Samsung Galaxy S3
The Samsung Galaxy S3
follows on from the runaway success that was the Samsung Galaxy
S2, which won great praise and sold in huge numbers, helping
Samsung snag the crown of the biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. With
the latest version of Android, a whopping 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen and a
whole suite of Apple-beating features, is the new Samsung Galaxy SIII the
greatest phone ever.
The S3 has gone big on innovation, with lots of new features the
speculation hadn’t dreamed of. But the first thing you notice is the size.
Samsung has shown it can make a success of big screens with the 5.3in display
on the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Key
Features
·
4.8-inch HD (720
x 1280 pixels) Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass
·
1.4GHz quad-core
processor
·
8 megapixel camera
with full 1080p HD video, auto-focus and dual-capture
·
1.9 megapixel
front-facing camera capable of full HD recording
·
Android Ice Cream
Sandwich operating system
·
TouchWiz UX
·
S-Voice
voice-activated digital assistant
·
S-Beam wireless file
transfer functionality
·
Smart Stay screen
management
·
Allshare wireless connectivity
·
2100mAh battery
Full
Specification :
Dimension
136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm
133g
Display
4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED
(1280x720) display
Network/Bearer
and
Wireless Connectivity
2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE):
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
3G (HSPA＋ 21Mbps): 850 /
900 / 900 / 2100 MHz
4G (Dependent on market)
Memory
16/ 32GB User memory
(64GB available soon) ＋ microSD slot (up to 64GB)
Colour
Pebble Blue and Marble White
Services
and Applications
S Beam, Buddy photo
share, Share shot
AllShare Play, AllShare
Cast (available soon)
Smart stay, Social tag,
Group tag, Face zoom,
Face slide show
Direct call, Smart
alert, Tap to top,
Camera quick access
Pop up play
S Voice
Burst shot & Best
photo, Recording snapshot,
HDR
OS
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Battery
2,100 mAh
Connectivity
WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40
GPS/GLONASS
NFC
Bluetooth® 4.0(LE)
Audio
and Video
Audio Codec: MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/AAC＋/eAAC＋,
WMA, OGG, FLAC, AC-3, apt-X
Video Codec: MPEG4, H.264, H.263,
DivX, DivX3.11,
VC-1, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark Recording &
Playback: Full HD (1080p)
Camera
Main(Rear): 8 Mega pixel Auto Focus
camera with
Flash & Zero Shutter Lag, BSI
Sub (Front): 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD
recording
@30fps with Zero Shutter Lag, BSI
Sensors
Accelerometer, RGB light, Digital
compass,
Proximity, Gyro, Barometer
Google™
Mobile Services
Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail,
Google
Latitude
Google Play Store, Google Play Books,
Google Play
Movies
Google Plus, YouTube, Google Talk,
Google Places,
Google Navigation, Google Downloads
Hardware & Design
After a few shockers on the old design front down the years, Samsung has
recently garnered a bit of a reputation for producing nice looking kit. Ok, the
build quality of its top-end devices may not be quite as impressive of those
knocked out by HTC and
the like, but superficially at least, they’re certainly not the ugliest by any
stretch of the imagination. And this is something that is none so evident in
the S III. Yes, it features a jaw-droppingly crystal clear 4.8-inch super
AMOLED HD screen, and the nature-inspired design stylings are evident (Samsung
reckon that everything about this phone draws on the great outdoors – the
smooth lines of the outer shell are said to be based on those found on a
pebble), but upon closer inspection, the initial wow-factor begins to
wane. You see, unlike other high-end devices, the S III eschews the trend
for using suitably weighty materials like aluminium to construct the chassis,
and although the lightweight yet durable polycarbonate body is tough and glossy
enough to impress those who like shiny things, it does feel a bit, well, a bit
cheap really. The white version especially.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Screen
Back
to the size. If your hands can, er, handle it, the positive consequence is a
superbly viewable screen. Video playback on a mobile is always a questionable
priority – if you can’t watch on a TV, a tablet makes much more sense – but
with 4.8ins of high-resolution Super AMOLED screen with its vivid colours and
contrasty blacks, this makes it more of a possibility than before.
The screen resolution is identical to the HTC One X, so the pixels per inch
aren’t quite as high on this slightly bigger screen, but both displays look
lush and inviting, with this one winning in terms of bright, rich colours.
Software & Multimedia
As you’d expect from a device being pitched as
the pinnacle of smartphone tech, the S III runs the latest version of
Google’s Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, and that means all the cool new stuff
like data usage monitors, a permanent link to the Play Shop,
and an app menu screen featuring a quick-access tab to the widgets area are all
present and correct. ICS is overlaid by Samsung’s TouchWiz user
interface, although Sammy’s Android skin has had a bit of a make over and now
reeks of the natural elements Samsung has been so keen to stress has influenced
almost every aspect of this phone. Now, we don’t mean that the S III’s menu
system actually has the faint aroma of mud, fields and horse manure (that’d be
some technological feat), just that the little things you associate with UIs
such as sound profiles, wallpapers and even transitions between screens, now
feature outdoorsy elements. These are evident from the off – just
turn the device on and you’re greeted by a homescreen live wallpaper that looks
not unlike an expanse of water. Give it a poke and that water will ripple just
like a like would if you shoved your hand in it, and that ripple is even
accompanied by a realistic watery sound effect.
When it comes
to functionality though, the nature theme isn’t as prominent, with
Samsung opting to plump for features that back up the ‘designed for humans’
mantra it’s trotted out in the build-up to launch. But surely all phones are
designed for humans, no? Well, we’d say “Yes they are, we’ve never seen one
designed especially for horses”, but what Samsung are getting at with this is
all the functionality has been created with actual usefulness in mind.
Basically, it’s not just tech for tech’s sake. This noble sentiment is one
which the S III manages to incorporate with some degree of success, with
features such as Direct Call (which pre-empts that you’d
want to call a person who’s just text/missed called you by dialing that contact
when the device is lifted to your ear) proving particularly innovative.
The inclusion of the Siri-like S-Voice also gives the S III an edge
over other top-end Android devices, although it doesn’t work quite as well as Apple’s voice-activated digital assistant. Yes, S-Voice will set
memos, conduct web searches, find directions, open apps and even allow you to
unlock the device with a command of your choosing, but a lot of the time
we were using it, it either misconstrued what we asked of it, or replied with
an arbitrary “would you like to search the web for [insert whatever you asked
it]“. Despite this, it does steal a march on Siri, simply by virtue of it being
able to search for UK businesses/locations etc, unlike the Apple effort’s
US-only remit.
The photography experience is
in no way diminished by this though, as the S III’s 8 MP snapper and
accompanying camera interface is really rather useful, including as it does,
all manner of shoot-modes and settings. Macro photography (that’s super up-close
picture taking) was particularly impressive, but the thing we reckon you’ll be
using most is the dual-capture mode. Samsung made a big song and dance about
this in the build up to launch, but it’s far from an original idea as we’ve
already seen it début on the HTC One X, but that’s not to say it isn’t useful and the
ability to take a still whilst recording video footage in 1080p is a
boon to the snap-happy. The resulting images were refreshingly crisp and clear,
and sometimes even more defined by the ones
taken by our wonky hand.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Ice Cream Sandwich
The
Galaxy S III uses the very latest version of Android, 4.0.3, codenamed Ice
Cream Sandwich. This is far and away the best version of Google’s operating
system, with a cleaner look than before.
Ice Cream Sandwich lets you put these buttons as virtual icons onscreen, like
on the Galaxy Nexus. Here there’s a physical home button, an elongated strip in
the centre of the phone’s face at the bottom. Either side are two virtual
capacitive buttons. Samsung has rejected the Recent Apps button in favour of
Back and Menu options. Much better. And if you need it, a long press on the
home button brings up the Recent Apps screen.
The latest OS doesn’t just offer yet another tempting-sounding treat to get our
mouths watering. It’s a whole new interface which is redesigned throughout in
contrast to previous iterations which have felt like layer after layer glued on
top of the previous code. It includes nifty features like face unlock which
matches you to a previously taken photo to launch the phone from idle.
ICS
brought Recent Apps front and centre – though the S3 has de-emphasised it
again. Samsung adds its own refinements, like the capability to take a screen
shot by wiping your hand across the screen.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Features
It's
the new features on the Galaxy S3 which really stand out. There’s S Voice,
which is a voice recognition service after Siri’s heart, designed by Vlingo (a company
which is now being bought by Nuance, who contributed to Apple products and,
presumably, Siri).
Although it’s competent, it lacks Siri’s wit and whimsy, so you’re best
sticking to straightforward commands. Like Siri, it’s not invariably accurate
and it is server-driven so won’t work at all without a decent data connection.
Even so, it’s good fun and there’s something slightly magical about it.
And Smart Stay, which uses the front-facing camera to periodically check if it
can recognise a pair of eyes looking at it and if not, it turns the screen off
to save power.
There’s also Smart Call, which dials a contact’s number for you by raising the
phone to your ear from the contact details screen. True, these seem like
nothing more than gimmicks, but they are quite cool ones.
Perhaps the most gimmicky of all, Social Tag uses facial recognition to match
faces in photographs with the profile photos in your contacts. Now, assuming
the profile photo isn’t of a dog or a witty poster, the phone shows that contact’s
latest status update and makes it easy to call or message them. We can’t see it
catching on.
Samsung has tried to create the phone that has everything and it's not far
short of the mark. So there’s NFC, the contactless technology that has yet to
find widespread use, though it’s good for Android Beam to transfer contacts
between compatible Android handsets.
Samsung takes this one big step
further with the inclusion of S Beam which adds WiFi Direct to the wireless
transfer connection so you can beam video files quickly between S3s.
You can throw content from the phone to a suitably equipped TV if you find the
4.8in display doesn’t do your movies justice while a feature called Smart Alert
makes sure you know about missed calls or messages by gently vibrating or
whistling a merry tune.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Hubs
With
so many apps to choose from, how do you know what’s good and what’s not?
Samsung's Game Hub has a (small) selection of recommended titles. Some are
free, and then there are premium apps to pay for. Helpfully some games can be
tried before you cough up money.
The Music Hub is now up to version 3.0 (HD) and promises to be “the complete
music solution for your Samsung device”. It costs £9.99 a month and promises
unlimited streaming. You can also upload tracks from your personal music
collection so you can listen to them everywhere. It has a neat interface and a
huge catalogue – 17 million tracks.
The Video Hub is is where to go for movies – though there’s also Google Play,
of course, which is arguably more attractively laid out. Like the Game Hub,
there are helpful recommendations from best-selling to staff picks.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Camera
Last
year, the Galaxy S2’s 8MP camera was above average. Now the competition has
caught up and the S3 was rumoured to be getting a 12 megapixel camera, but
instead it's got the same snapper as the S2. Still, it’s a decent sensor which
delivers strong results and you can also capture full HD 1080p video.
The front camera sports a 1.9MP sensor and can capture 720p video at the same
time as taking a still picture.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Battery
So
you won’t be short of features to play with. Which drains the battery, of
course. The other advantage of a phone this big is it can cram in a large
battery. The one in the S3 goes on and on – unlike some Android phones in the
past which conk out after lunch. And since it’s a removable battery, you can
carry a spare as well (although, we've yet to find anybody that actually does
this).
Samsung Galaxy S3: Performance
Speed
is important, especially when you want to do more with your phone, like play
high-definition video smoothly. So the on-board quad-core processor really
helps. It’s not quite as fast as the one in the HTC One X, but it’s a real
powerhouse that never slows down however much demand you’re placing on it.
A second microphone means call quality is good and signal strength was solid
and strong. This is the most feature-packed Android phone yet, and one of the
most powerful. If you’re an iPhone user who’s feeling their handset’s a bit
puny in comparison, this is the best time to make the switch from iOS to Google
– though it’s still nowhere near as intuitive to use.
Although you can opt for a Galaxy S3 with a huge 64GB storage (coming soon),
the phone also has a microSD slot – unlike the HTC One X, iPhone S and many
other rivals.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Verdict
For
Android lovers, it’s hard to fault the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the only other
handset to come close is the HTC One X – and it comes very close. The S III
wins out for features and innovations. But, be warned, it’s going to be too big
for some hands.
The S3 is a mighty big phone that’s powerful, feature-packed and exceptionally
desirable.
Note: Information of Samsung Galaxy S2 is collected from Internet.
