Samsung unveiled its long awaited Galaxy S3 last night at an event in London. The event was watched live by an unprecedented number of people on the internet and the phone is already creating a huge buzz on Facebook. The phone adopts a lot of inspiration from the Galaxy Nexus, arguably more so than its supposed predecessor the Galaxy S2. The S3 has a similar appearance to the Nexus, and is similarly sized with its 4.8 inch screen, but packs of a lot of interesting new features that are making their debut on this Galaxy phone.
Firstly, Samsung has tried to counteract one of the key features of the iPhone 4S with its new S Voice. S Voice is obviously intended to take on Siri head to head, and can be used for similar purposes. S Voice can open applications, set alarms and retrieve other bits of information for you. It will be interesting to see just how well S Voice compares in a head to head against Siri.
More interestingly, Samsung has invested a lot of time and energy into new methods of interacting with the phone – the most tantalising being the new gesture controls and eye tracking features. The gesture controls can allow you to unlock your phone straight to the camera, or other apps, answer a call simply by lifting the phone to your ear, and being alerted via vibration of missed calls and new messages when you pick up the handset.
A lot of people were expecting a 12 megapixel camera on this phone, and while the megapixel count may remain the same as the S2 there are certainly plenty of new features to make this camera stand out. Perhaps the most ground-breaking new camera feature is the social tags. Using facial recognition you can tag someone in a photo and associate that face with an entry in your contacts list or social networks. The next time you take a photo of the person, it will automatically tag the photo ready to be shared socially.
The Galaxy S3 also makes sharing easier by building on Google’s Android Beam NFC sharing app – with the new S Beam. S Beam is quite similar to Android Beam but much quicker and more efficient. DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct sharing have also been greatly enhanced thanks to AllShare Play.
Although the Galaxy S3 is due to go on sale until the end of May (29th / 30th), you can already pre-order the handset from many retailers in the UK ready to be delivered to your door on the day of release. Contracts start from £29 per month with the handset free, but can be obtained for as little as £15 per month if you are prepared to pay a little bit upfront. The Galaxy S3 has reportedly already received significantly more pre-order interest than 2011′s Galaxy S2, which was the bestselling Android phone of the year. You can pre-order your Galaxy S3 contract @ Best Mobile Contracts.
Samsung Galaxy S3 Available to Pre-order in the UK,
