Samsung Galaxy S III Launched, Hands-On Testing 107
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."
Re:"Official launch"? (Score:4, Interesting)
... plus 4 years for African Countries. I just got my upgrade, the S1 promoted as "the phone" to have.
I've had mine for about 3 weeks. (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.
Re:I've had mine for about 3 weeks. (Score:5, Interesting)
WalledGalaxy S3
You mean one-click rooted [xda-developers.com] and Cyanogenmod 9 supported [xda-developers.com] 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.
Re:"Official launch"? (Score:4, Interesting)