CNET's top pick of 2012: Samsung Galaxy S III

What's the best smartphone of 2012? According to CNET, it's not the iPhone 5.

Although the two phones scored neck-in-neck in terms of review scores, CNET picked the Samsung Galaxy S III over Apple's iPhone 5 because it is the "first real iPhone competitor."

The Samsung Galaxy S III runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and features a 4.8-inch screen, 4G LTE support, front- and rear-facing cameras, the S Beam file transfer feature and Tec Tiles.

"Samsung's flagship smartphone successor burst forth this past summer with a surfeit of software features to wow and confound mass-market buyers of premium handsets," CNET editors said.

Apple and Samsung have been fierce competitors, but the battle between the two companies reached new heights in 2012.

Apple sued Samsung for allegedly knocking off its popular iPhone and iPad. The computer giant sought $2.5 billion in damages. Samsung denied the charges and countersued Apple for $422 million. A nine-person federal jury in San Jose, Calif. ruled in favor of Apple on August 24 and awarded the company with $1.05 billion in damages.

The two companies met in court again Dec. 6. Samsung sought to overturn the verdict, while Apple wanted to add an additional $500 million in fines and ban older Samsung products from sale in the United States. CNET named court battle between the tech giants as the top tech story of the year.

Read the full list of CNET's Top 100 at CNET.com.

[pedalit]

ahh yes once again the sadly life-critical issue of what's the best damn cell phone

[reallyareyoukiddingme]

Well, that's a silly reason to pick a winner. Personally, I've tried both and the iPhone was the clear winner. I couldn't use the Galaxy one handed which turned out to be a deal breaker. Smart move, I was at a party with a friend who kept having to find a place to set his drink to use his Galaxy.

[askagain]

Agreed that the reason given for rating the Samsung over the IPhone is a silly one. Apparently, both are great phones but personal preferences will lead people to choose one over another. The same principle applies to many products such as TVs, automobiles, clothing, etc.

[GeekFreak32]

You didn't try both, don't lie. There are tons of more features on the SG3 than the iPhone 5 and that's a fact. That panorama commercial of i5 was a feature made by Sony. There wasn't much done to the 5 compared to the 4s because Samsung was gradually stopping to make parts for Apple. SG3 had a break through innovation with motion features. "that's a silly reason to pick a winner", it's a silly reason to pick a phone because it's smaller. How is a tight small screen better? Zzzz Biased fan boyism.

[tsigili]

You know that little "touch" transfer feature? Just how secure is your data, with that? Anyone even bothering to ask the question?

[GeekFreak32]

No one asks that because the question is pretty dumb. You transfer files by touching the two phones back to back with the setting obviously turn on or off. It's called innovation which iphone5 doesn't have at all. There was nothing done to it other than a bigger screen which isn't even all that big. And the panorama picture commercial is dumb since it's a technology made by Sony. Just because your favorite phone doesn't have any new features doesn't mean you can degrade other company's phone features. The only thing it proves is that other companies are proceeding with innovation by working together while Apple is stuck at a stalemate and has been and will be for a very looong time.