Samsung launch 'iPhone killer' with eye-tracking and voice control

• Samsung unveiled latest flagship smartphone at Apple-style launch party in London
• Eye-tracking and voice-control revealed as key new features
• Owners get 4.8" screen, quad-core processor, NFC payments, and face-recognition
• Wireless charging kit removes the clutter of wires
• Mail Online verdict: 'Samsung has raised the stakes here - and Apple will have to do something truly special to beat this'

By Rob Waugh and Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 15:48, 3 May 2012 | UPDATED: 13:03, 4 May 2012

Samsung last night unveiled its latest flagship device, the Galaxy S3, the follow-up to last year's best-selling phone in the world.

The smartphone market moves on once more, with the hi-tech voice-controlled Galaxy S3 likely to becomes a standard-bearer for Google’s Android operating system - and a device for the Apple refuseniks.

The phone’s most innovative feature is built-in face-tracking and voice control - allowing, Samsung claims, for a more 'natural' control system.

Other innovations include what Samsung claims is a 'more intelligent' lock system, that keeps the screen 'awake' when the phone’s camera senses eyes watching it, rather than turning it off.

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Blue and white: The Samsung S3 launches at the end of May, available in 'pebble blue' and 'marble white'

 

The voice control system is called S Voice - and allows access to weather forecasts, web searches and scheduling, similar to iPhone’s Siri system.

Saying 'I want to take a picture' launches the camera application - and will work in eight languages at launch.

S Voice can also reply out loud - which Samsung claims will allow the system to be used while driving.

Available in blue and white, the phone will be launched at the end of May, starting in Europe, with other regions following.

Samsung played on its expertise in screens with a large 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen running a resolution of 1280 x 720p - far bigger than Apple’s iPhone, and close in size to the smaller end of the tablet market.

Ready for launch: A still from Samsung's presentation reveals the S3 for the first time

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The phone also includes an NFC chip - near-field-communications - allowing users to share content such as video by tapping phones together.

And if you are sick of wires, a separate wireless charging kit means you can charge your phone without hooking it up to the socket.