Samsung, recently ranked as the world's biggest phone manufacturer, has finally unveiled its next flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S3. The much-anticipated phone comes with a larger display, a more powerful processor, and lots of cool and exciting new features.

Let's check them out.

Specs

The Samsung Galaxy S3 boasts a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 and a pixel density of 306 pixels-per-inch (ppi). A 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera can shoot 720p video, while the 8-megapixel rear camera can shoot 1080p video. Though some previous rumors have indicated the Galaxy S3 will sport a 12-megapixel camera, Samsung seems to have focused more on cool camera tricks rather than the number of megapixels.

As previously confirmed, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is powered by a quad-core Exynos chip clocked at 1.4GHz, and backed by 1GB of RAM. The phone comes in three configurations - 16GB, 32GB and 64GB - expandable up to 64GB with a microSD card. LTE connectivity will be available in certain territories such as the U.S., Japan and Korea, while other territories such as the UK will have to settle for HSPA+. The next-generation Galaxy phone also packs seven sensors: accelerometer, RGB light, proximity sensor, gyroscope, NFC (near field communication), and barometer.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will be available in two color options, "marble white" and "pebble blue." It weighs 133 grams, measures 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm, and has a powerful battery of 2100mAh - the first Samsung phone with a battery of that size.

Cool New Features

Samsung overhauled the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS with plenty of exciting tweaks, promising a more entertaining user experience.

S Voice, for instance, is a voice recognition feature similar to the iPhone 4S' Siri. Using the S Voice software, you can inquire about the weather, lock your phone, control music, take a picture, and other such tasks. You can configure it according to your preferences. Soon after the iPhone 4S was launched, Siri became wildly popular worldwide - likely the most appreciated feature on the only slightly improved iPhone iteration. S Voice is Samsung's own voice command software, aiming to offer a similar experience.

In addition to S Voice, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has plenty of other great tweaks as well. For instance, Smart Stay is an eye-tracking function using the phone's front-facing camera to determine if you are looking at the phone. This will prevent the phone from locking or blacking the display; each user can set preferred intervals for the function.

Direct Call allows users to dial a number simply by moving the phone to their ear if they have a contact on the screen or a message open. If you are writing a message, for instance, and decide it would be better to call, just move the phone to your ear to make that call. The proximity sensor, accelerometer and gyroscope will kick in and automatically dial the contact's number.

Smart Alert comes in handy if you've missed a few notifications while away from your phone. When you pick up the phone after a missed call, this function will make the phone vibrate and flash an LED to alert you.

S Beam uses NFC (near field communication) technology to pair your device with other Galaxy S3 phones to share files, photos, videos, and even albums of media via Wi-Fi.

PopUp Play will allow video to be played in a thumbnail while you perform other functions on the phone. The thumbnail is quite small, but it is movable around the display.

AllShare Cast allows you to pair your phone to TVs, laptops or tablets over Wi-Fi, to project whatever is on the phone's display. In addition, the Galaxy S3 can also be used as a game controller.

Camera Functionality

Though the Galaxy S3 does not boast a 12-megapixel camera as rumored, it does come with some nifty tricks to enhance your imaging experience. First of all, there is virtually no lag with the Galaxy S3. The camera is ready for another shot as soon as you pressed the button. For action shots, the Burst Shot/ Best Photo feature might really come in handy. This feature takes 20 shots in quick succession, then uses several algorithms to recommend the best photo. You can, however, ignore the phone's choice and keep the picture you like most.

In a live view, Face Zoom will recognize individual faces and allow you to tap someone's face to zoom in and take a photo only of that person. Samsung also added a feature to take photos while filming. Meanwhile, Group Tag will allow you to view all photos of your classmates, for instance, as long as you've tagged your contacts in certain categories. Facial recognition will use your contact groups to tag them.

Availability

The Samsung Galaxy S3 was officially unveiled on May 3 in London. In Europe it will be available from the end of May, and will launch in Asia, the Middle East and Africa soon after. The U.S. and South Korea will get a 4G version in the summer.

(reported by Alexandra Burlacu, edited by Dave Clark)