THE SMARTPHONE THREAD

[gattsu]

one x battery is abysmal though quad core is all well n good but you'll have to charge that beast twice a day

[Skola]

quad f*ckin core

had to freeze my contract for 5 months while i was in france

not even gonna calculate how long i have to hold on to this sgs2 for

[Mr. Gayle]

Today Shiny Shiny and Tech Digest went along to Earl's Court in London for the highly anticipated launch of Samsung's new handset, the Galaxy S3. After a few loud and dramatic videos and a real life orchestra (fancy, huh?) the Samsung team took to the stage to introduce us to the slick new handset.

Throughout the launch Samsung was really keen to play up just how much the Galaxy S3 is based on nature (JK Shin even went as far as to say it's "inspired by water, wind, leaves and pebbles") and designed to work "seamlessly" with our day to day lives and from what we've seen so far these aren't just fluffy buzzwords...

Let's start by talking about the handset's impressive screen, the Samsung Galaxy S3 boasts a 4.8" HD super AMOLED 1280x720 display with a super slim bezel, which means the unit itself isn't much bigger than its predecessor, despite the huge screen. It has 8.6 mm thickness and weighs only 133g with a smooth, sleek shape, which the team were keen to stress is based on "a minimal, organic design."

The handset boasts a 8 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with a range of in-built features like burst shot, buddy photo share and best photo, which is our favourite, as it automatically selects the best photo out of a series of eight. The camera itself has zero shutter lag, which means it takes the photo as soon as you press the button and then spends less than one second getting you back into camera mode. The rear facing camera can also capture full HD 1080 videos and there's a front facing 1.9 Megapixel camera too.

Samsung has packed a whole load of cool new features into its new handset, including a Siri-like S Voice recognition feature, which understands eight different languages and can search for information, show you the weather forecast, organise your schedules and much more. There's also Social Tag, which keeps track of the people close to you and recognises the faces of your friends in your photos, this means when you take a photo it'll recognise who it is, so you can hit a Facebook button and it'll take you straight to their wall to upload. Voila!

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 and 16 or 32GB of memory, with a 64GB option available soon, as well as expandable memory, which sets it apart from the iPhone. The handset also boasts a 2,100 mAh battery, which is pretty impressive too.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will be launching in 145 countries with 296 mobile operators and the 3G handset will be launched on the 29th of May in Europe, the 30th of May in the UK, and the 4G will hit North America, Japan and Korea in June.

You can get the handset in a choice of two colours, blue and white.

[Kurtis]

no videos?

[DRC]

that screen

[Mr. Gayle]

More here and videos too

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/03/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-preview-hands-on/

[Mr. Gayle]

Looks very fast, pinch and zoom is so slick

[Mr. Gayle]

iPhone 5 needs to come big with some big new things, I'm feeling the GS3

[Kurtis]

dont like the shape

[Kurtis]

my fave right now is still the HTC One X

technology >>> women

[Lenny]

One X is a stunning looking handset. The white one especially

[J. Edgar]

The Iphone 5 will lure all their loyal fans with liquid metal glass and an underspec'd device. I think their main focus will be on the new OS and DLNA.

[Da Luv Doc]

Will bypass the GS3 and coup a GS4 when that is available (Got the GS2, brilliant phone but two year contract).

[Skola]

dont like the shape

innit

looks like something RIM would make

[Lenny]

HTC EVO 4G LTE

HTC's designers are on a roll

[Haze-e]

Looks fucking sexy.

[Lenny]

Only reason why I don't like Android devices is because they age to f*ck*ng quick.

It's a constant spec war

What need need to concentrate on is power efficiency, optimization and battery tech. So I can actually last through the day with a Android phone

[Salamanca]

i been screaming this from day.

yeah its all good quad core and 8 core f*ck*ng processors, but whats the point when battery life is a few hours long.

[Kurtis]

i love android for that, its constant competition, no ones slackin

your number 1 smartphone maker will be number 10 in 6 months time, its so exciting

i dont even care about battery time too tough, im usually somewhere i can charge it, im not on the move all the time

[Lenny]

i been screaming this from day.

yeah its all good quad core and 8 core f*ck*ng processors, but whats the point when battery life is a few hours long.

!

/

HTC lost money at the end of last year because they were bringing out to many handsets. Hence the concentration now on the "one series".

1 main flagship a year > 3 or 4 handsets of the same model with slight upgrades or changes. It gives the buyer confidence their phone won't be outdated 2/3 months into a 18 month contract

[Lenny]

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Thehoodtechman >

[Kurtis]

Samsung confirms next Galaxy Note will debut at Mobile Unpacked event this month

Not that there was much doubt, but Reuters reports an unnamed Samsung spokesperson has revealed that yes, the next Galaxy Note will be unveiled at its Mobile Unpacked event in Berlin on August 29th, a year after the original. Other than the existing speculation about a bigger screen, and the faster processor possibly revealed by benchmarks there's not much else to say, yet, although with IFA kicking off two days later we're sure the electronics giant will have more than one trick up its sleeve. So, any ideas on what the next generation phablet needs (NFC and a headset?) to keep its king-sized place atop the competition?

[RYDER.]

Wow Samsung really trying to compete with Apple aren't they?

[Kurtis]

they sell more smartphones than apple

[Simply D]

they need to concentrate on f*ck*ng dropping the Note Tablet for FUCCCCCCCCKS sake!!