Third time's the charm with the Samsung Galaxy S III

The immensely popular Samsung Galaxy S II is finally seeing a proper successor with the introduction of the Galaxy S III.  For the sequel to one of the world’s most beloved Android phones, Samsung focused less on creating a revolutionary new design, and instead focused their energy on creating a better user interface.  Outwardly the phone looks like an amalgamation of previous Galaxy phones, with heavy design cues taken from the more recent Samsung Galaxy Nexus developed in collaboration with Google.  There’s a new 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED screen with a 1280 x 720 resolution, a 1.9 megapixel camera on the front of the phone, and an 8 megapixel one in the back.  As far as size is concerned, it weighs about 133 grams ans is pretty svelte at only 8.66 millimeters thick at it’s thicket point.

It’s pretty standard stuff, but like I said, most of the improvements have been done under the hood.  For starters the Galaxy S III features Samsung’s new 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad processor and 1 GB of RAM.  They’re both needed to power Samsung’s TouchWiz version of Android 4.0.  The updated software allows for a number of features new to Samsung’s line of Galaxy phones.  You can find one of your contacts and simply raise the phone to your ear to make a call.  Tapping and holding down on the phone’s screen while rotating it sideways will enable camera mode.  Looking at the phone will turn the screen on, while not looking at it will shut it off.  In addition to these context based gestures, there’s also S Voice, which allows you to control the phone using Siri like voice command software, S Beam, which allows you to share files with other Galaxy S IIIs using near field communication (NFC), and AllShare Play and AllShare Cast, which allows you to stream your  phone’s media or display to a TV screen respectively.

The Galaxy S III will be available across Europe starting at the end of this month, with the rest of the world (including the US of A) expected to receive shipments throughout the summer.  No word yet on price or availability, but if I had to speculate I’d say everyone and their third cousin once removed on their father’s side should be able to get their hands on one.

Way better than those bedazzled cases at the mall

Sisters Danielle and Jodie Snyder, the duo behind Dannijo, have been offering a colorful array of hand made jewelry for the past 4 years, mixing timeless sophistication with a bohemian, rocker vibe.  Now, in addition to offering bracelets, necklaces, rings, and other bling, they’re peddling these amazing looking iPhone 4 cases.  Produced in conjunction with both Speck and Uncommon, there are several models to choose from.  Some are wrapped in fabric featuring one of Dannijo’s  eye-popping signature patterns.  Others have extremely high quality kaleidoscopic patterns printed directly on the shells.  Either way you go you’re iPhone 4 will be protected, and  it’ll look really good as it falls to the floor multiple times a day.

You can get one now from the Dannijo web shop for $98.

All that glitters isn't gold...but some things are

Peanut butter and bananas.  Ice and coffee.  Ice cream and tempura.  Sausage and apple sauce (really!).  Good things can happen when worlds collide (don’t let Seinfeld tell you otherwise).  This seems to be especially true when the world of fashion meets the world of technology.  For Spring 2012 HP once again grabbed a world-renowned fashion designer to pull a Beyoncé and visually upgrade one of their traditionally staid models – this time linking up with Brazilian designer Alexandre Herchcovitch on the Pavilion dm1.  Inspired by a gilded, lace dress from his Fall 2012 collection, Herchcovitch decided to adorn the Pavilion dm1 in a black and gold lace doily pattern that not only covers the top lid of the computer, but the handrests and keyboard.  It’s a far cry from the ultra conservative black and/or silver cases that HP computers are usually dressed in, and owning one will make all your friends envious.  Isn’t that what life is really all about?

There’s a matching mouse to go along with the computer, and it can all be slipped into a gold-foilesque sleeve featuring the same doily pattern.  The whole shebang is available now, exclusively through QVC!

HP Pavillion dm1 by Alex Herchcovitch, 11.6″, QVC Featured Price: $629.95

Rediscover the magic of film cameras

Ok, so you could take a whole slew of pictures on your cell phone, fire up Instragram, and make them look all fake retro…or you could be real hipster and take some real old-timey looking photos with a new Lomo. The fine folks at Lomography have just released the La Sardina Splendour, a tiny little thing that features a sardine can design (yet, thankfully, doesn’t feature the sardine can smell) inspired by the original Kandor Candid Camera of the 1940s. It comes packed with the Fritz the Blitz flash and is wrapped in a beautiful hammer-finish metal. Like the Candid that inspired it, the La Sardina Splendour looks to be the perfect little camera to whip out at a party and take overexposed photos of people in compromising situations.

The La Sardina Splendour is available now for $200 at a Lomography store near you.

The moment millions of people have been waiting for

It’s been a long, long, long time coming, but now millions of Android users have yet another reason not to be jealous of their iPhone owning friends: Instagram is now available for Android devices. Haven’t heard of Instgram? Then you must have been pushing up daisies for the past couple years. It’s only, like…every hipster’s wet dream, turning ordinary cell phone pics into extraordinary, stylized shots that wouldn’t look too out of place in a 1970s-style NYU dorm room. Almost everything people have loved about the now OG version of Instagram is here in the Android version: the 18 filters to touch your photos up with, the ability to share to a your stuff on a handful of social networks like Tumblr, Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter, the community features. What isn’t currently available, though, are the ability to tilt-shift and vignetting, but it’s only a matter of time before those things are rectified. Otherwise if you’re used to the iPhone version, you should be pretty much right at home with the one for Android. Instagram can be downloaded free right now on Google Play.