Cart the sequel to the best-selling Android
phone ever really live up to the hype?
With the Galaxy S Ill Samsung is looking to
cement its position as the leading maker of Android phones. With a bigger
screen, faster processor and lots of new software it represents a significant
upgrade over last year’s model, the SII, which has to date sold in excess of 28
million units. But can it really match the levels of expectation that surround
it?
With
the Galaxy S Ill Samsung is looking to cement its position as the leading maker
of Android phones.
Upon its launch the design of the S III was
met with some consternation in some quarters. It’s true that the look and feel
of the phone does not match that of the HTC One X (or the more mid-range One S,
for that matter), with the back plate especially feeling lightweight and
plastic KY. But it’s also fair to say the phone looks better in the flesh than
it does in the pictures - it’s thin and light but feels solid, and the rounded
corners help it to sit in the hand very comfortably. It’s not unreasonable to
have hoped for a more premium finish like those we see from the likes of HTC,
Nokia and Apple, but the S III doesn’t feel cheap in spite of the early
impressions.
The styling is stripped right back. There’s
a single Home button below the screen, with capacitive buttons either side. One
of these is a Menu button, something that Google is encouraging developers to
phase out in their apps. Around the sides there is the power button halfway up the
right edge, perfectly positioned to be under either your thumb or forefinger
depending on which hand you hold the phone in, and volume controls on the left
edge. The top houses the headphone jack, and at the bottom the micro USB port,
which also doubles up as a HDMI-out port with the right connector (which is
sadly not included). Meanwhile, the back plate snaps off to reveal the micro
SIM slot and a slot for memory expansion via micro SD card.
The device is dominated by the 4.8-inch
display. It isn’t the best we’ve seen - HTC’s One X holds that title - but it
is pretty stunning all the same. The 720p resolution and pixel density of more
than 300ppi makes it incredibly crisp, and possible to read text on webpages
without even needing to zoom in. Initially we found the auto-brightness levels
to be a little on the dim side, and it gets brighter and darker in distinct
steps rather than steadily, but with extended use our eyes got used to it.
Given the performance of the battery, as we’ll see later, you could probably
afford to increase the brightness manually if you needed to, without any
adverse effect on performance.
The device is dominated by the 4.8-inch display... it is pretty stunning
Bright LED
The LED is above the screen flashes when
you have notifications or to let you know whether the phone is charging. It is
rather bright, but not excessively so
NFC
The phone supports NFC, using Android Beam
and S Beam, so you can share files wirelessly and also explore new apps that
make use of the contactless technology
Home
The S III uses a single Home button,
surrounded by a variety of capacitive buttons - including a Menu button, which
Google is trying to phase out at the moment
Front-facing camera
The 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera
shoots 720p video at 30 frames per second. That means it will be good for
recording clips of you as well as for video conferencing
Power button
The on/off button is handily located on the
right edge of the phone where it is within easy reach no matter which hand
you’re holding the smartphone in. Many other tasks on the phone will need two
hands to complete tasks
Stunning display
As we have come to expect from Samsung, the
4.8-inch screen is a stand out feature
Smart stay
The front-facing camera is also used for
the Smart Stay feature. This tracks your eyes so that it knows whether or not
you’re looking at the screen. If you are, the screen won’t turn off and you
won’t need to touch it to keep it awake. It works reasonably well, although
only if the light is good enough
Samsung Galaxy S III
Pop-up play
With Pop-up play you can continue watching
a video even while using another app on the phone. It works pretty well as a
demo of the power of the S III, but we can’t say we’d expect to use it all that
often
TV out
You can connect your phone to a TV using a
HDMI cable, which connects to the bottom of the phone. There are also wireless
options for streaming your multimedia content to a host of device
