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With somewhere in the region of 9 million pre-orders, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy SIII smartphone is set to become one of the most popular phones of the year. It will compete directly with the likes of the HTC One X, Sony Xperia S and later this year, the iPhone 5.
The S3 is now alive and kicking in the UK, and some retailers are even getting stock of that elusive Pebble Blue variant now. Our preference was the Marble White version, which we’ve been thoroughly enjoying for a little while now. We’re sure many of you will have fondled one in stores by now, but for those who haven’t and for those who want an in-depth look at the phone inside-out; we’ve put together a hands-on gallery.
While many have berated Samsung for using plastic to manufacture most of the S3, particularly the thin polycarbonate battery cover, we feel that after just a short time with the phone it feels sturdy and well built. It’s lightweight too, but not so light that it feels cheap, and thanks to Samsung’s focus on natural shapes drawn from the idea of a pebble, the phone fitted into our hand nicely.
A phone with a 4.7-inch screen is going to be big – and the S3 is big – but Samsung has made it so that the screen is most of the device, it’s not unnecessarily big. While it’ll be too big for some, we found that its size wasn’t an issue after a few hours of getting to grips with the phone.
Hit the power button on the right edge of the phone and the large 4.7-inch Super AMOLED screen shines – it’s bright, colourful and vivid, although it’s not quite bright enough in bright sunlight we found. The Galaxy SIII uses what’s called a PenTile Matrix display, which means that you can make out the individual pixels by looking closely, but unless you look very closely, it appears pretty sharp. It also means that white colours appear either blue-ish or with a yellow tinge – this is apparent on the S3, whereas on the HTC One X whites are bright and accurate.
The phone is very fast thanks to its quad-core Exynos processor, with fluid scrolling through menus, fast closing and resuming of apps and flawless gameplay with even the latest and most demanding titles. The S3 is a powerhouse with a great design, although we feel it may not be to everyone’s taste. Stay tuned for a full video review with our thoughts and in the meantime have a browse through our gallery below.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
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