It's not just the iPhone that makes headlines on the lead up to release. Samsung, the makers of the Galaxy series of Android phones, and current leader in the market, have been keeping very tight lipped about the successor to their successful Galaxy S II handset.
The secrecy has lead to rumours ranging from realistic spec increases such as extra memory and a higher megapixel camera, to claims of a 1080p AMOLED display and wireless charging. Samsung have yet to slip up (no phones lost in bars yet, unfortunately), revealing only the date of their upcoming Samsung Mobile Unpacked event on May 3rd. They haven't hinted on what will be announced, but there's little doubt that it'll involve a Galaxy S II successor.
Even with all the hush hush from Samsung, Vietnamese blog Tinhte have managed to get their hands on an unreleased prototype Samsung device, with a bootscreen that reveals the model 'GT-I9300'. The Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Nexus don the model names I9000, I9100 and I9250 respectively, hinting at the SGSIII.
Tinhte have since removed the article which contained a video of the device being shown off, and a few images of the specifications. Fortunately the Internet is quick to make duplicates:
The device doesn't look very polished physically, which suggests that it's a dummy box to prevent the final design being leaked. Samsung's Denmark Facebook page has an image on it with the date of the Unlocked event, and a phone covered in a cloth, revealing the outline. The outline proposes that the new device will look more like the Galaxy Nexus rather than the leaked prototype.
Galaxy Nexus vs possible GSIII
If this leak turns out to be true (and it may, considering Tinhte's past success in accessing both the iPad 3 and the Galaxy Tab before release), the new device will contain:
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Samsung Exynos 4412 quad core SoC @ 1.4GHz
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1 GB RAM
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Mali-400 GPU (probably overclocked)
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2050mAh battery
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4.6" 1280x720 320dpi AMOLED display with on screen buttons
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Android 4.0 ICS
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16GB internal storage + MicroSD
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8MP camera, 1080p video recording
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NFC (Near Field Communication)
The large battery and the 32nm SoC indicate that Samsung's pledge to focus on battery life may finally come to fruition, without giving up raw performance and a large display.
We're fairly confident that the internal specifications are the real deal (or close to it). The physical design on the other hand... we should hope not!
