Which smartphone is the ideal purchase for consumers? We pit the Nokia Lumia 520 against the HTC 8S to see which is better.

For the design and display the Nokia Lumia 520 has an IPS LCD display model measuring 4.0 inches that can render a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It weighs 124 grams and has the following dimensions: 119.9 x 64 x 9.9 mm.

The HTC 8S has a same-sized S-LCD display which also renders a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It is lighter (weight: 113 grams) and thicker (dimensions: 120.5 x 63 x 10.3 mm) than the Nokia smartphone.

For the hardware and OS, the Nokia Lumia 520 has a dual core processor clocked at 1 GHz that comes along with a MSM8227 chipset from Qualcomm. It supports a 512MB of RAM with 8GB of internal memory space (by using a microSD card, you expand this memory by up to 64GB) and it runs on the Windows Phone 8 (upgradable to Windows Phone 8 Amber).

Meanwhile, the HTC 8S is equipped with a Krait processor: a dual core working at 1 GHz and it includes a Snapdragon S4 model from Qualcomm. It also has 512MB of RAM but only 4GB of internal storage capacity (expandable up to 32GB via microSD card) and it it also runs on the Windows Phone 8 (upgradable to Windows Phone 8 Amber).

For battery usage and camera specs, the HTC 8S is equipped with a Li-Po battery with a capacity of 1700 mAh, while the Nokia Lumia 520 has a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 1430 mAh which is estimated to last around 9 hours and 40 minutes of talking time (3G).

Both smartphones have a 5MP rear facing camera (autofocus + geo-tagging) and no front facing camera.

The Nokia Lumia 520 cost around $100.00, while the HTC 8S is around $149.95.

Which is the better smartphone? Sound off in the comments section below.