Samsung has taken the lid off the new Galaxy S3, proudly boasting about its enormous screen and improved processor. But when are you going to be able to take one home for yourself, and how much will you have to shell out?
General availability here in good old Blighty will be from 30 May, says Samsung, which is sooner than we expected -- we're used to having to wait yonks before running our quivering fingers over new toys.
Three is your cheapest option if you want the phone for free. It's offering it on a £34 per month contract with unlimited data, 2,000 minutes (plus 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes), and 5,000 texts. Vodafone will give you the phone for free too, but you'll have to be on a contract of at least £41 to get it. You'll get 2GB of data, unlimited texts and 900 minutes for your money.
Getting the phone for free on O2 will set you back £46 per month, for which you'll receive unlimited texts and minutes and 1GB of data. A £50 outlay will pocket you the phone with T-Mobile on a £36 per month contract, with unlimited data and texts and 2,000 minutes. Orange hasn't confirmed its plans yet so we'll have to wait and see if it'll be undercutting Three.
All operators offer the phone on a range of tariffs. The rule to bear in mind is the cheaper the contract, the more money you'll have to pay up front. It's often more economical to buy the phone SIM-free and get a cheap SIM-only plan, but of course, you will need to save up £500 to do that. Check out our Galaxy S3 deals page and look at which networks have the best plan for your needs.
Virgin Media is also jumping on the S3 bandwagon, as it plans to offer the phone on its own plans, although it hasn't been forthcoming with pricing details yet.
If you prefer SIM-free then Amazon is offering the phone by itself, which will set you back a cool £500. Alternatively, head to Carphone Warehouse on 30 May, where you can also pick it up SIM-free. Maybe you could convince them to give you one of those new cases free.
For that spicy price, you'll get a stonking 4.8-inch screen, a meaty 1.4GHz quad-core processor, an updated design and a whole host of software tweaks to Ice Cream Sandwich. Check out our full preview for more info.
I'll be updating this article as soon as the other networks announce their intentions and pricing plans, so bookmark this page and come back soon.
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Comments 39
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anonymous 3 May, 2012 19:38
£500 for this? You must be joking. It looks like a 5 year old built it, very poor design and only a minor upgrade.
Rob Berry 3 May, 2012 19:52
Er... They went backwards with the design? the S2 had some nice looks, this is definitely not what I expected, It looks ugly.
Shame.
anonymous 3 May, 2012 20:05
i have to agree with rob berry, the S2 looks better. the screen look lush and the if it's true about the battery life then that could save it. the memory and expandable memory is also a good shout. just dont like the design for the moment. maybe it'll grow on me............ ?
anonymous 3 May, 2012 20:33
I think that this could just be a vanilla display shell for the phone. The GS2 had different shells and slight design differences across carriers so lets hope that will happen this time as well.. because I sort of agree with you guys.
anonymous 3 May, 2012 21:38
I am not an iphone fan,but iphone 5 will easily destroy s3.Its so ugly and just a minor update from s2.
anonymous 3 May, 2012 21:49
I don't mind it to be honest, in fact.... i quite like it. Apple will need to up their game to beat the specs of this. I can't help but think the iPhone 5 will be another "new ipad" let down. Same tech, new screen. I think this will be the phone i upgrade to.... :-)
anonymous 3 May, 2012 21:56
Same camera spec? Will it have the same pink spot issue?
anonymous 3 May, 2012 21:58
S2 and Note have the dreaded pink spot. Is this the same camera spec?
I really want to get this phone, but will wait to see if the have bothered to fix it on this model!!
anonymous 3 May, 2012 22:14
£34 at three!
anonymous 3 May, 2012 22:25
Even though S III is packed with some higher specs but its looks are surely not impressive than its predecessor... If Apple gets its new iphone at par with S III in its specs then indubitably it will take over S - III and I'm eagerly waiting for that moment !!
anonymous 4 May, 2012 00:25
I see the panicked iSheep are out in force. This phone looks nice, but it's not just about the looks, this phone makes the 4S a hot chocolate and tucks it into bed! Im not a samsung fan or apple fan btw I have a Nokia.
I also say this to anonymous 21:38, iPhone 5 will be a minor upgrade to 4S which was a HUGE disappointment. Thank you and much love.
anonymous 4 May, 2012 00:52
The title of this article is a bit misleading, didn't expect that from CNET. There are not confirmed details on pricing, only the writer's projections. A for the phone I think it looks good, tho the HTC One family is fully available now and the "X" ans "S" are serious contenders with reasonable deals on most providers. At the end I think this will be the usual HTC-Samsung battle and which to choose will be a matter of personal taste (i.e. whether the users prefers HTC's sense over Samsung's interface).
anonymous 4 May, 2012 07:15
seriously, when I saw the design just now, I was shocked. Not because it is pretty or nice, is not nice at all, such a inspired case. Currently, i am using S2, the design definitely nicer than S3, so i am going for HTC one X instead of S3. Disappointed with the design, though the spec is not bad.
sadeedp 4 May, 2012 07:16
Great desappointmentment.. I wish a ceramic body which was rumoured earlier and will keep same s2 square design..
j0nathanm 4 May, 2012 07:49
Reading this on my note i dont think i will be rushing out to get the S3 given the large screen size i think its better just to go straight for the note since having it i have not used my galaxy tab 7" and my old galaxy s is languishing in a drawer. Potentially the biggest competitor to samsung seems to be...samsung maybe thats why they are holding back on ics for the note.
anonymous 4 May, 2012 10:34
Too Big, too ugly. Agree with the previous reviews. Like Induction charging and eye tracking. Will now be waiting going to the dark side and waiting for iPhone 5
anonymous 4 May, 2012 12:58
Got a Samsung s2, will def upgrade great features included. and i rather like the new design. and glad its not ceramic. one thing about the plastic is when it drops it don't shatter unlike iphones and any other phones that may be using similar material, they made it thinner and lighter as well. and cant wait to connect my games to the TV wireless and play temple run :)
Also for me the screen is just right as i thought the note was to big. I felt the s2 screen wasn't big enough anymore all in all im happy with everything im sure everyone else will be once they see it and have held this bad-ass!
exerji 4 May, 2012 13:57
I have been a happy user of Samsung Galaxy S2. As it is, with a 4.3" inch screen, I consume most of my reading/viewing content on my mobile and hardly use tablet for anything other than long reading. With a 4.7-4.8" size that will only be made noticeably better and obviate the need for tablet as a additional device. There's still nothing to replace a Laptop for most utilities.
I am very pleased with S2's camera quality. I dont care much about MP as I tend to shoot at 6.5 MP on my S2 most of the time as that's more than adequate for any decent photo. I only hope the 'quality' of camera is as good or better than a let down like Galaxy Nexus (which also we own in the family).
I am glad they have retained the provision for external SD card. Omission of this in models like Galaxy Nexus or HTC One X etc isn't good. Lots of people may like to store media files to play on the go.
The one thing that was disappointment to me is the so called Ceramic Finish or some other metallic one would have been great.
The eyeball tracking based screen switch off is a very clever idea and I hope it works as planned, very helpful for people like me who 'read' a lot off the screen !
anonymous 4 May, 2012 18:11
Do anyone know how many 4g bands do sgs3 supports
anonymous 4 May, 2012 19:50
Agree with Rob, I would say it looks quite dated compared to the S3. Very disappointing!!!
anonymous 6 May, 2012 11:46
It looks ugly and is too big I will go for LG 4X HD which is smaller but has same screen size and looks nicer
anonymous 8 May, 2012 01:34
I hope samsung c these comments and do something about the design.... i was expecting alot. it was samsungs one chance to knock thr iphone off its throne. Quite lame usless new features. what are they plqying at ???? will still buy it out of principle but meh i dnt know what a let down
anonymous 10 May, 2012 13:18
I've had a metal phone (HTC sensation) it was as slippery as a fish. I now have polycarbonate (galaxy nexus) and it is very nice to grip.
anonymous 10 May, 2012 13:21
btw - if you like looking at a minature screen then the Ifone is fine and good for you. Personally, for web browsing, watching video, reading print - bigger is better (as long as it still fits in your pocket and does not weigh too much).
anonymous 10 May, 2012 13:56
looks ugly ,maybe its good but I dont like the design ,s2 its gorgeous this no ,and the screen to big for the girls ,better 4.5 no 4.8 I have a lg3d must be changed but,I dont know if I will buy this
anonymous 10 May, 2012 13:59
I'm an S2 user and not so keen on the design really, looks a bit like the old Iphone. Although the updates look pretty impressive, contrary to what some seem to think... the camera, although it doesn't have a higher pixel count has zero shutter time and opens in less than a second, these are great features for the everyday user. top be honest any increase on 8mp is a waste of time unless you're blowing up your photos to A1 size!
the screen lock features look great, if they work well. I for one do most of my browsing on the s2 and get a bit irritated sometimes having to unlock the screen during reading.
there are some other good looking features as well, but to be honest nowerdays how many more features are there to put on a phone? my s2 already has more features than my laptop...
maybe if you buy a phone completley on looks then it's not the phone for you but I care little for aesthetics when it comes to product functionality... if you're going for looks then maybe go for the experia it looks great but it's a pile of c**p inside in comparison with pretty much every other smartphone.
anonymous 11 May, 2012 09:26
IOS...!!! Usless with certificates.. does it know what a multi-tierd PKI is ...NO.. what a waist of time
anonymous 11 May, 2012 13:22
The design maybe ugly but this hasn't got minor upgrades this phone really will destroy the iPhone 5 maybe Samsung could have upgraded the camera but this looks promising its features and specification make up for the ugly design and when apple announce their new phone next month you can be sure that the S3 will pummel the iPhone 5 into the ground no question asked, apple focus too much on the design of the phone and try to keep the spec upgraded now and then that's how they make money Samsung go for upgrading a phone in the best way possible and that's why Samsung, Sony, Blackberry and HTC will all over throw apples reign of having the best phone on the market.
anonymous 11 May, 2012 15:16
£31 on Vodaphone, 500,unlim,500.
A Non Mouse.
anonymous 11 May, 2012 15:20
To all those complaning it's "too big"(iphone users maybe?) What would you rather carry, an atom that weighed as much as an elephant or a house that was as light as a newspaper?
A Non Mouse.
anonymous 11 May, 2012 15:37
iphone 5 is the way forward..
anonymous 11 May, 2012 16:24
Time travel is the way forward. Oh yeah, it doesn't actually exist yet.
Kiran96 11 May, 2012 19:27
The Galaxy S3 does NOT have the same camera as the S2 and Note. It has totally new lens and optics and imaging technology. This is why you are able to take 6 photos in one second and take photo's while recording video.
ericklamothe 12 May, 2012 13:27
This device is engaging and apart from the HTC One X pretty much without peer for the first month or two of its existence on the market.
pablouk1 12 May, 2012 16:41
I really like teh spec of this phone, can do so much, but I really don't like the look of the phone compared to my Samsung GX2
anonymous 12 May, 2012 21:42
t-mobile £36 p/m £50 upfront cost
anonymous 16 May, 2012 15:20
To me it comes down to this:
1) Its not the sexiest design probably because of the Apple court case
2) Its plastic because of the ability for wireless charging
3) Its practical because it has an external battery so just swap it out if its a power hungry.
4) Its probably best to wait a few weeks after launch for a higher capacity model 32gb or 64gb
5) Its wise to choose your data plan carefully you will want to munch many megabytes.
6) Its crazy saying the iphone 5 is better it does not exist at present.
anonymous 24 July, 2012 23:14
If the one who have Samsung Galaxy S3 phone only can talk about the design cause just looking the pics of S3 cannot imagine how pretty the phone looks. What i'm saying because first time i saw S3 phone pics i also thought this phone is so ugly and i'm very disappoint cause i'm a S2 fan and waiting to buy S3 phone. After i saw real phone from shops i thought this is the prettiest phone i ever saw and i buy a Pebble blue S3 phone, also i want to say compare to iphone 4s the touch is much smoother.
ladyswan 22 August, 2012 22:12
I've just got the Samsung Galaxy 3 in pebble blue from orange for £31 a month with unlimited calls and unlimited texts, for a small payment of £29.99 for the phone. I have found it to be quite simple to use. The appearance of the phone makes no difference to me.