Samsung Galaxy S3 devices will officially hit retail stores on May 29, but some smartphones are already out in the wild. The exclusive Flipboard APK was already ripped from the phone, and an APK install package for S-Voice has been made available online over the weekend.

The APK install package for S-Voice, Samsung's version of Siri, gives an early access preview to the Galaxy S3's voice command utility, allowing anyone with an Android phone running Ice Cream Sandwich to enjoy it. S-Voice landed on the XDA Developers forum on Saturday, May 19, courtesy of user Ascarface23.

Installing the APK required the user to root the Android phone and alter some of the permissions and directories. Once installed, the ripped application reportedly worked well enough, according to recent reviews. S-Voice is Samsung's response to Apple's popular voice assistant Siri, and does virtually everything Siri does and more. S-Voice applications include navigating, weather updating, opening apps, sending texts, searching for contacts and even taking photos.

Samsung Takes Charge

Samsung, however, was not very pleased with the situation and has consequently blocked users from accessing the feature. If you missed your chance to download the APK over the weekend, that ship has sailed. Samsung has locked down access for unauthorized devices, i.e. any device that is not the Samsung Galaxy S3.

All voice functions for S-Voice appear to have been disabled by Vlingo, the service behind S-Voice. Now, anyone who tries to access S-Voice from an authorized device will get only a network error. According to Slashgear, members on XDA Developers have confirmed that Vlingo's servers still receive voice data, but requests are no longer being processed.

Furthermore, strings sent back to the server reveal which device is trying to access the server, therefore Vlingo can easily block any unauthorized device. It was fun while it lasted, but the weekend is over and so is the free ride. On the bright side, there is only one week or so left until the Galaxy S3 goes on sale, and everyone will be able to enjoy S-Voice legitimately. The Galaxy S3 will hit stores on May 29 in Europe and June 1 in North America.