There were high expectations for the Samsung Galaxy S3 with highest ever level of pre-orders for an Android phone, and these expectations were exceeded in many ways when it was finally released yesterday.
What’s so special about the Samsung Galaxy S3 is that it may be the first Android smartphone with the ability to even convert iPhone users over to Google’s operating system.
Samsung Galaxy S3 puts Android on right track against rival Apple iPhone
With iPhone users being notoriously loyal, there is unlikely to be a huge deterioration in iPhone sales, but there is the feeling that demand for the Galaxy S3I, along with the upcoming rumored launch of an Android 5.0 Jellybean tablet by Google, will lead to a slightly more equal market share.
Here are a few of the whys and wherefores explaining the reasons for people transferring loyalty from the iPhone to Android devices:
Firstly and most obviously, there is the screen size. Android screens go up to 5.3 inches (Galaxy Note) as opposed to the iPhone’s standard 3.5 inches. The Samsung Galaxy S3 sits at a comfortable 4.8-inches.
Benefits of the larger screen aside, Android phones have also become as easy to use as iPhones, now all the creases of 2009/2010 have been ironed out. This is particularly so with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the coupled tweaks Samsung has added (Smart Stay, Buddy Share, S-Voice, S-Beam, etc).
Thirdly, Android has become easier to personalise. You can put whatever you like on your home page, unlike the iPhone where you are limited. On Android you can have headlines, weather, etc. With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the process of doing this has been greatly simplified by putting all homescreen ‘stickies’ under one window.
Fourthly, we have speed. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a quad-core processor which increases performance greatly, and outperforms the iPhone easily along with the best on the market (it blew the HTC One X away in multiple benchmarks). Android phones also have access to 4G LTE which means faster speeds. With AT&T and Sprint already joining Verizon Wireless, LTE is becoming a norm.
Lastly, we are particularly impressed by how slimline most Android devices are, particularly in comparison to the iPhone, which looks surprisingly clunky and is heavier next to the Galaxy S3.
Regardless of all this, we are also impressed with Android after a chat with a number of Android makers at CES who all said that fewer Androids will be made in order to avoid saturating the market with sub-standard rushed Androids. Their aim now is go for ‘less is more’ by focusing their time and energy on great individual devices, like the Galaxy S3. This is just how Apple has been playing it all this while i.e. one iPhone to rule them all.
Building excitement for a device, as happened with the Galaxy S3 and as also happens with all Apple products, through press releases and big presentation style launches, has proved a great success. We believe it is likely that Google will follow in the same vein with its self-branded tablet and Android 5.0 Jellybean later this year.
Apple of course isn’t down and out for 2012. With rumors of an iPhone 5 coming as early as this fall and being heralded as the last iPhone designed by Steve Jobs, things can change again as easily.
