The Samsung Galaxy S III: Officially available in South Africa

The Samsung Galaxy S III: Officially available in South Africa

07 June 2012 – Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa.
Want the universe in the palm of your hands? Enter the Galaxy S III. And she’s a beauty!

Samsung officially unveiled their latest flagship device at a launch event in Johannesburg on 07 June 2012. Boasting an HD Super AMOLED 4.8 inch screen, a Quad Core 1.4 GHz processor , Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) and design cues that will knock your socks off, this little number will definitely be the number one device to have.
Samsung States:

“The GALAXY S III represents the final stage in the evolution of mobile technology planning and design. Basic elements of a phone like weight and portability are now taken for granted by users. With every new smartphone model Samsung has increased the display size to the point now where users expect a smartphone to deliver an optimal experience for rich media content. The focus for the GALAXY S III, therefore, would not be on “features” or “components”. The design focus instead would be on usability and intuitiveness of use. At its core, the GALAXY S III had to be more than a smartphone – it had to become an extension of the user.”

If the preorders are anything to go by, number one device is likely to be the case – just less than 50000 preorders already in South Africa, and most retailers are already sold out after pre launch sales over the previous weekend, with reports of 300 moving into the hands of customers at one store in under 4 hours…
At the press briefing, Samsung SA’s Managing Director, Deon Liebenburg, was confident that Samsung will continue to dominate in the mobile world, saying: “In South Africa, and I’m going out on a limb here by quoting a number, before this phone was even shown to to people, the orders that we received were very close to 50000.”
Worldwide Samsung is expecting close to 9 million preorders.
With Samsung having shipped 44 million devices already in 2012, compared to 35 million devices shipped by Apple, Samsung looks to be comfortably settling into the no.1 smartphone ranking that Nokia was ousted from not too long ago.
The Galaxy S III will make any tech hungry person happy, with abilities such as Picture in Picture play back of videos – ie. Watch a movie while texting a friend.
Other features present are:
S-Beam, bringing the ability to share information via NFC and WiFi Direct with other phones with the same capability.
1080p recording via the 8MP camer sensor on the back and 720p via the 1.9MP front facing camera. The main camer can also take bursts of 20 pictures in one take, at 3.3 pictures per second. The phone will then choose the best picture out of the batch.
Smart Stay – The phone will not turn the screen off while you are looking directly at it, watching your face until you are done reading what may be on the screen.
20% improvement on battery performance over the Galaxy S III.
For those still looking to get a Galaxy S II, have no fear. The phone will still be sold for some time, helping to cement Samsung’s product range of devices at all price levels.
Samsung also mentioned that their lower priced phones such as the Ace, Gio and Y will be upgraded and innovated in time with same innovation that has brought the S III to being. Expect big things from Samsung!
According to Samsung, all networks in South Africa already have stock and should all be selling the phone by the 3rd quarter. Recommended retail price is R7999.00.
Samsung Galaxy S III – Made for humans.
For more on the Galaxy S 3, hit the press release below.

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S III, the Smartphone Designed for Humans and Inspired by Nature
Effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, Samsung GALAXY S III reveals a new concept of smartphone

Johannesburg, South Africa – June 7, 2012—Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, has announced today the local launch of the third generation GALAXY S, the GALAXY S III. Designed for humans and inspired by nature, the GALAXY S III is a smartphone that recognises your voice, understands your intention, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily.
This sleek and innovative smartphone has the enhanced intelligence to make everyday life easier. With Samsung GALAXY S III you can view the content like never before on the device’s 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display. An 8MP camera and a 1.9MP front camera offer users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure all moments are captured easily and instantly. Samsung GALAXY S III is powered by Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, with greatly enhanced usability and practicality to make life easier. Packed with intuitive technology, the GALAXY S III delivers a uniquely personalised mobile experience that refuses to be compromised.
“With the GALAXY S III, Samsung has maximised the consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability,” said Craige Fleischer, Director of Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics South Africa. “Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the GALAXY S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind – enabling one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences.”
Introducing Natural Interaction
The GALAXY S III enhances the interaction experience between the device and user. Smart enough to detect your face, voice and motions, the GALAXY S III adapts to the individual user to provide a more convenient and natural experience. With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognises how you are using your phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.
The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. In addition to allowing information search and basic device-user communication, S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands. When your phone alarm goes off but you need a little extra rest, just tell the GALAXY S III “snooze”. You can also use S Voice to play your favourite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organise your schedules or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.
In addition to recognising your face and voice, the GALAXY S III understands your motions to offer maximised usability. If you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number. With ‘Smart alert,’ the GALAXY S III will also save you from trouble by catching any missed messages or calls; your phone will vibrate to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle.
Easy and Instant Sharing
The Samsung GALAXY S III is more than a personal device that can be enjoyed by one user – it wants you to share and experience smartphone benefits with family and friends, regardless of where you are. With the new ‘S Beam,’ the GALAXY S III expands upon Android Beam, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.
With ‘AllShare Cast’, users can wirelessly connect their GALAXY S III to their television to immediately transfer smartphone content onto a larger display. ‘AllShare Play’ can be also used to instantly share any forms of files between GALAXY S III and your tablet, PC and televisions regardless of the distance between the devices. Under ‘AllShare Play’ is also the ‘Group Cast’ feature that allows you to share your screen among multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network; you can make comments and draw changes at the same time with your co-workers, witnessing real-time sharing on your individual device.
Human-centric Design with Uncompromised Performance
The GALAXY S III not only presents features with enhanced usability, but also provides an ergonomic and comfortable experience through its human-centric design. Its comfortable grip, gentle curves and organic form deliver a rich human-centric feel and design. Inspired by nature, its design concept is the flow and movement of nature. The elements of wind, water and light are all evoked in the physical construct of the GALAXY S III. In its essence, the minimal organic design identity is reflected in the smooth and non-linear lines of the device. Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, Samsung will introduce a variety of additional colour options.
With a 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, the GALAXY S III offers a large and vivid viewing experience. Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display even enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.
The GALAXY S III also sports a range of additional features that boost performance and the overall user experience in entirely new ways. It introduces ‘Pop up play,’ a feature that allows you to play a video anywhere on your screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web. Its 8MP camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets you capture moving objects easily without delay – the image you see is the picture you take. With the ‘Burst shot’ function that instantly captures twenty continuous shots, and the ‘Best photo’ feature that selects the best of eight photographs for you, the GALAXY S III ensures users a more enhanced and memorable camera experience. HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9MP front-facing camera, which you can use to capture a video of yourself. Improved backside illumination further helps to eliminate blur in photos that result from shaking, even under low lights.
Mobile payment is also accessible with the device through advanced Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The gaming experience is enhanced through ‘Game Hub,’ providing access to numerous social games, while ‘Video Hub’ brings users high quality TV and movies. ‘Game Hub’ and ‘Video Hub’ will be introduced in select countries initially and soon rolled out to global markets.
The Samsung GALAXY S III will be available locally in June 2012 from an approximate RRP of R7,999 in South Africa.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2011 consolidated sales of US$143.1 billion. Employing approximately 206,000 people in 197 offices across 72 countries, the company operates two separate organizations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media & Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LED. Recognized for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.