The smartphone battle

There is a new contender in the highly lucrative smartphone market: Samsung's Galaxy S3, launched on Thursday in London with great fanfare. But can it stand up to its rivals? We are taking a look at a few of the top phones.

In the world of smartphones, BIG seems to be the new black. Not that today's smartphones are gaining weight. They are slim and light creatures.

Their screens, though, are growing larger and larger. Phone makers clearly want to wow buyers with big images on high-definition screens. The drawback: those with tiny hands will find it difficult to clasp the latest crop of high-end phones.

Nokia, meanwhile, is the standard bearer for Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system.

And lumbering up for what it hopes will be a fresh start is the once-mighty Research in Motion with its new Blackberry 10 software.

So how do some of these rivals square up?

Sony's Xperia S

Sony's Xperia S promises to be an entertainment centre

Sony's Xperia S promises to be an entertainment centre

Panasonic Eluga The slim but curvy Eluga marks Panasonic's return to global handset markets