I bought a new Galaxy S domestic market GSM model from Hong Kong when they were first released. That was the start of the Galaxy series and a pretty good phone for Samsungs first serious effort at building a quality smartphone.
Next, when the S2 was released I bought one of those. It was even better, and noticeably faster.
Then upon release I bought a Galaxy S III which I'm using concurrently along with the Nexus and a HTC One X. I've been a mobile phone enthusiast for a long time, have always maintained a few lines just for the fun it, and currently find the Galaxy's an excellent choice for me.
The 4.65" display on the Nexus, the 4.7" on the One X, and the 4.8" on the S III are all in the "sweet spot" that allow me to type very fast when composing and responding to the many emails I get each day. I prefer to use the landscape mode, and that's where my iPhone 4S really falls flat. With half the display taken up by the keyboard, and the title bar at the top, there's nearly no room to work. These three Androids on the other hand, are a sheer joy to use in landscape mode.
The other superior advantage offered by Samsung is the SWYPE keyboard. If you've never tried it, you will be nicely surprised at how intuitive it is, how easy, fast and accurate it is to write emails, notes and the like.
While the HTC One X is a very nice model and far better than any HTC previously, the Galaxy S III or the Nexus are the two favorites of mine.
That said, for you I might suggest the S III for you. It has some additional features over the Nexus, a larger display on a phone that's nearly the same size as the Nexus, and best of all, has incredible battery life.
The version of Android on the S III is just as fast as the most current rev of Jelly Bean I'm running on my Nexus. So that's not a deal breaker. If anything I actually prefer the build that comes standard on the S III.
