Samsung Galaxy S3 London 2012 Olympic phone goes for gold

From Olympic rings to giving people a ring... if you think that was a strained segue, it's time for an even more tenuous tie-up: the Samsung Galaxy S3 London 2012 Olympic edition!

Samsung is a big sponsor of the Olympics, and if there's one thing the British public loves right now it's sponsors of the Olympics. They're almost as popular as bankers and tabloid journalists -- so we imagine lots of you will be excited about the arrival of the Olympic-themed Team GB S3.

There are two Olympic S3 designs. The white version has a Team GB lion so you can roar your support for our boys and girls in red, white and blue lycra. And the black version has a fetching and patriotic Union Flag on the back.

Should Team GB let us down horribly, the Olympic phone comes with a regular white or black case, so you can switch back to the normal look and pretend like the whole sorry spectacle never happened. 

The S3 is the official phone of London 2012 and has been issued to every athlete. It's loaded with an NFC payment app from Visa, which means top athletes can pay for stuff around the Olympic park by simply waving their phone at the till.

CNET is attending tonight's opening ceremony, choreographed amid a shroud of secrecy by Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, with a rousing chorus or two from Paul McCartney and many more. We'll be testing out the S3's contactless payments, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the festivities and reporting back on the important stuff, like how the 3G holds up.

The Olympic S3 goes on sale on 1 August in Carphone Warehouse. You can watch every second of the London 2012 games online and on the BBC. 

Are you excited for the Olympics? Which events will you be watching? Or will you be hiding in your shed for two weeks lest the whole bloated, money-grubbing pageant drive you to distraction? Pass the baton of your opinion in the comments or pole vault over to our Facebook page.