Back in February, LG announced its foray in the quad-core phone market with the release of LG Optimus 4X HD, ahead of Mobile World congress 2012. Since then there was no news from the company's end on the release date of the smartphone in the market. However recently on May 16, the South Korean tech manufacturer has confirmed the release of the handset and now LG Optimus 4X HD will be available for purchase in the 'key' markets of Western Europe including Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, Italy and Poland from June this year. Further, the company plans to hit the Asia and Latin America markets with the device in the coming months.

Currently, LG has not shared any other information about the new phone's pricing and exact date of availability. Further, the company also has remained tight-lipped about the carriers in Europe as well as the key US markets where the company is planning to launch the phone. However, LG has brought some exclusive features to its new phone, which includes couple of preinstalled apps - Quick Memo and Media Plex. The new Media Plex app is a regular image and video playback app with Fingertip Seek, Live Zooming, Video Speed Control and Thumbnail List Play features. In the company's blog post, LG has also promised to bring SIO+ technology to the phone, which will purportedly extend the run time of the battery.

On the other hand, Samsung has already acquired plethora of complements for its latest blazing offering in the Android ocean -- Samsung Galaxy S3. When unveiled at a press event in London May 3, the new smartphone impressed many tech enthusiasts with its enhanced battery and processor capabilities. Further, Galaxy S3 also has come with some inventive "S software features," which are based on a concept of "human interaction."

Detailing on the availability of the handset and the expected price, the smartphone will be available in black and white colors and will go on sale in Europe from May 30. The pre-order for the phone has already started on various UK mobile operators' websites including some majors like Vodafone, O2 and Amazon UK. The SIM-free edition of the 16 GB version of Galaxy S3 is available at around £500. While, Vodafone is offering the phone in two variants - 16GB and 32GB, both are currently being offered free by the carrier. The 32GB version is available on a £46, 24-month contract, while 16GB variants can be purchased at £41, for a 24-month price plan.

Both phones are bold and beautiful and come with the support of latest quad core processors. But LG Optimus 4X HD is powered by a 1.5GHz powerful Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor, while on the other hand, Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with the powerful 1.4GHz Samsung-made Exynos 4212 quad-core processor, with a tip of the Mali-400MP GPU.

When compared, according to some benchmark tests, Nvidia Tegra 3 has two to three times more graphics performance than the its predecessor and it can produce 7.2 GFLOPS at 300MHz (GPU power). While, Samsung Exynos powered by Mali-400 GPU scores high, as it can perform up to 10.8 GFLOPS at 300MHz. S3 also has a higher CPU Horsepower in comparison to LG Optimus 4X HD. As Samsung's Exynos 4212 (32nm version) SoC can produce 35% to 50% more horsepower than the older Exynos 4210 (45nm version).

However, LG Optimus 4X HD has one major advantage with its Tegra 3 processor and that is the 'power consumption'. The Tegra 3 has an extra core, besides the fourth core, which is the fifth core, this core always runs at the top and does the simple tasks, quad-core jumps out when only for bigger tasks. Samsung Galaxy S3 does not have these kinds of features with their Exynos 4412 but Samsung claims that they have some features for low power such as multiple power domains, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling, a technique called body-biasing, and thermal management control, but LG sure swipes an advantage with its 4 plus 1 core.

Well, as now, you have got all the details on the difference between both the smartphones' quad-core processors, let's take a look at other specs and features of the LG Optimus 4X HD and compare it with the characteristics of Samsung Galaxy S3 and see how well both the smartphones will stack up against each other in the European market.

Display

LG Optimus 4X HD will be sporting a 4.7-inch True HD IPS display with likely 1280 X 720 pixels of resolution with a pixel density of 312 ppi.

On the other end, Galaxy S3 features a huge 4.8-inch Super AMOLED Plus 720p HD display (720 x 1,280 pixels) with a 306 ppi pixel density and the phone also has the protection of Corning's Gorilla Glass 2 and includes the latest Eye Tracking technology.

Dimensions

The LG Optimus 4X HD is 8.9mm thick and weighs 158.75grams. While, the Galaxy S3 measures 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm and weighs less than the LG Optimus 4X HD at 133gram.

Operating System

Samsung Galaxy S3 will run on the latest Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, topped with TouchWiz UI 4.0, which assures a commendable and better performance than its predecessor.

Also powered by Android's latest 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and LG Optimus 4X HD will flaunt an overhauled user interface.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy S3 has an 8 megapixel sensor camera accompanied with autofocus and LED Flash. It will also be capable of capturing 1080p video at 30fps and will let the consumer capture still images while recording a video. The S3 would also support geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilization. The handset will come backed by a 1.9 megapixel front-facing HD camera for video chatting and 720p video capture.

Keeping up with the competition, LG has also equipped Optimus 4X HD with an 8-megapixel BSI sensor camera to shoot 1080p videos @ 30 fps and a secondary front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera.

Connectivity

The LG Optimus 4X HD will offer only 3G connectivity and Bluetooth version 4.0. In Contrast, Galaxy S3 would support 4G LTE, alongside 3G bands HSDPA 850/900/1900 and 2100 MHz bands, depending on the regional availability. The handset will also support Wi-Fi capabilities alongside Bluetooth connectivity and Near Field Communication (NFC).

Memory

In terms of memory, Galaxy S3 will feature 16GB, 32GB and 64GB internal memory and also a microSD card slot which supports 64GB cards so that the highest variant would constitute to a total of 128GB. As far as LG Optimus 4X HD is concerned, the handset will have an internal memory storage space of 16GB and it supports a microSD card slot memory expansion up to 32GB.

Battery

The Optimus LTE2 will come loaded with a gigantic 2150 mAh battery. The company has not commented on the actual hours of the battery life of the phone. However, it can be surely estimated that the battery life would be definitely a little better than the Samsung Galaxy S3's 2100 mAh battery, especially with Tegra 3 processor support. However, S3's battery is removable.