Sprint has announced the long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S III with very little fanfare and ahead of Samsung’s own scheduled press event for later this month.
The phone will see few changes from the version launched late last month in the UK save for the addition of Google Wallet support and the change of Samsung’s own quad-core processor for a dual-core Snapdragon variant at 1.5GHz with 2GB of RAM with support for Sprint’s forthcoming LTE network, which is scheduled to launch the same week as the S III.
Two versions of the phone will be offered depending on the amount of storage space desired with a 16GB and 32GB version being made available on launch day offering the following specifications: An 8-megapixel rear-facing zero shutter-lag camera with LED flash, 1080p video capture, intelligent camera features and facial recognition and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera along with a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen and access to the Sprint 4G LTE network along with Android 4.0 and the following features unique to the S III:
S Voice™ is the advanced natural language user interface that enables search and basic device-user communication. It can be used to turn the volume up or down on the music player, answer or reject incoming calls, shut off or choose to snooze the alarm clock or take a picture by saying “smile” or “cheese.” Motion simplifies the user experience by understanding the motion of the user. If the user is messaging but decides to call the person instead, they simply lift the phone to the ear and ‘Direct Call’ will dial the phone number. Motion includes quick camera access, missed event alert, double tap to top of list, screen shot, quick pause, quick rotate, turn over to mute, shake to refresh and raise phone to ear to make a call from messaging. Smart Stay uses facial recognition technology and the front-facing camera to identify the user’s eyes. Smart Stay disables screen timeout if the device detects the user’s eyes are looking at the screen.
S Beam expands on Android Beam™ to enhance device-to-device sharing through NFC technology by adding the ability to share photos, videos, documents and other DRM-free content to Android Beam. This allows a 1GB file to be shared within minutes and a 10MB file within seconds by simply touching another Galaxy S III phone. AllShare Play allows users to wirelessly connect Galaxy S III to their PC, tablet or television to immediately share files, stream music, user-generated videos, photos and other DRM-free content to AllShare-enabled devices using Wi-Fi®. It also allows the user to remotely access files on up to six Samsung devices. AllShare Group Cast lets the user share a presentation or photo album in real time with multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network.Share Shot allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with a group of friends directly from the camera using device-to-device Wi-Fi Direct capability.
Pricing for the 16GB version is set at $199.99 while the 32GB version will be set at $249.99 before after new 2 year agreement and qualified upgrade, but before additional sales taxes and fees. The 32GB version will be sold as an online exclusive while the 16GB version will be sold in all sales channels.
