The successor to Samsung’s Galaxy S II has got to be the second most speculated and talked about smartphone over the past couple of months, with Apple devices always taking the top spot, of course. Samsung has some big shoes to fill and after the kind of success they achieved with the S II, there’s a lot of pressure to up the ante once again. Given the kind of trend that we’ve seen post MWC 2012, we can now come to expect the S III to have these features as standard, if it has to qualify as a ‘high-end’ Android in today’s day and age. We know it will have a quad-core Exynos CPU, the screen size will probably be around 4.6 inches and have an HD resolution, the camera will most likely be a 12MP with BSI and so on and so forth. Samsung will never launch their flagship device that’s inferior in specifications to the competition and now that we’ve seen what HTC and LG have in store, we can draw a rough picture of what to expect.
However, impressive hardware alone is not enough to guarantee a successful product. If you’ve been following the rumour mills, then you’ve probably heard of some of the features that could make it to the S III and we really hope that it’s true as it would truly make it an unique phone and possibly the best Android so far.
A non-ugly, waterproof phone
So far, all water resistant phones haven’t exactly been much of a looker, except for perhaps the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active. But even that wasn’t slim, primarily because of the protective coating for the screen and all the ports. Any manufacturer so far had to fall into the same trap, if they wanted to create an ‘all-weather’ cell phone. The S III, however, needn’t go down that same route. Early last month, we heard rumours about the Galaxy S III getting a water-proof treatment and thanks to the folks at Liquipel, Samsung need not compromise on the design. Available currently in the U.S only, Liquipel will water-proof any smartphone you have for a small fee. It works by injecting the phone with a compound that resists any liquid or moisture. They even had a very impressive demo at CES.
Think of all the money or silly contraptions you’ve used to protect your phone in the rainy season. This technology makes rubberised housings and bulky chassis a thing of the past. If Samsung does implement this and we sincerely hope they do, then they will be the first to do so and it will give them a major advantage over the competition.
Feel what you see
We know that the S III will have an HD resolution screen as the bare minimum, but high resolution mobile screens aren’t exactly cutting edge right now. What if you could feel what you see? Senseg have developed a special touchscreen technology that lets you feel the texture of the image on screen. This is achieved by creating a little electrostatic field around the area that simulates a particular type of texture. They call this a ‘Tixel’ charge driver that creates a small force and by modulating the charge, Senseg can simulate different textures.
While this exact technology might or might not make it to the S III, we hope that Samsung do something special with the screen. If not the ‘Feel Screen’, then at least a higher resolution display would be a nice addition. There were passing rumours that the S III may have a 1080p screen, which seems like overkill, but then again, most high-end Android phones are, so i guess it's ok.
Wireless charging
With everything going wireless, why do we still have to put up with charging cables? According to the Wireless Power Consortium, a number of big companies, including Acer, HTC, LG, etc have certified handsets and chargers that use wireless charging.
‘Qi Certified’ products will be able to charge either from a wall charger or from another compatible device, wirelessly, just as long as they are placed in close proximity. Now Samsung’s name may not be on the list of companies that have applied for patents, but the website clearly states that it’s up to the company, if they want their name up there. Now, given how secretive Samsung have been with the S III, it’s no surprise they don’t show up on the list. This is another big advancement in mobile phones and Samsung can add another feather in their cap should they choose to include it.
Lose the plastic body
While the S II was a sturdy and durable phone, it wasn’t any match for HTC’s unibody aluminium Sensation in terms of build quality. One of the reasons they went with plastic was to keep the weight down, which was fine in 2011, but not anymore. With polycarbonate being used in the Lumia 800 and HTC going with space-age material (literally!) for the One S, Samsung have to step up their game. If you haven't already, check out this really cool video of how HTC creates the chassis for the One S.
Alternately, they could use a ceramic casing or even something fashioned out of carbon fibre or kevlar. The trouble with building chassis with materials like these is that the battery would probably be non-removeable. This is not a very big deal and we can certainly live with it just as long as they have a way to hard reset the phone in case it locks up, because I don’t want to wait around for the battery to drain out.
Gesture control?
This one’s not from any of the rumours, but just hit us while coming up with this list. Rather than using the front camera to recognize gestures, which quite frankly is quite ridiculous because, for one, you can’t use it in the dark and two, it has never, ever worked properly; i were thinking of something along the lines of a PS Vita like touchpad at the back of the phone. The entire phone needn't have this, just a small patch on the top and bottom. For instance, if you hold the phone in one hand, you can easily use your index finger to swipe the rear to unlock the phone, or have a two finger gesture to open the camera. Once in landscape mode, your fingers automatically align around the edges, which comes in handy in racing and action games. Now you never need to block the screen with your fingers, which happens a lot in first person shooters.
This way, even if the screen doesn’t have an oleophobic coating (which never really work anyways), it’s not a major issue, since you’ll be using the gesture pad. This would be a very interesting feature, if Samsung implements something of this nature, as you now have a ‘gaming phone’ as well.
While it’s great fun to speculate what upcoming tech products may shape up to be, a side effect is the pang of disappointment when you realize that none of the features that were so greatly hyped are actually true (iPhone 4S anyone?). Recently, live shots of a Samsung GT-I9300 have been doing the rounds, which is expected to launch in mid-May. To us, it’s highly unlikely that it’s the S III, as it appears to be more of an upper-end mid-range smartphone. Also, we don’t know if Samsung will actually call it the S III. While that does seem like the most logical name in the series, they could decide to start a completely new series, altogether. Samsung have managed to keep the phone a secret incredibly well, but now, the wait is getting a bit frustrating. They better have one hell of a phone in hand whenever they launch it or risk losing their huge fan following.
I wish they make touchwiz as functional and good as sense. After a year of owning the sgs2 I found out it's not just the specs that count. I still prefer my desire (w/sense 3.5 of course)
btw, one of the things I do like about the sgs2 is the build quality, it's not cheap that phone is almost indestructable....
edit2: the sgs2 is not plastic, it's made out of magnesium chasis with a plastic shell, magnesium is used by some of the most expesive cars and racing cycles because it is so light and sturdy (and expensive)
whats up guys! so a friend of mine got an olloclip for his iphone and its awesome. yes, yes i said iphone. anyway, its an attachable lens for the iphone that lets you shoot pictures in fisheye, macro, and wide-angle. i know its a bit far fetched, but has anyone seen something similar for our skyrockets? i highly doubt it, but ive been googling everything and couldnt find any such thing
I haven't seen any clip on "Olloclip" style ones, but there are some alternatives discussed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=760189&page=3
Hope that helps!
Indeed it's such a waste there wasn't any Olloclip brand dedicated to the Android devices given it's increasing popularity and adoption.
Apparently the Chinese market was fast enough to tap on it , to come up with lens specially for Samsung Galaxy s3 and Note II.
I had a tried on it, and it was well valued for the bang i paid for it.
Just google Camera-Licious and look for 4 in one Samsung Lens
I've been looking at cases being offered from amazon retailers and while I like the looks of them, I'm a little hesitant due to the talk of the effects of magnets on the spen. My first question is: Are the keyboard cases that have a leathery appearance made by Omoton, Moko, Khomo, Supernight, eWonder, Ivso, QQ-Tech, Photonic and Fome all essentially the same product with only slight cosmetic differences? If this is the case would I be correct in guessing that all of the manufactures that make this kind of case have the same problem with the spen? Or is there something I'm missing that sets some of these apart? I have noticed that some of them use slightly different keyboard designs.
I am asking this as my introductory post to this forum because to my knowledge, a comparison like this has not been done before here (I did look).
Hopefully once the URL restriction is lifted, if people wish I can add a list of the different items that I see a remarkable similarity to. For now, if people are wanting clarification on what exactly I'm talking about, look up "MoKo Bluetooth Keyboard Cover Case for Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 inch GT - N5100 / N5110 Android Tablet, BLACK" as an example of what I'm talking about. Aside from color and texture differences, the others I'm asking about are largely the same.
cool thanks
cool thanks !!!
Hello,
first, I'm happy i've found this forum, so many cool people discussing simply everything psosible about Android is great.
I'd really like to know your oppinion to this topic:
Do you think travelling with the premium smartphones of today (with full possible protection like cases and screen protectors) is nearly possible anymore?
If I look at the premium smartphones from right now: the S9, S8, LG G6, the iPhone X...
I see: smartphones with big displays, really small bezels and bodys totally out of glass!
Can a modern smartphone with the best cases and screen protectors be a relatively reliable partner on a travel or are they just 100% designed to look good?
If I look at for example the Galaxy S8 active, I see that beautiful design and functionality can harmonize together! Sadly there are nearly no active versions from other manufacturers at all and the S8 active is really rare.
Addition to the starting post
I don't want the main question of this topic (if modern smartphones can be taken on a travel anymore) to move into the background because of my personal question, that's why i'm not adding this into the starting post:
My story behind this is:
I'll probably go to Mexico for a longer time soon (that's a big thing belonging to where I live) and because I don't like carrying big cameras with me, I want to buy a good smartphone camera.
The problem is, that the best smartphone cameras are new smartphones (S8, S9, G6 etc.) and all of these have the extremely weak attributes I described above.
So the dilemma I am into now is:
Should I buy an older or cheaper smartphone with a relatively bad camera or should I risk to take a modern glass smartphone to Mexico, which could be destroyed after one drop?
Please take into consideration that this is my first post and I'm no native english speaker.
I'm just wondering what the added value of these two Samsung devices are, see: https://www.coolblue.nl/en/advice/everything-on-the-samsung-galaxy-z-fold-3-and-z-flip-3.html. Besides their extraordinary price (even Apple's new phones are cheaper), who want to carry these two devices in their pocket. The fold is very thick and heavy compared to other Smartphones and the Flip, althought it fits in your pocket, but it still is not a compact device and the battery life is not very good at all compared to other Smartphones. Is it just the hype of having a flip or fold device or does it really add something to the existing world of the already numerous Smartphone devices. And how long will the folding techniques last without any problems. In the fold you willl always somehow see the Rim? Let me be clear, this is MPO. Eager to hear your reactions! Regards kuzibri