Nokia released its affordable Lumia 520 at the MWC in February this year, whereas Samsung's Galaxy S3 Mini was announced in October 2012.
Both the handsets are a good value for the money and are targeted at the budget-conscious buyer.
Here we take a look at how the Lumia 520 and Galaxy S3 Mini stack up against each other.
Processor
The Galaxy S3 Mini features a 1GHz dual-core processor, which is at par with the Lumia 520's dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8227, which clocks in at 1GHz.
Display
Both the handsets have a 4-inch screen size; however, the Galaxy S3 Mini sports a Super AMOLED WVGA display versus the Lumia 520's IPS LCD WVGA display.
Both devices offer the same pixel resolution of 800 x 480; however, the Lumia 520 betters the Galxy S3 Mini with 233 pixels per inch (ppi) versus 223 ppi.
Form Factor
The Lumia 520 measures 4.72 x 2.52 x 0.39 inches, compared to Galaxy S3 Mini's 4.8 x 2.48 x 0.39 inches. Both the phones have the same thickness and the Samsung offering is slightly taller. The Lumia 520 is slightly wider than the Galaxy S3 Mini.
Weight wise, at 111gms, the Galaxy S3 Mini is lighter than the Lumia 520, which weighs 124gms.
Memory
Memory-wise, the Galaxy S3 Mini has an advantage over the Lumia 520. The Galaxy S3 Mini offers both 8GB and 16GB of internal storage, compared to Lumia 520's only 8GB option.
Moreover, the Galaxy S3 Mini has the option to expand the memory (up to 32GB) using a microSD card, whereas the Lumia 520 does not. However, Lumia 520 offers free storage on Microsoft's SkyDrive account.
The Galaxy S3 Mini also scores on memory and has 1GB of RAM compared to Lumia 520's 512MB of RAM.
Camera
Both handsets feature a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera (2592 x 1944 pixels) with autofocus. However, the Galaxy S3 Mini has a front-facing VGA camera, whereas the Lumia 520 has no secondary snapper.
Software
The Galaxy S3 Mini comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box and the Lumia 520 packs in the latest Windows Phone 8 operating system.
Battery
A 1500mAh battery powers the Galaxy S3 Mini versus a 1430mAh battery on the Lumia 520.
The Lumia 520 supports up to 9 hours 40 minutes of talk time (on 3G), whereas the Galaxy S3 Mini offers up to 7 hours10 minutes (on 3G).
Availability, Pricing and Colors
The Galaxy S3 Mini retails in five hues: Onyx Black, Garnet Red, Titan Gray, Marble White and Pebble Blue. The Lumia 520 is available in white, red, yellow, black and cyan.
The unlocked white version of the Galaxy S3 Mini (8GB) is available for $402.90 on Amazon in the U.S. The unlocked Lumia 520 is available from retailer Expansys for $224.99.
