The Galaxy S3 is here, and it’s going to be one of the biggest launches of the year. Let’s run down what you can expect.
Specs
- Android 4.0.4 with a new version of TouchWiz
- 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display (1280 x 720)
- 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor (North American version), 1.4Ghz Exynos 4 Quad processor (international version)
- 1GB of RAM
- 16/32GB versions (64GB coming later) with optional microSD slot
- 8MP camera with no shutter lag, 3.3fps burst
- 1.9 front-facing camera with face tracking
- NFC with S Beam
- 2100 mAh removable battery
- HSPA+ (international version) and LTE (North American)
- 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, 133g
Main features
The Galaxy S3, in addition to being thin, light and big, is a very iterative upgrade in terms of hardware. At launch there will be two models, Marble White and Pebble Blue. It will come to North America with a 1.5Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, while international variants will get a quad-core Exynos 4 Quad chip. Before you get your pants in a bunch, as we showed on on the HTC One X, the S4 chip is plenty fast and plenty battery-efficient despite being dual-core. We’ll have to wait and see how much faster the Exynos 4 Quad is than the Tegra 3, but that shouldn’t discourage you from looking forward to the North American variant.
We’ve also heard that the versions that will come to Canada will retain the popular home button, eschewing the row of four capacitive buttons from devices like the Galaxy SII LTE and Galaxy Note. The phone has many improvements to its build quality, too, which Samsung is summing up as a ‘premium polycarbonate finish.’ There is a removable 2100mAh battery, a microSIM slot and room for a microSD slot up to 64GB in size.
The biggest features are the ones inside the software, and we’ll run them down for you really quickly:
S Voice - A Siri-like feature that responds to your voice. Ask questions like, “What is the weather?†or “Can you play this song?†and it responds quickly and intelligently. You can even launch apps like the camera, separating it from its Apple counterpart in many ways. It will support eight languages out of the box and be configurable with five custom activation methods.
S Beam - An advanced version of the Android Beam feature, S Beam creates a connection with another Galaxy S III using NFC and then uses WiFi Direct to perform a high-speed transfer across devices. Media such as photos, video, MP3s, web pages and contacts are compatible.
SmartStay - A feature that uses the front-facing camera to keep tabs on where your eyes are. If they are reading, the display will not dim. If you lie down and are holding your phone on an angle, SmartStay knows not to switch orientations.
Direct Dial - “It knows when you want to talk: if you’re messaging and want to call instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and it will dial your friend automatically.â€
Social Tags - Uses face recognition to detect your friends and incorporate their social networking information directly into the gallery.
Pop-up Play - Uses picture-in-picture abilities to watch video while you’re messaging or browsing. Very cool feature seen in person.
Best Photo - The fast camera can take a burst of eight photos and automatically pick the best one based on facial recognition. It detects who has his or her eyes closed, etc.
AllShare Cast/Play - utilizes DLNA to beam media content and documents to your connected TV. Optional AllShare Cast dongle provides DLNA support to TVs that don’t have it.
Dropbox - Buyers of the Galaxy S III get their Dropbox storage increased to 50GB (much like buyers of the One Series get 25GB). Not bad, Samsung, not bad.
Music Hub - Overhauled interface and an iTunes Match-like feature. Offers 17 million songs for an unknown monthly price.