First impressions:-
The Samsung Galaxy S3 brings a gorgeous 4.8-inch 720p display, quad-core processor and 8-megapixel camera, all crammed into a good-looking, impossibly slim and light casing. At this point we have few concerns, and this smart phone looks set to reproduce the Galaxy S2's success.
The S3 comes with a removable 2,100mAh battery, and as well as 16, 32 or 64GB storage options has a MicroSD card slot.
Good:-
- Enormous, gorgeous 4.8-inch 720p screen
- Slick, lightweight design
- Quad-core processor
- Powerful Android operating system
Bad:-
- TouchWiz interface has been occasionally confusing in the past
- Likely to be very expensive
Simply dubbed the Samsung Galaxy S3, it looks set to be another blinder, packing a whopping 4.8-inch 720p display and a slick new design.
Out in the UK from 30 May, CNET UK's been hands-on with the S3. Read on for all our first impressions of this handsome mobile, and be sure to examine our hands-on video too.
Design:-
Samsung's ditched the rectangular look that dominated the S2, instead opting for an oval-shaped styling that's highly reminiscent of the Galaxy Nexus, which arrived in November last year.
Corners are smoothed and rounded, while the curved back is devoid of the rear-facing lumpy bits that adorned the S2 and Nexus. The camera is now almost flush to the back of the casing, and along the edges there's some swooping chrome decoration. Samsung's not ditched its button layout either -- there's a physical home button sitting pretty underneath the screen, with touch-sensitive menu and back keys placed on either side.
The placement of those touch-sensitive keys is slightly inconvenient. They're close to the edge of the phone, so you might find yourself accidentally triggering them with your hand.
I don't expect the new look will please everyone -- some folks within the CNET UK office have said the rounded corners on the back look dated, reminiscent of smart phones from several years ago. On the other hand, a simpler design is often better, and this 'pebble' styling is likely to be comfortable in the hand over long stretches.
The S3 comes in either blue or white. The white version is glossy, while the blue option sports a brushed-metal effect. Don't despair if you're a fan of sultry black mobiles, as the blue option is such a dark hue that it almost looks black. Samsung has a habit of releasing its mobiles in different shades later on, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a pink version surfacing later this year.
The Galaxy S3 is 8.6mm thick and weighs 133g. That makes it ever so slightly thicker than the S2, which is 8.49mm deep, but thinner than the 8.9mm HTC One X. By comparison, the much smaller iPhone 4S is 9.3mm thick and weighs 140g.
Millimetre-haggling aside, the bottom line here is that the S3 is very thin, and very light considering its large size. The reason it's able to be so light however is that -- like the S2 -- the Galaxy S3 is constructed from a significant amount of plastic. If you're averse to plasticky mobiles, the slightly more substantial One X or metal-and-glass iPhone 4S might be more to your liking.
It's worth noting that this phone is absolutely huge, with a screen that trounces the 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus, and is beaten in the size stakes only by the ludicrous Galaxy Note. When it's time for the full review we'll be paying particular attention to build quality -- earlier Samsung efforts have felt impressively stuck together, but Apple also excels in this area. Construction is also one area where the S3 could score a point over HTC's One X, which suffers from a dodgy display.
Screen:-
The S3's display measures 4.8 inches on the diagonal which, as noted above, makes it one of the biggest smart phones currently available. While you might find your knuckles bending in new and exotic ways, the benefit is that this whopping display will make your photos and video look stupendous.
With a 1,280x720 resolution, the S3 has the pixel prowess to do justice to your high-definition footage, as well as leaving icons and text looking impressively sharp. This is an HD Super AMOLED screen, which is the same display tech used on the Nexus and Note, both of which are a real treat for the eyes.
AMOLED screens offer eye-searing colours and very deep blacks, but as with previous Samsung gear, if you're a fan of more demure, natural colour reproduction then you might brand this panel a little garish compared to the likes of the iPhone 4S.
There's one minor display downside -- the S3's panel is missing the 'Plus' suffix that you'll find on the Galaxy S2's Super AMOLED Plus display. That means that the S3's screen is likely using a PenTile display, which has one fewer sub-pixel per pixel than the S2's panel.
Screen enthusiasts may be disappointed by this news, but I suspect most people will never notice the difference, and all things considered this is a mighty fine display. With the broad display real-estate, high resolution and powerful processor, expect the S3 to excel when it comes to web browsing. Will this massive, bright display hamper battery life? We'll have to wait and see.
Camera and processor:-
The S3 has an 8-megapixel camera, which is the same resolution as last year's Galaxy S2. It might not have bumped up the pixel count, but this blower does have a few new tricks up its sleeve, including the zero shutter-lag trait seen in the Galaxy Nexus, and a clever feature that automatically suggests your best shot after you've fired off a few similar snaps, basing its decision on factors like smile detection and face recognition.
A new feature borrowed from the HTC One X is the ability to take still images while you're recording video -- perfect for when your pet is doing something adorable. There's a 2-megapixel camera stuck on the front of the S3, which is used for video calling but also features face detection, and will stop the phone's screen from dimming as long as you're looking at it. Handy. A new feature borrowed from the HTC One X is the ability to take still images while you're recording video -- perfect for when your pet is doing something adorable. There's a 2-megapixel camera stuck on the front of the S3, which is used for video calling but also features face detection, and will stop the phone's screen from dimming as long as you're looking at it. Handy.
The S3 sports a beefy quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz, which should make it more than capable of chomping through high-resolution video and graphically demanding games. As you'd expect, performance here feels very slick.
A question hangs over whether quad-core processors are really needed, and you'll be hard pushed to find apps in the Google Play shop that stress the S3's processor to its limits. But what you do get is a bit of peace of mind, knowing that the S3 has a good chance of handling any demanding apps that crop up in the future. A more powerful processor also means the S3 is less likely to be left out in the cold when the next version of Android is rolled out.
We'll be examining just how potent the S3's chip is with a barrage of benchmark tests, and keeping a close eye on what kind of impact that four-core chip has on battery life.
Software and apps:-
The Galaxy S3 is running on Android, which is Google's mobile operating system. Specifically the S3 is powered by Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, which is the latest, greatest version.
It's not quite that simple though, as Samsung's plastered its own interface on top of Android. Called TouchWiz, this is the same colourful interface you'll see on kit like the Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note.
There are new goodies on board, including a 'Pop up Play' feature for video, that lets you watch videos while performing boring functions like sending a text, and a transfer tool called S Beam, which lets you send large files over a Wi-Fi connection.
Voice control is on board too, now dubbed S Voice this feature has been bundled into Android's face unlock capability -- now your phone will need to see your phizzog and hear your voice before it unlocks.
S Voice goes toe-to-toe with Apple's own voice-controlled assistant Siri -- we'll need more time to figure out whether it's any use, but there are four different wake-up controls for the phone, and you can get S Voice to tell you the weather or perform tasks like making a call, setting an alarm, controlling music playback or taking a photo.
The thus-far Apple-exclusive Flipboard app is also making an appearance, this app turns links and updates from your social networks into an attractive, magazine-style layout.
Those with files to hoard will be happy to know the S3 comes with two years of online storage app DropBox, giving you an impressive 50GB worth of virtual disk space on which to plonk your files.
TouchWiz has buckets of competition, whether it's from Apple's iOS operating system, the 'raw' Android experience found on the Galaxy Nexus, or rival manufacturer Android skins like HTC's excellent Sense interface. In the full review we'll be looking for genuinely helpful TouchWiz-specific apps and features, and hoping to avoid unwanted pre-installed apps and widgets -- something that plagued the Galaxy S2.
Another risk you take with a manufacturer-crafted Android skin is that you might be left waiting for updates, while those with 'raw' Android kit like the Galaxy Nexus are updated very quickly. The Samsung Galaxy S2 Ice Cream Sandwich update proved to be something of a shambles -- worth bearing in mind if you love getting the latest version as quickly as possible.
Android is a powerful, flexible operating system that affords users loads of scope to customise and tinker with their phone,though the wealth of options and tools available on Android can be overwhelming to newcomers.
If you're after something easy to use and don't mind sacrificing the ability to customise the look-and-feel of your phone, you'd be better served by Apple's iOS platform. Anyone who prefers freedom to muck about with their mobile however will enjoy digging into Android.
With a host of hefty hardware on board, I think software is probably the only area in which the S3 could falter. Here's hoping the phone's interface proves stable and simple to navigate, and doesn't come stuffed to the gunwales with pre-installed bloatware.
Conclusion:-
With the Galaxy S3 Samsung hasn't been messed with its formula much, recognising that slick design and a gorgeous screen were the secret to the Galaxy S2's success. Upgrading each individual component might not feel like the most creative approach, but I think it'll be plenty to keep the S3 at the front of the Android pack.
Samsung's TouchWiz interface is occasionally frustrating, and pre-loaded bloatware apps -- a mark against the S2 -- are likely to be squatting on the S3 as well. These minor software concerns aside however, the S3 is shaping up to be one of the year's most important gadgets.
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