A look at what’s new in Galaxy S III

Now that the cat is finally out of the bag, if you’re wondering what new things the Galaxy S III brings to the table, we’ve compiled a handy list featuring all the design, hardware and software improvements.

Design:

Compared to the Galaxy S II, Samsung has decided to adopt a more curvy design for the Galaxy S III. Samsung says the design is “inspired by nature” and is reflected by its non-linear curves. Technically, the new Galaxy S III is slimmer (8.6mm) and slightly heavier at 133grams than the Galaxy S II. Galaxy S III will initially come in marble white and pebble blue colors. More hues will be announced later.

Hardware:

The first and foremost change is the choice of the processor. Samsung Galaxy S III is integrated with a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 4 Quad processor. Going by the initial benchmarks, the latest Exynos chip looks promising.

Second hardware improvement comes in the form of a display. Galaxy S III comes with a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display (1280×720). This is the third Samsung smartphone to boast such a high-resolution display but just like the others, this panel also uses PenTile pixel arrangement.

As far as connectivity goes, Galaxy S III packs in NFC which will support S Beam (more on that below), GPS/GLONASS which is used in the Galaxy Note and Bluetooth 4.0 LE that claims to use low power and low latency.

Samsung has also bumped the storage capacity of the phone. Samsung has confirmed to bring a 64GB variant. Additionally, it also supports microSDXC cards up to 64GB that would increase the total storage capacity to up to 128GB.

Galaxy S III will also support bunch of accessories that will enhance the phone’s usability. Galaxy S III will now support wireless charging via a separate accessory. The wireless charging kit will include a battery cover and a desktop cradle that will need the phone to rest and charge.

Another nifty accessory is the AllShare Cast. Working in conjunction with the AllShare Play, users will be able to stream multimedia content from the phone to the AllShare Cast attached TV.

Software:

Galaxy S III runs on the latest version of Android 4.0 but Samsung boasts lots of improvements on the software front.

The new Galaxy S flagship now comes with S Voice. You can ask questions, weather, set an alarm, adjust phone settings etc. For instance, when the alarm goes off, a user just needs to say “Snooze” instead of trying to press the button.

Samsung has also added a feature known as Direct Call. This works when a user is viewing a contact’s message and wish to call them, the phone automatically places a call to that contact when the phone is placed besides the ear.

Smart Stay takes advantage of the front-facing camera on the phone. It detects when a user is looking at the phone and keeps the display bright. Smart Alert on the other hand, tries to notify in case of missed calls or messages. The phone will vibrate when the user picks it up.

S Beam will enable quick and easy content sharing. All a user needs to tap the back of two NFC-enabled Galaxy S III and the phone will instantaneously send the file to the other device. Samsung says a 1GB video file can be transferred to another device within 3 minutes or a 10MB music file in just two seconds.

Next up is the Pop up play feature. This feature basically allows users to watch a movie while sending an email, text, surf the web etc. at the same time.

Samsung has kept the same number of megapixels in Galaxy S III but the camera sensor now comes with zero-lag shutter that allows to take 20 continuous shots under Burst Mode or 8 best images when used the Best Photo feature.

Social Tag allows to link persons in the photo album with their social network streams, which will then display their current social status whereas Buddy Photo Share recognizes faces and allows to share with them via email.

Galaxy S III also supports the new Music Hub, which will be a streaming service and support Scan and Match feature. Music Hub will be limited to few countries.