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Phone News: Galaxy S3 shortages
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On this week’s Phone News, the Samsung Galaxy S3 goes on sale — but are there enough handsets to go around? We pit the S3’s camera against the other leaders of the smart phone pack. And I explore rumours that Facebook is working on its own phone with former Apple engineers.
First up, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is now on sale in shops around the country, but just how many are actually available to buy? I spoke to an industry insider who confirmed that the blue version of the phone has had all kinds of problems, resulting in Samsung throwing out over 600,000 dodgy back covers.
What does this mean for us here in the UK? Well, my source explained that out of the mountain of stock his company had of the phone, less than 5 per cent were blue handsets. Samsung has yet to officially explain what this means if you’ve already pre-ordered the phone in blue — and a lot of you have — but you can safely bet your mother’s jewellery you’ll be in for a wait.
Still, once you finally get your greasy palms on it, you can at least rest assured that the camera on it will be pretty special. Our very own Natasha Lomas got all artsy with the lens to see how it compares to the iPhone 4S, the HTC One X and the Sony Xperia S.
She found the S3 offers numerous settings for tweaking your photos to the nth degree, or you can use burst mode, HDR and macro functions to get creative. The One X offers a similar amount of control, but in true Apple style, the iPhone’s settings are more basic. You can, of course, go wild with the numerous photography apps available for all four phones.
In general, Natasha found there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between them, which isn’t too surprising given that they’re all top-end models from their respective makers. The One X seems to do better with wide shots, the iPhone appears better for close-up stuff and the S3 handles depth of field like a true pro. You could just buy all three and have a well-stocked camera bag. And a less well-stocked wallet.
And finally, is Facebook making its own phone? Rumours have been flying around for a long time that the social giant will turn its hand to hardware but we’ve yet to see anything come of it. New leaks suggest that the phone might not be too far away as Zuck-dawg and his buddies are recruiting engineers who previously worked on the iPhone.
There’s sadly no word on exactly what we could expect from a true Facebook phone, but here’s hoping it’s more impressive than just sticking a Facebook button on the front of it, like the HTC ChaCha.
That’s it from Phone News for this week, but make sure to keep it CNET UK for all the latest from the mobile world. Got your own phone news that’s been getting you all excited? Let me know in the comments below or over on our most excellent Facebook page.
