June 24, 2012, 7:15 AM — Less than a year ago, in September 2011, Samsung launched its Galaxy S II smartphone. Then a few months later in January, it released the popular Galaxy Nexus handheld, followed by the half-phone, half-tablet Note device. In other words, Samsung has been busy.
This week the company is launching the next-generation Galaxy S smartphone, the Galaxy S III, and it held a media launch event yesterday in New York City to celebrate. I attended the event at the lavish SkyLight Studio in New York's SoHo neighborhood, and I came away with some very distinct impressions about the device--as well as a review unit, which I'll evaluate after spending some quality time with it. (Check out my related blog post for an insider's look at the New York Galaxy S III launch event.)
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Here are eight notable things about Samsung's Galaxy S III that set it apart from comparable handsets.
1) Samsung Galaxy S III is All About Sharing
During the Galaxy S III launch event, Samsung made it very clear that the new device is meant to ease and enhance the smartphone-based sharing process. Whether it is images, video, presentations or documents, the Galaxy S III is designed to remove the modern day "hiccups" associated with quickly and easily sharing digital files.
Specifically, Galaxy S III users can employ the device's S Beam and Android Beam technologies to tap two Galaxy S III devices together and instantly share photos, videos, documents and more using Wi-Fi Direct and Near Field Communications (NFC) technologies. You don't need a cellular or Wi-Fi network.
The feature only works with S Beam/Android Beam-compatible phones, though, so you can't just tap your device against any phone to share media. S Beam is certainly a valuable feature if you have friends or family with compatible devices. And it could help motivate people who want to quickly share content with their friends who already have Galaxy S III devices to buy the handheld.
