Samsung Galaxy S3 Review

[Sizzla]

I'd like to see the back of the phone have some sort of slip resistant material.

When I try to prop it up on my keyboard at work while listening to Pandora it doesn't stay upright and the speaker gets muffled.

Other than that it's great.

[joe97]

I hear the 4.1 jelly bean upgrade may come to the S3 by the end the month.

[hrama803]

T-Mobile is giving me a sweet deal on a S3.

I have to sell my sensation first..

[zerotosixty]

I hear the 4.1 jelly bean upgrade may come to the S3 by the end the month.

Carriers are going to delay the update, as usual.

Dev world should have a solid ROM up in a couple days since the international versions's JB ROM was leaked recently

[Minker17]

T-Mobile is giving me a sweet deal on a S3.

I have to sell my sensation first..

How good a deal? T-Mo is offering me one for $100. Just have to sell my Amaze.

[Jesse]

I hear the 4.1 jelly bean upgrade may come to the S3 by the end the month.

no way.

[Minker17]

The build has been leaked for the international version and the rumors do indeed point to the end of this month. Rumors.

[Chacolla]

I just got this phone about a week ago. Loving it so far, but I had a question: any battery saving tips? Even if I don't use the phone at all and it just sits at my desk, never turned turn the screen on once in 8-9 hours, it'll go from 100% to 80% in that amount of time. My iPhone would drop to 95% at the absolute max.

I want to turn off push notifications for email, but can't find the settings. I'm using Gmail and I don't need an email pushed to me every single time. How do I set it to go hourly or every other hour?

Any other tips to help with battery? Is there a way to disable 4G on AT&T? I don't even pay for the 4G speeds so I have no use for it...how do I turn it off?

[Vision33r]

I just got this phone about a week ago. Loving it so far, but I had a question: any battery saving tips? Even if I don't use the phone at all and it just sits at my desk, never turned turn the screen on once in 8-9 hours, it'll go from 100% to 80% in that amount of time. My iPhone would drop to 95% at the absolute max.

I want to turn off push notifications for email, but can't find the settings. I'm using Gmail and I don't need an email pushed to me every single time. How do I set it to go hourly or every other hour?

Any other tips to help with battery? Is there a way to disable 4G on AT&T? I don't even pay for the 4G speeds so I have no use for it...how do I turn it off?

The battery life has really gone down the drain recently on AT&T, there's a patch for the 4G LTE signal issue that causes severe battery drain. Don't know when it will be released, the best thing to do that I've done is create a 2nd APN to use HSPA instead of 4G.

[joe97]

I just got this phone about a week ago. Loving it so far, but I had a question: any battery saving tips? Even if I don't use the phone at all and it just sits at my desk, never turned turn the screen on once in 8-9 hours, it'll go from 100% to 80% in that amount of time. My iPhone would drop to 95% at the absolute max.

I want to turn off push notifications for email, but can't find the settings. I'm using Gmail and I don't need an email pushed to me every single time. How do I set it to go hourly or every other hour?

Any other tips to help with battery? Is there a way to disable 4G on AT&T? I don't even pay for the 4G speeds so I have no use for it...how do I turn it off?

Turn off mobile data and use wifi whenever possible to conserve battery. 4G is super fast but can drain the battery even swih no active apps. You can also turn on power savings.

[WhistlerYOW]

I just got this phone about a week ago. Loving it so far, but I had a question: any battery saving tips? Even if I don't use the phone at all and it just sits at my desk, never turned turn the screen on once in 8-9 hours, it'll go from 100% to 80% in that amount of time. My iPhone would drop to 95% at the absolute max.

I want to turn off push notifications for email, but can't find the settings. I'm using Gmail and I don't need an email pushed to me every single time. How do I set it to go hourly or every other hour?

Any other tips to help with battery? Is there a way to disable 4G on AT&T? I don't even pay for the 4G speeds so I have no use for it...how do I turn it off?

Go into your options and turn off the LTE data...

I was having lots of battery drain when I first got mine and switching to just HSPA made a big difference. The LTE is ridiculously fast but for streaming and browsing I don't notice the difference

[joe97]

Go into your options and turn off the LTE data...

I was having lots of battery drain when I first got mine and switching to just HSPA made a big difference. The LTE is ridiculously fast but for streaming and browsing I don't notice the difference

My phone keeps toggle back to LTE even after I had changed it to HSPA. A quick Google search shows it picks the best option based on coverage area.

[WhistlerYOW]

My phone keeps toggle back to LTE even after I had changed it to HSPA. A quick Google search shows it picks the best option based on coverage area.

Odd... I went into settings/more settings/mobile networks/network mode.

There I have the option of gsm/hspa/LTE, gsm/hspa, gsm only, or hspa only.

I picked the gsm/hspa option. It switches back and forth between those two now but NEVER goes into LTE, even though I live in an LTE zone.

LTE only activates if I switch back to gsm/hspa/LTE.

[Shtbox]

i dont even have the 'network mode' option in the 'mobile network' screen. what the ****? i have ATT fwiw, not rooted.

battery drains pretty quickly. really the only complaint i have with the phone

[Minker17]

Mine will be here in a few hours!

[KeiCar]

i dont even have the 'network mode' option in the 'mobile network' screen. what the ****? i have ATT fwiw, not rooted.

battery drains pretty quickly. really the only complaint i have with the phone

You think thats bad, you aint seen sh*t until you use the galaxy note. Now I know that it has a big screen, and those use up more power but DAMN,
what would be a full charge in the morning would be 20% by 2pm and thats with VERY LIGHT usage. Not only that but it would take HOURS to charge, I mean like 8 hours or more
to go from low 20% or so to full. Oh and thats with multiple chargers (standard .5a and "ipad" type 2.1a) different usb cords and different batteries. I even got a second note and
still had issues. Couldnt wait for that to go.


The S3 on the other hand is awesome, and its still running stock (although rooted) firmware (I have the T999 version). I may actually keep this phone for a while (unless the world version gets modded in a way to pick up 1700MHz, then its switch-a-roo time... )

[Vision33r]

i dont even have the 'network mode' option in the 'mobile network' screen. what the ****? i have ATT fwiw, not rooted.

battery drains pretty quickly. really the only complaint i have with the phone

Download Juice Defender, it should mitigate some of the antenna hunt issues during sleep.

For ATT folks, there's no LTE off switch, if you switch LTE off it turns off all mobile wireless.

The only way is to create a custom APN for 3G service and switch to it.

[joe97]

I haven't done any real tests yet but it seems my phone charges faster with mobile data option on, as opposed to the option off, or the phone completely off. Certainly not complaing but I would have thought the other way around.

[Sizzla]

I haven't done any real tests yet but it seems my phone charges faster with mobile data option on, as opposed to the option off, or the phone completely off. Certainly not complaing but I would have thought the other way around.

I'll have to try that.

This phone takes HOURS to fully charge.

[KeiCar]

I'll have to try that.

This phone takes HOURS to fully charge.

Yea mine takes a while charge, compared to other makes and models with similar sized batteries. However going back to what I said about the galaxy note, THAT would take hours... to the tune of about 8 hours or so.... YES 8 HOURS TO CHARGE! F'king nuts, I like Samsung and all but they need to do better charging tech, espically in their top end stuff. Its one things if its a freebie phone (aka a throw-away phone!) but not in their high end devices. Hell the S3 is their technology showcase, it should perform like so.

Perhaps you have a bad battery, take it back for a return.

[The Chemist]

You think thats bad, you aint seen sh*t until you use the galaxy note. Now I know that it has a big screen, and those use up more power but DAMN,
what would be a full charge in the morning would be 20% by 2pm and thats with VERY LIGHT usage. Not only that but it would take HOURS to charge, I mean like 8 hours or more
to go from low 20% or so to full. Oh and thats with multiple chargers (standard .5a and "ipad" type 2.1a) different usb cords and different batteries. I even got a second note and
still had issues. Couldnt wait for that to go.

Strange. My Note will always get me through the day with quite a bit of charge left over, even with quite a bit of use. And mine will get charged to full from pretty much nothing within 3 hours.

[joe97]

I haven't done any real tests yet but it seems my phone charges faster with mobile data option on, as opposed to the option off, or the phone completely off. Certainly not complaing but I would have thought the other way around.

Did an unofficial test comparison this weekend - charging with the mobile data option on is a lot faster than charging with the mobile data option off.

I started the charging for both at 15%, the first default warning prompt for charging. With the mobile data (4G LTE) on, it took a little over two hours to fully charge; on the other hand, with the mobile data option off, well, it took much longer.

[Vision33r]

Did an unofficial test comparison this weekend - charging with the mobile data option on is a lot faster than charging with the mobile data option off.

I started the charging for both at 15%, the first default warning prompt for charging. With the mobile data (4G LTE) on, it took a little over two hours to fully charge; on the other hand, with the mobile data option off, well, it took much longer.

This could be a software bug, I suspect that with the mobile data switch off it may also turn off some process or service that monitors battery and temp and lose accuracy measuring the actual charge.

The phone may already be charged with the 4G off and it is misreporting.

Try pulling the battery out and restarting the phone and see if that resets the battery life count.

[SoIAteABlueWaffleToday]

have had this phone for a little over 2 weeks and so far love it, ive been an iphone user since the first one came out in like 2008 or whatever it was, and never thought of getting another phone. then i had a bad experience with iphones breaking and was over getting another refurbed phone that would have a ****ty battery or break again. so i waited for my upgrade and got the s3. only gripes with it so far are the battery but its about as good as my iphone and i miss using itunes and the ipod to play music, other than that the s3 is better in every way.

[MrKevkevL]

I love mine! Switched from an iPhone 4S

[caliatenza]

You think thats bad, you aint seen sh*t until you use the galaxy note. Now I know that it has a big screen, and those use up more power but DAMN,
what would be a full charge in the morning would be 20% by 2pm and thats with VERY LIGHT usage. Not only that but it would take HOURS to charge, I mean like 8 hours or more
to go from low 20% or so to full. Oh and thats with multiple chargers (standard .5a and "ipad" type 2.1a) different usb cords and different batteries. I even got a second note and
still had issues. Couldnt wait for that to go.


The S3 on the other hand is awesome, and its still running stock (although rooted) firmware (I have the T999 version). I may actually keep this phone for a while (unless the world version gets modded in a way to pick up 1700MHz, then its switch-a-roo time... )

I've had my S3 for almost 2 weeks now and I have been consistently getting 24 hours or more of battery life . Heck right now im at 34 hours!

[joe97]

I've had my S3 for almost 2 weeks now and I have been consistently getting 24 hours or more of battery life . Heck right now im at 34 hours!

Yeah, the battery life on my S3 has been very good, even with heavy 4G use and running graphic intensive racing games

Initially, it had been pretty bad (break-in period?), but now it has stabilized. With combination of running WiFi (when I am at work) and utilizing 4G* (outside of work), I can easily get a day+ out of the S3

*sometimes mobile data switches to 3G when the 4G signal isn't strong enough but that has only happened on a few instances.

[caliatenza]

Yeah, the battery life on my S3 has been very good, even with heavy 4G use and running graphic intensive racing games

Initially, it had been pretty bad (break-in period?), but now it has stabilized. With combination of running WiFi (when I am at work) and utilizing 4G* (outside of work), I can easily get a day+ out of the S3

*sometimes mobile data switches to 3G when the 4G signal isn't strong enough but that has only happened on a few instances.

today has been a bit bad for me though . Ive noticed that if you use apps like whatsapp, the constant typing and screen use really drains the battery off. Also, bump charging helps...

[evosky]

have had my white GS3 for almost a month now, love it. upgraded from the OG GS1. this thing is sooo fast. i actually just found out that the US version uses a dual core snapdragon and not the quad-core international processer, damn. but still better than anything else out there, save for the One X.

im actually really impressed with this version of TouchWiz, i dont even feel the need to flash a ROM (though probably will at some point with CM10). rooting is decently easy (not quite as straightforward as it was on the GS1, only one additional step or so).

still have to get into NFC and all that.

[Chacolla]

Can anyone tell me where all my space is going? There's about 5 to 6 gb of space that is unaccounted for. I just tried updating my chrome app and it told me I have insufficient space. I have one tv episode, about 40 songs and maybe 25 apps. There's no way that's 16gb. What's the deal with this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[TwoLitreVW]

consider storing your media (pics, videos, music, etc) on the SDcard instead of in the device storage.

[Chacolla]

I have less than 1gb of music and video on this device. If you add everything up, there is a lot of storage unaccounted for. Where did it go?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[joe97]

Doesn't add up. Something appears to be wrong.

Normally there should be about 16GB of space. The small amount of unaccounted space represents allocation of system files.

[Chacolla]

Thoughts on a fix/diagnosis? Any good apps for storage management to figure out what's taking up so much space?

There is no way that I have filled up the internal storage yet with what I have put on the phone. I had thousands of songs and like 3 movies on my 16gb iPhone 4 before I came even close to filling it up.

Unless the android operating system is 10GB...

[SoIAteABlueWaffleToday]

Finally got swift key 3 on my phone. I don't know why I waited so long it made a huge improvement.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3