The Galaxy S III has sold more than 50 million units globally, but if you have not yet purchased one and you are thinking about picking up one of the most popular phones on the planet, you are now allowed to pat yourself on the back. As we all know, smartphones are much more expensive when they are first released that when they have been out for a few months. And even though the Galaxy S III is one of the best selling handsets of recent years, that same intrinsic smartphone marketplace law applies to that phone as well.
Announced in last June and delivered last July in the US on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE system, the 16 GB Galaxy S III 4G Android smartphone delivers the Android 4.1 operating system out-of-the-box. The 16 GB version is currently available at the Amazon Wireless store in blue, white, black or brown, and saw a drastic retail price drop in advance of the upcoming Galaxy S4 smartphone. The Galaxy S4 will no doubt be one of the best selling handsets of this year, and anticipation and buzz are building accordingly.
But currently, the Galaxy S III in the 16 GB variant is available starting at only $19.99 on contract from Amazon. The handset is slim and light considering the amount of hardware it packs and as large as its display is, and it measures 5.39 x 2.80 x 0.34 inches (137 x 71 x 8.6 mm), weighing just 4.70 ounces (133 g). The screen mentioned above is large at 4.80 inches, and delivers a full 16 million separate colors at a rate of 306 pixels per inch. Scratch resistance is provided by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 2, and resolution runs high at 720 x 1,280 pixels.
On the pervasive 4G LTE network of Verizon in the United States, the handset is capable of a full 15.0 hours of talk time from a full battery charge, with more than 8 days of standby time provided. The handset is well known from its iconic advertising that shows two Galaxy S III phones bumped together to wirelessly transfer data. This is delivered through NFC wireless technology, and the handset can also function as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot for multiple wireless devices.
The system chip powering the Galaxy S III for Verizon is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 model, built around a dual core 1.5 GHz Krait central processor. A full 2.0 GB of RAM is on board, and a 32 GB version is also available. If that is not enough storage space for you, the built-in microSD slot provides alternatives. The Galaxy S III has a rear facing camcorder of 8.0 megapixels, capable of recording video at 1,080P HD resolution. That rear shooter can also provide simultaneous HD video and image recording, and popular online destinations Facebook, YouTube, Picasa and Twitter are present.
