This is my ongoing comparison of latest mobile phones/tablets to Vita. This is not a gaming will be better/worse thread.... just a continuation of my known opinion that Vita should have been a smartphone with real controls. Same power, features, etc, but a slightly different design as well as a smartphone.

Back in February when the new iPad was announced I created a thread comparing it against the Vita and stated that by end of summer there will be phones relatively equal to Vita and by year's end it will have been passed by mobile devices. Further illustrating my point that had Vita been a smartphone it could follow a yearly or every other year upgrade cycle allowing it to continuously remain competitive. Continuing to keep Playstation portable gaming at the forefront of the market. However as it stands now, I still see Vita as having a 3 to 5 year max life, losing marketshare over what the PSP gained, and not living up to the expectations of Sony.

I'd like to note that the GPU on the Vita is still more powerful than the GPU on the S3, while they are comparable, Vita still should beat it in most any benchmark testing due to Sony's extra tweaks. But, its closer now than it was with the iPad. However, the S3 has better screen, better CPU, more memory, and more overall features. Leaving Vita with relatively better graphics and real controls, obviously most important parts for gaming.

Anyone still thinking Vita will retain a clear supremacy by year's end?

-_- Great, and now factor in running games at a 30% higher resolution, poor optimization for hardware and and a more resource heavy OS. Also, the vast majority of studios developing for Android/IOS/W7 don't have the budgets or resources to create anything that'll compete with the average Vita game graphically.

pretty much this.

+ The S3 will never be able to fully utilize its capabilities due to Android, meaning that - in terms of gaming - the Vita will probably kick the S3's ass.

However, the S3 is better with pretty much everything else. and i dare that thing not to be, due to the fact that its more than double the price.

Pretty much our entire conversation from the previous thread:  

Notice i guessed the correct exynos chip

Anyways i stand by what i said in that thread.

Are you trying to compare the hardware for gaming only?

If so than the vita should be labelled as the win since its primary function is gaming, while its a secondary function on the galaxy

ok, and I left in the important parts. Here we are two months after that discussion and already there is a phone that is nearly matching Vita. You can stand by what you said, but trend is that Vita will be surpassed in terms of raw power by the end of year.

S3 is comparable already, you have to admit that.

Given 2013 will have mobile phones that are easily greater than Vita's power, you'll see iOS and Android games that are identical or better.

iOS already has a solid gaming distribution and gets ports of everything.... as iPhone5 matches Vita this year (probably around June) its games will be identical.

Google annouched months ago that by 2013 they will have a major upgrade to their gaming distribution and with that the hardware will easily be better than Vita.

As for controls, keep in mind Android (and probably iOS/WP8) can sync with any bluetooth controller. So while its not as mobile, it can be comparable.

But I don't want to start a gaming vs arguement. My main point is still that Vita should have been a smartphone and Vita will be dead early.

wh-wait, what else do you use the galaxy for if not for entertainment? Dont tell me people actually use their smartphones for calling each other or writing text messages, now youre just beeing silly.

I think what superchunk( a very fair guy I must say) is trying to show is that the Vita so early in it's lifetime is already on the verge(if not already) of being obsolete in terms of hardware capabilities. In fact, Superchunk had used the higher rumored specs of the Vita which could be less powerful when comparing it to the S3!!! Once again SC good job on a fair and interesting article.

I'm not saying S3 is better. Just relatively simlar ... given the progression of phone/tablets, better will exist by year's end.

2013 will have 3rd party games identical to Vita's. Only difference will be phone/tablet true cellular multiplayer and Vita's better built-in controls (identical controls if you include sync'd bluetooth controllers).

To my way of thinking if there was a Vita phone , it would sell at around the price of it's competitors and most likely come with similar spec in regard to extra ram etc ,also it would enjoy the same luxury of releasing upgrades every 6-12 months , now this sounds good from a phone point of view but not so much from the games side for a closed system , I'm mean really if Sony want a phone with analogue sticks surely it isn't that hard to add it into a future smart phone , and leave the vita as a dedicated games machine .