Samsung Galaxy S III
LONDON/MANILA, Philippines — Korean electronics firm Samsung has finally lifted the lid on its highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone, which is slated for a global release — including the Philippines — by May 29.
At the London launch of Samsung’s new flagship phone, the company put particular emphasis on how the new Galaxy model will be a phone “designed for humans,” stressing how the phone understands and responds appropriately to human interaction through a collection of sensors built around the phone.
“We believe technology should be more than just smart. This is a phone that sees, listens, and responds to our intentions,” said Samsung Belgium Head of Marketing Loesje De Vriese.
Samsung Galaxy S III launch in London. Photo by Yugatech
The Galaxy S III will be powered by the company’s proprietary 1.4GHz Exynos 4 quad-core processor, and will feature a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, as well as an 8-megapixel camera.
But what stood out during the smartphone’s launch on Friday (Manila time) were the features that allow the phone to recognize human interaction with it, such as gaze, proximity, and voice.
One of those features is called “Smart Stay”, which uses the front-facing camera to detect if you are looking at the screen and would stay awake.
Another is a voice-recognition technology called S Voice, a Siri-like, which allows the user to wake the phone up just by saying, “Hi, Galaxy!” It also takes certain commands from the user, such as when opening applications or when scheduling appointments.
Direct Call, on the other hand, detects if the phone is near your ear using motion and proximity sensors, and would call the person you’re texting right away. “You don’t even have to press a button!” De Vriese exclaimed.
There are a total of six sensors built around the phone, Samsung said, which allows it to accurately pinpoint and predict the intention of the user, even without taking direct orders from the owner.
Samsung Galaxy S III launch in London. Photo by Yugatech
Aside from these features, Samsung also demonstrated a host of social-sharing capabilities of the Galaxy S III, which include:
- the S Beam, the NFC- and WiFi Direct-powered technology that only requires a tap with another phone to share content;
- the AllShare Cast, which mirrors the phone’s screen with AllShare-capable devices such as TVs and tablets;
- and Buddy Photo Share, which gives you the power to instantly share a photo to your friends as soon as his/her face has been recognized by the phone.
Samsung said its new flagship phone will ship in two colors: White and Blue; and will come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage capacities.
The 3G model of the phone will begin shipping to Europe and other parts of Asia by May 29, Samsung said, while the 4G version will soon follow. The Korean company, however, was silent about the retail price of the phone.
