Samsung unveils the Galaxy S III with 4.8-inch AMOLED display

3 May 2012

Samsung has upped the standard in Android smartphones with its latest “new kind of smartphone” the Samsung Galaxy S III. Powered by Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ the device comes with a 4.8-inch display, an 8MP camera and new voice and face recognition capabilities.

The device appears to be Samsung’s weapon to beat back stern competition from Apple’s iPhone 4S and HTC’s One X series.

Another differentiator is its apparent gestures capability – it recognises if users are using their phone to read an e-book or browse the web – using the font facing 1.9MP camera to identify your eyes.

A new ‘S Voice’ natural language user interface could bring the battle to Apple’s Siri – it listens to and responds to users’ worlds. For example if the alarm goes off in the morning you can tell the phone to ‘snooze’. The voice interface controls key aspects of the phone such as volume control, dictating emails, changing calendar events and even captures a photo if you tell it to.

It also comes with the ‘Beam’ technology which allows a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another Galaxy S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal.

It comes with DLNA technology called ‘AllShare Cast’ to connect the phone to a TV and transfer content to the larger display while ‘AllShare Play’ allows users to wireless share files between tablet, PC and TVs regardless of distance.

The Galaxy S III will be available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch.

Burst shot capabilities allow the device to capture 20 frames continuously and a ‘Best Photo’ features selects the best of eight photos automatically.

Its 4.8-inch display even offers 16:9 viewing angles.

The Samsung Galaxy S III comes with near field communications (NFC) technology which will facilitate mobile payment.

“Our aim with the Galaxy S III was to develop the best smartphone ever made, and by focusing on creating a unique user experience through superior hardware and enhanced usability we believe we have done just that,” Andy Griffiths, managing director, Samsung UK and Ireland explained.

“The device has been created by keeping in mind our daily needs and capabilities as human beings. Simple yet brilliant, the Galaxy S III is packed with smart features that enable it to understand and respond to our actions providing the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experience.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com