Samsung Galaxy S3 Features: Did We Get What We Expected?

Samsung has finally launched its flagship Galaxy S3 phone. The official commercial of the phone is also out, which shows that the phone is made for the humans, giving a direct hint towards the natural interaction features that the company has provided in the phone.

While the tech aficionados around the world predicted that the Galaxy S3 would be the best smartphone since the launch of Apple iPhone, could it really justify to the statement? Could it live up to the expectations and excitement that smartphone lovers created all over the world? All these will be unveiled only when the phone arrives in the UK May 29. But for the time being, let's check out all the rumors that went wrong and the features that the company has packed in it.

Rumors That Became Reality

Name: Although Samsung official slipped the name during earnings call of 2012 that took place last week, rumor mills predicted that the name would be Galaxy S3 and not 'New Galaxy' following the footprint of the company strong rival, Apple.

Display Size: According to the last rumor came from Unwire (Google Translated) citing Colorant, a screen protector film manufacturer, Galaxy S3 was expected to sport a 4.8-inch touchscreen display. And, they were right!

Physical home button: The Digital Daily claimed that Galaxy S3 would finally come with a physical home button. That rumor also came true despite several other rumors that predicted an edge-to-edge glass body without physical button.

Wireless Charging: While it was rumored, Samsung has finally provided this revolutionary feature with its Galaxy S3.

Rumors That Remained Rumors

Plastic Body and not Ceramic: Despite several rumors that indicated that the new Galaxy S phone will come with ceramic casing, people who could review the phone at the launch event, reported that the phone comes with the same Hasbro-style plastic that had been used for its predecessor and Samsung this time also didn't abandon the cheap-feeling materials.

Display: Again Samsung follows its tradition and packs in a Pentile AMOLED screen. Rumors suggested that the screen would be non-Pentile and would be Super AMOLED Plus that boasts 50 percent more sub-pixels than Super AMOLED, which not only shows colors in a more vibrant manner, but deals much better with bright lighting conditions (a RedmondPie report).

Camera: Samsung fans, who waited to see a 12 megapixel shooter in the next generation Galaxy S smartphone, can be disappointed with this news as the Korean electronics giant has provided an 8 MP snapper with the phone. The company packed in a 1.9 MP front camera with the phone.

Features that were expected and finally provided

Operating System: It didn't require any great mathematician's brain to predict that Samsung will pack Android's latest Ice Cream Sandwich.

Processor: Samsung unveiled its 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad processor last week and announced that the new processor along with ARM Cortex A9 would be part of the next Galaxy phone. It also announced that the company would use quad core processor only with devices launching in Europe and Korea. While the European version will run on 3G, the same device will run on LTE in Korea. But for the US market, the company will launch only dual core (not the quad core) Qualcomm processor.

In addition, the smartphone sports a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit and the usual 1GB of RAM, as expected.

16/32/64 GB Memory : As expected, Galaxy S3 comes with 16/32and 64GB. While the first two variants will hit the market on May 29, the other will come a little later in the market. The phone also boasts of a microSD card slot though which memory can be expanded to 64GB. Additionally, Samsung has provided 50GB Dropbox storage option that comes free for 2 years.

The phone also sports the Near Field Communication feature, as predicted.

New Features that Make the Phone Outstanding

A Monster battery: Samsung has provided a monstrous 2100mah battery which is also removable.

Camera with no shutter lag - Samsung's new phone megapixel might have disappointed you, but the company has packed a zero-lag shutter speed feature and worked hard on the backside illumination. Moreover, the camera features a Burst Shot function that shoots 20 pictures continuously and then the Best Photo feature will automatically select the best eight photos for you.

The new smartphone camera also includes a Group Tag feature that selects photos in groups depending on who appears in what photo.

The Human Element

The Korean tech giant has given some extraordinary feature that will keep the phone ahead of any smartphone in coming days. Although as reviewers said that most of Samsung's features are always inspired by some other company (read Apple), the new features are noteworthy, indeed.

S Voice: A feature similar to that of the Siri, is a customized voice recognition system that recognizes a variety of commands like turning on snooze mode, launching the camera application, play and control music, control volume, compose text and email and more.

Smart Stay: Feature, using the front-facing camera, monitors your eyes and maintain a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

S Beam: This is an enhanced version of Android Beam system that will allow content to be shared easily, and works with NFC and Wi-Fi Direct.

Pop Up play: This feature will let user watch a video while using other apps like browsing web.

Direct Call: This feature will allow users to make a call to the person they are texting simply by lifting the phone to their ear.

Smart Alert: After leaving it idle for some time soon as you pick your phone, this feature will inform you of missed calls, messages, or emails by vibrating gently.

Social Tag: This feature will recognize faces in photos and links with social media information directly from the gallery.

AllShare Media: AllShare Cast allows immediate sharing of content on the phone with a compatible display by streaming content over a home's Wi-Fi connection; AllShare Play can send media regardless of the distance between devices. Another nice feature is Group Cast, which shares your phone's screen with other users on the same network and allows them to annotate and add comments.

Capacitive C Pen stylus - Samsung has given a C Pen stylus that's made with an aluminum body, a 3mm rubber tip, and a finish to match Galaxy S3 design.

The 3G version of Samsung Galaxy S3 is expected to see a release May 29 and will be arriving in Europe first. It is expected to hit the US market in June. The phone will arrive in Japan and South Korea sometime this summer. Countries, that are to receive only the 3G version of Galaxy S3, will get the phone only after European rollout.