Nexus 4 vs. Galaxy S3

Dimensions

Both phones sport slick designs. The Galaxy S III has a slightly larger surface area, but is also thinner. The Nexus 4 has a glass front and back, sandwiched together with a plastic band.

The Nexus 4's back is even bedazzled, and – under the right light – will emit a subtle glitter. Fear not, though, masculine geeks: we're talking more Nexus One live wallpaper, and less My Little Pony.

Weight

The thicker Nexus 4 also tips the scales a bit more than the S3. Though there are lighter phones on the market, neither device has a lot of heft.

Display

Both displays should look great. The Nexus 4 has slightly higher resolution, and – with its smaller screen – a bit higher pixel density as well. Some customers are turned off by the Super AMOLED PenTile screen in the Galaxy S III, but most agree that it's one of the leading smartphone displays on the market.

Processor

It's hard to say which phone has the edge here, particularly with the different Galaxy S III models sold in North America and everywhere else. Perhaps the simplest answer is that you'll be hard-pressed to find many apps that tax either phone.

RAM

The US version of the Galaxy S III matches the Nexus 4 with 2GB of RAM, while its international counterpart has 1GB.

Intangibles

Nexus devices are beloved for many reasons, but one of the biggest is that they run stock Android. The Nexus 4 – along with its big brothers, the Nexus 10 and Nexus 7 – heralds the arrival of Android 4.2. The new version of Jellybean brings several new features, like a Swype-like trace keyboard, wireless display mirroring, and a 360 degree panorama photography tool called Photo Sphere.

Perhaps even more importantly, the Nexus 4 should receive future Android updates long before the Galaxy S III. Though the handset will also be sold directly by some carriers (like T-Mobile in the US), it will primarily be sold in Google Play, where there is no update approval process. Even the models sold by carriers will still be running stock Android, so there shouldn't be many concerns.

The Nexus 4 is also one of the first big handsets to ship with wireless charging capabilities. Buy any Qi-compatible wireless charging accessory, and the Nexus 4 will be good to go.

It's worth reiterating the Galaxy S III's advantage with LTE. If you live in an area that supports the blazing-fast network, this could be a deal-breaker. Even in areas where HSPA+ can rival LTE's download speeds, LTE tends to have superior upstream speeds and lower latency.