Below is an interview that I had with Samsung’s Robert Ngeru during the Kenya launch of the hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3 a couple of days ago:

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has been massively successful having pre-sold over 10 million units prior to launching on a global basis. In addition, the Galaxy S3 has more or less consolidated Samsung’s position as the main competitor to Apple in the smartphone arena where the wildly successful iPhone is concerned. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is retailing in Kenya at all Safaricom shops and other retailers for Kes. 59,999.00. It also comes with a free data bundle and 50GB of free data storage on DropBox.com. Because the Galaxy S3 runs on Android, Google’s mobile operating system, one also has access to thousands of mobile apps on Google Play. Another key feature is that the Galaxy S3 runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android. Below are some of the detailed features and functionalities of the Samsung Galaxy S3:

• 4.8 HD Super AMOLED Display: The Galaxy S3 features an energy efficient 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, giving a large and vivid viewing experience. The Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display further enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the Galaxy S3 offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.  Its 1.4GHz Quad Core processor allows you to do more tasks at once fast and easily over previous dual core processor.
• Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology:The phone will revolutionize modes of transaction through a mobile payment application, accessible through its advanced Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This enables the user to make payments by placing the phone near or on a payment pad.
• Smart Stay: The Galaxy S3 enhances the interaction experience between the device and user. With the innovative smart stay feature, the Galaxy S3 recognizes how the user utilizes the phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing, until the user moves the eyes away from the screen.
• Buddy photo share: The Galaxy S3 also features an 8MP camera and a 1.9MP front camera and offers users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options including the buddy photo share feature which recognizes your contacts faces and shares photos with them instantly.
• S-Voice: The S-voice allows users to give the phone voice commands for example answering an incoming call or taking a photo. S voice also comes with location based information allowing users to ask the phone for directions or location based recommendations.
• Direct Call: The direct call feature is activated by motion. It enables the phone to automatically make a call if the caller’s contacts or message details are on the screen and the caller moves the phone towards the ear.
• Smart alert: Galaxy S3 smart alert features are able to notify the user of any missed calls or messages – when picked up the Galaxy S3 will vibrate and update the log of missed calls, messages. This feature can be activated and deactivated as preferred.
• S-Beam: The S-beam feature allows users to instantly share of photos, music, videos, by placing the back of the two phones together. This is enabled through the near Field Communication technology.
• AllShare cast: AllShare Cast will allow users to mirror the information on their Galaxy SIII screen to a larger display such a television, PC and the content will be controlled through the phone buttons, providing an excellent feature for people who enjoy video games.
• Pop-up play: Users can play a video while simultaneously handling another task. This is enabled by an on-screen icon that can be dragged, resized as preferred, to enable the user to handle multiple tasks while concurrently the video on the screen.
• 50GB of cloud space: The Galaxy S3 also contains 50MB of cloud space, allowing the user unlimited capability in storing photos, data, music as well as online editing.
• Game Hub: The gaming experience in the Galaxy S3 is enhanced through the ‘Game Hub,’ which provides access to numerous social games, while Video Hub brings users high quality TV and movies. Furthermore, Samsung Music Hub will offer a personal music streaming service.