Samsung Galaxy S3: it's finally here!

That's it, after numerous rumors leaking onto the web, the Samsung Galaxy S3 was finally announced an hour ago in London (the conference has just ended).

In the end, (and as is often the case), the rumors weren't so far from reality. Indeed, the specifications of the most anticipated Android smartphone are similar to those expected. At least in terms of hardware.

What we knew (at least more or less)

So we find a phone with a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with a resolution of 1280×720. It is equipped with the Samsung processor, the quad-core Exynos clocked at 1.4 Ghz. Suffice to say that the machine must be quite powerful. In terms of physicality, the smartphone has a thickness of 8.6 mm for only 133 grams. However, the S3 still has a 2100 mAh battery (the Note has a 2500 battery where the Galaxy Nexus is content with 1750).

On top of that, the Galaxy S2's successor has an 8-megapixel sensor. Perhaps a bit disappointing at first, since everyone was expecting something like 12 megapixels, Samsung claims it's equipped with technology that allows it to take photos very quickly, as quickly as Nikon's hybrids, according to the South Korean company. The camera can of course film in 1080p and is accompanied by an LED flash.

It's certainly needless to say that the Galaxy S3 will run Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0).

What we knew less (or not at all)

But in addition to offering us a smartphone with rather powerful hardware, Samsung has concocted some specific features inside. Some are already saying that this is just a copy of already existing technologies and this may well be true. Indeed, Samsung offers us the "S Voice" function which will allow you to speak to your S3 in exactly the same way as with Siri on the iPhone 4S. It is obvious that this is a copy but it was to be expected.

But Samsung is still doing something new with a fairly advanced facial recognition system. It's obviously not the technology that's new, but what's added to it to make it perhaps more useful (perhaps because we'll have to see during daily use). In fact, the front camera will constantly watch you to know what you're doing. For example, if it sees that you're reading content, the brightness won't decrease, even if you don't touch the screen for a while. The Galaxy S3 therefore uses the front camera to optimize its use.

Samsung then added all sorts of features, some of which are certainly useful or not so useful, such as a built-in burst mode that allows you to choose the photo that suits you best. But all these things will certainly be revealed at length in test videos or even in commercials.

And when does it come out?

When it comes to the Samsung Galaxy S3, we Europeans are in luck (unlike with iPhones, for example). Indeed, Samsung is prioritizing the old continent first. The smartphone will be available in our country from the end of May. In all, the Galaxy S3 will be on sale in many countries by the summer.

No pricing information was revealed at the press conference, but we do know that there will be six models: in blue (a rather strange blue, see the photo) and white, and each color will be available with 16, 32, or 64 GB of internal memory.