Samsung Galaxy S III Launched in India for Rs 42,500, Sony announces water-resistant Xperia smartphones
Samsung has launched its latest top end smartphone the Galaxy S III in India. The phone was first unveiled by the company early this month and was available for pre-order on the Samsung eStore (for Rs 1,000 advance) as also few other ecommerce sites like Snapdeal (for Rs 250 advance). The price of the phone is Rs 42,500 (which is not a bad deal considering its specifications) and the company is also offering a free Bluetooth headset and an assured surprise gift (worth Rs 1,499) for all the customers who place an order for the smartphone before June 3, 2012.
Interestingly, the mobile phone is available for pre-order on Saholic.com for Rs 39,990 (Rs 2,500 cheaper than its MRP).
At this price it would be directly competing with Apple's iPhone 4S which has an official price tag of Rs 45,000 for the 16GB model, but it is available for a reduced price of Rs 41,990 at Indiaplaza. We had earlier written about the smartphone in detail and also compared it with the iPhone 4S.
The mobile phone has 4.8 inch Super AMOLED high definition (HD) touchscreen (1280×720 pixel resolution) display (306 ppi) and runs on the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS with Samsung's TouchWiz UI interface. It is powered by a 1.4GHz Quad-core Exynos 4 Quad processor and has 1GB of RAM.
In terms of internal memory; users will have a choice between 16, 32 and 64GB models (although the eStore is only offering the 16GB model as of now). There is also a microSD slot which allows the memory of the device to be expanded up to 64GB.
The mobile phone comes with 8MP autofocus rear camera with LED Flash and zero shutter lag that can also record full HD videos (1080p) at 30 frames per second (with video stabilization) and a 1.9MP front facing camera for video calls that can also record HD videos (720p) at 30fps. The camera also has burst shot mode allows users to take photos while recording videos.
On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth4.0, Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi direct), Near Field Communication (NFC) and 3G. It also comes with a micro USB port and a microSD card slot. The device has a 2100mAh battery and it comes with stereo FM radio with RDS, GPS (with A-GPS support) and a suite of Google apps.
The dimensions of the device are 136.6mm x 70.6mm x 8.6mm and its weight is 133 grams. Galaxy S III has a notification LED to the left side of the device and it will initially be available in marble white and pebble blue colours.
Sony Xperia go & arco S
Sony has also further expanded its Xperia range of smartphones by announcing two new Android smartphones. The highlight of the devices are that they have scratch resistant mineral glass displays and are both dust and water-resistant.
Xperia go
The mobile phone has 3.5 inch TFT touchscreen display (480x320 pixel resolution) and comes with scratch-resistant mineral glass. It runs on the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS (upgradable to ICS), is powered by a 1GHz processor and has 512MB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 8GB which is expandable up to 32GB with a microSD card.
As far as camera is concerned, it has a 5MP autofocus rear camera with LED Flash that can also record HD videos (720p). On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi hot-spot) and 3G. It also comes with a micro USB port and a microSD card slot. The device has a 1305mAh battery that the company claims will provide up to six and a half hours of talk time and 520 hours of standby time. Additionally, Xperia go comes with FM radio with RDS, GPS (with A-GPS support) and OfficeSuite Pro.
The dimensions of the device are 111mm x 60.3mm x 9.8mm and its weight is 110 grams. It will be available in black, white and yellow colours.
Xperia acro S
The mobile phone has a 4.3 inch TFT touchscreen display (1280x720 pixel resolution) and comes with an additional shatter-proof sheet on the scratch-resistant mineral glass. It runs on the Android 4.0 ICS OS (out of the box), is powered by a 1.5GHz processor and has 1GB of RAM. The internal memory of the device is 16GB which is expandable up to 32GB with a microSD card.
The mobile phone has a whopping 12MP autofocus rear camera (has 16x digital zoom, Face detection) with LED Flash that can also record full HD videos (1080p) and a 1.3MP front facing camera. On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi hot-spot) and 3G. It also comes with a micro USB port, a microSD card slot and an HDMI port.
The device has a 1910mAh battery that the company claims will provide up to six and a half hours of talk time and 290 hours of standby time. Additionally, Xperia go comes with FM radio with RDS, GPS (with A-GPS support), OfficeSuite Pro and Near Field Communication. The dimensions of the device are 126mm x 66mm x 11.9mm and its weight is 147 grams. It will be available in black, white and pink colours. Apart from these, the devices will come preloaded with 'Music Unlimited' and 'Video Unlimited' from Sony Entertainment Network giving user's access to Hollywood movies, TV series and music tracks.
The devices will be made available globally from Q3, 2012 and even as the company has not disclosed their exact prices, our guess is Xperia go will compete with mid-priced devices like Samsung Galaxy S Advance (for Rs 23,999) and Galaxy S Plus (Rs 20,650), HTC's Incredible S (for Rs 20,999) and Rhyme (for Rs 18,500) and Sony's own Xperia Sola (Rs 19,999). While Xperia acro S will compete with high-priced devices like Samsung's Galaxy Note (for Rs 32,700) and Galaxy S II (Rs 27,900), Motorola RAZR (Rs 29,400), HTC Sensation XE (for Rs 32,400) and Sony's own Xperia S (Rs 30,990) and Xperia Arc S (Rs 24,999).
Next Article