Samsungs Galaxy S III The New Flagship
A lot is expected from Samsung's Galaxy S III. Thankfully though, it stands up to all the hype.
An in-depth review and a quick comparison with some of the competition
It must have been really tough to improve on the Galaxy S II — a best-selling phone that broke sales records and literally catapulted Samsung into the big leagues. But that's exactly what the much-awaited Galaxy S III has accomplished. It's not just a larger screen; it improves on the Galaxy S II in every way. It also has some smartphone firsts that will filter down to other devices in due course. Make no mistake, this is one of the most powerful and most desireable smartphones in the world, and will remain so for a long time.
Camera
Special mention must be made of the camera in the S III. The Galaxy S II was no slouch in this department (with an 8 Megapixel sensor and 1080p video recording) — Samsung chose to stay out of the megapixel race and chose to instead improve key camera features. For instance, the camera on the S III starts up much faster than before and has negligible shutter lag — click the shutter button and the photo is captured instantly. You get a lot of extra features like built in HDR (high dynamic range) mode, burst shooting (hold the shutter button and it'll click 20 photographs in very quick succession) and cartoon photo mode. Plus, thanks to the backlit CMOS sensor, it has great low light capability with low noise.
Performance
Thanks to the 1.4Ghz quad core processor and dedicated Mali 400 GPU, everything moves forward at a blistering pace. Not only can you switch between applications faster, but features like pop-up play (play HD video in a small window while you continue to do other tasks) and the high-speed burst photo shooting attest to the fact. A selection of hardware intensive games (like Shadowgun) really take advantage of the extra horsepower. No matter what, you just can't unsettle the S III. With synthetic benchmarks, the S III upstages every other phone in the market. In the interests of battery life, you can limit the performance of the CPU using the the power saving feature.
Standout Features
Smart Stay is a feature which uses the front-facing camera to detect when you are looking at the screen — the screen stays on if you are looking at it, irrespective of the duration of the screen timeout. With the Direct Call feature, hold the phone to your ear and it will automatically call the contact you were looking at or texting. It's just a few mm wider than the S II, so it's very easy to hold. The contoured shape and slim design make the S III stand out. Finally, with a 2100 mAh battery, the S III has more than enough juice to last you through the day.
Display
The super amoled screen developed by Samsung is easily one of the highlights of the device. At 4.8-inches and with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, the screen has very tightly packed pixels — you can't make out individual pixels with the naked eye. Comparing it side by side with the Galaxy S II (keeping settings and brightness the same) — the S II has deeper blacks & whiter whites, but colours are oversaturated. The S III offers far higher detail, more natural colours & an overall more pleasing image. It really comes into its own with HD photos and videos. The capacitive touch layer is also a lot more responsive as compared to the S II .
Software
The Galaxy S III comes with the latest Android 4.0 and Samsung's TouchWiz 4.0 customisation. Also included is S Voice — you can speak in a natural voice to send texts, set reminders, search the web or ask anything you like. It works, but has a few rough edges. The entire experience centers around the 'built for humans' theme. Which is why there are ringtones like 'moonlit beach', 'rain drops' and 'desert sunrise'. Some may complain that the stock Android interface is missing, but it can easily be enabled with a third-party launcher for free.
And the downsides
The S III is significantly larger than most smartphones. The screen is a delight, but the tradeoff is that the device looks large from any angle. Secondly, we were disappointed that the S III did not offer the premium materials we expected. It's closest competitor, the HTC One X, has a unibody shell. Thirdly, the placement of the touchsensitive back key poses a problem. Holding the device horizontally, there is a tendency to inadvertently press the back key (and exit what you were doing). Finally, a dedicated camera shutter would have been nice, especially considering the great camera.
The S III is significantly larger than most smartphones. The screen is a delight, but the tradeoff is that the device looks large from any angle. Secondly, we were disappointed that the S III did not offer the premium materials we expected. It's closest competitor, the HTC One X, has a unibody shell. Thirdly, the placement of the touchsensitive back key poses a problem. Holding the device horizontally, there is a tendency to inadvertently press the back key (and exit what you were doing). Finally, a dedicated camera shutter would have been nice, especially considering the great camera.
Hitesh Raj Bhagat ET 120605
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