India Gadget Reviews

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has just been released, and its spec list reads like a dream for tech enthusiasts. In this article I will look at how the handset differs to its predecessor the Galaxy S2 in terms of some key features.

Screen The Samsung Galaxy S2 is well known for the quality of its touchscreen, and this is continues with the Galaxy S3. The new version has a larger screen at 4.8 inches which is half an inch bigger than that of the previous instalment of the Galaxy smartphone series. The same basic screen technology is continued in the new flagship, sporting a Super-AMOLED capacitive panel, which is renowned as one of the best features of the Galaxy S2. In the new version though, the screen resolution has been upped to a 720p count, which means the Galaxy S3 is capable of displaying high definition content like movies and games.

Camera The Samsung Galaxy S3 was widely rumoured to include a 12 megapixel camera leading up to its release. During the live unveiling at Earl's Court in London though, we learned that it actually has an 8 megapixel unit, as does the Samsung Galaxy S3. Although the camera's pixel count is not as high as many were anticipating, it is far from disappointing. A wealth of new features has been added to the camera function, making it easier to use than ever. For example, you can capture up to 20 photos with a single touch of the capture icon, so you can choose the best one to keep. Of course, all the usual image enhancing features are included such as image stabilisation, face detection and an LED flash. Video capture is in 1080p high definition which looks great on the HD screen, and can be streamed to a number of compatible devices.

Processor and Operating System The Samsung Galaxy S2 was the first smartphone from the manufacturer to sport a dual-core processor with a clockspeed of 1.2 GHz. The S3 though has a 1.4 GHz Exynos processor so it directly competes with flagship phones from the likes of HTC (One X) and LG (Optimus 4X HD), both of which recently unveiled their new flagship Android devices at MWC 2012 in Barcelona. The new Android 'Ice Cream Sandwich' is the latest version, and is the OS of choice for the Samsung Galaxy S3 which also runs Samsung's custom Android UI called TouchWiz. This has plenty of improvements over the previous version found on the S2, many of which are aimed at making it the most intuitive interface out there which responds to a variety of natural movements and actions.