The phone was initially launched in Singapore on June 4, 2010.[10] Before the end of its first weekend on sale in Singapore, Samsung tweeted that Singtel, the exclusive carrier to sell the device in Singapore, were sold out of devices.[11] On Friday June 25, 2010, the phone was launched in Malaysia and South Korea.[12][13] Overall the launch schedule comprised launches on 110 carriers in 100 countries at the same time.[14] U.S. Variants named as Epic, Vibrant, Fascinate, Captivate, and Mesmerize were released from June through September 2010.
The Samsung Galaxy S III is a multi-touch, slate-format smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics that runs the Android operating system. It has additional software features, expanded hardware, and a redesigned physique from its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S II. The S III employs an intelligent personal assistant (S Voice), eye-tracking ability, increased storage, and a wireless charging option. Depending on country, the 4.8-inch (120 mm) smartphone comes with different processors and RAM capacity, and 4G LTEsupport.[10] The device was launched with Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich", and can be updated to Android 4.1.2 "Jelly Bean". The phone's successor, the Samsung Galaxy S IV, was announced on March 14, 2013 and was released the following month.
Following an 18-month development phase, Samsung unveiled the S III on 3 May 2012.[11] The device was released in 28 European and Middle Eastern countries on 29 May 2012, before being progressively released in other major markets in June 2012. Prior to release, 9 million pre-orders were placed by more than 100 carriers globally.[12] The S III was released by approximately 300 carriers in nearly 150 countries at the end of July 2012.[4] More than 20 million units of the S III were sold within the first 100 days of release.[13] Samsung has since sold more than 50 million units.[5]
Due to overwhelming demand and a manufacturing problem with the blue version of the phone,[14] there was an extensive shortage of the S III, especially in the United States. Nevertheless, the S III was well-received commercially and critically, with some technology commentators touting it as the "iPhone killer".[15] In September 2012, TechRadar ranked it as the No. 1 handset in its constantly updated list of the 20 best mobile phones,[16] while Stuff magazine likewise ranked it at No. 1 in its list of 10 best smartphones in May 2012.[17] The handset also won the "European Mobile Phone of 2012–13" award from the European Imaging and Sound Association,[18] as well as T3 magazine's "Phone of the Year" award for 2012.[19] It played a major role in boosting Samsung's record operating profit during the second quarter of 2012.[20] As of November 2012, the Galaxy S III is part of a high-profile lawsuit between Samsung and Apple.[21] In November 2012, research firm Strategy Analytics announced that the Galaxy S III had overtaken the Apple iPhone 4S to become the world's best-selling smartphone model in Q3 2012.[22]
The Galaxy S III uses Google's Android mobile operating system, which was introduced commercially in 2008.[37] Its TouchWiz "Nature UX"graphical user interface (GUI)—which is influenced by the "organic" customer trend—is more interactive than Samsung's previous GUIs, with the notable addition of the "Water Lux" effect, which produces ripples upon contact.[23] To complement the TouchWiz interface, and as a response to Apple's Siri, the phone introduces S Voice, Samsung's intelligent personal assistant. S Voice can recognize eight languages including English,Korean and French.[38] Based on Vlingo, S Voice enables the user to verbally control 20 functions such as playing a song, setting the alarm, or activating driving mode; it relies on Wolfram Alpha for online searches.[39]
The S III comes with Android version 4.0.4, named "Ice Cream Sandwich", which became commercially available in March 2012 with the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus.[40] Ice Cream Sandwich has a refined user interface, expanded camera capabilities, security features and connectivity.[41] In mid-June 2012, Google unveiled Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean", which employsGoogle Now, a voice-assistant similar to S Voice, and incorporates other software changes. Samsung accommodated Jelly Bean in the S III by making last-minute hardware changes to the phone in some markets.[42] Jelly Bean updates began rolling out to S IIIs in selected European countries, and to the T-Mobile in the United States in November.[43][44] On October 17, Samsung announced, that US S IIIs will be updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean "in the coming months".[45] Samsung started pushing Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean to the international version of the S III in December 2012.[46] The LTE Version of the S3 comes with the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean preloaded. The S III is also compatible with CyanogenMod 10, a custom firmware that implements the characteristics of Jelly Bean.[47]
The S III comes with a multitude of pre-installed applications including standard Android ones such as YouTube, Google+, Voice Search, Google Play, Gmail, Map, and Calendar, in addition to Samsung-specific apps such as ChatON, Game Hub, Video Hub, Social Hub and Navigation.[48][49] To address the fact that iPhone users are reluctant to switch to Android because the OS is not compatible with iTunes, from June 2012 Samsung offered customers of its Galaxy series the Easy Phone Sync app to enable the transfer of music, photos, videos, podcasts, and text messages from an iPhone to a Galaxy device.[50] The user is able to access Google Play, a digital-distribution multimedia-content service exclusive to Android, to download applications, movies, music, TV programs, games, books, and magazines.[51]
ChatON has basic features which are auto friends registration, text chat, & multimedia deliver, and put new features which are My Page, voice/video chat, & translate. The main function of ChatON is divided into Multimedia, Group Chat, Trunk, and Animation Message. ChatON can send text, picture, video, & audio as multimedia. Users use the personal profile into My Page. They can create group chat rooms just by selecting more than 2 buddies. All the contents that have been shared in each chat is saved into each trunk. Animation Message turns some simple drawing and stamping into short moving videos.
Apart from S Voice, Samsung has directed the bulk of the S III's marketing campaign towards the device's "smart" features, which facilitate improved human-device interactivity. These features include: "Direct Call", or the handset's ability to recognise when a user wants to talk to somebody instead of messaging them, if they bring the phone to their head; "Social Tag", a function that identifies and tags people in a photo and shares photos with them; and "Pop Up Play", which allows a video and other applications to occupy the screen at the same time.[52] In addition, the S III can beam its screen to a TV or be used as a remote controller (AllShare Cast and Play) and share photos with people who are tagged in them (Buddy Photo Share).[52] Other software features include Smart Alerts, Smart Stay, and S Beam.[52]
The S III can access and play traditional media formats such as music, movies, TV programs, audiobooks, and podcasts, and can sort its media library alphabetically by song title, artist, album, playlist, folder, and genre. One notable feature of the S III's music player is Music Square, which analyses a song's intensity and ranks the song by mood so that the user can play songs according to their current emotional state.[53] With the release of the S III, Samsung debuted its proprietary music management and download application called "Music Hub", designed to compete with Apple's iTunes, iCloud, and iTunes Match services. Music Hub's music catalogue contains over 19 million songs.[54]
The S III was the first smartphone to support Voice Over LTE with the introduction of HD Voice service in South Korea.[55] The phone enables video calling with its 1.9 MP front-facing camera, and with support for the aptX codec, improves Bluetooth-headset connectivity.[56] Texting on the S III does not embody any new significant features from the S II. Speech-to-text is aided by the Vlingo and Google's voice-recognition assistant. Not unlike other Android devices, there are a multitude of third-party typing applications available that could complement the S III's stock keyboard.[57]
On 18 June 2012, Samsung announced that the S III would have a version with enterprise software under the company's Samsung Approved For Enterprise (SAFE) program, an initiative that facilitates the use of private Android devices by professional employees, also known as "Bring Your Own Device".[58] The enterprise S III version would support AES-256 bit encryption, VPN and Mobile Device Management functionality, and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.[59] It was scheduled to be released in the U.S. in July 2012. The enterprise version was expected to penetrate the business market dominated by Research in Motion's BlackBerry, following the release of similar enterprise versions of the Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Tab line of tablet computers.[59][60]
A separate "Developer Edition" of the S III was made available from Samsung's Developer Portal. It came with an unlockable bootloader to allow the user to modify the phone's software.[61]
The Samsung Galaxy S III is a multi-touch, slate-format smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics that runs the Android operating system. It has additional software features, expanded hardware, and a redesigned physique from its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S II. The S III employs an intelligent personal assistant (S Voice), eye-tracking ability, increased storage, and a wireless charging option. Depending on country, the 4.8-inch (120 mm) smartphone comes with different processors and RAM capacity, and 4G LTEsupport.[10] The device was launched with Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich", and can be updated to Android 4.1.2 "Jelly Bean". The phone's successor, the Samsung Galaxy S IV, was announced on March 14, 2013 and was released the following month.
Following an 18-month development phase, Samsung unveiled the S III on 3 May 2012.[11] The device was released in 28 European and Middle Eastern countries on 29 May 2012, before being progressively released in other major markets in June 2012. Prior to release, 9 million pre-orders were placed by more than 100 carriers globally.[12] The S III was released by approximately 300 carriers in nearly 150 countries at the end of July 2012.[4] More than 20 million units of the S III were sold within the first 100 days of release.[13] Samsung has since sold more than 50 million units.[5]
Due to overwhelming demand and a manufacturing problem with the blue version of the phone,[14] there was an extensive shortage of the S III, especially in the United States. Nevertheless, the S III was well-received commercially and critically, with some technology commentators touting it as the "iPhone killer".[15] In September 2012, TechRadar ranked it as the No. 1 handset in its constantly updated list of the 20 best mobile phones,[16] while Stuff magazine likewise ranked it at No. 1 in its list of 10 best smartphones in May 2012.[17] The handset also won the "European Mobile Phone of 2012–13" award from the European Imaging and Sound Association,[18] as well as T3 magazine's "Phone of the Year" award for 2012.[19] It played a major role in boosting Samsung's record operating profit during the second quarter of 2012.[20] As of November 2012, the Galaxy S III is part of a high-profile lawsuit between Samsung and Apple.[21] In November 2012, research firm Strategy Analytics announced that the Galaxy S III had overtaken the Apple iPhone 4S to become the world's best-selling smartphone model in Q3 2012.[22]
The Galaxy S III uses Google's Android mobile operating system, which was introduced commercially in 2008.[37] Its TouchWiz "Nature UX"graphical user interface (GUI)—which is influenced by the "organic" customer trend—is more interactive than Samsung's previous GUIs, with the notable addition of the "Water Lux" effect, which produces ripples upon contact.[23] To complement the TouchWiz interface, and as a response to Apple's Siri, the phone introduces S Voice, Samsung's intelligent personal assistant. S Voice can recognize eight languages including English,Korean and French.[38] Based on Vlingo, S Voice enables the user to verbally control 20 functions such as playing a song, setting the alarm, or activating driving mode; it relies on Wolfram Alpha for online searches.[39]
The S III comes with Android version 4.0.4, named "Ice Cream Sandwich", which became commercially available in March 2012 with the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus.[40] Ice Cream Sandwich has a refined user interface, expanded camera capabilities, security features and connectivity.[41] In mid-June 2012, Google unveiled Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean", which employsGoogle Now, a voice-assistant similar to S Voice, and incorporates other software changes. Samsung accommodated Jelly Bean in the S III by making last-minute hardware changes to the phone in some markets.[42] Jelly Bean updates began rolling out to S IIIs in selected European countries, and to the T-Mobile in the United States in November.[43][44] On October 17, Samsung announced, that US S IIIs will be updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean "in the coming months".[45] Samsung started pushing Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean to the international version of the S III in December 2012.[46] The LTE Version of the S3 comes with the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean preloaded. The S III is also compatible with CyanogenMod 10, a custom firmware that implements the characteristics of Jelly Bean.[47]
The S III comes with a multitude of pre-installed applications including standard Android ones such as YouTube, Google+, Voice Search, Google Play, Gmail, Map, and Calendar, in addition to Samsung-specific apps such as ChatON, Game Hub, Video Hub, Social Hub and Navigation.[48][49] To address the fact that iPhone users are reluctant to switch to Android because the OS is not compatible with iTunes, from June 2012 Samsung offered customers of its Galaxy series the Easy Phone Sync app to enable the transfer of music, photos, videos, podcasts, and text messages from an iPhone to a Galaxy device.[50] The user is able to access Google Play, a digital-distribution multimedia-content service exclusive to Android, to download applications, movies, music, TV programs, games, books, and magazines.[51]
ChatON has basic features which are auto friends registration, text chat, & multimedia deliver, and put new features which are My Page, voice/video chat, & translate. The main function of ChatON is divided into Multimedia, Group Chat, Trunk, and Animation Message. ChatON can send text, picture, video, & audio as multimedia. Users use the personal profile into My Page. They can create group chat rooms just by selecting more than 2 buddies. All the contents that have been shared in each chat is saved into each trunk. Animation Message turns some simple drawing and stamping into short moving videos.
Apart from S Voice, Samsung has directed the bulk of the S III's marketing campaign towards the device's "smart" features, which facilitate improved human-device interactivity. These features include: "Direct Call", or the handset's ability to recognise when a user wants to talk to somebody instead of messaging them, if they bring the phone to their head; "Social Tag", a function that identifies and tags people in a photo and shares photos with them; and "Pop Up Play", which allows a video and other applications to occupy the screen at the same time.[52] In addition, the S III can beam its screen to a TV or be used as a remote controller (AllShare Cast and Play) and share photos with people who are tagged in them (Buddy Photo Share).[52] Other software features include Smart Alerts, Smart Stay, and S Beam.[52]
The S III can access and play traditional media formats such as music, movies, TV programs, audiobooks, and podcasts, and can sort its media library alphabetically by song title, artist, album, playlist, folder, and genre. One notable feature of the S III's music player is Music Square, which analyses a song's intensity and ranks the song by mood so that the user can play songs according to their current emotional state.[53] With the release of the S III, Samsung debuted its proprietary music management and download application called "Music Hub", designed to compete with Apple's iTunes, iCloud, and iTunes Match services. Music Hub's music catalogue contains over 19 million songs.[54]
The S III was the first smartphone to support Voice Over LTE with the introduction of HD Voice service in South Korea.[55] The phone enables video calling with its 1.9 MP front-facing camera, and with support for the aptX codec, improves Bluetooth-headset connectivity.[56] Texting on the S III does not embody any new significant features from the S II. Speech-to-text is aided by the Vlingo and Google's voice-recognition assistant. Not unlike other Android devices, there are a multitude of third-party typing applications available that could complement the S III's stock keyboard.[57]
On 18 June 2012, Samsung announced that the S III would have a version with enterprise software under the company's Samsung Approved For Enterprise (SAFE) program, an initiative that facilitates the use of private Android devices by professional employees, also known as "Bring Your Own Device".[58] The enterprise S III version would support AES-256 bit encryption, VPN and Mobile Device Management functionality, and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.[59] It was scheduled to be released in the U.S. in July 2012. The enterprise version was expected to penetrate the business market dominated by Research in Motion's BlackBerry, following the release of similar enterprise versions of the Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Tab line of tablet computers.[59][60]
A separate "Developer Edition" of the S III was made available from Samsung's Developer Portal. It came with an unlockable bootloader to allow the user to modify the phone's software.[61]