• Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy S III

    by
    howard
    Published on 05-03-2012 01:22 PM
    1 Comment Comments
    I was fortunate enough to have some hands-on time with the Galaxy S III earlier today. Here are my first impressions:


    Size-wise the S III is very similar to the One X but slightly longer without a camera bulge. The screen is a 4.8” Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280x720. Upon closer inspection the screen has a pentile matrix. Touchwiz has a fairly thick font - it’s quite flattering so the pentile matrix isn’t as noticeable.


    It’s available in 2 colors: metallic White or Blue. There’s a thick clear coat so it looks metal but feels like plastic. Even the beta unit I was handling was very solid.


    Compared to the HTC One X there are 2 extra features: a microSDXC card slot (up to 64GB) and a removable battery. The battery is ‘over 2000 mAh’.


    On the software side there are a couple of neat tricks:


    The Samsung native video player has picture-in-picture. You can drag and position the video so that you can watch it while you’re doing something else.


    There’s more motion sensing capabilities. You can unlock the screen by pressing the display and moving it towards you. You can also launch the camera from the lock screen by pressing the display and rotating the phone. When you’re viewing a phone number you can make the call by raising it to your ear.


    The front-facing camera watches your eyes. If it sees your eyes the screen won’t shut off.


    WiFi direct is much easier to use using S-Beam. It uses NFC to setup the transfer and then uses WiFi direct to do the actual transferring.

    It will be available this Summer.


    I’ll post more first impressions shortly.
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy S III started by howard View original post
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    Comments 177 Comments
    1. Baldilocks's Avatar
      Baldilocks - 05-03-2012, 01:26 PM
      Just saw that it's still pentile. You would have thought they could have improved on that by now.
    1. vprodigy37's Avatar
      vprodigy37 - 05-03-2012, 01:29 PM
      Is the s3 a pentaband phone?
    1. Baldilocks's Avatar
      Baldilocks - 05-03-2012, 01:33 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by vprodigy37 View Post
      Is the s3 a pentaband phone?
      I would imagine so. No reason that it wouldn't be, given that the SII is pentaband.
    1. vprodigy37's Avatar
      vprodigy37 - 05-03-2012, 01:38 PM
      Whoops I mean what frequencies will it support. I hope it will be compatible with Tmobo's 3G/4G network now since the S2 only supports 2G
    1. Baldilocks's Avatar
      Baldilocks - 05-03-2012, 01:43 PM
      Oh, hard to tell. I'd say the International version will probably only support non-AWS 3G/3G+.
    1. howard's Avatar
      howard - 05-03-2012, 01:52 PM
      I forgot to add: the S III will be available in both 16GB and 32GB configurations.

      They wouldn't say the CPU configuration but the Qualcomm MSM8960 (same as in the HTC One XL) family would be used (presumably on a LTE version).
    1. Baldilocks's Avatar
      Baldilocks - 05-03-2012, 01:56 PM
      Looks like May 29th for European/Unbranded versions.
    1. baudbwoy's Avatar
      baudbwoy - 05-03-2012, 02:08 PM
      When will it be in Canada? on Rogers?
      I am watching the live stream now.


      MAY 29 launches in UK for sale plus 10 city world tour


      finish hyper glide (pebble blue and marble white)
      quad core processor
      ICS operating system
      Memory 16, 32, 64 with micro SDcard slot for expansion
      zero shutter lag, inteligent camera 3.3 shots per second
      best photo - galaxy chooses best pic out of 8 shot
      HD front faceing camera
      3G and LTE versions available
      3G Europe Launches in May
      4g Launches summer 2012 in North America
      8.6mm thick
      Battery - wireless charging
      Bluetooth 4.0 increased speed and lower power consumption
      WIFI channel bonding increased speed
      4.8 inch screen HD super amoled, slim bezel
      8meg camera
      133g weight
      recognises your eye movement
      turns volume up or down on fave song
      recognises when you want to make a call
      145 countries launch
      6 different sensors
      all share
      social tag
      S beam (NFC) with wifi direct
      allshare cast (mirror screen on to a monitor, TV or other devices)
      buddy photoshare auto share with ppple in a spefic pic - face recognition
      allshare play - dlna - remote access remote stream via net, group share on same wifi network (SDK and API availabel)
      popup play overlay image on top of current window
    1. HC - NO "i"'s Avatar
      HC - NO "i" - 05-03-2012, 02:33 PM
      Folks,

      After watching the live stream, I think Samsung rather focus on refining the UI/UX than packing more evolutionary hardware specification. The end-user intention predictive / intelligent features like Direct Call, S Voice, Eye tracking etc involving front facing camera and other sensors. All these things sound good on paper but wish it will be really practical and reliable in action. Like fellow HC, I also like the Pop Up Play feature. LTE or not, power consumption is a big concern with such a big screen and processing power. Hope it delivers what it claims.

      Check out the press release...

      http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/9675...ired-by-nature

      Particularly the spec...



      Replay of the Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012...

      http://bcove.me/3deaj1xw
    1. Hinouchi's Avatar
      Hinouchi - 05-03-2012, 02:52 PM
      "The front-facing camera watches your eyes. If it sees your eyes the screen won’t shut off."

      So Howard the screen didn't turn off on you when you were using it right? :P
    1. Airforcekid's Avatar
      Airforcekid - 05-03-2012, 03:03 PM
      I have been wanting to try an android for awhile would it be worth getting this over the galaxy nexus? I'm coming from an iPhone everyone I've talked to said get the nexus because it recieved fast updates and does not have bloatware are the os's on both the same?
    1. turbogeek's Avatar
      turbogeek - 05-03-2012, 03:50 PM
      Aesthetics and refinement over specifications has been Apple's schtick, but I think Samsung is wise to adopt that approach. IMO phone hardware is approaching the point of diminishing returns, with most advancements becoming incremental/evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Focusing more on software than hardware will help them differentiate their offering more effectively.

      edit: this was in response to HC - NO "i"'s post.
    1. HC - NO "i"'s Avatar
      HC - NO "i" - 05-03-2012, 04:14 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Hinouchi View Post
      "The front-facing camera watches your eyes. If it sees your eyes the screen won’t shut off."

      So Howard the screen didn't turn off on you when you were using it right? :P

      Hinouchi,

      Greetings.

      Sorry for jumping in between you and the fellow HC... It is some kind of eye-movement tracking or proximity sensing feature. It will detect and predict the the end-user's intention. Like in the Galaxy S III TV commercial, the father seems to get tired as he has read a story to his child. So his eyes shutter, the camera / sensor detects the light (from the screen) reflected on his eyes "flicker". The the screen shuts itself after certain time-out.

      Quote Originally Posted by turbogeek View Post
      Aesthetics and refinement over specifications has been Apple's schtick, but I think Samsung is wise to adopt that approach. IMO phone hardware is approaching the point of diminishing returns, with most advancements becoming incremental/evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Focusing more on software than hardware will help them differentiate their offering more effectively.

      edit: this was in response to HC - NO "i"'s post.
      turbogeek,

      Yes, Apple has been known to have a drive for perfection as well as pushing the envelope on many fronts. Samsung and others like LG, HTC have been perceived as less refined or relatively inconsistent. Not saying it has never got any revolutionary innovation and any strong player must need it to survive. Getting smarter, getting more consistent and making something people would find practical in this game may be more beneficial for Samsung in long run.
    1. howard's Avatar
      howard - 05-03-2012, 04:18 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by turbogeek View Post
      Aesthetics and refinement over specifications has been Apple's schtick, but I think Samsung is wise to adopt that approach. IMO phone hardware is approaching the point of diminishing returns, with most advancements becoming incremental/evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Focusing more on software than hardware will help them differentiate their offering more effectively.

      edit: this was in response to HC - NO "i"'s post.
      I agree. I just had lunch with some friends and we were discussing how we're almost at the point where future generations of Android phones will only contain incremental upgrades. It's similar to what's happened in the PC industry - for the average user, any computer released after the original Intel core processor is fast enough.
    1. -banned-'s Avatar
      -banned- - 05-03-2012, 04:43 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by howard View Post
      The front-facing camera watches your eyes. If it sees your eyes the screen won’t shut off..
      Ahh yea I don't like that one bit ... Sorry
    1. howard's Avatar
      howard - 05-03-2012, 04:50 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by -banned- View Post
      Ahh yea I don't like that one bit ... Sorry
      I'm sure you can turn that feature off if you don't like it.
    1. DerekToronto's Avatar
      DerekToronto - 05-03-2012, 04:54 PM
      When I was watching the live stream. I thought the guy may accidentally fling the S3. can you imagine the look on his face! hehe
    1. howard's Avatar
      howard - 05-03-2012, 04:57 PM
      Anyone deciding between this and the HTC One X?
    1. howard's Avatar
      howard - 05-03-2012, 05:27 PM
      I forgot to mention - one of my favorite features about the Galaxy S III is the layout of its keys. There's a physical home key in the middle which is flanked by back and menu capacitive buttons. Just like the global versions of the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II. This means there's no need for the on-screen keys and more importantly - the menu button always stays in the same place instead of constantly moving around like on the Galaxy Nexus. To switch programs you hold the home button down - that brings up the ICS switcher.
    1. YVR_Mark's Avatar
      YVR_Mark - 05-03-2012, 07:00 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by howard View Post
      Anyone deciding between this and the HTC One X?
      I am, which one are you liking more having played with both

      I wonder if the LTE version will keep the home button or lose it like previous north american models
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