Nexus 4 (Jelly Bean 4.2) vs. Galaxy S III i9300 (Jelly Bean 4.1): Project Butter / smoothness: which one handles it better?

Hi, everyone.

I'm considering buying the Nexus 4 over the Galaxy S3 (international version i9300). I've read a lot about the S3's somewhat laggy performance when it comes to usual stuff like scrolling, sliding etc. However it's been noticed primarily when the device was running Android 4.0 ICS. Does anybody know if the GS3 uptated to Jelly Bean 4.1 performs as smooth as the Nexus 4? (scrolling, sliding, browsing the web etc)

The only thing that is blowing me away from the Nexus 4 is its subpar camera performance... and I'm also worried about battery life, since it's a non-removable unit.

At the end of the day, is it worth getting the Nexus 4 over the GS3? Which one would be more 'future-proof'?

The GS3 will cost about $700 to me in Brazil, while the N4 -16GB is priced at $450.

Thanks!

android nexus4 galaxy

asked Nov 26 '12 at 19:53

AlexM
1●1●1●1

2 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

In all honesty, unofficial ROMs and Non-Nexus builds of android really just are never quite as smooth as the originals built for the Nexus line. They come extraordinarily close, but are never quite the same.

Not to mention that 4.2 is smoother than 4.1 but the GS3 will be one of the first devices to start receiving unofficial ROMs for 4.2.

The Nexus 4 is likely ever so slightly more future proof than the GS3. The unofficial communities are both amazing but the Nexus 4 will still receive official builds as well making it easier for custom ROM developers to get reliable and smooth builds out faster. That said the GS3 has an amazing community and is supported by most large ROM developers. Simply because it is one of the most popular phones in the U.S. right now.

Whether or not the GS3 is better than the Nexus 4, or vice-versa, will really boil down to what you want from a phone.

answered Nov 26 '12 at 20:37

Zbob750
2.6k●6●13●38

Thanks for your help :) For the most of the time, I tend to use my smartphone for browsing the web, reading online content, e-books, gaming and other stuff. However, I'd also appreciate a good quality camera which would be able to capture sharp and clean images as well as quite decent videos... what is my concerns about the Nexus 4...

(Nov 27 '12 at 07:25) AlexM

Both will preform similarly although the quad-core processor in the Nexus 4 may be more future proof than the dual-core processor in the GS3. You'd really only notice the difference in processor-intensive apps (Games with lots of physics, extremely detailed on-device calculations, etc.)

The GS3 however has expandable storage, the Nexus 4 is capped at 16GB this could be a potential issue if you like to keep everything on device, but with Google Music and their other services you should be able to rely less on on-device storage.

Contrary to popular belief, Google leaving out the SD-card options on the Nexus devices was not a price or compatibility based decision, it was a usability one (They believe it makes things more difficult when you have to actually manage files, whether or not you agree is a matter of personal opinion).

(Nov 27 '12 at 16:33) Zbob750

I am running 4.0.4 on my S3 with no lags that i can tell.

What one should you buy? I do feel the Nexus is a better phone and if you can get it for less then I guess that is what I would get, but i do love my S3 and I'm quite happy with it, no complaints.

answered Nov 27 '12 at 10:05

trueb
14.9k●48●99●256

Your answer

toggle preview

community wiki

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

*italic* or __italic__
**bold** or __bold__
link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
basic HTML tags are also supported

learn more about Markdown