TORONTO—Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy S III has finally made its way to Canada, offering technophiles one of the hottest cellphones on the market.
The slick hardware comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich boosted with a set of Samsung features that help rather than hinder Google’s mobile operating system.
“We are very excited to bring the highly anticipated GALAXY S III to Canadians so they can experience firsthand, the power, performance, and passion that Samsung is known for,” said Paul Brannen, a Samsung VP, in a recent statement.
The Galaxy S III touts unique additions to the OS, including S Voice: Samsung’s answer to Siri, Apple’s voice-recognition interface.
S Voice will allow users to control specific functions of the phone, such as send text messages and emails, schedule events, or launch the camera and other apps, though some reviews found it slightly less reliable than Siri.
The phone can also detect when it is picked up after being left for a time, give the user an additional alert to any missed calls, and even directly call people back when lifted to the users ear.
Samsung’s supercharged Android’s Beam is an NFC (near-field communication) tool normally used to transfer things like links and contact information from one phone to another by touching the two devices together.
GALAXY S III expands upon this with Samsung’s new S Beam, which can transfer files—big files—quickly, such as a 1 GB file in three minutes or a 10 MB music file in two seconds, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal.
The feature only works between two Galaxy S IIIs, encouraging owners to convert their friends to the new handset.
Compared to the iPhone, the new Galaxy has a larger 4.8” display that offers a 16:9 view. Download speeds are accelerated with Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.
The phone features a potent 8 MP camera with a zero-lag shutter speed so budding photojournalists can capture moving objects without delay. It also has a burst function to capture 20 continuous shots.
The Galaxy S III can record HD video on its front-facing 1.9 MP front-facing camera as well.
Samsung is also offering Samsung Hubs where users can get access to games, TV shows, and videos for rent, along with a music streaming service.
The big three phone companies (Rogers, Bell, and Telus) will carry the handset, along with Virgin Mobile, SaskTel, Videotron, Wind, and Mobilicity.
While the first models in Canada come in “pebble blue” or “marble white” only, more colours are coming, promises Samsung.
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