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Galaxy S2 vs Galaxy S3
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If you were following last night’s unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and wondered how this new phone differed from the Samsung Galaxy S2, hit play on the video above and wonder no more. In it I explain the top five things that separate the two phones from each other. For those that prefer reading, the main points are below:
Screen
The S2 had a 4.3-inch screen, but the S3 has a bigger 4.8-inch screen. It’s also got a higher resolution — 720×1280 compared to 400×800 on the S2. The screen on the S3 is nice and bright, and text looked pin-sharp to me in the short time I had with the phone. But despite the extra half an inch of screen, the phone itself isn’t much bigger, which brings me to…
Size
The S3 is slightly heavier and slightly thicker than the S2, but not by much. We’re talking an extra 17g here and half a millimetre or so. It’s slightly longer and wider than the S2, but again not by much. I think it’s a pretty good compromise to make to get the extra screen size, providing that’s what you’re interested in.
Processor
The S3 has a 1.4GHz quad-core Samsung processor, compared to the 1.2GHz dual-core chip in the S2. Samsung says this should make the new phone significantly faster than its forefather, but because the technology has improved, the new chip should consume significantly less juice than the old one. That means the battery in the S3 should last for longer than the one in the S2, or so Samsung says anyway. I’m looking forward to testing that particular claim out.
Extra features
There are several cool features present on the S3 that the S2 doesn’t have. A function that’s particularly impressive allows you when you’re texting someone, to simply lift the phone to your ear and the S3 will call them automatically. Another is S Voice, which is a bit like Apple’s Siri, and lets you ask things like ‘what’s the weather like today’ and the phone will go off and find it for you. Finally there are loads of camera features like ‘burst mode’ that lets you take up to 20 pictures in one go, and ‘Best shot’, which selects the best pictures from a series of eight.
This app takes your social feeds and presents them like a magazine. Until now, it’s only been available for the iPhone, but Samsung will be pre-loading it onto the S3, and tells me that this will be the only way you can get the app on an Android phone for now — it won’t be available in the Google Play store, at least not straight away.
Let me know what you think of the Galaxy S3 in the comments below or on our Facebook wall.
