Beginning tomorrow, June 5, people can begin preordering the Sprint Galaxy S III that will be the only Galaxy S III on the four largest mobile carriers in the U.S. to come with Google Wallet preloaded and which will be released by Sprint on June 21.
In an announcement released by the company on Monday, it revealed that the Sprint Galaxy S III will start at $199.99 for the 16GB version and will cost $249.99 with the 32GB version. These prices are, of course, subsidized and therefore people will need to sign new contracts with Sprint to avail of them.
Differentiating the Sprint Galaxy S III with the versions announced for Verizon and AT&T is the fact that it will have Google Wallet installed right out of the box.
“Sprint is the only national U.S. wireless carrier to offer Galaxy S III preloaded with Google Wallet enabling the phone to act like a personal wallet using Near Field Communication (NFC) to make safe purchases at more than 100,000 participating retailers,” the carrier said of the Sprint Galaxy S III.
The announcement from Sprint for the details of the Sprint Galaxy S III comes as Verizon and AT&T have also announced details about the Galaxy S III versions going to their networks. AT&T will offer the Galaxy S III in an exclusive red color.
As with the Verizon Galaxy S III and the AT&T Galaxy S III, the Sprint Galaxy S III will feature a dual-core 1.5GHz QUALCOMM S4 Snapdragon processor. It seems that every phone going to the U.S. wireless networks won’t be endowed with the quad-core 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos 4212 processor that the international version of the Galaxy S III has.
Furthermore, like the Verizon Galaxy S III, the Sprint Galaxy S III will also feature 2GB of RAM. This leads us to believe that every version of the Galaxy S III which has dual- dual-core 1.5GHz QUALCOMM S4 Snapdragon processor will be having 2GB in RAM.
If you remember, we recently reported about the NTT DoCoMo Galaxy S III going to Japan also having 2GB in RAM. That phone also has a dual-core 1.5GHz QUALCOMM S4 Snapdragon processor. However, AT&T did not say whether its Galaxy S III will have 2GB in RAM although it revealed that it will also be powered by a dual-core S4 CPU.
Meanwhile, aside from the processor and RAM difference, the Sprint Galaxy S III will be essentially the same with the international version – offering the same screen, cameras, battery and software features – which we discussed in length here.
The phone will feature the 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display which has 720p (1,280×720 pixels resolution), as well as the 2,100 battery, the 8MP rear camera and 1.9MP front camera of the international version. Features like Smart Stay, AllShare, S Beam, S Voice, Direct Call, Wi-Fi Hotspot capability and Wi-Fi Direct will also be retained with the Sprint Galaxy S III.
Sprint’s Fared Adib said in a statement: “Sprint and Samsung take another leap forward together in bringing our customers the best in mobile technology with Galaxy S III on the Sprint 4G LTE network.”
“Sprint is the only U.S. carrier to offer this device with the simplicity of unlimited data plans. Our customers will appreciate being able to use the robust features and capabilities of this device without worrying about data caps, throttling or silly overage charges,” the Sprint VP for Product Development added.
Sprint also boasts that it is “the only national wireless carrier offering truly unlimited data for all phones while on the Sprint network.”
According to Sprint, subscribers who will get the Sprint Galaxy S III will be able to enjoy the new Samsung flagship smartphone with Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM which includes unlimited web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $79.99 per month for smartphones.
Sprint says that Sprint’s Everything Data plan amounts to a savings of $40 per month versus Verizon’s comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB web, or $10 per month savings versus Verizon’s 450-minute plan with unlimited text and 2GB web.
However, one thing which will probably deter people from going for the Sprint Galaxy S III is if they value LTE. The Sprint Galaxy S III is 4G LTE-capable but both AT&T’s and Verizon’s LTE networks are larger, with AT&T boasting about covering over 260 million people in the U.S. as of the moment and Verizon promising to cover as many people as AT&T as they expand their LTE network from 258 markets to 400 markets later this year. Sprint’s 4G LTE Network is yet to be launched later this year.
The Sprint Galaxy S III will be available to preorder online and at Sprint stores starting tomorrow, June 5, and the company will start releasing the Marble White and Pebble Blue versions of the smartphone starting June 21.
Like AT&T and Verizon, Sprint isn’t renaming the Samsung Galaxy S III like it did with the Samsung Galaxy S II which it sold as the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch. It will simply be known as the Sprint Galaxy S III.
Images 1 & 2 from Jeremy Brooks & Jeremy Brooks on Flickr (CC)
