samsung

It’s the phone on everyone’s lips at the moment, and there are some very good reasons for it. Samsung have replaced their Galaxy II with an absolute beast of a machine in the Galaxy III and the obvious angle at reviewing this new phone would be to compare it from top to bottom to the Apple iPhone. This is after all the phone it’s out to compete against.

As always, my most important feature of any phone is interaction lag, i.e. how quick are the phone’s reactions when I swipe, push or input anything?

The Galaxy III runs smoothly on its processor, in app reaction time is flawless. It’s the start-up though that’s a bit annoying. You push a button on the side to get things going and it always takes a second or two for the screen to turn on. This is enough time for you to think you haven’t pushed properly so you push again, turning the screen off. It takes some getting used to and once you do, you’re golden. But the whole time I couldn’t help but think that being the first impression of the phone, it is a bit like letting your dog poop in the entrance hall of your mansion.

In looks though, the Galaxy III is alone in its glory. It’s slimmer than a supermodel with a 4.8-inch AMOLED screen that’s bright enough for you to navigate in broad daylight. Personally I had a few issues with the size of this screen; I have quite small hands y’see.

One-handed operation and typing on the QWERTY keyboard was quite impossible and reaching the far end of the screen with your thumb (while holding it in your left hand) a bloody trawl. If you’re a driver/typer I wouldn’t suggest this phone. But maybe the fact that you can’t type and drive comfortably is a good thing. Did you do that on purpose Samsung?

Thus you’ll need to give this phone your full attention, and that means no multi-tasking. Sadly ladies, that means I wouldn’t recommend this phone for you. Not ‘cos you can multitask, but because most of you will probably have hands as small as mine.

Once you’re in the phone though and your chosen task is clear in your mind, there are few phones on the market that can rival the Galaxy III.

Foremost, thanks to the Android Ice Cream Sandwich, this phone is far more customizable than the iPhone is, and you’ll actually have fun doing it. Loads of home screens await, every app you can imagine is available in Google’s Play Store and Samsung have stocked this phone with so many lifestyle features they run the risk of alienating the hardcore business users reading.

They’re pushing a principle called Natural Interaction in the Galaxy III, and in a nutshell it’s the ability of the phone to not only detect your fingers inputting commands on the screen, but also your face, voice and motions. While this may address my gripe above about the input for small hands being so troublesome, I still stand by the assertion that most of us are going to rely on our fingers to input commands like “write an SMS”, “make a call” or “check my email”. As advanced as technologies like Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s S Voice are, I still think we’re a while away from the day that we can complete a full task on our phone while we simply talk to it as it sits in our pocket. We’re getting there, but for the moment, we still prefer to have the phone in our hand when we talk to it.

Still, the Natural Interaction does afford the user some very impressive and gimmicky lifestyle features that you won’t find anywhere else, at least not in one package.

The 1.9MP camera on the front for example manages multiple tasks at the same time. Smart Stay recognizes how you are using the phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display helping you in your task. It’s this camera that also keeps the phone screen on when you’re reading an especially long website for example. Too many phones assume since you haven’t touched the screen in 20 seconds that you’re done and can turn the screen off. This is nifty.

Galaxy III’s S Voice feature had a lot to live up to against Apple’s Siri, and I’m glad to say that it’s in the same ballpark. Simple instructions like “make a call” and “send an email” are picked up even without any settings tweaking and surfing the net with the utterance of a phrase is also quite sweet. Still, these are tasks I’d rather do on my own. I do have trust issues though.

I was especially impressed with the media features of the Galaxy III, starting with the 8MP camera on the back.

Samsung haven’t even bothered with a shutter on this phone, you push the button and that’s the picture you get. Photographers are going to whine about this I know, and I’ll admit it takes a bit of getting used to, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it makes complete sense on a mobile camera like this.

The Galaxy III also addresses another huge peeve of mine; having to close a video I’m watching because an SMS or email comes in. On this phone you can continue to watch a video anywhere on the screen while continuing other tasks. This is a true multi-tasking experience.

Battery-life on the Galaxy III is no better or worse than the iPhone, but there was one feature I picked up on that I bet you haven’t even considered in terms of battery: how long does it take to recharge from zero?

Sadly the Galaxy isn’t tremendous in this regard. While I can get my iPhone from 10% to about 40% in the drive from JHB CBD to Fourways on the N1, the Galaxy III could only get up to about 20-25% in the same time. It matters when you live a mobile life and are constantly plugging in and out.

And finally, the last major selling point of the Samsung Galaxy III, sharing. Well more specifically the inclusion of Near Field Communication technology in Samsung’s S Beam.

This is truly the future of sharing ladies and gents. It’s what Bluetooth was to Infra-red, simple tapping of the two devices together this time. No syncing, no pairing, no hassles.

I would have loved to have made the most of this technology, for example they’re toting instant payments as a big plus side to this tech. Sadly in South Africa (and actually in the rest of the world too) it’s just too early days to fully appreciate the wonder of NFC. None of my friends had a NFC device for me to practice fully on. I landed up doing a few test runs on the Sony Ericsson Xperia S.

Each day more and more gadgets are getting fitted with the glory of NFC though, and devices that talk to mobile phones are being fitted to check-out counters and store fronts world-wide. Devices like this Mp3 dispensing gum-ball machine in Germany.

It’s just going to take a little while before we’re relying 100% on NFC to pay for our groceries or set our PVR to record the show we want it to.

There you have it. The most anticipated phone since the last iPhone. And speaking of which the wait begins for iPhone 5.

But in the meantime we have the Galaxy III to enjoy. It’s phenomenally specced, glorious to behold and stacked with enough gimmicks and apps to ensure it’s a safe purchase. And at R8 000, you want to be sure you’re getting a phone you’re going to be happy with.

Get it: www.samsung.co.za
For: R8 000