Holiday season round the corner and seems you are confused between the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S3 mini. So which phone is best suited for you? Which one is really the rock star performer? Lets take a look.

This is not going to be a hands-on comparison as I haven’t got chance to fiddle with iPhone5 and Galaxy S3 Mini. I am comparing iPhone5, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S3 mini based on the specifications of the devices.

Design and build

Both Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini and Apple iPhone5 features 4-inch screen, contrary to the 4.8-inch one of the S III. While iPhone5 comes with 4 inch IPS LCD and has Apple's very own retina display, on the other hand Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S3 Mini features Super Amoled technology. Apple iPhone5 comes with a pixel density of 326ppi whereas Galaxy S3 Mini and Galaxy S3 has got 223ppi and 306ppi respectively. Whereas Samsung Galaxy S3  has upped the bar with larger screen resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels over iPhone5 which has 1136 x 640 pixels. While little brother Galaxy Mini has 480 x 800 pixel screen resolution.

In terms of dimension, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini  4 inches tall, 2.5 inches wide and 0.39 inch deep. The iPhone 5, on the other hand, stands 4 inches by 2.31 inches by 0.30 inch. Coming on to Galaxy S3 is 8.6mm thick, 71mm wide, 133g.

Processor and Operating System

When it comes to processor, Galaxy S3 Mini reminds me of Samsung Galaxy R GT-I9103 which was an inferior device to Samsung Galaxy S2. The Galaxy S3 Mini packs 1GHz dual-core processor. Where as iPhone5 is powered by Apple A6 1.02GHz dual core processor. On the other hand Galaxy S3 has 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. While Galaxy S3 Mini comes with Android OS 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box and with Samsung’s latest TouchWiz UI which is more customizable and more visually appealing. Galaxy S3 runs on top of Android Ice Cream Sandwich, though now most of Galaxy S3 are updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Apple iPhone 5 runs on iOS 6 that is claimed to have over 200 new features. The Galaxy S3 and Mini also features S Voice a potential rival to SIRI.

Camera

The cameras on Galaxy S3 and iPhone5 is more or less same featuring 8-megapixel rear-facing cameras. iPhone5 has 1.3 mega-pixel front facing camera while while the Galaxy S III has a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera. As mention above that I didn't had chance to get my hands on iPhone5, but i am very pleased with Samsung Galaxy S3 camera, which does take pretty good-looking snaps, as well as smooth 1080p video at 30 frames per second. While the S III Mini has a 5-Megapixel camera with Autofocus and a LED flash, with 720p quality video recording. Galaxy S3 Mini has the basic VGA front facing camera. Along with that Galaxy S3 and Mini also come with face detection, image stabilization.

Connectivity

The iPhone5 supports 3G network worldwide, 4G LTE, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz). iPhone5 has also got support for Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology. On the other hand Galaxy S3 Mini lacks LTE support. Galaxy S3 Mini supports HSPA bands 14.4/5.76 900/1900/2100 and EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 bands. Galaxy S III has support for the HSDPA and HSUPA network along with the Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 technology. Galaxy S3 and S3 Mini does support NFC (Near field communication), which iPhone5  which doesn’t have.

Memory and Battery

Samsung is offering Galaxy S3 Mini and Galaxy S3 in 8GB/16GB and 16/32GB variant and is expandable up to 32GB. Meanwhile iPhone5 comes in 16/32/64GB versions with no expandable memory card slot. They all have 1GB of RAM.

Samsung has been a pioneer when it comes to batteries and both Galaxy S3 and S3 Mini phones are no exceptions in this regard. Samsung Galaxy S3 features a 2100 mAH battery. Galaxy S3 Mini has 1500 mAH as, slightly higher then Apple's iPhone5 which has 1440 mAH.

Price

Samsung did not reveal the price of Galaxy S3 mini. But according to pre-order listing on UK retailer Clove, customers will have to pay £249 (INR 20,962) (£298.80 inc. tax) to get Samsung Galaxy S3 mini from there website. On the other hand Apple is charging $199/$299/$399 for 16/32/64 GB model respectively. While Samsung is offering Galaxy S3 for USD199.99 for the 16 GB model.

Conclusion

Even though the Galaxy S3 and iPhone5 are among most powerful smart-phones out there, at the same time there is a price factor which might not fit in your budget. With the launch of Galaxy S3 Mini from Samsung its quite obvious that company wants reach out to a much wider customer base, especially in emerging markets like India.