Aside from that it’s still running on Android Jelly Bean, looks pretty much the same and “works with your life’.

In the last department, they have been busy.

They’ve built-in a feature called ‘Smart pause/Smart scroll’ which automatically scrolls up or down a website or email by mapping where your eyes are looking. This tech also lets you pause a video when it detects you’ve taken your eyes off the screen.

This joins the list of “built-for-life” features which we saw for the first time in the S3 like Smart Call and S-Voice, but the S4 brings more to the table.

S Translator immediately reads back desired text in whatever language you need it in. ChatON lets you share what’s on your screen with mate far, far away. Even use both cameras while playing a video chat. That’s next-level multitasking.

AirView Gestures is definitely going to be a favorite: answer calls, change songs or switch apps just by swiping your hand or finger in front of the device. Samsung are showing other manufacturers that the onboard camera really can do more than just take pictures.

No word yet on when it’ll arrive in SA or how much it will be, but there’s no doubt Samsung knows how to cram features in to an otherwise “same ol” phone.

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They say it’s the last camera you’ll ever need, but we all know they’ll be saying that again in about a year or two at the launch of version two.

It’s a 16MP handheld compact camera that has a 4.8-inch LCD screen on the back. The smart part? It runs Android Jelly Bean and incorporates in to it numerous Smartphone functions except one: the ability to make calls.

It’s got 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, access to the Android app store and voice control like the Galaxy III smartphone. And on the camera side it’s got a 21x zoom, something no other cellphone has.

A decent camera, and almost a decent phone. What’s next?

Get it: R7 000
From: The overseas

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It’s a hard act to follow the mighty Samsung Galaxy III, but this tiny and affordable, normal man’s phone is giving it its best anyways.

Slim and light at 11.98mm and under a kilo, the Pocket Smartphone is just that featuring Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform, Google Mobile Services, Samsung Apps and the TouchWiz interface.

Granted it’s not powered by the heftiest of processors, only an 832Mhz engine, but it does have Wi-Fi, 3G and HSDPA connectivity.

The zinger? It has a 2MP camera and a huge 32GB of onboard storage. That’s as much or more than the new Galaxy III monster.

R1 000 for a 32GB USB stick with a screen. Worth it!

Review coming soon.

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Samsung has had their new touchscreen, flagship Smartphone on a serious training camp before its release last week and the results are telling.

The one problem though: for a phone “Designed for Humans”, never has a phone less required an actual human being to operate it.

The specs and unique selling points of this phone are almost endless.

Let’s start with the 4.8-inch HD Super Amoled screen. Samsung make screens, so it’s not surprising to find that this one rocks hard. It’s vaster than the Klein Karoo, and has a massive quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage and the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich backing it up.

Tag team that with the 8MP camera which obviously does HD video, and you’re working with a behemoth of a device.

But the big parts of the phone that Samsung is pushing are a bunch of lifestyle comforts that, despite being very intelligent and uber cool to show off at your next business meeting, I think will become quite tiresome as time with the phone ticks by and you realize that you’d rather do a lot of the things it’s made to do for you.

S-Voice for example is Samsung’s answer to Apple Siri, and the two minute play I had with it at the launch didn’t blow me away. However, I’ll reserve judgment on this until I give it a proper try. S-Voice may recognize 8 different languages, but I can just see myself resorting to setting the alarm to wake up by myself, rather than relying on some computer chip to do it for me. Why? For the same reason I delete my entire password when I make one mistake inserting it into a website. And so do 99% of the rest of the world.

The other gimmicks the Galaxy III comes with include Direct Call which will immediately call the person who just sent you an SMS if you just hold the phone up to your ear.

And the eye-tracking software which locks onto your eyes and then turns the screen off when it senses your eyes look away for a set time. It knows what you know…almost.

In pictures, the Smart Tag feature will immediately take you to the Facebook wall of the person it picks up in the picture. Great for some, but a nuisance for others.

There are some features of the Galaxy III which I’ll admit are less intrusive on the user and will enhance the experience immensely.

Best Shot for example is something we’ve seen in many other devices, and now it’s here. The device will take numerous shots of the picture you’re taking and let you select the best one, in case some moron closes their eyes or sneezes.

S-Beam, which we first saw in the Nexus a while ago is back and improved. Thanks to the inclusion of Near Field Communication, you can simply touch your phone to your friends NFC–enabled device and share a movie, Mp3 or picture. Pirates globally rejoice in 3…2…1!

One of the biggest features that the Galaxy III brings to South Africa is Video Hub. For R10 a movie, and for life, you can download and keep a range of blockbusters on your phone. This is only launching in 7 countries, and we are one of them. With the difficulties Apple gives South African’s in this department, this feature could be decisive.

One of the biggest complaints we in the motoring world is that manufacturers are feature-by-feature removing the driver from the experience of driving a car. In the Galaxy III, I fear Samsung is slowly moving down the same road.

A phone is not a car though. So perhaps this is a good thing?

Your thoughts in the comments!

The post Samsung Galaxy III…more beefed, more specced and not in need of you as much as you are of it appeared first on Reviews of the latest gadgets and cars - AskSteve.co.za.