Chatting with the Galaxy

Sleek, sexy, in fact, downright gorgeous, Samsung’s new flagship smart phone, the Galaxy S III boasts an 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display, a comfortable grip, gentle curves and a body that comes in a marble white or pebble blue.

The official Olympic phone also has a good quality 8 megapixel camera and several smart functions that will simplify your tasks and make your online life a whole lot easier.

Powered by 1.4 GHz quad core processor and running on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, the smart phone’s HD Super AMOLED display is very sharp and colourful with 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution, making it really good for viewing photos and watching videos as well as reading e-books and web pages. It is also readable outdoors.

The one that I tested has 16 gigabytes of internal storage. Samsung says 32 GB and 64 GB versions will also be available soon. The storage can be upgraded with a microSD card of up to 64 GB.

I am happy that S III now supports all 3G operators in Thailand. It also supports HSPA+ 850 MHz 3G protocol from TrueMove H with the highest data transfer speed of 21Mbps.

My test on TrueMove H 3G network found that S III downloaded and installed applications very quickly. After taking pictures with the S III, I could upload them to my Facebook and Instagram pages very fast. Updating Foursquare and Facebook as well as checking mails and reading web pages was also very fast and smooth.

The phone’s 1.4 GHz quad core processor is very powerful. Menus were responsive and scrolling of pages and swiping of the screens was fast and smooth. Games also ran fast on the phone.

The Android 4 is a great OS. When you start the phone for the first time, it prompts you to log in with your Google or Gmail account, and the OS will import your contacts, applications and other settings from your earlier Android-based smart phone to install on your current Android phone.

The Android 4 is already good but SIII further enhances it with several smart functions.

Among these is Smart Stay, which recognises that you are reading an e-book or browsing the web, for instance, by having the front camera identify your eyes. This function prompts the phone to maintain a bright display while you continue reading.

Another fun feature is called S Voice that allows you to give voice commands to the phone to perform several basic tasks though you need to practice and say the commands accurately. For example, when you activate the S Voice function and say “Music”, S III will start playing music from your current playlist.

You can also say “Hi, Galaxy” to wake up the phone followed by “Local Listings” to bring up Google Map. And when you say “Social update”, the phone will ask you whether you want to update Twitter or Facebook. 

After I said “Facebook”, S Voice prompted me to allow S Voice application on the Facebook and then to say something for the status update. After I finished saying it, S Voice prompted me to say “Update” and then my status was posted. Accuracy will depend or your accent and how quiet your environment is.

Another nice smart function is Social Tag. After you have taken a photo of your friends, S III’s Gallery prompts you to tag the faces of your friends. You can add the name to each face by selecting from the contact list. The gallery will recognise the face and tag throughout the gallery. Then, you can tap your friend’s face for a phone number or emails.

The Direct Call is another useful smart function. When you are messaging someone or viewing their contact details, but then decide to call them, you can simply lift the phone to your ear and the Direct Call function will dial the number for you.

S Beam allows you to transfer documents, contacts, pictures, music and videos instantly, provided the phones are NFC and Wi-Fi Direct enabled.

S III’s 8 megapixel camera is very good. I found that it took sharp and clean photos in most environments, especially outdoors.

The fun camera function is called Best Photo and it’s found under the Burst Shot mode. The function will take eight shots for you to select the best one. And the Burst Shot mode allows you to take 20 shots in one shutter pressing at the 3.3 frames per second.

The camera also has Beauty Shot mode that makes your subject looks younger with smooth skin.

Samsung Galaxy SIII retails for Bt21,900.

       

Key specs

_ OS: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

_ CPU: 1.4 GHz dual core

_ Network: 2.5G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE): 850/900/1800/1900 MHz3G (HSPA+ 21Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz

_ Display: 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED (1280x720) display

_ Camera: Main: 8 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag, BSI; Front: 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag, BSI

_ Connectivity: WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0(LE)

_ Memory: 16 GB + microSD slot (up to 64GB)

_ Battery: 2,100 mAh

_ Dimension: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm

_ Weight: 133g