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launched the original Galaxy S in 2010 and it quickly became the biggest selling Android phone of all time, only to be superseded by the Galaxy S2 a year later.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.
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.
