Samsung Galaxy S3 Release Date May 3: Insider Says Device Will Be A Minor Upgrade With Eye-Tracking [Leaked Launch Details]

With Samsung Electronics sending out press invites to an event for the launch of its much-hyped Galaxy S3 smartphone on May 3 in London, fans have begun the countdown to come and meet the next Galaxy.

At a time when the tech world is eagerly awaiting the smartphone's release, CNET has stumbled upon some new information that may be discouraging for many potential buyers. A source in the UK telecom industry revealed to CNET that Samsung's upcoming flagship phone will be a relatively minor update from the Galaxy S2, with a speed boost and eye-tracking among the upgrades.

And wait, the device may not be even be called the Galaxy S3. Don't expect it to be called the S3, the anonymous source told CNET.

As for the new eye-tracking technology, apparently called Human Interaction, the phone's front-facing camera would be used to detect when you're looking at the screen -- when you're writing a text for example -- and is able to lock when you look away.

It'll be like the iPhone 4S was to the 4, the source added. While the tipster didn't give any further details on specs, he did say to look to the HTC One X for what to expect.

As far as the HTC One X is concerned, the global version of the handset sports a quad-core phone with Nvidia's Tegra 3 processor running at 1.5GHz, while AT&T's LTE version uses a Qualcomm S4 instead. The handset comes with 1GB RAM.

HTC One X sports a much bigger 4.7-inch super LCD 2 multi-touch screen with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and 312 ppi pixel density. It also has Gorilla Glass protection for display. It has a dimension of 134.36 x 69.9 x 9.29 mm and weighs only 130 grams.

The device runs on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and comes with 32GB of internal storage. It lacks an expandable memory slot, but HTC and Dropbox offer 25GB of online storage.

HTC One X features an 8 megapixel camera with five levels of LED flash, automatic focus and recording and playback support for 1080p HD video. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera in the front, capable of shooting 720p HD video.

Although Samsung didn't explicitly name the highly anticipated Galaxy S3 smartphone in the invitation, the new flagship device is believed to be focus of the event. As BGR noted, the only relevant text in the invitation was come and meet the next Galaxy.

The invite says, the Unpacked event will begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 11:00 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, May 3, and Samsung will provide a livestream of the event on its dedicated Facebook page.

BGR came up with yet another report on Monday, in which it claimed to have learned some more details surrounding Samsung's launch and marketing push for its new flagship handset.

Samsung is planning a huge international roll-out for the Galaxy S3, the report said. The sleek new smartphone will also be the official device of the 2012 Summer Olympics - the reason why Samsung is hosting the launch event in London. In addition, there could be simultaneous launch events in New York City, Seoul and Dubai according to our source, said the report.

The BGR report also provided some more details on the device's specifications that are given below along with other features that have been rumored for months.

• Two color options - one in blue and black, and the second one in white
• There will be 16GB and 32GB models as well
• 4.8-inch full HD 1080p resolution with 16:9 aspect ratio display
• A 1.5GHz quad-core Exynos processor
• 2GB RAM
• An 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera
• Integrated 4G LTE
• An ultra-thin ceramic case
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich without the on-screen navigation buttons
• Physical home button
• Near Field Communication (NFC)
• Bluetooth version 4.0, assisted GPS with GLONASS, Wi-Fi with DLNA and hotspot functionality
• A 2250mAh battery