Capping months of rumors and speculation, Samsung
has announced its Galaxy S III smartphone at an event in London today.
Major specs include a 4.8-inch PenTile Super AMOLED display at 720p
resolution, 8-megapixel primary and 1.9-megapixel front-facing cameras
with 990ms start-up time, 3.3fps burst mode, and best-shot selection
(similar to the HTC One series), 16 or 32GB of storage (a 64GB version
is coming later) with microSD expansion, Bluetooth 4.0 support, GPS with
GLONASS reception, high-throughput 40MHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, NFC, and a
relatively large 2,100mAh battery.
The global version of the device will
be using the recently-announced Exynos 4 Quad
quad-core system-on-chip — regional variants could be using
alternatives, just as the Galaxy S II did. The phone measures 8.6mm
thick (136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm, to be exact) which is actually a bit
thicker than the S II’s 8.5mm. The global version will support 21Mbps
HSPA , though Samsung is quick to point out that certain local models
will have 4G.
The hardware seems incremental over the Galaxy Nexus released late
last year, but Samsung’s touting some fascinating software
customizations — an emphasis on “natural interaction,” it says — that’ll
debut in the S III.
