So did the Samsung Galaxy SIII meet your expectations?

Whenever anything gets a tremendous amount of hype, it’s usually a letdown more than not. The Galaxy S III had a lot of hype over the last few months so the question is did it meet expectations?

As far as the specs, it came up a little short. I think a lot of people were expecting more megapixels, but honestly 8MP is fine as long as it takes great pictures. Knowing Samsung’s history, I don’t think we should have any worries here. The quad-core processor is on par as well. The letdown has to be the display. Unfortunately we didn’t get a “Plus” after Super AMOLED, so that means PenTile. It will still be a great display, but unfortunately it won’t be as good as the HTC One X’s Super LCD 2 display.

The build quality appears to be an upgrade from previous Samsung products. The back is polycarbonate, but has a hyperglaze to make it very glossy. This is a Samsung trademark, of which I’m not a fan of. For now I will have to wait until I can actually hold it, but I was hoping for something more similar to the One X.

As to the software, we get TouchWiz again. This time they’re calling TouchWiz Nature UX. There are a lot of what appear to be some cool features like S Beam, Smart Stay, S Voice, Buddy Photo Share, AllShare Cast, gestures and much more. They seem really cool, but will they really be worthwhile in the “real world?” I have to say I’m not totally excited about any of them for now, but again, I have to spend some time with the phone. The camera software looks fantastic, but it doesn’t appear Samsung offered anything more than what HTC has offered. The biggest negative has to be that it still looks and feels a lot like the Gingerbread builds of TouchWiz. Yes, you can grab another launcher, but couldn’t they come up with something different?

At this point, I have to say I’m not wowed by the Galaxy S III. Samsung showed a really nice phone today and it’s a decent upgrade over last year’s model. It just doesn’t feel like a major upgrade. I think it’s similar to the iPhone 4S in that if you’re just ending your contract and in the market for a new phone, by all means go and get it. If you’re still under contract, there’s no reason to pay full retail to get it.

The other question is if you’re in the market right now, should you opt for the HTC One X or the Galaxy S III? That is a very tough question and it really comes down to tastes and preferences. I think the display will be much better on the One X, but I still think mainstream consumers won’t notice a difference. As far as the software, again you have to choose between TouchWiz and Sense. Samsung is offering more innovation so they probably get the nod here. In terms of build quality, I have to give the nod to the HTC. Lastly, the cameras are probably a wash. The bottom line is that before today, HTC had the best phone on the market. After today, HTC might not have the best phone, but they’re at least tied for it. I guess HTC is celebrating the fact that they didn’t drop to number 2. Sony Mobile stated that they wanna be the market leaders, lets hope the much rumored Hayabusa lives up to the hype and maybe just maybe HTC and Samsung will have a run. Sony  Xperia S is doing good so far but then again it seems to be flying under the radar.