Samsung Galaxy S3
The Galaxy S3 features an eight megapixel primary camera Samsung

The Samsung Galaxy S2, which was launched in February, was followed by the announcement of a 4G version in August. The Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch was made available to customers the next month and the lure of the promise of 4G speeds and the more powerful battery meant it was an instantly popular product. Briefly, the Galaxy S2 has only a 1650mAh battery and was restricted to 3G networks and has has a smaller display than the 4G Touch. The 4G Touch, according to a report by Mobile Bloom, won Best New Mobile Device for technology introduced in 2011.

On the other hand, Samsun took the covers of its next-gen Galaxy smartphone on 3 May. The Galaxy S3 is scheduled for a 30 May market debut (29 May for the Korean markets) and will go on air with 296 carriers in 145 countries.

Check out how the two Galaxy devices stack up

Display: The Galaxy S3 features the biggest screen in the Galaxy S family, with a whopping 4.8in of visible space. The Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2 and the display features the TouchWiz User Interface (UI), v4.0. The resolution of the display is 720x1280 pixels with a pixel density of 306 pixels per inch (ppi).

Meanwhile, the Epic 4G Touch features a 4.52in Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass. The display also features the TouchWiz UI v4.0 but the resolution is only 480x800 pixels with pixel density of 206 ppi.

Dimension: The Galaxy S3 has dimensions of 136.6x70.6x8.6mm and weighs 133g. The Epic 4G Touch measures 130x70x10mm and weighs 130g.

Operating System: The Galaxy S3 runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The 4G Touch, however, runs on a slightly older Android version - 2.3.4 (Gingerbread).

Processor: The Galaxy S3 is powered by a 1.4 GHz Exynos 4 quad-core processor. The Galaxy S2, in contrast, is also powered by an Exynos chip but a dual-core 1.2GHz processing unit. Both smartphones pack 1GB of RAM.

Camera: The Galaxy S3 packs an eight megapixel main camera with features like auto-focus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch-focus, face and smile detection and image stabilisation. The camera can record video in 1080p at 30 frames per second (fps) and also has a secondary camera of 1.9 megapixels which can capture video in 720p at 30 fps.

The 4G Touch also has an eight megapixel rear-facing camera, with a similar range of features. The only difference between the two phones is the rear-facing camera; the 4G Touch has an two megapixel rear-facing unit.

Connectivity: The Galaxy S3 offers Wi-Fi /b/g/n, Wi-Fi HT40, Near Field Communication (NFC) and Bluetooth version 4.0. It supports data speed up to HSDPA 21Mbps and HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and the smartphone will connect to 4G networks where available.

The Galaxy S2 offers Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC (optional), Bluetooth version 3.0+HS and, of course, 4G connectivity, albeit only where available.

Storage: The Galaxy S3 has two models, in terms of storage space - 16/32GB, with a 64GB variant scheduled to be available soon. The 4G Touch has only a 16GB model but, like the S3, supports microSD cards.

Battery: The Galaxy S3 will be powered by a 2100mAh battery. The 4G Touch is powered by a Li-ion 1800mAh battery.