Samsung Galaxy S3 Revealed

After all the rumors and speculation, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has officially been revealed. According to Samsung’s JK Shin, some of the rumors were spot on while some weren’t, but one thing’s for sure is its name. So what can we expect from Samsung’s brand new flagship device? Featuring a 4.8″ Super AMOLED HD display with a resolution of 1280×720, 4G connectivity although that will depend on the market it launches on, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as its operating system of choice, an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 1.9MP front-facing camera and will be powered by none other than Samsung’s very own 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor with 1GB of RAM alongside it.

It will pack a 2,100mAh battery with NFC capabilities as well. While impressive hardware specs are one thing, the features of the phone is another important aspect that helps manufacturers set themselves apart from the competition. With the Samsung Galaxy S3, it certainly looks like Samsung did not fall short of that.

The human element: eye tracking, voice recognition, motion-activated actions

As mentioned in earlier rumors, the Galaxy S3 will feature eye-tracking that will allow the phone’s display to remain on while you are looking at it. This will be detected via the front-facing camera and will come in handy for those times when you are reading an e-book and the screen turns dark on you halfway. It will also feature voice recognition that will allow the user to call up a variety of different commands. Dubbed S Voice, this feature will allow users to tell the phone to go into snooze mode, launch the camera application and snap a photo, play and control their music, turn the volume up or down, information search, text and email compositions and more. An interesting feature that Samsung is advertising is its Direct Call feature. This will allow users to make a call to the person they are texting simply by lifting the phone to their ear. Smart Alert will also inform users of missed calls, messages, or emails by vibrating gently when the phone has been picked up after idling.

Playing nice with other gadgets

Other features includes what Samsung is calling the S Beam. It is essentially an expansion of Android Beam and according to Samsung, this will allow Galaxy S3 owners to share files with each other simply by tapping their phones against one another. Samsung claims that 1GB files can be shared within 3 minutes while a 10MB song can be shared in just two seconds. Very impressive although that is a feature we’ll have to check out for ourselves! AllShare Cast will allow users to send the information on their screen to a larger display such a television, while AllShare Play will allow for content sharing between the Galaxy S3 and tablets, smartphones and PCs alike. Group Cast is a sub-feature of AllShare Play and basically lets Galaxy S3 owners share their screen with their friends on the same WiFi network and allow them to draw on it while sharing information in real-time.

Camera performance

Given that the Galaxy S2 had a reputation for having one of the better smartphone cameras around, it looks like Samsung is interested in ensuring that the Galaxy S3 will uphold that reputation. While we have yet to try out the camera for ourselves and see if the Galaxy S3’s camera lives up to its predecessor’s reputation, there are some features that Samsung is touting that should make the photography experience a little more interesting. This comes in the form of the 8MP rear-facing camera which Samsung is boasting as having “zero-lag shutter speed”, improved backside illumination, a Burst Shot function that snaps 20 pictures continuously while the Best Photo feature will select the best eight photos for you.

Battery and more

There is wireless charging capability built into the Galaxy S3 as well (requires optional dock), so you need not worry about getting all tangled up in a mess whenever the Galaxy S3 juices up its 2100mAh battery. Not only that, Wi-Fi Channel Bonding is said to double up Wi-Fi bandwidth in theory, so do not be surprised that if you were to run benchmarks in real life, the results would be a whole lot more different.

Availability

The 3G Samsung Galaxy S3 version is expected to see a release May 29th and will be arriving in Europe first, before the 4G version arrives in North America “in June”, Japan, and South Korea sometime this summer. As for the other countries getting the 3G version of the Galaxy S3, those will happen after the European rollout.

before making its way into Asia and other markets. It will initially be offered in Pebble Blue or Marble White at launch but additional colors are expected to be offered down the road. Pricing of course will be subjective depending where it is launched along with possible carrier plans and subsidies. It certainly sounds like the Samsung Galaxy S3 is shaping up to be a great phone, but will it perform as good as it sounds on paper? That remains to be seen but it’s definitely a phone we’d love to take for a spin ourselves. Be sure to check back with us at a later date for a full review!

Samsung Galaxy S3 specifications