Taking the Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III to the Next Level

They say that the third time is the charm and this seems to be what Samsung had in mind when creating the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone. The unveiling of this phone was pushed back slightly because of the issue with the casing. Originally intended to launch with the blue/black casing, the phone will instead launch with the white casing to be followed by the blue/black later and other colors later still.

Galaxy S III vs iPhone

The iPhone was given a run for its money with the Galaxy II. Similarities between the Galaxy II and the Apple iPhone 4 were apparent, making the unveiling of the Galaxy S III even bigger for the fans of the phone. This is anticipated to be the most massive release for the Android Company since its inception. Here are a few of the things you should know about the new phone and how it can help you to get more of what you want.

Comparing the galaxy s III to other phones

Compared to the HTC Titan II, the S3 screen is a whopping 4.8”. Paralleling the huge nature of the phone, this screen allows users to get even more out of the screen. The 720p touch screen is an HD screen with a great resolution to allow you to do even more with the phone. The resolution approaches the quality you would expect to find on your 1080p television screen you have at home.
Adding to the screen is the fact that it has a Super AMOLED captive touchscreen. This touch-sensitive display has the capability to display 16M colors. The production generates a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. The per inch density comes in at 306 pixels. Instead of a more standard RGB Matrix, the phone uses a PenTile Matrix. The entire display is covered with Gorilla Glass 2 to offer massive protection without compromising the appearance of the screen. The added protection also helps to cut the reflection which has been plaguing the Galaxy S II.

 


When you remove the back cover of the S3, you will find a large 2,100mAh battery. The power supplied by this large battery offers protection from dwindling battery lifespan when using all of the features on your phone. The ability to replace the battery puts it in a different class from the iPhone4. Along with the battery, you will see two slots including the one for the microSD and microSIM card.
Even though you can only use the micro cards for SIM and SD, you can still get massive benefits from these cards. The current release of the S3 in Europe comes with 1GB of work memory. You can use options for memory to upgrade to 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. By replacing the microSD card, it is possible to add an additional 64GB of memory to the S3 to have a lot of memory in a phone you can put in your pocket.

Galaxy S III S Voice

The thrills do not end with the basics. The S3 also has the power of the Android Ice Cream Sandwich to provide power and versatility. The Samsung TouchWiz is the latest interface which empowers the phone to interact in new ways. The new S3 directly takes on the Apple iPhone 4S with the addition of S Voice. This feature allows you to interact with the phone by saying simply, “HI Galaxy!” Eye-tracking is another new feature which sets the S3 apart. Also known as Smart Say, this feature allows you to interact with your phone simply by looking at the display. Further investigation will allow you to find even more of the features already embedded into the phone.

 

Better Graphics and Increased Speed with the EVGA GeForce GTX 690 from NVIDIA

The release of the GeForce GTX 690 was recently announced by NVIDIA. This product comes from the EVGA line and the card also has an SKU which has been released based on the same graphics card. This review may be similar to the original review because this is a review based on references rather than on the original product. The review is based on a retail sample so you will be able to see what differences exist between this and the bundle you would receive when buying the GeForce GTX 690.

What is the GTX 690?

To create the GeForce GTX 690, NVIDIA used two GPUs. The Kepler GK104 was used in the card to provide a faster card. The attached cooler allows the card to run cool while providing stunning graphics. There is a PCI Express bridge created with the use of a PLX chip. This spans between the two GPUs and makes sure that the SLI is operating at its fullest potential. The silence of the GeForce GTX 690 surpasses any other card which uses to more than one GPU. Not only does the card run quietly, it also offers the best performance. All of this is accomplished without being a big power hog.

Clock rates of the GTX 690

As a result of all that goes into the graphics card, the games will go as fast as possible. The speed does not even seem to be effected by using the highest levels of quality settings for graphics. The 3D performance available from the GeForce GTX 690 is actually double what you would be able to expect if you were using two of the GeForce GTX 680s in SLI. There is 3072 Shader cores resulting from the use of the Kepler GK104 GPUs bridged together by the PLX. Additionally, you can expect to get 4GB total memory from the 2GB memory clusters at 6GBPs.

The GeForce GTX 690 has a 1019 MHz boost clock thanks to the GPUs. This is only 3% distance from the GeForce GTX 680 which has a clock of 1058 MHz, which is pretty outstanding. In respect to all of the rest of the specs between the GeForce GTX 690 and the GeForce GTX 680, they are pretty much the same. Everything down to the memory bandwidth per GPU, memory speed, and shader core processes are the same.

Power design of the GTX 690

The design of the board is really great. The design is sturdy enough to support all of the features and the cooler operates great. The printed circuit board (PCB) has a digital PWM with 10 phases to give the cores accommodation. The memory itself is given a 2-phase grid. The entire card is fed by two 8-pin PCI-E connectors. The card itself has a maximum power target of +35% as provided by NVIDIA. This means that the default power target of 265W for the GeForce GTX 690 card will be able to achieve around 350W. Overclocking is possible given this boost in additional energy.

The port configuration is the same as what you will find on the GeForce GTX 590. This uses a 3x DL-DVI and 1x miniDP port configuration to offer connections for the display. The card allows you to connect three monitors through the use of the 3x DL-DVI. It is important to note that the price tag on the GeForce GTX 690 is fairly high with the USD amount coming in at $999 while the EUR amount is coming in at 949€. The price is well worth it in the opinion of many because
of the reduction in noise and the increase in performance over other models.

 

 

Looking at this chart provided by nVidia we can see how well the GTX 690 scales in some of the most popular games.

Securing it’s place as one of the fastest graphics cards ever.