Key Difference: Samsung announced that it has added a new phone to its lineup that combines the ruggedness of the older Samsung Xcover with the features and oomph of the new Galaxy S4. S4 Active is dust and water-proof. The phone comes with a 5-inch Full HD TFT capacitive touchscreen that differs from the AMOLED used in the S4. Samsung Galaxy S3 is a slate-format multi-touch smartphone that was launched in May 2012. It has a polycarbonate plastic chassis and is available in a variety of different colors. The S3 sports a 4.8 HD Super AMOLED screen with corning gorilla glass 2. It is offered with Android v4.0.4.

Samsung announced that it has added a new phone to its lineup that combines the ruggedness of the older Samsung Xcover with the features and oomph of the new Galaxy S4. S4 Active is dust and water-proof and aims to provide direct competition to the Sony Xperia Z. The phone is aimed at the users that require their phone to be durable as well as provide extra features. According to the CEO and President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics, JK Shin, the phone is designed for the people who love the outdoors.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active shares many features with the S4, but differs in terms of design and aesthetics. The S4 Active is thicker and heavier at 151 grams; the weight is mostly because of the added water and dust proof. The phone has a diamond-pattern textured back that makes it easier to hold the device. The company has also removed the capacitive buttons and replaced them with hardware buttons. The top of the phone houses the 3.5mm headphone jack and has the words waterproof etched next to it. The top also houses the secondary mic and the IR emitter. The volume rocker is on the left side of the phone, while the right side has the power/lock key. The bottom of the phone has the microUSB / MHL 2.0 port that is sealed with a plastic flap. The proximity sensor, light sensor and the IR motion detector are placed on the front above the screen near the speaker. The back of the screen houses the camera and the LED flash.

The phone comes with a 5-inch Full HD TFT capacitive touchscreen that differs from the AMOLED used in the S4. It has ~441 ppi pixel density and is protected by corning gorilla glass 3. The phone is powered by 1.9 GHz Krait 300 Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, has Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB RAM. The phone comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The TouchWiz UI changes certain Jelly Bean features offering users with more options. The lockscreen features new widgets such as displaying personal messages overlaid on photos from the TripAdvisor. The water ripples effect has been replaced by the lens flare effect, but can be switched or disabled completely. The lockscreen also offers multiple screen on which users can add widget. Another cool feature is the Quick Glance feature that uses a proximity sensor to detect nearby movement and automatically lights up to display time and notifications.

The company has replaced the 13 MP camera with an 8MP rear camera that as a capability to work underwater. The volume rocker can be changed into a temporary camera shutter button that allows users to click photos and record videos underwater. The hardware buttons are also provided for the same purpose. The phone offers 16 GB internal storage capacity of which around 11 GB is available to the user. However, the storage can be expanded by 64 GB using a microSD card.

The same amazing features that were offered in Galaxy S4 is available in the S4 Active; including gestures, hovering, air wave, smart play, smart scroll and many other fun features. The phone also comes with an Aqua Mode that can be applied to increase visual quality and clarity for enhanced underwater images. The company has also added certain helpful Samsung Apps including Samsung Hub, S Travel (Trip Advisor), S Health and S Translator that can translate as well as pronounce many different kinds of language. The camera also comes with many different features such as Drama Shot, Sound&Shot, Story Album and Group Play. However, it is unsure if the phone offers Dual Shot or Dual recording. The phone also comes with a IR blaster that can covert the phone into a remote.

Samsung Group is a South Korean chaebol, the largest in South Korea. A chaebol is basically a conglomerate. Samsung Electronics has become one of the key competitors in the smartphone market due to innovative technologies. The group has launched popular phones such as Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note II.

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. 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.

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

Images Courtesy: samsung.com