Samsung unveils Galaxy S III to the world at press bonanza in London

As expected, Samsung's president of mobile communications J.K. Shin used the company's press splash in London to lift the lid on the firm's next big smartphone, the Galaxy S III.

Setting the bar high, Shin described the Galaxy S III as "the best in class smartphone in the world", assuring those in attendance that the device will boast faster web browsing and seamless multitasking, among numerous other features.

The eyes have it

One of the most innovative and widely publicised features of the Galaxy S III is the new "Smart Stay" eye-tracking technology, which uses the front-facing camera to track a user's eye movements.

When the eyes are actively scanning the phone, the screen will stay on and unlocked without tactile feedback. If the user looks away long enough, the screen will switch off, making this a handy feature to have for reading longer emails or eBooks.

Another interface feature is "S Voice", which allows for more precise voice control over the phone using sophisticated vocal recognition software.

Supporting eight languages - including British English (better known as 'English' on this side of the Atlantic), American English, German, and French, among others - S Voice works similarly to Apple's Siri: users simply need to speak a query or command and the phone will respond.

Equally impressive is the Galaxy S III's "Direct Call" feature, which allows a user to simply pick up his handset and place it to his ear to launch a phone call. By using proximity and motion sensors, Direct Call allows S III owners to abandon lengthy texts or emails midway through and initiate a call without navigating to a new menu.

With a thickness of 8.6mm and a weight of only 133g (7g lighter than the iPhone 4S), the Galaxy S III's sleek form factor is dominated by a gigantic HD Super AMOLED screen, which ranks as one of the largest available on the market - before you approach tablet territory, anyway.

In terms of memory, the Galaxy S III will ship in either 16GB or 32GB forms at launch, with a 64GB SKU following soon after. It will also support microSD cards up to 64GB.

Native to the Galaxy S III is an 8MP camera that boasts a "zero-lag" shutter speed. This feature lends itself well to the "burst shot" setting that allows a user to capture 20 continuous frames.

Samsung claims the Galaxy S III should be available in 145 countries across 296 mobile providers. Europe will see the new smartphone by the end of May, while America and Japan should expect it over the summer.

Launch colours are limited to Pebble Blue and Marble White, but Samsung has plans to introduce a variety of additional colour options to be made available at a later date.

Samsung