By Although Samsung’s successor to the Galaxy S3 is set to be announced in a couple of short days, it seems the company could be prepping a refresh to the line. According to insider Eldar Murtazin, the refresh will bring about a better display, a 2,400 mAh battery, and will be outfitted with the necessary bits for wireless charging.
That’s a worthy retake on one of 2012’s best phones, and at the right price it could be even more enticing for some people than shelling out for the Galaxy S4. Of course, those who already own the Galaxy S3 won’t see the need to step up to this particular version, especially when you can take care of most of those upgrades with third-party products.
We’re not sure when to expect the refresh, but don’t be surprised if we forget all about it by the time Samsung hits New York March 14th — there are bigger, and better things to look forward to on the horizon.
[thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
oh so that’s what Samsung meant with that last tease…I hope so
I agree, and that better mean the S4 will have wireless charging also or I will be very upset especially since they teased wireless charging when the S3 was released.
Wasn’t it supposed to have wireless charging from the start?
T’was.
It does. Verizon sells a Qi-compatibile case for their version of the phone. The rest of the phones work if you just buy a touchstone base and pad from ebay or something and slip the pad inside the back cover (there is a slight bulge, but it fits). I’ve been wireless charging my AT&T version for a couple months and it works fine.
Why bother at this point?
Because once the S4 is out, this upgrade will make the S3 the best “mid-to-upper-range” phone in comparison.
Well they do still sell the S2, so I guess that makes sense.
Yeah, basically why not? they’re going to be selling the GS3 anyway so might as well sell a newer upgraded one. Good job Sammy!
Good point, though it gets complicated if they send this new one to the US.
you can BET this will be the new LTE enabled version that T-Mobile is releasing soon, pretty sweet for those who don’t need this year’s newest phone but still wants a screaming mobile experience.
the lte version is out already. its the gray one on T-Mo. its “LTE-Ready”, just like the Note II – that is to say it has the necessary radios in it already and they’ll be enabled via a software update when the network officially launches.
I don’t think that’s accurate, as the T-Mo LTE version just passed the FCC on March 5th. http://phandroid.com/2013/03/05/samsung-galaxy-s3-lte-t-mobile/
All the FCC says is whether you’re allowed use the radios on said bands. You can include it but not use it (see Nexus 4) without the certification. Since its 100% identical hardware to the already-Certified S3, with just an added radio, that means they can sell or with the radio disabled while they wait for fcc certification and push an that activates the radio once they get it.
how does wireless charging work, exactly? does it mean it won’t be able to charge via USB then? I have an external battery charger I use for my current motorola smartphone, and don’t wanna see it go to waste if I upgrade to the galaxy.. for reference, these are what i’m talking about: http://bit.ly/10JIym8 anyone have any tips?
Wireless charging usually involves a conduction point like the backplate/battery door, and the energy is transferred between that and a plate that you plug into the wall. The energy is transferred through contact points usually embedded in the phone. In short, yes a phone can utilize both USB and wireless charging in the same package. They don’t interfere with each other, and it’s simply another option for those who want it.
aw, sweet. thanks guys!
It can still be charged the traditional way. It will just have the induction coils (or whatever method used) built into the phone/battery stock so it can also be used with those wireless charging mats without buying a new back cover and battery.
bb, exactly what Quentyn said. I have uploaded this picture to show you how Palm did this with their “touchstone”. The black, angled hockey puck you see is the charging base. It really was sweet, because at night, you simply placed your phone on the magnetic base, it grabbed hold of it, and charged it with no wires! That’s the one thing I truly miss since I came over to Android phones. (Not much else, btw!)
FYI, you can use your touchstone charger with the GS3 if you buy a cheap coil off of ebay.
http://www.webosnation.com/galaxy-s3-gets-cleanest-touchstone-mod-yet
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Palm-Wireless-Charger-Back-Case-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-i9300-NEED-TouchStone-/271167526410?pt=PDA_s_Pocket_PC_s&hash=item3f22d8160a
That’s not a bad refresh. But I think most buyers will be those that don’t have an s3 or the note 2 is too big.
Do this kinda refresh to the note 2 and Ill take it. Give the wifey my S3
I hope it’s Qi standard. Anyone hear if it is?
Already have my S3 set up with wireless charging, costs about $50.00 for the QI patch and the charger. Also available for the note2 Its all plug and play, real easy to do, just makes a very small bulge in the back cover.
Battery could be bigger 2600
2400 still not enough for me. Hope it’s 3000+
I get 15-18 hours with my 2100 mah stock battery, and I record an hour of video every day. Sometimes, I have to turn on the flashlight while watching a movie on Netflix for half-an-hour so I can kill it before going to bed. Couple that with two extra stock batteries I picked up “just in case”, and I can go a week on those three if I’m cautious (tested). How can that not be enough?!?!
He’s an idiotic troll, don’t worry about it.
They may still have an older device. Like I have the E4GT and 1800mA is not enough. But it’s just my device. I don’t trust 2,100mA, but I’ve also never used the S3, obviously. Also there are a select few people that has gotten that far on the E4GT. But I hear A LOT more people get that far on the S3, so I’m kinda trusting it.
But yea, I don’t really believe that my battery life would change much if I got the S3.
You can get a samsung wireless back cover for the S3. Problem is, it makes the phone a little thicker so that all your cases don’t fit right anymore. They need to make wireless from the beginning so all the cases are made to fit. Oh and the wireless cover uses Qi standard so I’m sure that’s what Sammy will be using.
At this point I`m given my GNote2 to my wife and I`m getting the new HTC One.
i
smart man!
ok…is it possible that the galaxy s4 leaks and twitter photo is actually the new gs3 plus version? that they are just cropping out the gs4… am I the only one who thinks they’d be crazy to follow apple’s style of just mildly upgrading the phone? aka just upgrading what they need to in order to sell reasonably well? If I were them, this would be the time where you put out something that has no compromises…something that wows people-instead of just incremental improvements…but i doubt this will be the case sadly.
Agree.
the leaked photo should be GSIII+.
GSIV MUST have NEW stunning design.
BTW I have just realized that SAMSUNG will introduce GALAXY S4 on 3.14
=)
Looks like the S4 will be an incremental update honestly the HTC one is looking good.
The leaked images better be the refreshed S3 instead of the S4 for Samsung’s sake…
Btw, wasn’t there already wireless charging available for the original S3?
Told you guys it’s would be the Samsung galaxy S3″S
i dont know about you but ill ter experence :Dbe keeping my S3 but i will probably buy that battery off of amazon for a bet
i still like my S3 but ill probably buy that battery third party for my VZW S3 (because verizon probably wont get it or the S4 for a looooong time