Samsung Galaxy S3 Review

In the space of a couple of years Samsung has managed to propel its Galaxy range of smartphones from obscurity to almost the same level of fanatical devotion as the iPhone. The original Galaxy S became the biggest selling Android phone of all time, and the first phone to beat it in this respect was its successor the Galaxy S2. Now the third handset in the Galaxy S range looks set to smash records again.

It has already become the most pre-ordered gadget in history – beating any pre-order volumes set by the iPhone. Demand for the phone has been so high that Samsung has struggled to keep up supply levels. But is it worth all the hype, or is it just riding on the reputation of its predecessors?

The initial reaction a lot of people had to the Galaxy S3 was "it's ugly". There were reports that Samsung had specifically designed the S3 with the help of lawyers, after Apple had filed numerous lawsuits against Samsung over the look and feel of the Galaxy S2. Samsung of course denies this, claiming instead that the S3 has been "designed for humans", and "inspired by nature".

TouchWiz and Ice Cream Sandwich

This inspired by nature theme extends to the new TouchWiz UX Nature interface used by the S3. While bringing some new concepts to the TouchWiz UI, UX Nature is designed to make use of several new features added into Android Ice Cream Sandwich. While these little tweaks, such as being able to resize homescreen widgets, may seem rather minor, they have not been available on the Galaxy S2 and older Samsung phones that have recently been upgraded to ICS in the last few months.

Inspired by nature is not simply marketing speak – the new TouchWiz UX does feature natural colour schemes and wallpapers, fluid transitions and organic sounds, which all provide a rather natural feel. But aside from aesthetics, what are the major new benefits of ICS and the new TouchWiz? One of the most talked about, for obvious reasons, is S-Voice.

S-Voice

Apple has frequently accused Samsung of copying its ideas and with S-Voice you feel that perhaps they have a point – S-Voice is clearly meant to be competition to Siri. While Siri may not live up to expectations, or perform quite as well as it does in TV adverts, it was still the most sophisticated voice recognition system to hit the mass market when the iPhone 4S launched last year.

S-Voice is a natural language interface, and so is designed to understand everyday language rather than operating on a strict set of commands that the user must memorise. Like Siri, while S-Voice is fairly accurate it doesn't perform quite as well as advertised. S-Voice is still prone to misinterpreting commands, making it a fairly impressive feature but one that most people would not wish to rely on from day to day. S-Voice can be tied in to other features, such as Google Maps, and can be a handy way to navigate around, particularly while driving.

Display

The Galaxy S2 was considered to be pretty large when it was launched but now seems quite small compared to phones like the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note. The S3 is closer to the second two phones in terms of its size due to its large 4.8 inch Super AMOLED HD display. The phone is not as big as you might imagine when you hold it in your hands, but for many people it may simply be too large to comfortably use as a mobile phone.

The screen is exceptional though; there is no doubt about that. Super AMOLED displays have a level of brightness and vivid colours that are not enjoyed by standard LCD screens found on most devices, and it really makes a whole world of difference for video and other visual content. The phone has a 720 x 1280 resolution too, making it high definition, with a pixel density of about 306 ppi (iPhone 4S – 330 ppi). One drawback of AMOLED screens is that they can be harder to view in sunlight, although this seems to be less of a problem on the S3 than it was on the S2. Even though the S3 falls below Apple's "Retina" quality, it is pretty damned hard to spot individual pixels on the screen.

Camera

Cameras are perhaps one of the most important features on a smartphone for most people. The S3 has an 8 megapixel camera, just like the S2, which on the surface may make it sound like Samsung is not offering any improvement here. Megapixel count merely reflects the maximum resolution photographs that a digital camera can produce though, and 8 megapixels actually produces photos that would be considered too large for most everyday users. In other words, beyond 5 megapixels you need to look at other things to determine quality.

Rather than simply slapping on a 12 megapixel sensor and being done with it, Samsung has put a lot of effort into making the S3's camera more usable. The camera has zero shutter lag for starters, so actually get the photos you intended to. The camera will also take a burst of 8 photos so that you can pick out the best shot from a selection.

The S3 also features improved facial recognition. Many phones will claim to have "face detection", which simply means being able to identify something as a face, but the S3's face detection can actually identify individuals and automatically tag them in photographs. Social Tag, as it is known, will then provide the ability to message, call, or interact via social networks with individuals in each photograph by simply tapping on their face. With Buddy Share, it is much easier to share images with friends too.

Other Unique Features

Samsung developed eye tracking technology and this information was leaked prior to the launch of the S3. No one was quite sure how it would be implemented, with some suggesting the ability to scroll around web pages and documents by looking at them. Instead, this technology was implemented as Smart Stay. Smart Stay uses the S3's front camera to determine when you are actually looking at the device and when you are not, and can adjust the screen brightness accordingly to help save on battery life.

Speaking of battery life, we have found the S3 to perform extremely well here. Even with heavy usage while experimenting with the phone, the S3 managed to retain over half of its battery power over the course of a day. The S3 benefits from Android Ice Cream Sandwich and the new TouchWiz here, as both have introduced a number of tweaks to enhance battery performance.

Pop up Play is the ability to watch movies while doing other things. For example, you can continue to watch a video while typing out an email or message. Obviously this is one feature where having a larger screen is very helpful, because trying to do this on a 3.5 inch display would be a nightmare. Smartphones have for some time had the ability to play music while you quit out of the media player to do other things, but this is the first time that a phone allows you to do the same with video. We can see this becoming a fairly common feature over the next few months as entertainment becomes more and more important on peoples' phones.

The S3 also makes it pretty easy to share data with others. Ice Cream Sandwich introduced the NFC powered Android Beam, and Samsung has touched this up for the S3 as S-Beam. S-Beam is essentially the same thing as Android Beam – tap your phone against another NFC powered Android device and you can swap things like webpages, phone numbers and images. S-Beam does extend this to videos and music too, providing a bit more functionality than the standard Android feature on ICS.

Worth the Fuss?

There was a potential that the Galaxy S3 would just ride on the reputation of its predecessor and that it wouldn't offer much new or live up to expectations. Samsung has done a good job of taking the finer points of the Galaxy S2 and making them better while throwing a lot more into the mix too. Samsung could have just introduce a few incremental hardware upgrades – a faster processor, a higher megapixel camera and so on – but the Samsung Galaxy S3 demonstrates that Samsung finally understands what many Apple fans have been saying for some time now; everyday users don't care about how fast a processor is, or how much RAM a phone has, they care about what they can actually do with their phone. It turns out that with the Galaxy S3, what you can do is a lot more than you could with any other handset.

You can read a full review of the Samsung Galaxy S3 at Best Mobile Contracts, as well as finding a comparison of the cheapest contracts in the UK.

Machinarium Review (Android)

Does Amanita Design's whimsical point and click adventure deliver a game that plays as good as it looks?




[NOTE] Although it's available now on iOS and Android, it's only available to Duel-Core Android tablets and the New iPad and iPad 2.

Machinarium took the prize for "Excellence in Visual Art" back at the 2009 Independent Game Festival, and it is easy to see why. The game is stunning, like an interactive steam-punk graphic novel, bursting with hand drawn art that ripples with life and personality, Machinarium is certainly in a league of it's own when it comes to design.

On the gameplay side of things, it's a point-and-click adventure through-and-through, and fans of old school greats like Sam & Max and the Adventure of Monkey Island will be at home with the insane difficulty level. Yes, Machinarium will confuse and frustrate you to your very limits, but it's worth it to experience one of the most beautiful and endearing games I've ever played.

You command a cute little robot abruptly thrown out of his city with the trash. By pointing and clicking through the bleak steampunkish environment you can return him to his home, reunite him with his girlfriend, and even aid in preventing a terrorist attack.

Our robot buddy has the ability to stretch and scrunch his body, making for some interesting puzzle opportunities. There are is no dialogue in Machinarium (save for some odd sound effects) but when the robot encounters someone, a thought bubble will appear that shows the specific memory this individual conjures up. Despite the chilly atmosphere, these moments offer a wonderful sense of fanciful quality.

During the play through, I actually managed to get stuck on the second puzzle; it's that hard, but if you do need a hint (and you will), you can tap the light bulb in the corner of the screen and a thought bubble will appear above the robot indicating the ultimate goal for that particular room. It wont reveal how you actually solve the puzzle, but it helps.

However, if you truly need to be told, by clicking the small journal with a question mark, you can partake in a small 2-D shooter. By completing the brief mini-game, you'll be granted a detailed visual walkthrough of the scene you are currently in.

A flaw which did frustrate, was the robot and his walking. Once he's in motion you can't alter his course until he's reached his goal, making for a little too much downtime. It's not a big deal, but it does annoy.

All in all, Machinarium is a must-play for point-and-click fans. With it's gorgeous visuals, and, despite the lack of dialogue, the little robot is able to communicate more emotion to the player than most videogame characters. The music, with its subtle electronic soundscape that constantly shifts between making the player feel uneasy and calm is just outstanding, and goes hand in hand with the steam-punk style.

Judiciously and efficiently designed, with not a single pencil-drawn sprite out of place, Machinarium is a treasure that needs to be played to be believed, and if it wasn't for the few little niggles, Machinarium would have been the first App we scored a perfect 10, but as it is, it'll have to make do with one less.

Machinarium is an indie game project created and released by Amanita Design. A puzzle / adventure game, this game focuses on a little robot who's been thrown out to the scrap yard behind the city who must return and confront the Black Cap Brotherhood and save his robot-girl friend.


Also Available On: iOS (iPad 2/New iPad only), PC, Mac || Soon on: PS3

Rating:

E10+ for Everyone 10 and older: Comic Mischief, Use of Tobacco

Genre: Adventure

Publisher: Amanita Design

Developer: Amanita Design

The Dark Knight Rises iPhone/Android Teaser Trailer

When Gotham is threatened...It's handy that Gameloft have squeezed the Dark Knight into your phone...

App Review: PressReader

If you enjoy reading newspapers, then PressReader may be for you; with access to over 2100 full content newspapers from 95 countries in 54 languages, it's certainly an interesting addition to your app collection. Interested? Read on!



You may remember our interview with Ray Wang from PressReader, the largest digital newspaper kiosk app for iOS (and also Android, BlackBerry, Win7 Tablet PCs and Windows Phone 7)and if you don't, high-tail over to read it now.


PressReader not only helps you to gain access to newspapers around the world but it’s also helping the environment. PressReader have saved over 281029 trees from being chopped down and being used for printing. According to their blog, it takes about 12 trees to produce 1 tonne of paper, so, you get your newspaper, and the environment stays a little greener.

Upon launching the app, the homepage gives you the latest news from newspapers around the world at the top with news under different categories of different countries at the bottom, along with the ability to change to39 different languages if you do so desire.

That's all well and good, but what really sets PressReader apart from other reader apps, is that it does actually gives you the feel of reading a real newspaper (not physically, obviously). After selecting any of the newspapers, PressReader takes you to a new window where you can read the newspaper at ease. Fonts, pictures, graphs, tables etc all looks exactly the same to the original one. Although it is not possible to read at this resolution, you either can magnify the paper to read or just simply click on the article to open a pop up with the full article in the text format, with a nice animation which shows the paper rolling to a new page.

Pressreader, is a fresh and exciting prospect for newspaper readers, which allows the experience of reading the real newspaper, with the only difference between the real thing and the digitised version is the, well, the paper.

Check out PressReader here!

iTunes 

Blackberry App World

Google Play (Android)

Windows 7 (tablets)

Windows Phone 7

Tech Beever Interview: Ray Wang, PressReader App

We were lucky enough to catch up with Ray Wang from PressReader, the largest digital newspaper kiosk app for iOS (and also Android, BlackBerry, Win7 Tablet PCs and Windows Phone 7), and we interviwed him about PressReader, the latest edition to the PressDisplay family. Read on, womt you!



What exactly is PressReader?

PressReader is an application that provides readers with access to over 2,200 full-content newspapers and magazines from 96 countries available on iOS, Android, Windows and Playbook operating systems. Millions of tablets also come preloaded with PressReader from a growing list of leading manufacturers including Microsoft, ASUS, BlackBerry, HTC, Kobo and Samsung.

What does PressReader offer that other news applications don’t?

Unlike other mobile news applications or aggregators that only provide a selection of top stories, PressReader offers readers access to over 2,200 full-content publications from 96 countries—all available through the world’s largest digital newsstand, PressDisplay.com.
Every newspaper presented on PressReader is an identical replica of the current day’s printed edition, including each section, article, advertisement, editorial and comic strip shown in its original content.
Moreover, PressReader provides users with features dedicated to enhance the traditional news-print experience with functionalities like instant translation, on-demand audio, article sharing and our exclusive SmartFlow (a horizontal news-reading feature) and SmartZoom technology (allowing you to automatically zoom in to the beginning of an article).

What was the original reasoning for PressReader?

PressReader was developed as the companion reading application to PressDisplay.com, the world’s largest digital newspaper and magazine kiosk. Essentially, we wanted to provide our subscribers with a means of reading their favorite publications anywhere, anytime on any device.

The layout and UI in PressReader seems very clean and fresh, offering a number of sources, and even lottery number results, but will there be a feature to add RSS Feeds, such as Tech Beever's own news feed, for example?

Today, PressReader provides digital replica editions of printed newspapers and magazines to our subscribers with advanced digital navigation and reading features. That being said, we believe PressReader’s SmartFlow horizontal reading stream would be a perfect way to consume other types of content from sites such as Tech Beever.


What kind of syncing functions are there, I.E, could I sync my publications to other devices, including E-Readers?

Once a publication is purchased or downloaded from either PressDisplay.com or PressReader, users are free to download that same publication across multiple devices free of charge, including eReaders like the Kobo Vox running Android.

Will there be a support for magazine publications?

PressReader already has more than 250 magazines available such as Inside Golf, Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, UNO Magazine and La Revenu to name just a few. We’re making a strong push to broaden the list of magazine available through the app in the months to come!

We've all had a play with the app, and we found it to be very responsive and fresh, especially on tablets. What's the response been to PressReader from the app world?

The response to PressReader from the app world has been tremendous. Subscribers love the fact they can get their favorite newspapers and magazines in one location on their favorite tablets and smartphones regardless of where they are in the world. In fact, some users told us that their reason for buying the iPad was for apps just like PressReader which makes us feel great!


Check out PressReader here!

iTunes

Blackberry App World

Google Play (Android)

Windows 7 (tablets)

Windows Phone 7

[Update] Sony Tablet S Ice Cream Sandwich Edition

We were impressed with the Sony S Tablet when we reviewed it back in December. Sure, it had it's flaws, but overall, it was a great 9.4-inch tablet with a quirky aesthetic design packing Android 3.1 Honeycomb. Now, however, it's rocking Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich.

A great new feature from the off, is the lock screen. Now, instead of just unlocking the device, you now have the option of selecting either the camera or unlock button. It's simple, but it works.

Regarding the layout of the Sony S, not much has changed. The font and colour style has changed from white/grey to a vibrant Blue (and white still) and it really pops out. The 'back' button has changed from the block arrow, to the arrow we all knew from other Android devices.

The multitasking bar appears at the left hand side, letting you select an app to jump to, it's not a new edition to the S, but it seemed a little more rapid than the Honeycomb variant.

The App & Widget menu has had a revamp, offering a 3D-Slider instead of the old vertical scroller.

Settings too have had a revamp, now in a much slicker presentation than before, making it much easier to tinker and tweak with the S.

Then there's new shortcut bar at the bottom, which has access to the browser, calculator and remote.

Notifications now have the Slide To Delete function, which is much, much easier than having to tap the tiny 'x' that sat beside each notification. Now, you simply slide them away.

Obviously, games haven't changed with the ICS update, but the shortcut bar stays along the bottom, which isn't to disturbing, although some may find it intrusive.

Being ICS, it means that the Google Chrome Browser is available, and we found it pretty quick, and syncing from PC is a great touch.

However, the Sony S's own browser has had an upgrade, and is much faster rendering pages.

The full Remote Control menu, giving you access to all the devices you'e set up.

The remote shortcut gives you a small pop-up box that has the basic functions of the devices you've set up for remote control.

Which you can use, or touch through to take you to the full remote.

The music player hasn't seen any improvements, although the 'scattered' albums are still nice to flick through.

Being Playstation Certified, the S can download full PSone games from the Playstation Store.

And, you know what, that's about it. We've not gone into too much detail, because to be honest, whilst the changes are indeed great, they're not all that obvious, as most of the features should have been implemented from the beginning. Does the Ice Cream Sandwich update change our final score of the Sony S Tablet? Nope, it was a good tablet, and it's simply now that bit better.

The Return of...Tech Beever Rant! Today: Fanboyism

Why is there so much fanboyism surrounding our beloved tech?

The argument spreads way back to the age old argument "my dads bigger than your dad". Which may be true, but can your dad drink his weight in alcohol, but still complete a crossword or extensive maths question with little or no effort?



Today's more 'modern' fanboyism, revolves around Apple - Android, and Playstation 3 - Xbox 360. But why is there such a ridiculous amount of hate toward the opposition from it's fans? I'm not going to beat around the bush; I wont answer this question, and I dare say it'll never be resolved, so if that's why you're here; then you'll be sadly displeased with this article. I will, however, try to get my damned head around the whole ordeal.

Without going into too much detail, the majority of Apple vs Android arguments run from the single sentence "...iPhone's are sh*t".

Now, in my eyes, if you're going to say such a strong statement, then you better have good reasons to back it up. I've owned an iPhone 4 since launch day, and I don't regret dropping half a grand on the thing, and I understand completely that it was/is an awful lot of money to spend on a device, but why is that any different to people spending the same money on a high-end Android device? Other than OS and places to get apps & games, the majority of Smartphones are the same (save for all the guts and processing power), so why are so many people adamant that "my phone is better than yours"?

Among many things that were discussed, the App Store vs Google Play (Android Market) was raised, the argument being "Google Play is better because it has more free apps". Not really an argument.

Let's take a look at some figures:

Android (Google Play)
Current number of Android apps in the market: 450,000
Downloads to date: 10 billion

iOS (App Store)
Current number of iOS apps: 725,000+
Downloads to date: Over 25 billion

However, what many people don't realise, is that both Nokia's Ovi Store and BlackBerry's App World (both of which have only 26 percent free apps), also pull in higher revenues than Google Play despite having much lower downloading volumes.

In 2011, it was revealed that the iOS App store has 121,845 free apps and the Marketplace (now Google Play) has 134,342 (obviously both numbers have changed since then), but whereas Android fanboys will rejoice that Google Play has 'beaten' the iOS App Store, further statistics show that the percentage of low quality apps on Android is 29%, with users ratings of apps with less than 3 stars at a pretty high 226,012 (50.8 %).

Now, as I couldn't get any information on how the iOS App Store fared in the same circumstances, it kind of leaves the above paragraph rather redundant. Instead, users had to take into account that whilst Apple is far more strict in terms of what developers can/cannot put onto the App Store, Google is much more relaxed. This comes at a price, however, for there is a high count of malware on Google Play, something which isn't found on iOS.

Leaving the world of apps behind, many could argue one of the biggest strengths of Android is it's vast customisation. iOS is extremely limited to how users can customise it's OS, ranging from the simple change of the background to the message/ringtone alert. Whereas Android users can change all the icons, live wallpapers, themes, keyboards and many more. The look of a phones OS may not be all that much to some, but to others, it can reflect in a very personal way.

Sure, iOS users can 'jailbreak' their devices to gain the extent of customisation features Android lords over iOS, but why should they go to such measures?
Apple locks users into having the same experience as other iOS devices, which can be both a brilliant experience, or a dull, almost lifeless one, depending on how you use your device.

iOS is also the most open OS in terms of its audience, as its so simple to use, anybody can get to grips with it in a matter of hours, whilst Android differs greatly in its allure, but once you do get accustomed to it, it can be a very rewarding experience.

I am both an iOS and Android user, and whilst I enjoy both, they do house their advantages over each device.

For games, I cannot fault iOS. All top end developers are pushing brilliant and cutting edge games into the App Store. The likes of Infinty Blade II, GTA III, Max Payne, N.O.V.A III, Mirrors Edge, Shadow Guardian, Dead Space and many, many more, are all exceptional games. Sure, titles like N.O.V.A and Dead Space are available on Android, but the vast amount of handsets running different Android firmware means that many users miss out because their device "isn't supported". Of course, there is a percentage of games that only work on iPad and iPhone 4/4S, but those numbers are pale in comparison to the number of unsupported Android handsets.

There are, however, great gems on Google Play, and they go by the name of Emulators. Many free emulators allow you to play your favourite GB, GBA, N64 and PSX games on your phone/tablet (providing you LEGALLY have the bios/ROMS, Tech Beever does not condone the use of illegally obtaining bios/ROMS) and it's something that really adds to the users gaming experience on the go. I have many emulators on my Sony S Tablet, and paired with my PS3 controller, it makes playing the likes of Goldeneye 007 and Donkey Kong Country all that more fun. And there lies another win for Android; the support of USB. It's so simple to pair a controller (Xbox, PS3, Wii) to my tablet, making gaming easier, and even plugging in a mouse and keyboard to help write articles for Tech Beever; I've done many posts on the Sony S Tablet, but, I've also done posts from my iPhone 4 (on the move).

Other than the keyboard, my experience doing write ups from devices other than a PC or laptop is no different, so why should users experience on any phone, whatever the make, be any different to those with the opposite format?

Anybody who is a regular on Tech Beever will know that Tech Beevers Contributing Editor, Dan is a solid Blackberry fanboy, and hates (yes, hates) Apple and every iOS device. Why? Well, his reasons usually contain most expletives known to man, but in reality, RIM and its Blackberry devices are far behind Apple and Android, and now, even Windows Phone 7. However, the Blackberry World Keynote we featured earlier this month did impress even myself. RIM seem to have actually listened and paid attention to the world around Apple and Android, and crafted a very, very impressive device and updated OS. Will it make a difference though? Only time will tell, but if it rocks the smartphone world just a little, it may just be the incentive that the top dogs need to put some new ideas out there.

The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 argument can be held in the same light, with really, only platform exclusives holding their own. Personally, I much more enjoy the likes of Uncharted and Heavy Rain to Halo and Alan Wake, but I do prefer Gears of War to God of War. It's a merry-go-round, and one that I can't see stopping anytime soon.

Myself and Tech Beevers Contributing Editor, Dan, have had this argument many times. I do, overall, prefer my Playstation 3 to my Xbox 360, whereas Dan feels the same to his Xbox 360. Are either of us wrong? No, but an argument that grinds my gears, is that "X game looks much better on X platform". Let's get this straight, no multiplatform games utilizes the cell processor, only the gpu. It's also about memory allocation, the PS3's gpu is still a 256mb gpu and developers working with the 360 as the lead platform will work around that. Xbox 360 can utilize a little more memory, so they have the texture and gpu advantage. However, with the PS3, developers are given the luxery of putting all the data onto one Blu-Ray disk, whilst the 360 (if the game is large enough) has to take multiple disks to complete the game. This is where the textures fall flat on 360, and improve on PS3.

Rockstar (GTA, Red Dead Redemption) was one of the first to appoint the PS3 as its lead platform, and in doing so, made the likes of L.A Noire 'for' the PS3, then ported to Xbox 360. But in the end, it will always be platform exclusives that deliver the best eyecandy, with possibly (and I mean very, very minor points), the PS3 outshining the 360 by a fraction, but in reality, it takes some extremely good eyes to tell the difference.

So why all the fanboyism? Is there a real need to defend our tech? Or is it a case of "I brought this one, so I'm going to go to any length to protect my decision", whether or not you believe in your choice?

Personally, I'm just glad I'm in a position to try all types of tech/games, and take away my favourite features of all, in the hope that one day, they'll be something that truly deserves the title as "the best there is".

But for now, can't we all just get along?

Samsung Galaxy S3 Available to Pre-order in UK

Our new contributer, Simon from Best Mobile Contracts has all the info on the Samsung Galaxy S III Pre-Order details:



Samsung launched the original Galaxy S in 2010 and it quickly became the biggest selling Android phone of all time, only to be superseded by the Galaxy S2 a year later. The rapid growth in popularity of the Samsung Galaxy range caused a lot of concern at Apple who launched a barrage of lawsuits against Samsung to try and counteract the threat to the iPhone.

The Galaxy S3 was unveiled last week and is due to go on sale later this month. Does it have what it takes to be even more popular than the S2? While many initial reviewers felt that the S3 took a bit of a step backwards in its design, with its curved body being more reminiscent of the original Galaxy S than the more recent Galaxy S2, it has already received more pre-release interest than either of its predecessors.





Galaxy S3 contracts are already available to pre-order. Prices start from just £29 per month with a free handset or as low as £15 per month if you are prepared to pay a little bit of money upfront. The S3 is available on all major UK networks including Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three and Talk Mobile. Virgin will eventually be offering the phone but will not have it from launch, making it available sometime in the summer. Vodafone are also offering an exclusive 32GB version of the S3, although this will become available on other networks at the beginning of July.

Rather than taking a step backwards in design it seems that Samsung has drawn more inspiration for the S3 from the Galaxy Nexus, rather than the Galaxy S2. The S3 is certainly similar in size, with its large 4.8 inch screen. The S3 is Samsung's first quad core phone and features a high definition Super AMOLED Plus screen. As some have pointed out though, Samsung is placing less emphasis on hardware specs with this phone, and more emphasis on what the phone can actually do.


S Voice is an obvious attempt to compete against Siri, and only time will tell how they truly match up in real world conditions. Siri initially got a lot of praise for being a ground-breaking feature, but then experienced dwindling popularity due to problems with accents, location based services not working outside of the United States, and an increasing tendency to misunderstand statements and requests, churning out useless information. Constant use of Siri has also seen a dramatic rise in data usage for many iPhone 4S users.

Rather than just going for an easy win though, Samsung has attempted to bring some new ideas to the table. Eye tracking is implemented on the S3 to enable to phone to reduce screen brightness while you are looking elsewhere, which should dramatically improve battery life for many.

Samsung has also developed new gesture controls which should make the S3 the easiest to use smartphone on the planet. Data transfer has also been improved thanks to the NFC powered S Beam, a variant of Android Beam found on Ice Cream Sandwich, and AllShare Play which allows the sharing of media via Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA.

Although contracts for the S3 are now available to pre-order a price has not been published for the handset SIM-free. All things considered it should probably go on sale for between £500 and £550 and will be available in stores on May 30th. Galaxy S3 pre-order contracts can be compared at Best Mobile Contracts, and deals ordered now will be delivered in time for the phone's release.