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The day is almost upon us, with what could be the hottest smartphone of the year launching on May 30th. We’re talking about the Samsung Galaxy S3 of course, and we’ve got an exclusive video review of Samsung’s new flagship phone ahead of its launch, courtesy of the lovely folk at Phones 4u.
If you’ve pre-ordered through Carphone Warehouse or Samsung’s Westfield store in London, you’ll have a matter of hours to wait until you pick up your phone a day early tomorrow, so this video review is perfect to send your excitement levels sky-high just before you get your hands on one.
With the Galaxy SIII, Samsung has placed am emphasis on a “natural” design and feel to both the hardware and software. In the video review it’s plain to see that although at the larger end of the size scale, the S3 has been crafted with your palms in mind, with plenty of curves and a smooth pebble-like design, helping it to sit comfortably in your hand.
The Galaxy SIII has been crafted from the same polycarbonate material as the Nokia Lumia 800 and the HTC One X, although Samsung has opted to use the material in a different way to both those rival phones. Instead of milling the whole body of the phone from one single piece of tough polycarbonate, Samsung has opted to use very thin sheets of it for the S3’s casing. This is particularly noticeable with the battery cover, which appears very thin and bendable. Some may feel that it feels too flimsy for a phone with a price tag of £500, but it helps the phone stay lightweight and overall the phone still feels very sturdy and well built.
To compliment a natural design Samsung has overhauled its TouchWiz user interface, which runs alongside Android 4.0.4 – aka ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ – to create a very Samsung-centric experience. The new version is called ‘TouchWiz Nature UX’, and as the name suggests, it continues with the ‘natural’ theme of the phone. Many phone manufacturers create their own user interface to differentiate from other Android-based rival devices and we’ve found most to be too much and too annoying – TouchWiz Nature UX is pleasantly understated and easy to use.
Many new software-based features accompany TouchWiz Nature UX and the impressive hardware; S Voice, Call Direct and Smart Stay are just a few of them. You can see Call Direct in action above; a feature that is small but extremely useful, allowing you to place the phone to your ear when you receive a text message to call that person back.
S Voice is another, and it’s Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Siri. Using tech from the excellent Vlingo personal assistant app, S Voice can understand natural speech, allowing you to wake up your phone, set alarms, take a picture and much more.
Despite a power-hungry 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display and a speedy quad-core processor, the Galaxy SIII retains a respectable battery life, as far as feature-rich smartphones go anyway. Thanks to the large 2100 mAh battery the Galaxy SIII will last you from morning until night with average usage, perhaps stretching to a full 24 hours with usage dropping to sparse.
That super-bright 4.8-inch display will suck battery life like no tomorrow though, so the hardcore user is likely to see a drop in battery life. Either way, you’re going to be charging this phone nightly as with most other top smartphones. The S3 has an advantage over rivals such as the HTC One X, iPhone 4S and Nokia Lumia 900 in that it has a removable battery, which means you can purchase a second backup battery to make this phone a true warrior.
The Samsung Galaxy SIII will be available in the UK from May 30th, and Phones 4u have it in store and online from £31 per month on 24 month contract deals. If you pre-order with them you’ll also bag a 32GB micro SD card to expand your storage and the official case!
For the latest deals and best prices on the Samsung Galaxy S3, why not check out our price comparison tool by clicking ‘Compare Phone Prices’ at the top of this page.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
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