Samsung launches Premium Suite upgrade for Galaxy S III

December 7, 2012 | By Jason Ankeny

Samsung Electronics released its Premium Suite, a software update that expands features introduced in the manufacturer's Galaxy Note II phablet to its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone.

The Premium Suite update includes a series of contextual awareness enhancements including Page Buddy, which predicts what the consumer intends to do based on their actions--for example, when the user plugs headphones into the Galaxy S III, Page Buddy automatically opens a page with the device music player. The upgrade also touts a contextual menu that presents a list of apps with the most frequently-used at the top, as well as contextual tagging that automatically attaches weather, date and location data to photos.

Additional Premium Suite highlights include a multi-window option enabling consumers to open and view two different apps at the same time and a Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) Lock Ticker that presents the user's Facebook News Feed on the Galaxy S III's lock screen. Users can also share photos and videos by tapping the smartphone with other Near Field Communications and S-Beam-enabled devices.

Samsung is rolling out Premium Suite worldwide, although the availability and timing of the upgrade will vary depending on the country and mobile operator. The device maker adds that a second wave of Premium Suite enhancements is forthcoming.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S III in late May and recently announced that unit sales of the device have eclipsed the 30 million mark. Earlier this week, AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) updated its Galaxy S III smartphone to run Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android 4.1, a.k.a. Jelly Bean, following in the steps of rivals Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile USA. Samsung has pledged Jelly Bean support for all Galaxy S III units sold by its U.S. operator partners--Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and U.S. Cellular have not yet revealed their respective Jelly Bean update timelines, however.

For more:
- read this Samsung Tomorrow blog entry