Easily the most anticipated Android phone of 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S3 made some waves after it was finally announced last week. While the US version of the phone has not yet been announced — it will be unveiled in the US later this year — the global version of that phone was here at CTIA 2012 for us to take a look at.
In the past, Samsung has been highly criticized for having phones that simply felt cheap. Devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy Nexus have helped put a stop to that, but the new Galaxy S3 stops that thought completely. The phone feels incredibly solid, and the plastic construction only helps it feel lighter. It seems entirely likely that you would lose this phone in your front pocket, simply because you are unable to feel that it is there while you walk around.
The phone sports a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED+ display, but the nearly complete lack of a bezel still makes the phone feel smaller than the Galaxy Nexus in the hand. The “hyperglaze” back cover to the phone comes off and reveals a user replaceable battery, SIM slot, and MicroSD slot that supports up to 32GB. The back cover itself feels almost like a laminated piece of paper, and it is just as flexible.
When you get past all of Samsung’s crazy marketing for the device, about how it was designed for humans and inspired by nature, the phone really is very enjoyable to use. The lockscreen of the phone allows you to store four apps that can be launched straight from the lockscreen. Android 4.0 is coated in a thick layer of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, but in no way does this affect the performance of the device.
Samsung has been trying for some time now to make the transition from one phone to another as seamless as possible in terms of the UI, and with the Galaxy S3 they achieved that goal. You don’t feel like you are using a phone with a brand new OS on it, you feel like you are using a Samsung TouchWiz phone, which is a powerful asset for Samsung to have. The real power behind the Galaxy S3 will be in the ecosystem it creates, to encourage the user to always stay with Samsung.
So far, the Galaxy S3 is a truly impressive device. Samsung has included so many powerful and unique features that it could help shape the future of Android and the way users interact with their handsets. All signs point to the GS3 being a flagship device for quite awhile, and an outstanding one at that. If nothing else, the Galaxy S3 will present Android power users with a difficult choice when buying their next phone.
