Samsung Galaxy S3 Review

[Vision33r]

For those that read my Galaxy Note review, I thought it was a good device, it had a number of good things as well as many shortcomings. In general it wasn't suited for everyone. The SGS3 is better suited for the masses.

At 4.8" it's large for iPhone users and feels fresh for most Android users who are used to 4"+ displays. It's pocket able, even in my gym shorts it didn't have the extra bulge the Galaxy Note had. I've been using the Galaxy Nexus recently and suddenly felt awkward with the S3 having physical buttons again. I know the Android purists are going to say the S3 is 2 step forward and 1 step backward in design by incorporating the big home button and the back and search buttons.
After a week of use I did think the home button is a bit awkward to use but it does come in handy when I'm driving and didn't want my eyes off the road.

Design & Build quality 3.8 / 5 Stars

Let's face it, the iPhone still beats Samsung in design and engineering. The Samsung shell is all plastic not very different than plastic found on free phones. The design of the S3 carried over from the Galaxy Note.

I felt the S3's alum accented trim on the side to be extra slippery compared to the iPhone 4. Unless you have really rough and sticky fingers this phone can slip very easily. The side profile is way too tapered and not flat making it difficult to get a good grip. So I highly recommend getting a case right away.

The battery back door pops off just like the Galaxy Note, this time the S3 uses a Mini SIM card just like Apple. The Micro SD card is in a very good location and can easily be popped out without powering off the device.

Overall, it's a solid design chasis does have some flex and not as rigid as the HTC One X or iPhone.

Call quality: 4.5 / 5 Stars

AT&T LTE service is a huge improvement over their 3G service, not only is the signal quality better so was the voice quality. SGS3 has a very loud earpiece speaker that sounded almost as loud as having the speakerphone turned on. I was very pleased with the call quality.

Battery Life 3.5 / 5 Stars

I wasn't blown away by the battery life, in general it was worst than the Note due to the smaller battery. It was actually worst than my modded SGS2 running CM9. It took me awhile to go through preferences and tweak the phone for good battery life. After the power adjustments, battery life improved substantially but still nowhere near the Galaxy Note. Leaving the device fully charged on overnight without plugging in, it dropped by only 7% in 6.5 hours of discharging. Much more improved over the 1st night when I had the device dropped 13% by the morning.

Performance 4.3 / 5 Stars

Given that the US Spec version also uses the DualCore S4 Krait just like the HTC One X, the reason being Samsung's Exynos QuadCore does not have the US LTE baseband radio yet. I don't think Quad-core is worth getting especially taking an old ARM design and simply doubling the cores. The only reason for opting for the QuadCore International version is for the faster GPU which is currently the fastest mobile GPU available on a smartphone, the iPad 3 one is king of all mobile devices for now.

I do appreciate that Samsung gave the US Spec S3 a bump to 2GB of memory instead of 1GB found on the SGH-9300 or International S3. The device really does not slow down or bottleneck much with multiple apps running at the same time and it's pretty evident that a memory task manager isn't necessary anymore with 2GB. Imo, this is quite possibly the best feature of all the smart phones out today.

Here's a quick snapshot of ATT LTE performance.

http://www.speedtest.net/android/205096018.png

Not bad, it's not as good as the VZ LTE service where I constantly get between 4-14mbs.

Screen Quality 4.5 / 5 Stars

The screen was the star of this release. 4.8" of gorgeous qHD display. This screen actually is an improvement over the SGS2 and Note in particular the SAMOLED panel didn't have green or yellow color balance issues. Most review sites gave the nod to the HTC One X's S-LCD2 for the best looking display. I actually disagree, I think the HTC One X probably has the most accurate color but it doesn't standout as much as the SGS3's great contrast ratio. Blacks and whites are just much crisper looking on the SGS3. I've had the HTC One X next to the SGS3 around a couple of guys at the office and almost everyone picked the SGS3 over the HTC for best looking display. I guess the extra 0.1" also helped make the phone look bigger.

Final Words:

So is this the best smartphone in America today? I have to concur with most review sites, it does do most things better than the iPhone and more. It also depends on your preferences and taste. My boss uses the Galaxy Nexus and he has no friggin clue how to task switch or install a different launcher. Like many he's better suited with an iPhone but he hates Apple.

Two things the iPhone still does better and that's SIRI and Photos. While most people dismiss SIRI as just an improved voice command app. I have to disagree I think voice command is huge in the next decade as it's the next level of user interface. SIRI in the beta form can understand normal human spoken voice much better than any other voice command apps that I've used and the S-Voice included in the S3 is just a simple copy and I'm sure Apple has a lawsuit ready.

As for picture taking, while the S3's camera app improved greatly, mostly due to ICS improvement. The software is still somewhat clunking, many sites have reported that Samsung does do a little cheating to enhance the photo a bit after snapping.

Well, if you are on the fence on which Android device to get. I'd say the S3 over the HTC One X for sure. The HTC One X is really superior to the S3 in so many areas but the most glaring weakness is the lack of the MicroSD card and non-removable battery. 2nd area is the S3 has 2GB of memory which is a huge performance boost for those who actively use a lot of apps. HTC Sense UI is better than Touchwiz but once CM9 is RC for S3 than it will be king for sure.

[vwconvert]

Nice writeup. As someone who has been using a galaxy nexus, would you recommend this over the nexus taking into account the more frequent update cycle? My wife is looking into this versus the nexus . She is a bit of a power user and would take full advantage of Google Now on JB but she is also a multitask queen so the extra ram on the s3 would be good .

Funny comments about your boss, I find task switch much easier and intuitive on ICS versus there iPhone. Never was able to switch consistently on the iPhone .

[Vision33r]

Nice writeup. As someone who has been using a galaxy nexus, would you recommend this over the nexus taking into account the more frequent update cycle? My wife is looking into this versus the nexus . She is a bit of a power user and would take full advantage of Google Now on JB but she is also a multitask queen so the extra ram on the s3 would be good .

Funny comments about your boss, I find task switch much easier and intuitive on ICS versus there iPhone. Never was able to switch consistently on the iPhone .

Galaxy Nexus is the older brother of the S3, they're identical in some ways but the S3 is Samsung's flagship phone and has the extra hardware. At this time I recommend Nexus for only those folks who don't plan to mod their phone and you are guaranteed updates such as 4.1 that just came out. You can't install external storage and the camera is only 5 Mpix on the Nexus which is last gen specs.

S3 for those that mod their phones as I mentioned, once Cyanogenmod CM9 rom comes out of for this device it brings a new level of performance and modding capability.

[KeiCar]

Thank you for the review Vision... I have had this phone on my mind since its inception, just trying to sell off some older phones to make up the difference when I go to purchase it. I do miss my galaxay s2 (world), and I'll probably be getting the intl version of this as well...

[Shtbox]

i just picked this phone up yesterday. ive been an iphone user since the original came out, and have not had another smartphone aside from iphones.

in short, THIS THING IS ****ING AWESOME

[Vision33r]

On my 2nd full week with the phone and now the dust sort of settle let me add some additional info.

Imo, Samsung is starting to branch away from the Android experience and embrace the "Samsung" experience.

These are the Samsung apps below, some matches Apple's offerings:

S-Voice - Similar to SIRI, too similar imo they will get sued by Apple soon.

Kies Air - Wireless management tool, allows you to open a browser and manage content the device with a PC.

ChatON - Similar to Apple's chat client Messages

S-Beam - NFC based data sync and sharing service, allows you to bump data to another S-beam device and share data this way.

Some of these apps merely mirror Google's offerings but it's one step to Samsung branding their own apps with their own theme and protocols.

Arguably Samsung player, imo is the best among Android sets.







Can't wait to root and await for a dev to port Jelly Bean over.

[leaftye]

Call quality: 4.5 / 5 Stars

AT&T LTE service is a huge improvement over their 3G service, not only is the signal quality better so was the voice quality. SGS3 has a very loud earpiece speaker that sounded almost as loud as having the speakerphone turned on. I was very pleased with the call quality.

Thanks for breaking this out. Too many reviews skip over the most important feature of a phone.

[Chacolla]

This video is what makes the S3 so amazingly awesome. I am still so torn about waiting for the iPhone 5/6/whatever the hell it's gonna be called. I'm heavily invested into the Apple ecosystem (been using iPhones for 4 years now).

[KeiCar]

Someone is going to buy my Galaxy Note & some other stuff online... SGS3, HERE WE COMEDDDDDDD

[Shtbox]

This video is what makes the S3 so amazingly awesome. I am still so torn about waiting for the iPhone 5/6/whatever the hell it's gonna be called. I'm heavily invested into the Apple ecosystem (been using iPhones for 4 years now).

Make the switch. I should have sswitched to an android phone years ago. Trust news when I say this phone blows iPhones outta the water!

[Chacolla]

I'm contemplating it heavily. I've been dying to get a new phone for a while. I love my iPhone but it's starting to bore me. It still works great with zero dropped calls, but I just feel like I can never have any fun with it. The 4s is still nearly identical to the original one in terms of UI. I highly doubt I'll ever want to hook a PS3 controller up to my phone and play mario kart, but it's nice to have that option.

Plus I'd be able to give my girlfriend my iphone 4 which she could use on T-mobile since mine was unlocked through AT&T.

I just really don't feel like being locked into another 2 years with AT&T right now and I can't justify spending $600 on an non-subsidized phone.

[TwoLitreVW]

AT&T LTE service is a huge improvement over their 3G service, not only is the signal quality better so was the voice quality.

I'm not sure what LTE has to do with call quality.

Is ATT using LTE for voice as well as data?

If so, does that mean the call quality is just as good as any other 3G phone where there is no LTE (particularly of interest, especially since ATT has such little LTE coverage)?

How much of the call quality score/evaluation was a function of the phone vs the network?

[WhistlerYOW]

The hilarious thing about all these b*tch move apple lawsuits is that IMO it will lose them a lot of customers...

I was an iPhone user with blinders on. I never even looked at android phones or cared about them... I just always planned to get whatever iPhone was newest when I was ready for upgrades.

Then I read all these stop sale lawsuits and wonder wtf is going on... They must be scared of something to be using all this legal wrangling to fight the competition as opposed to actually releasing a new iPhone faster.

So I started looking into android.. S3... HTC One X etc... And wow what a step up! I'm curious about the iPhone 5, but I'm ready for an upgrade now and there is no way I'm taking am iPhone 4s over the new androids.

[Shtbox]

The hilarious thing about all these b*tch move apple lawsuits is that IMO it will lose them a lot of customers...

I was an iPhone user with blinders on. I never even looked at android phones or cared about them... I just always planned to get whatever iPhone was newest when I was ready for upgrades.

Then I read all these stop sale lawsuits and wonder wtf is going on... They must be scared of something to be using all this legal wrangling to fight the competition as opposed to actually releasing a new iPhone faster.

So I started looking into android.. S3... HTC One X etc... And wow what a step up! I'm curious about the iPhone 5, but I'm ready for an upgrade now and there is no way I'm taking am iPhone 4s over the new androids.

I did the same thing after reading all of the legal crap. That's when I decided to make the switch and never look back

[joe97]

I got my pre-ordered S3 with Verizon on the first available date in the mail this week. It's been a few days now getting acquainted with my first Android device (having previous owned multiple BBs), and I am throughly happy with the purchase so far and highly recommend it!

[WhistlerYOW]

I'm really torn between the S3 and the HTC One X...

I keep going back to the store and playing with both of them... I feel that the One X has nicer physical construction/materials... and I find that their Sense interface to be a lot more "mature" and upscale looking than the TouchWiz interface on the S3. I don't really like the colours of the S3's exterior (why can't they just make it in simple black??!), and I find the glossy plastic to feel a little cheaper/tackier than the nicer matte finish on the One X (personal opinion).

But, the S3 seems to be reviewing slightly better, has a removable/upgradable battery (which could be big for me doing 12hr shifts and playing with my phone a lot), has expandable storage with microSD, and it seems like the accessories for it are a lot easier to find here in Canada since the phone is carried by every major provider now.

Really a toss up for me.

[KeiCar]

I'm really torn between the S3 and the HTC One X...

I keep going back to the store and playing with both of them... I feel that the One X has nicer physical construction/materials... and I find that their Sense interface to be a lot more "mature" and upscale looking than the TouchWiz interface on the S3. I don't really like the colours of the S3's exterior (why can't they just make it in simple black??!), and I find the glossy plastic to feel a little cheaper/tackier than the nicer matte finish on the One X (personal opinion).

But, the S3 seems to be reviewing slightly better, has a removable/upgradable battery (which could be big for me doing 12hr shifts and playing with my phone a lot), has expandable storage with microSD, and it seems like the accessories for it are a lot easier to find here in Canada since the phone is carried by every major provider now.

Really a toss up for me.

Its no toss up AT ALL for me... HTC = No Micro SD slot = ARE YOU FU(KING HIGH! = Galaxy S3

Seriously, what a TOTAL oversight and failure if you ask me. And dont tell me, Oh well its got plenty of internal stor.... Bull Ish! Internal memory is static (in the removable sense), external if its SDXC supportive is VAST and to not include that on YOUR FLAGSHIP device is a total failure.

Damn shame too because otherwise, not counting that, the phone is NICE... I mean real nice, I mean "I could flip a coin between this and the SGS3 and I would be satisfied with it, nice"....


That being said, Galaxy s3 for me in 3, 2, 1....

[joe97]

^ agreed. My decision came down between the S3 and a Win7 phone.
The S3 won out, partly and mostly because of the external storage option.

By the way, the HTC wasn't even available for Verizon, what else is new, but that's for talking points another day.

[WhistlerYOW]

Its no toss up AT ALL for me... HTC = No Micro SD slot = ARE YOU FU(KING HIGH! = Galaxy S3

Seriously, what a TOTAL oversight and failure if you ask me. And dont tell me, Oh well its got plenty of internal stor.... Bull Ish! Internal memory is static (in the removable sense), external if its SDXC supportive is VAST and to not include that on YOUR FLAGSHIP device is a total failure.

Damn shame too because otherwise, not counting that, the phone is NICE... I mean real nice, I mean "I could flip a coin between this and the SGS3 and I would be satisfied with it, nice"....


That being said, Galaxy s3 for me in 3, 2, 1....

Ya the lack of SD card and removable battery are what will probably make me get an S3, even though I like the overall phone better from HTC.

Right now my iPhone is 16gb with no SD slot and I've never had an issue like that... but considering the new phone will be more powerful, have a bigger screen, and take HD videos, I can see me filling up 16gb with movies and such a lot easier. Especially if I start using it as a primary music device.

[leaftye]

Ya the lack of SD card and removable battery are what will probably make me get an S3, even though I like the overall phone better from HTC.

Those are deal breakers for me too.

The first is a big deal because I'd rather not directly attach any device like that to my computer. The second is a big deal because I tend to retain my phones for many years. In fact, I'd probably still be on my first cell phone from early 2002 if I had thought to replace the battery. I definitely think of replacing batteries now. I have 3 batteries for my current phone.

[KeiCar]

Got my Galaxy S3


Now who wants to buy a Galaxy Note?!? Any takers?

[Vision33r]

This video is what makes the S3 so amazingly awesome. I am still so torn about waiting for the iPhone 5/6/whatever the hell it's gonna be called. I'm heavily invested into the Apple ecosystem (been using iPhones for 4 years now).

Actually, most vids demoing SGS3 gaming are using the quad-core i9300 version which has the new Mali-400 GPU that is almost as fast as the GPU inside the iPhone4S. The US version SGS3 has the slower Adreno 225 GPU which is not better than the SGS2 in performance. So gaming performance on the US SGS3 won't be as good as the SGS2 nor Int. SGS3.

I'm not sure what LTE has to do with call quality.

Is ATT using LTE for voice as well as data?

If so, does that mean the call quality is just as good as any other 3G phone where there is no LTE (particularly of interest, especially since ATT has such little LTE coverage)?

How much of the call quality score/evaluation was a function of the phone vs the network?

I attribute the improvement of call quality simply with the LTE signal carrying the data transmission and 3G signal solely carrying the voice without having to share.

With only 3G service you might have noticed at times there are degradation of quality intermittently. That's happening when data is being transmitted during a phone call. Verizon CDMA traditionally better call signal quality because they can't perform data + voice at the same time, that's their tradeoff for better voice signal.

I'm really torn between the S3 and the HTC One X...

Really a toss up for me.

Then the new HTC Evo 4G is the right phone if you can swing Sprint service with almost no LTE coverage.

The new HTC EVO 4G is built on the same internals as the HTC One X but has the internal microSD slot and kick stand.


If you ask me what the killer feature of the SGS3 is? 2GB RAM > 4.8" AMOLED > MicroSD slot.

[KeiCar]

Actually, most vids demoing SGS3 gaming are using the quad-core i9300 version which has the new Mali-400 GPU that is almost as fast as the GPU inside the iPhone4S. The US version SGS3 has the slower Adreno 225 GPU which is not better than the SGS2 in performance. So gaming performance on the US SGS3 won't be as good as the SGS2 nor Int. SGS3.

Well that is certainly disappointing. Does the same hold true for the CDMA branded versions?

[Vision33r]

Well that is certainly disappointing. Does the same hold true for the CDMA branded versions?

Yes, all US SGS3 and HTC One X uses the S4 Krait dual-core SOC.



The SGS2 is faster than the US SGS3 in gaming performance.

[KeiCar]

Yes, all US SGS3 and HTC One X uses the S4 Krait dual-core SOC.



The SGS2 is faster than the US SGS3 in gaming performance.

I dont even game and that just doesn't sit right with me... Damn Vision33r, look what you made me do. Now I gotta buy a damn world version, you know how much thats going to cost me...


Actually I did have the world version of the GS2II which was nice...

[TwoLitreVW]

I attribute the improvement of call quality simply with the LTE signal carrying the data transmission and 3G signal solely carrying the voice without having to share.

so basically, you'd have to be in one of the 40 markets att actually has LTE to experience this perceived improved call quality.

[KeiCar]

The hilarious thing about all these b*tch move apple lawsuits is that IMO it will lose them a lot of customers...

I was an iPhone user with blinders on. I never even looked at android phones or cared about them... I just always planned to get whatever iPhone was newest when I was ready for upgrades.

Then I read all these stop sale lawsuits and wonder wtf is going on... They must be scared of something to be using all this legal wrangling to fight the competition as opposed to actually releasing a new iPhone faster.

So I started looking into android.. S3... HTC One X etc... And wow what a step up! I'm curious about the iPhone 5, but I'm ready for an upgrade now and there is no way I'm taking am iPhone 4s over the new androids.

Do you really think, really... that Apple will loose customers due to these lawsuits? I admit that it might slow the adoption rate, but loose customers / increase churn, no way. Now don't think that Im on Apples side of the fence here, because Im not. Sure im still a satisfied macbook pro user and Ill keep using these laptops because their awesome, I was a iPhone guy for a while but I was constantly looking over my shoulder at the Android camp to see what was going on.

Once I felt that Android had matured enough, in both software & hardware, I made the switch and haven't looked back, that goes way back to the Motorola Atrix 4G days, the phone that not only made Android my OS of choice but reassured my faith in Motorola (but thats another story in and of itself...). Ive been using only top end android handsets since and Ive been totally happy with it (last phone was a Galaxy S2, Galaxy not for a short while and now the S3) I still have a iPhone in the family (wife has my old 4), I use it now and it just doesn't seem as special as it was. I wanna say its Sammy's OLED tech that bit me and wont let go, its awesome really (but thats also another story for another time lol).


what was I talking about again... ramble ramble ramble ra...

[WhistlerYOW]

Well on Monday when I pick up my s3, theyve lost me, and I never even looked at Samsung until the hype around the lawsuits.

[Sizzla]

Picked up this phone a day or so ago. Still getting used to the larger size.
I've had a droid for the last two plus years. My girlfriend is a little jealous since she just got a galaxy 2 a year ago and has one more year on her contract.

[16v]

Call quality: 4.5 / 5 Stars

AT&T LTE service is a huge improvement over their 3G service, not only is the signal quality better so was the voice quality. SGS3 has a very loud earpiece speaker that sounded almost as loud as having the speakerphone turned on. I was very pleased with the call quality.

just to clarify: When a CS (voice) call is initiated either incoming or outgoing, the device does a RAT reselection down to the HSPA+ (3G) network. That is, when in a voice call, the GS3 is using the same network and technology types as any other 3G device would for CS, PS, or CS+PS traffic.

[vwbeaner]

I have an S3. I think it is a little big and very slippery in my hand. The speed is ok but that is because I don't have 4g where I live.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

Do you really think, really... that Apple will loose customers due to these lawsuits?

From what I've been able to read.. yes, and it's already happened.

Does that mean their majority of customers will drop them because of it? No. But I've read of more then a few people making the switch or at least considering the switch because of the lawsuits Apple is pushing on competitors. And if only a handful of people actually do it and they like it it will become a domino effect.

That and the new iPhone apparently to be changing up their dock connector of the IP5 will render everything accessory wise for the previous Iphones useless adds just another thing to push people past it.

[Minker17]

I don't think they are going to lose customers at all. Even with the new design and dock connector.

In fact, I don't think most people are even aware of the lawsuits.

[leaftye]

iPhone market share has already been dropping. I see no reason why the next version will reverse that trend.

Just knowing about the lawsuits and about the new connector is enough for many people to take a look at the alternatives instead of blindly upgrading to the next iteration of the iPhone. Getting customers to look at the competition is a sure fire way to lose customers.

The new connector forces people to do things differently. Remember what happened when Netflix told their customers they were going to change things, even though it probably made no difference at all to the level service they used? This connector might not be a Netflix moment for Apple, but it probably won't be good.

[VikingVR6GTI]

I was just forced to upgrade (had a Samsung Epic 4G) after I forgot it was in my pocket when I went to the water park. I got a Galaxy S3 and I have to say I am absolutely blown away by this phone! I love it. Good stuff. I miss having an actual keyboard but other than that, I wouldn't give this phone up for any other phone on the market right now.