distinct from one another as in the other handsets, lending to a sort of washed out look. There’s also a slight blue-green tint to the whole image that makes it seem pale and cold.

Natural Light: How do our Phones Fare in Real-World Settings?

We can talk about apertures, shutter speeds and what ISO works best when, but the true test of a camera is how it fares in real world conditions. The iPhone line is renown for it’s user friendly interface and simplicity of use, producing stunning photos with minimal effort. The Android platform will give you a lot more control - should you choose to use it - but the photos using basic settings will still turn out wonderfully, especially on the One X and S3.

To test our handsets, we shot a scene with bright, direct sunlight, shadows and high detail. St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney offers all this, the decorative windows and sandstone mouldings providing an excellent point of comparison. In each shot, we’ve provided a small close up square so you can see the detail in the image’s full, high resolution glory. Click through for the rest of the original sized image.

Video: Image Quality, Stability and Sound

With video, you’ll have to keep in mind that the quality isn’t all focused on the lens or the camera alone - the S3’s quad-core processor and the 5’s A6 chip will be able to handle shifts in light and the like much better than a slower phone and thus will have cleaner transitions from scene to scene and less choppy video recording and playback. Video frame rates, the camera quality and the processing power of the phones will determine how good the quality of the final recording is.

iPhone 5:

Oddly enough, the iPhone 5 seems to have the darkest video recording of the bunch - colours showing up darker, yet more distinct, than in the other videos. Also present is the notorious ‘Purple Haze’ reflection issue, in this video showing up as a purple tinted lens flare in the lower right corner of the video during the transition from dark setting to direct sunlight. The 5 does prove itself to have the best stabilisation of the handsets with the smoothest movement and least amount of jerkiness, thanks to some impressive internal hardware.

Samsung Galaxy S3:

The S3 presents us with the brightest video out of the four. The sunlight reflecting off the lens causes a flare in the S3 as well, although not as prominently (or as violet) as with the 5. The S3 transitions the best from dark to light situations, not suffering from as much light saturation as the others. Some of the more lit up areas tend to blur around the edges, giving areas that are drenched in sunlight a soft quality. While it doesn’t beat out the One X for worst video stabilisation, the S3 doesn’t stand up to the 5 or even the 4S here.

HTC One X:

The One X shows up a very cold image, the whole beginning of the recording showing a blue tinged scene. As the video transitions to full-sunlit conditions, we see the One X exhibit vibrant and (somewhat) oversaturated visuals - apparent in the greenery in some of the final frames. Nor does it show as much fine detail (also notable in the foliage shots). It also suffers from the same problem as the S3 in regards to large areas of light or white surfaces that reflect the sun - these show up blurred. It also has the worst stabilisation of any of the phones, the recording showing up jagged despite the movement in each handset being near the same.

iPhone 4S:

The 4S resembles the S3 more than the 5 with video - the colours aren’t as dark, but they do show up very oversaturated which seems to be the norm with the 4S. It also fares better than the 5 in transitioning from dark settings to more direct light, not showing a flare or as much light saturation. While it does fare better than the One X and S3 in terms of smooth recording, the 4S’s video stabilisation isn’t near the 5’s superior technology.

You’ll also have to consider sound. The iPhone 5 has excellent sound quality with the introduction of two new microphones for a total of three. The One X doesn’t fare so well, focusing on sound replay (with their Beat partnership) over their sound intake. The S3 plays a happy medium, superior to the One X but not quite as good as the 5. The 4S plays into one of the traditional Apple naysayer arguments - the iPhone line is excellent in everything except acting as a phone, notorious for their poor sound quality in speakers, calls and in recording.

Artificial Light: Fluorescent Light Testing

Real life situations being key here, we just had to test the handsets on how well they fared under artificial light settings. By artificial light, we mean light from an electronic source. For this test, we put our test object in an area lit by fluorescent lighting.

The One X fails miserably at this. Fluorescent lights work on a cycle system, where the light powers on and off at a rate which corresponds to the current used in your country. Australian electricity works off a 50 Hz frequency which means the fluorescent light would cycle through, flickering 100 times per second. The human eye can’t pick this up as we see it as a constant light (the tungsten filament stays hot and so it glows when it powers down, helping with that illusion). Cameras, however, can see this. For a camera to not notice this, the fps at which it works (frames per second - how many ‘snapshots’ it takes a second) has to be a divider of that frequency. There are software and hardware elements that help to make that happen, but the One X doesn’t seem to have any which are capable of nullifying this effect. The light and dark vertical bars kept scrolling across the screen and distorted the end image horribly. Even with this issue aside, the One X took a darker and less vibrant shot than any of the other devices.

iPhone 5:

The iPhone 5 is a clear winner in this division. The Rubik’s cube's colours show up perfectly bright and the black bits in between are pure colourless voids. Even the white of the background came up very well (although, the 4S did have a better white background).

Samsung Galaxy S3:

The S3 really showcases that blue-green tint here, the whole image being saturated by it. The yellow comes out slightly green, the red is a bit brownish and even the blue seems darker, greyer than it should be. Not even the black areas come out looking like they should and are a bit washed out. The screen had a few flicker issues, but it didn’t carry across into the final image.

iPhone 4S:

The 4S beats out the S3 and One X easily, but the colours are a tad bit washed out and the blacks don’t show up as dark. It could be a reflection from the white background, but the 5 photo was taken in the same circumstance and produced vibrant colours regardless.

Flash: Too Bright or not Too Bright?

All four phones house a single LED (Light Emitting Diode) on the back of the device that services as a flash for photography. It can be used for other purposes, such as a flashlight or an indicator/notification signal, but we’re going to be testing it in its primary function: how well it lights up an object in a dark room. You’ll likely be using a flash setting in dark situations to get the best possible picture, so we’ve pitted these four phones against each other to find out which one fares the best in this regard.

The two iPhones are more or less on par in this scenario - the LED flash overwhelms the subject and makes colours washed out, even as far back as the background (a good metre or so from the mobile’s position). This powerful flash may work better in far afield shots, like taking in scenery at night, but on a personal, somewhat close level, both the 5 and the 4S flood their subject with light and smother colours with white.

Keep in mind that the S3 and One X may not fare so well against the iPhones in long range flash photography. At the same time, the Android platform gives you a huge host of options to tweak that could improve night-time and indoor setting photo shoots (even including a night/low-light feature that would intensify the flash).

Samsung Galaxy S3

The S3 takes the cake here, clearly presenting the best colours, without too much oversaturation, and still retaining crisp edges. While you can’t see as much detail as you can with the iPhones, enough scratches show up on the cube to prove the S3’s excellence in these conditions. While it’s not as noticeable here, you can still pick out that annoying blue-green tint if you look at the yellow side of the cube.

HTC One X

The One X fares better in terms of colour, but it can be noted that they become oversaturated instead of white-washed. While this may look dynamic for a Rubik’s cube, it may not fare so well when the subject is a person with a skin-tone turned orange. You can also see that, on a macro level, the edges are blurred and show up as doubled in the high-res versions. The flash here is very precise and even slight movements of the hand can make the end result fuzzy.

Panorama: Even More of the Pictures We Love

The iPhone is a newcomer to the Panorama scene - the feature only having been introduced to Apple devices in iOS 6 in September 2012. Android devices have enjoyed the feature natively since 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich released in October 2011, and even before that Nokia made the feature available on their Symbian Belle phones.

Even if they are a little late to the party, we can forgive Apple for the quality of their panorama shots. True to their form, the feature is easy to find and use - a simple series of three taps from the home screen. You can produce up to 270 degree shots for a whopping 28 MP final photo. Even so, Apple has let themselves down a little in some aspects. Most noticeably, the archway in the example shots has a skewed shape - even though we panned all the cameras at the same speed and time (except the HTC One X, explained below), both iPhones ended up with a slightly pointed arched window. This is likely to do with the photo stitching process. Between the 4S and the 5, there is little difference: the 4S shows up as lighter overall, but the detail on the stained glass window panes is more distinct and less washed out by light than in the 4S. Both phones excelled at being able to capture light sources without a halo effect or flare.

The S3 was somewhat of a disappointment; while it showed up the colours better than the iPhones, panning at the same speed as the iPhones did not produce ideal results. Slowing down the camera changed the quality of the shot, but when it kept time with the iPhones, the pictures came out blurry and light sources were completely obscured by flare. On a positive note, the contraction of the archway is far less apparent and it holds much truer to the actual semi-circle shape that the window has.

The One X wins this round, producing to best colours and the best shape of the lot. But, that doesn’t make it the best Panoramic camera phone. While the columns show up as white in the One X as opposed to the aged yellow of the iPhone pictures, the details on the panes of glass are obscured somewhat by light flares. Even so, the skirting in the lower right corner of the images shows up as blue, whereas both the S3 and iPhone iterations have a brown tint to it. It also picks up the best low light details - the iron rails on either side of the escalators can be easily distinguished in the One X shot, but not in the others; surprising, since the iPhone 5 is supposed to have the best low light capabilities of the four handsets. The One X also features a gyro horizon line to help you stabilise your shots and make sure the phone is level the whole way through your pan.

It should be noted that, while the iPhone 5, 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S3 were tried together (bundled and panned as one unit), we couldn’t figure out how to change the HTC One X’s orientation from landscape to portrait, and so we had to use a secondary tester to follow the first three phones.

Indirect Light: Halo-Effect, Lens Flares and the Purple Haze

The Purple Haze issue has been one of Apple’s biggest letdowns with the latest iteration of the iPhone (along with Apple Maps and Scuffgate, of course). It’s been written off by Apple as a normal effect of small cameras - they’re advice is to change your position or shield the lens. While that may sound like another ‘you’re not holding it right’ response, lens flares do occur in cameras when an out-of-scene light source reflects off the lenses and can sometimes discolour the photo. Typically, that just shows up as a white/yellow light coloured blur or spike. We tested the S3, One X and 4S to see how they handled indirect, edge-of-frame light sources.

iPhone 5:

As expected, the iPhone 5 shows a purple ‘halo’ around the light source, but the rest of the image is otherwise untouched. If you like purple, you might even consider it a quirky effect - no need for instagram filters. Although Apple hasn’t issued an official statement as to what causes the effect, it can be assumed that the AR coating and the compact nature of the whole camera (25% smaller than in the 4S) have combined to generate the purple haze. The AR (Anti-Reflective) coating is used to protect the lenses of a camera from reflections. Apple has introduced a Sapphire glass covering, a material with a hardness score of 9/10 on the Mohs hardness scale, meaning that the type of AR filter may be different from the traditional ones used for mineral glass lens covers.

iPhone 4S:

In cameras, when the light is reflected internally, it passes through various lenses. The whole internal section is designed to minimise light reflection so the image isn’t distorted (matte black interiors, various shaped lenses, etc.), but in a short camera, this process can be disrupted somewhat. We can’t be completely sure though, seeing as the 4S shows a slight purple haze effect as well, despite not having a sapphire glass lens cover, but it is a larger camera and the effect is nowhere near as noticeable so the correlation might be explained that way.

HTC One X:

The One X handles the flare better, but not as well as the S3. If you look closely, you can see the black back rim of the lamp in all the images, obscured by the light source and the flares (where applicable); in the One X, this rim is almost completely taken over by light bleed. It is, however, the only camera phone on this list to not have either colour discolouration or a lens flare spike.

Samsung Galaxy S3:

The S3 seems to fare the best in this situation: the light source is restricted to its point of origin and doesn’t bleed out into the rest of the image while the actual lens flare it does produce is small. It also seems to pick up details that other cameras missed - there is a small dent in the metal rim of the clock in between the 10 and 11 that the iPhone 5 sort of picked up, but the S3 really makes obvious.

Low Light: Are Any of these Mobiles Afraid of the Dark?

The iPhone 5's lens is expert here, being able to capture more light than any of the other phones. It should be noted, however, that the 5 has a significantly more noticeable amount of noise as well. If you look at the high-resolution stills, you'll notice that solid blocks of colour are broken by grainy splotches. This is to be expected though: in order to capture the image, the iPhone camera needs to shoot at a much higher ISO. Higher ISO images mean that the camera is more sensitive to light and will therefore capture more light, but the images will suffer from noise distortion.

The One X has surprisingly crisp lines in low-light settings, but colours are tinted red and anything from the blue-green side of the spectrum disappears almost entirely. In contrast, the iPhone 5 takes low-light images that are slightly blue-tinted; areas that should come up as pure black are inky-blue instead.

While the S3 has managed to capture edges better than the 4S, it hasn't been able to pick up colours as bright or as noticeable. It also suffers from the same orange-red tint that the One X has.

Colour wise, the iPhone 5 wins this round. The yellow actually shows up as yellow and it's the only smartphone that managed to pick up the blue reliably. The correct colours come at a price though: the amount of noise in the iPhone 5 shot was only topped by the 4S. The One X managed to capture the shape quite well with the most distinct lines and least amount of radically colour-varied noise. The S3 was a bit disappointing, not managing to take clear or bright pictures, but at least it didn’t have as much noise as either the 4S or the 5.

Front-Facing Camera

With the ability to record in HD from front-facing camera, the Smartphone is opening up the market to a whole host of novel opportunities. Apple’s 5 will see the introduction of HD Facetime phone calls (assuming your network’s 4G coverage can handle it). A 1.9 MP camera means that vloggers, among others, will be able to record themselves with ease while still retaining a somewhat high-quality.

It's not even worth showing the iPhone 4S - at only 0.3 MP, its front-facing camera pales in comparison to those shots from the handsets shown above.

Although the iPhone 5’s front-facing camera wins out the noise count - you can see it quite clearly on Aussie Todd’s shirt, an area that should show up as a matte colour. Something else the IPhone 5 fails at: colours are tinted red/orange and show up over-saturated. His shirt should be a dull grey/brown/red colour but the iPhone 5 has ramped up the contrast something silly. It does pick up detail well though, showing up the strands in his hair better than the others.

The S3 stands out here. The 1.9 MP camera outclasses the competition, the colours showing up true to life but not dulled like the One X. Noise is minimal and the contrast is just enough to show up minute details without warping the colours. The only section where it lacks is in showing up those sharp lines in Todd’s hair - the iPhone 5 has it beat there, but at the severe cost of an uber-contrast photo.

Surprisingly, the HTC One X really fails here. It has a slightly higher MP count that the iPhone 5, but the result is blurry and muted. Again, the One X shows up as the darkest shot of them all, and with a significant amount of noise too.

Round-Up: Let's Look at the Scores

How did you favourite handset score individually and all up? We've rated each handset (from 1st to 4th) on each section to give each phone a score out of 100. For each 1st, the handset gets 4 points, 2nd gets 3, 3rd is awarded 2 points and the last position gets only point. In the event of a tie, the two scores are divided equally between the tied handsets. Out of the 25 criteria, the best possible score (1st in all categories) would be 100. Here's a breakdown of the marking criteria and how each mobile fared:

Criteria	iPhone 5	Samsung S3	HTC One X	iPhone 4S
Hardware
Software Features
Ease of Use
Photo File Sizes
Colour Vibrancy and Dynamism
Contrast
True-To-Life
Noise (Normal Conditions)
Detail
Flash
Fluorescent Conditions
Out-of-Scene Light Sources
Video:
Image Quality
Stabilisation
Colours
Panorama:
Shape
Colour
Ease of Use
Detail
Low Light:
Shape Definition
Noise Distortion
Colours
Front Facing Camera:
Detail
Noise
Colours

We’ve included file size as a scoring criteria mostly because large file sizes take longer and use up more data to send to others or upload - with automatic uploading and sharing options and the high cost associated with going over data allotments in plans or per MB/10KB data pricing, this can be a serious factor when considering which camera phone to buy.

In order to judge this element, we took the file size of the original photos and videos, added them up and ranked them according to size (last being the largest, first being the smallest). With compression software these days, you can get small file sizes without sacrificing photo or video quality, and this is a measure of just how well that software is utilised.

The Verdict: Which is the Best Camera Phone 2012?

With a score of 69/100, the iPhone 5 is crowned victor. The Samsung Galaxy S3 came in a very close second with 68/100, while the HTC One X was a very close third with 67/100. The 4S didn't fare as well, coming in dead last with 46/100 (but to be fair, it is the oldest on the list and the 5 trumps it in almost every category).

Did we surprise you? Did your favourite lose out to the iPhone 5? Tell us! Ask us in the comments below.

If you're looking to make the switch to an iPhone 5 from a previous iPhone model or from an android handset, we've got you covered.