04 May The Galaxy SIII: Is it out of this world?
The next frontier in Samsung’s quest for smartphone dominance landed yesterday in London, the Galaxy S3.
The Galaxy S3’s predecessor (the Galaxy S2) sold 20 million units in 10 months, creating great expectations for the new addition to the Galaxy family. It is quite clear that Samsung designed the S3 to compete with the iPhone and the popular HTC One X (for a comparison of these three phones click here), with a quad core processor, large HD screen and the Ice Cream Sandwich Android OS. Whether Samsung has created another winner remains to be seen, with many reviews around the web divided as to whether the device really sets itself a part from the pack.
So what does the S3 offer?
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- 1.4GHz Quad-core Exynos Processor, 1GB RAM
- 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display with a 720p resolution
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
- HSPA+ connectivity
- 8-megapixels rear-facing camera
- 1.9 megapixels front-facing camera
- 2,100mAh removable battery
- Choice of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, which is expandable to an additional 64GB with a microSD card
- Weighs 133 grams and 8.6 millimeters thick
- Choice of ‘Marble White’ and ‘Pebble Blue’ for the case.
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That’s not all though, Samsung have really taken advantage of the Ice Cream sandwich OS by providing a host of software features:
Re-worked Touchwiz Interface
Samsung have made a few changes to its Touchwiz interface, notably the lack of visual cue (which may be a nod to the litigation brought forth by Apple on the subject) but touch the screen and you’ll see a little water ripple under the finger. The dock at the bottom of the screen can now accommodate 5 favourite items and the whole feel of the OS is a lot less cluttered.
Smart Stay
In order to conserve power, Samsung have included Smart Stay, which tracks your eye to determine whether you are looking at the display or not. If Smart Stay detects you are not looking (and therefore not using) your phone it will dim the screen and then brighten it again when you are using it.
Smart Voice
In a bid to compete with the iPhone’s Siri, Samsung have improved their voice recognition feature in the S3. By saying either “Hi Buddy” or “Hi Galaxy” you can wake the device up, change music control or initiate the camera.
Pop Up Play
Essentially a multitasking feature, Pop Up Play allows you to watch a video while typing a message or performing other actions by pressing an icon on the corner of the video.
S Beam
The S3 features Samsung’s version of Google’s Android Beam, which uses NFC to capability to connect two phones, and then use Wi-Fi to transfer the files. The key differentiator between Samsung’s Beam feature and Google’s beam feature is using Wi-Fi to transfer content rather than NFC.
“Best Shot” Feature
Taking a lesson from the HTC One X, the S3 allows you to take multiple (continuous) shots and then choose the best one. However, Samsung sets itself apart by automatically suggesting the best for you based on a few factors including smile detection, red eye detection and facial recognition. Also borrowed from the HTC One X is the ability to take photos which recording video.
Social Tag
By synching your google contacts, the S3 will be able to automatically tag who is in the picture based on their contact photo. You can also set up specific groups in you phonebook, which allows the S3 to group photos based on who is in the photo.
Galaxy S3: Inspired by Nature
The S3 Is Enterprise Ready
If this phone wasn’t desirable enough already, Samsung has announced that the S3 will tackle BYOD issues head on. The S3 will have enterprise features such as: mobile remote wipe and other mobile device management features for syncing and securing data, mobile virtualization, and a number of encryption features (Source: Techrepublic). This makes the S3 a definite contender against the iPhone in the enterprise arena.
Australian Release
While the S3 will be available for purchase in US, Japan, Korea and various European markets at the end of May, there has been no announcement on when the device will be launched in Australia.
Arnnet reported that after contacting Samsung Electronics Australia about the release of the S3 in Australia, the company provided the following media statement:
“Samsung Electronics Australia is pleased there is continued interest about our GALAXY range in Australia, but we have no plans to make any announcements at this time.”