ARE YOU RUSHING RIGHT OUT AND GETTING THE NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY S III Review: Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S III

The Samsung S III is both bigger and smaller, in ways that only improve on the earlier model: The T-Mobile Galaxy S II had a 4.5-inch screen and was 9.4 mm thin (versions for other carriers were slightly thinner). The new model has a larger 4.8-inch screen, yet it’s thinner and lighter than the earlier model.

How is that possible? Samsung has stressed design with the Galaxy S III, boiling the phone down to its simplest elements: A single home key sits at the base, beneath the sleek sheet of glass, while two buttons for Back and Menu light up at either side only when pressed. They then perform a magic trick, vanishing behind the cool "Pebble Blue" bezel -- that’s purple to you and me.

The Galaxy packs every feature you’d expect, and many you’ve never heard of. It has the fastest 4G cellular networks; T-Mobile's uses something called HSPA+42 that’s a surprisingly strong surfing experience (if you can get it). The Galaxy S III has a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera and a second, 8-megapixel camera that can instantly capture 20 sequential pictures and select the best one. It’s powered by a 1.5-GHz dual core CPU, and there’s a new wireless technology called NFC to let your smartphone act as a wallet.

One feature makes it easy to share photos among a group of friends, either at a baseball game or a house party. Another lets you exchange videos with another Galaxy S III user -- after ganging the two phones together -- with just a single swipe of your finger.

The Galaxy S III runs the latest Ice Cream Sandwich version of the Android operating system, which feels smooth, fluid, and elegant. Menus are legible, transitions between screens work exactly as you’d expect, and swipe gestures are smoothly executed.

The device also has a level of polish rarely seen in consumer products -- products from outside of Apple headquarters, anyway. Clearly, Apple’s design-first mantra has rubbed off here.