South Korea and Japan.

The two brand names are no doubt superior by their own respects and were presently considered as giants in the consumer electronic markets. They too were separated by eras of supremacy, with Sony enjoying its zenith mostly in the 1980s and early 1990s, periods that directly attributed quality devices and appliances to the Japanese firm.

Samsung, on other hand, has been a long-time global player but has belatedly elicited significant attention due to its affordable mobile phones and in the past half-decade its popular smartphones.

Representing that immense popularity is the Galaxy product lines that in the past four quarters, specifically three of them, were declared as the world's bestselling smartphones, eclipsing even Apple's iPhone.

At the forefront of Samsung leadership is its flagship handset, the S3, which the company claimed already sold 20 million units since its debut in May 2012. It is likely that by year-end, S3 will have accumulated over 30 million buys, CNET reported the Asian firm as saying in September.

Clearly in terms of commercial success, Sony's Acro S is a David to the Goliath that is Samsung and analysts are likewise in doubt if the handset will ever equal the S3's phenomenal rise once Sony finally unwraps the device later this year.

Yet the Japanese firm is upbeat that global consumers might take a second look on the Acro S, which it touted as a high-end camera masquerading as a mobile phone.

The 12MP camera sensor deployed with the Acro S, Sony said, is the best so far for a smartphone, which obviously dwarfs the S3's 8MP.

The camera tussle, both two companies claimed, is but the start of the HD entertainment experience that users will get from the competing handsets, which by way are powered by Google's latest Android version.

Capturing and viewing images or videos on the S3 and Acro S should be an absolute delight, early reviewers said. Renderings are emitted via AMOLED on the Samsung device and BRAVIA on the Sony brick, which critics said have their shares of upsides and downsides though were definite pluses for gadget owners who love streaming and playing clips.

Screen size is also not a problem for the Android handsets - Galaxy sports a 4.8-inch widescreen window for its viewers while the Xperia gizmo comes with a 4.3-inch front real estate.

The same goes with their major specs as both gadgets have enough storage at a maximum of 32GB internal memory, sufficient RAM at 1GB and multi-core processors that could clock beyond the 1.4GHz.

Also, the mobile phones were given powerful interaction capabilities, most notable of which is the S3's S Beam and the near-field communication function (NFC), which it shares with the Acro S, that allows owners to use their phones as electronic wallets.

But mobile connectivity speed is on the side of Samsung as the S3 is LTE-4G capable and works with the existing high-speed wireless broadband infrastructures of Telstra and Optus. For the Acro S, users will be confined on the 3G band, which experts said is decent enough and cheaper.

So the crunch of the contest is usage and consumption. By its look, design and features, the Galaxy S3 is geared for the professional market, in fact directly challenging the bracket of buyers traditionally identified with Apple. Of course, Sony wants a bite on the same pie.

But Sony and Samsung's track records define their market appeal. The former is known to deliver premium entertainment products, remember Walkman, PlayStation and PSP, while the latter made its name by providing the alternative for consumers looking outside of the Apple universe.

In other words, Samsung's audience is broad and lucrative while that of Sony is specific and could prove profitable depending on the contents that consumers can find on the system. With Android on its back though, half of the problem is solved. The other half Sony must provide to convince gadget lovers, who may want to take a plunge on the gaming and other digital entertainment world, to jump over the Xperia world.

Price-wise, the S3 is in league with the iPhone, meaning the Samsung toy is premium priced as a one-off purchase and will only get considerable discounts on contract with telcos. On the other hand, the last quoted price for the Acro S already breached the $700 mark, which also comes with a lock-in period.