iPhone 5 vs. Lumia 920 vs. Galaxy S3

Nokia's battery life far outlasts the other two phones, but some of its other features aren't as great.

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f you're not dedicated for life to Apple and its iWhatevers, then choosing your next smartphone isn't as easy a task as it would be for someone who is. That said, right now there are a few phones out there that are seen as competitors, phones that are seemingly on the same level of quality, so how can you be sure you're getting the one that's right for you? Let's do a little comparison shopping between the iPhone 5, Nokia's Lumia 920, and Samsung's Galaxy S3.

Let's first deal with the easy stuff: how big they are and how much they weigh. This is a common concern with people who hope to carry the phone in their pockets, as something too big is a pretty significant inconvenience (especially if you don't carry a purse). The iPhone 5 is the smallest and lightest, weighing in at 3.95 ounces and measuring 0.3 inches thick. The Galaxy is next, at 4.7 ounces and 0.34 inches thick, and the Lumia is the biggest and heaviest, clocking in at 6.5 ounces and 0.42 inches thick. If you're going for small and compact, the iPhone is your best bet.

While some of Apple's features aren't up to par with the other two phones', the Apple App store surpasses the other two in terms of how many apps are available.

Next up: battery life. Many users have complained about the iPhone's battery, although there are some ways to extend its life. The iPhone lags behind the Lumia, which boasts 17 hours of talk time (non 3G), 16.7 days of stand-by time, and 10 hours of 3G talk time—the iPhone offers 9.4 days of stand-by time and eight hours of 3G talk time. The Galaxy lags behind both, offering just eight hours of non-3G talk time and only 8.3 days of stand-by time. If you're strictly looking for battery life in a phone, the Lumia is yours. The other two are similar, but don't come close to Nokia's offering.

What about camera quality? iPhone's got an eight-megapixel camera on the back, along with a 720p front-facing camera. The Galaxy has an eight-megapixel camera and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, while the Lumia has an 8.7-megapixel camera and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera. Once again, the iPhone doesn't win. It's surprising to see that despite specs like these, the iPhone is the fastest-selling smartphone out there.

The next category that iPhone loses is the connector category. While it uses the brand-new, obnoxiously designed "Apple Lightning" connector, the other two phones use the more-easily compatible with everything microUSB connectors.

It also has the lowest resolution of the three phones, with 1136x640 to the Galaxy's 1280x720 and the Lumia's 1280x768.

The iPhone is also the most expensive (at least until the Lumia's price is unveiled), with its base model with 16GB of storage priced at $199 (the same price as the Galaxy). Thing is, Apple offers two larger-memory iPhones for $299 (32GB) and $399 (64GB).

But where Apple wins out by a long mark is with its app store. While the Galaxy's Android platform offers about 400,000 apps, the App store sails past that by about 100,000 more apps. The Lumia, however, only has access to about 100,000 apps in the Nokia Store. Not great. It's easy to see why someone would overlook the other two phones and get an iPhone when just considering apps.

While it's interesting to learn that the iPhone may not be the best phone out there in terms of specs, it still leads the pack as far as available apps—and since people aren't using their phones primarily as phones anymore, it's completely understandable that the iPhone is outselling every other phone.