As the war for smartphone dominance continues, we see more and more offerings from the top phone manufacturers in the world. The Galaxy S and N8 are two offerings from Samsung and Nokia for the high-end market. The main difference between them is the operating system as Nokia still sticks with the Symbian OS that they’ve used with their phones for a very long time. Samsung decided to go with the new kid on the block, Google’s Android. Symbian is what many people expect Symbian to be, tried and tested. Although Android seems to have a long way to go, the rapid development rate has already provided solutions to most of the problems.

Something that you should know about the Galaxy S is that it comes in many variants depending on carrier you are getting it from. Although they look very different, they are still identical under the hood and most of the differences are mere aesthetics. The N8 does not have different versions so you are getting exactly the same phone regardless of the carrier you opt to go with.

The Galaxy S is a larger phone compared to the N8 in both width and height but is a bit thinner. Considering this, it is a bit surprising to know that the Galaxy S is lighter than the N8. Much of the increase in size of the Galaxy S can be attributed to its display. It has a 4 inch AMOLED display while the N8 only has a 3.5 inch display. Half an inch might not seem much but you need to see it to truly appreciate its size. The Galaxy S is also powered by a better processor than the N8. Its ARM processor is clocked at 1Ghz while the N8’s is only clocked at 680Mhz.

The one major advantage that the N8 has over the Galaxy S is the huge resolution of its camera. The N8 camera has a resolution of 12 megapixels while the Galaxy S only has 5 megapixels. The Galaxy S camera is typical of most smartphones while that of digital cameras; although you should not expect it to perform at par with one.

Summary:

1. The Galaxy S uses the latest version of Android while the N8 uses Symbian
2. The Galaxy S comes in many variants while the N8 does not
3. The Galaxy S is bigger but lighter than the N8
4. The Galaxy S has a bigger screen than the N8
5. The Galaxy S has a faster processor than the N8
6. The N8 has the better camera compared to the Galaxy S