Mobile phones are tricky gadgets to review. I’ve spent the last four weeks getting under the sleek, polished skin of Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III, to find out just how well it copes with the day to day grind.
I’ll get onto the fancy “human” features that Samsung’s marketing blurb shouts about in a second, but the first thing that strikes me is the 4.8in HD super AMOLED screen. It is blisteringly sharp, almost the same resolution as the new iPhone 5, and with extra colours. Samsung’s choice of a plastic casing means it’s a pocket friendly 8.6mm thick and 133g, but has a finish more Ford Focus than Ferrari. The Quad Core 1.4Ghz processor and Android 4.0 operating system zip along nicely; it’s a silky touchscreen experience.
Some of the clever “human-inspired” features are little more than tech-takeaways – “Smart Stay” is meant to use the phone’s front camera to keep the screen active via a staring contest. Performance was intermittent at best. The 8 megapixel digital camera is impressive, though, with its almost instant focusing and burst shooting system which auto-discards blinks and grimaces. The thing I do use daily is the auto-call feature which triggers a call by lifting the phone to my ear; a nice, spooky touch. There’s also a voice recognition system, “S-Voice”, which I’ll steer clear of; although shouting “snooze” could come in useful on a Monday morning.
The most important factor for me is battery life. The S3 keeps up with my incessant emailing and 3G/WiFi switching to last for a day of what I’d call “hard use”. If you’re in the market for an android smartphone, the S3 delivers lightning-fast performance and a luscious screen, plus a host of “human-inspired” techno-candy.
Samsung Galaxy S III Mobile Phone
Free on contracts or £468 sim-free from Amazon.co.uk; www.samsung.com/uk/