Samsung launched their flagship Smartphone, the Galaxy S3 at a press event in London 4th May 2012. The phone will be available for sale from 29th May 2012. Is this the iphone killer? Let us find out. Before I delve into the details and specifications, perhaps I should talk about a bit of the history of the Galaxy line of smart phones. The original Samsung Galaxy S was announced March 2010 and went on sale June 4, 2010 in Singapore, and later the rest of the world. The Galaxy s was powered by Samsung’s Humming bird processor clocked at 1GHZ, 512 MB RAM and 2GB ROM. Storage was available in 8GB and 16GB capacities with the option to expand to 32GB by way of a memory card. Other features/functions included, a 4 inch (480X800) Super AMOLED capacitive touch-screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, and powered by Android 2.2 overplayed with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 user interface. Other features: 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, Accelerometer, proximity, compass and FM radio. It was available in Black and White.Connectivity-wise, the phone boasted of: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot and HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps (3.5G). It measured 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9 mmThe Galaxy S was an instant hit with customers when it dropped. As of January 2011, the phone has sold over 10 million units globally. It was voted the European smart phone of the year 2010 – 2011 by European Imaging and Sound Association. By October 2011, combined sales of the Galaxy line of smart phones were a little over 30 million, globally. Fast forward to the Galaxy S3.Launching the new super phone, a Samsung executive said that the new phone is designed to “see, listen and respond” as I will explain later. Design-wise, Samsung claims the new Galaxy is inspired by the ’gentle curves of nature’. In my view, the new Galaxy is un-inspiring in terms of design. It is not as sleek as the iphone 4, or as handsome as the HTC One –X nor as beautiful as the Nokia Lumia 900. Anyhow, design is a subjective discipline. Everyone has their own interpretation of the same design. So I will leave the design at that. Design/Technical SpecificationsThe Galaxy S3 is powered by Samsung’s quad core Exynos processor clocked at 1.4GHZ and 1GB of RAM. Storage is available in 16/32/63Gb capacities with the option to expand the space with a memory card of up to 64GB. The phone has a huge 4.7inch super AMOLED capacitive display with a resolution of 720X1280. In terms of connectivity, this beast supports HSPA+ (21mbps), WIFI, DLNA, WIFI hotspot, Bluetooth , GPS and USB. It has an 8 mega pixel camera capable of full high definition video recording. Other features include FM radio, a 2,100mAh battery, and the ability to hook up to a TV. The Galaxy S3 also comes with 50Gb of free online storage courtesy of drop box. I am not sure who started the trend of micro-sim cards. Certainly Samsung jumped on the band-wagon. This super-phone is powered by Google’s Android operating system version 4 (ice cream sandwich). However, as expected, Samsung did not go with the stock Android but opted to skin it with its touch wiz overlay, as well as some other innovative functionality. When Samsung said the new phone would “see, listen and respond”, this is what they meant. With s-beam, the phone share files with other phones at speeds of up to 10mb in 2 seconds. With s-voice, you can activate several functions via voice control such as activating the phone, launching apps, sending email or sms’s. The phone is able to track your eye movements, meaning as long as you are looking at the phone, the phone won’t go into sleep mode. Another nifty feature is direct call function which atomically makes a call when placed next to the ear. The phone will be available in pebble blue and marble white.AccessoriesAccessories for the new Galaxy include, a wireless charger, flip case, HDMI adapter to connect the phone to a high definition TV, battery charging stand and s-pebble mp3 player. The s-pebble is basically small mp3 player to accompany your phone. The idea is that you may want to listen to music with carrying your expensive phone, for instance when exercising. It has a capacity of 4GB and Samsung claims it can play for 17 hours in one charge. It connects to the phone with an included cable to copy music directly off the phone or from the computer.
