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Samsung Galaxy S III Launched, Hands-On Testing

Posted by Soulskill on from the another-day-another-phone dept.

MojoKid writes "One of the most highly anticipated Android phones of the year is the Samsung Galaxy S III, and its official launch is today. This smartphone comes with a number of new features we haven't seen on many Android phones, including improved voice control functionality, new sharing features, and Near Field Communication features. Those include Samsung's new TecTiles, which are programmable NFC tags you can use to control the phone's many features and functions. For example, you can program a TecTile to automatically change phone settings for a particular location, send a text message, open apps, etc. Samsung's S Voice functionality works much the same way as Apple's Siri: you can use plain English to tell the phone what you want it to do. You can set alarms, update your social networks, get navigation instructions and ask basic questions. During tests with the Galaxy S III, the performance and accuracy with S Voice was comparable to Siri on an iPhone 4S. Performance-wise, the Galaxy S III handled well in the benchmarks, with Qualcomm's dual-core SnapDragon S4 offering a very fluid experience across Samsung's 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display."

11 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. "Official launch"? by ledow · · Score: 4, Informative

    Funny, I've had four of them in my office for about a week now, with the brief of setting them up with our Google Apps for Educators accounts.

    We didn't do anything special, just rang up our normal mobile supplier and they gave us four business contracts and posted the phones out same day.

    Official launch in the US, maybe?

    1. Re:"Official launch"? by pinkushun · · Score: 3, Interesting

      ... plus 4 years for African Countries. I just got my upgrade, the S1 promoted as "the phone" to have.

    2. Re:"Official launch"? by Draveed · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Is it really all that shitty? The US version gets a 2-core processor but 2 GB of RAM. The international version gets a 4-core processor with only 1 GB of RAM. How many apps will really utilize those 4 cores? Frankly, I suspect having more RAM will end up being more beneficial in real world usage.

      --
      Oh, Edmund, can it be true? that I hold here, in my mortal hand, a nugget of purest green?
  2. Re:Has anyone seen... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Different phone. You have the international, quad-core Exynos, HSPA GT-I9300. This article is about the US-only, dual-core Krait, LTE SGH-I747 (AT&T), SGH-I535 (Verizon) and SGH-T999 (T-Mobile, only HSPA on this version).

  3. In other parts of the world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... the Galaxy S3 has been available for a while already. The USA is not the center of the world is this is not an "Official launch" but merely a "local one".
    I know, it must be hard for once, not to be the first on the line.

    Try to bear with it..

    1. Re:In other parts of the world... by jo_ham · · Score: 4, Funny

      So that's how they're getting around Android fragmentation! Just call everything the same name and model number. No more fragmentation!

    2. Re:In other parts of the world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I know right?

      I was at a phone store the other day. This sales guy was showing some lady these Android phones, pointing out how one had a 4.5 in screen and keyboard, one had a 3.9 in screen and 3D, one had a 5 in screen and stylus, and so on. I went up, grabbed her away, and yelled 'FFFFFFFRAGMENTATION!' at the top of my lungs, and shoved her to the iPhone section. She ended up buying 500 iPhones for her small business.

      Another victory for Apple. Thank god for iPhone.

  4. I've had mine for about 3 weeks. by AbRASiON · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Disclaimer: I'm an ex iphone user who switch to Android 18 months ago.

    I love it, I goddamn love this thing, I upgraded from a Galaxy S2 - knowing it was kind of a very unecessary upgrade but I can't help it, I guess I got "must have latest" from being an ex Apple person.

    So at first I thought, ok it's prettier and bigger but it seems quite similar to my Galaxy S2 - but the subtleties have grown on me.
    I specifically like the motion based silence mode, if I see a call I don't like, just upturn the phone face down, put it on the desk - silenced, love that.
    Battery life is really bloody good, better than I expected.
    Pentile screen, I was shitting myself, worried I'd hate it - don't notice a thing, it's great.

    People claim there's some high end audio chip and music is better in the thing, it SEEMS better but that could be a placebo.
    I have tiny tiny little hands and found the S2 I could only just hold - however the S3 despite being larger, is about the same due to the curved corners, it's still one hand-able - not easy but possible. I also figured before hand, we're going to 2 hand if we like it or not as the 'all in one' tricorder, tablet, phone, portable tv player, electronic wallet merges - so I have to deal with bigger eventually.

    It's fast (duh) - and even on 3G on a good network (Telstra Australia) - surprisingly damned fast.
    Only "con" I know of is that there's some issues installing swype to it but that can be gotten around. (it FASCINATES me that Apple users don't know what this is, as far as I'm concerned there is no other alternative on a touchscreen, PERIOD - swype is without question leaps and bounds ahead of other keyboards - hunt and peck keyboards to me are like watching newbies type, it's ghastly!)

    I seriously can't think of a thing wrong with it. I was enamoured with my iphone 3G when I got my first smartphone, my 3GS was incremental as an upgrade, my Iphone 4 was bloody pretty in style and the screen - but then my switch to a HTC HD2 was also quite impressive and my Galaxy S2 - but none of them have impressed and continue to impress me like this. I love the weight and size, it feels completely right. Complaints about "plastic phones" being awful are ludicrous, the S2 pulled it off as does the S3 - it weighs less, less inertia, lighter in the pocket - less chance of damage when dropped. Nope it's just great.

    1. Re:I've had mine for about 3 weeks. by jo_ham · · Score: 4, Funny

      Who says Apple users don't know what Swype is? I have been pretty vocal about how much I wish it could be included on the iPhone. I thought it was great.

    2. Re:I've had mine for about 3 weeks. by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      WalledGalaxy S3

      You mean one-click rooted and Cyanogenmod 9 supported and therefore totally open Galaxy S3?

      I almost upgraded to the S3 a couple of days ago. Instead I put ICS on my Desire HD. Saved myself £480 in phone tariff charges over the contract term (£10 pcm no minimum term compared to £30pcm 2 year term), and got all of the functionality except for NFC, which I wouldn't use.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  5. Re:My only beef with the Samsung Galaxy phones is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'll just drop this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=elKxgsrJFhw (Galaxy S2 vs iPhone 4 drop test)