The Samsung Galaxy S III is not just your average weekly android smartphone release. It seems these days that a new android phone is being released weekly. Samsung was originally late into the Android smartphone market but in 3 years time has become the overwhelming leader of all android based smartphones tablets.Because of this the Galaxy S III, their third iteration of their top tier Galaxy S brand, comes with a tone of hype and expectation. Does it live up to this. I take 30 days and give you my review of the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Impressive Hardware With A Few Caveats
I decide once this phone was announced that I would make this my phone for daily use. With that decision I wanted to give a much more personal review of the device since I would have more than the average 1-2 week loaner review unit time us in tech media usually get. This review is based mainly on the Verizon version but a lot of what is covered is the same across all Galaxy S III devices.
One of the things I was immediately impressed with is how much power and screen size you get in such a thin and light package. The 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display is beautiful to look at and for those that are complaining that it’s a pen tile matrix display need stop. Unless you have it under a microscope and super close to your face you won’t notice the pixelation and will enjoy viewing the screen just fine. For such a large screen the body and bezel is extremely thing. Almost too thin as without a case it feels like it will slip out of your hand. That has a lot to do with the back of the phone which is smooth but slick. The device is mostly made of plastic so some may feel its cheap. To me it found it to have a solid build overall but the battery door is on the flimsy side when taken off but the good part about taking that battery off is the removable battery and micro SD card slot for extra storage. Two things that put it well ahead of its competitors who have done the opposite. My only other complaint on the hardware build is that the home button could have been bigger and a bit more narrow to make it easier to press down and find when not looking. The current button is a bit too wide and thin. If they put the same button they had on the international version of the Galaxy S II it would have been a winner.
30 Days With The Galaxy S III Brings Solid Performance. Best In Class For Android And All Smartphones
Daily performance is a big thing for any phone. Can it make good phone calls? Can it keep up with you and last during the day? These are two things that the Galaxy S III excels in. Call quality is excellent on both sides of the call and the speakerphone is loud and clear. There is an in-call equalizer to future tune to your hearing preference. I didn’t experience any dropped calls. The operating system which run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Touch Wiz + Nature UX overlay runs extremely smooth with no lag at all.thanks to the 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Processor with 2 GB of ram.
Speaking of Touch Wiz, this is the best version that I’ve ever used. It much less obtrusive that earlier versions. It’s not stock android so you will notice that its there but it improves in the areas that stock android lacks, leaves along what works and enhances certain areas such an Android Beam is S Beam in Touch Wiz which allows larger file size transfer. They have also added a ton of motion controls which lets you make different gestures to perform actions on the phone. Some are cool and some are gimmicky but you can pick what to you to suit the phone for you. Speaking of gimmicky. S Voice really fits into that category. It’s not terrible but not that great and isn’t something your honestly going to use . Hopefully when the GS III gets updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean they will dump S Voice in favor of Google Now.
It all works well together but there are a couple of issues. You can’t create folders by just dragging icons on top of each other which is annoying and should be changed to that then from the several steps you have to take to create one now and this is particular to the Verizon version which for some unknown reason they decided to move the Wi-Fi button in the notification section ongoing part and it’s always there. This is just stupid and should be changed to work like the others as soon as Verizon can do since none of the other Galaxy S III versions do this.
Battery Life Is Great For The Casual User, Power Users Its Just Good Enough
Battery life is always a big deal when it comes to Android phone since their history shows not to have the best. The Samsung Galaxy S III comes with a 2100 mAh removal battery that is plenty of juice for the casual user. You should be able to get anywhere from 12 – 15 hours of battery life across all versions with casual use. For the light user you can get about 24 hours but if you are like me a power user you will be looking between 8 – 12 hours so you’ll probably charge at least once more through the day. Once extended battery become more available power users will get the long-term battery you’re looking for. I will say though the one thing I do like is that they have solved the android battery drain when idle because standby times are great. I one left the phone on overnight and it loss less that 10% battery!
8 megapixel + 1080p HD Video + Zero Shutter Lag = Excellent Camera
The Camera for the Galaxy S III is excellent. One of the best available for a smartphone. Color reproduction is solid, images are vivid and clear, audio quality with video is great and with the many options available in the camera software makes it a great replacement for a standalone point & shoot camera. We’ve done sample videos and have your tips and tricks on how to better use the camera so click the links for more.
Samsung Galaxy S III 1080p Sample Video
Tips & Tricks To Better Use Your Samsung Galaxy S III Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S III Is The Best Smartphone Of 2012……So Far.
2012 isn’t over yet and we still have to wait to see what more the competition may bring but the Galaxy S III is going to be a hard phone to beat. It’s not a perfect phone, which there isn’t one out there. But it hit all the key features that anyone looking for a smartphone will be looking for. Samsung went smart here and realized that the hardware specs for most top of the line smartphones were going to be the same and focused their attention on creating a greats software experience that works well with the hardware. They made sure you can customize the phone to you and that’s the key thing here the phone is really all about making it the best for you and that is one of many reason why Samsung is on top of the smartphone mountain looking down at its competitions trying to catch up.
HI
I used Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile device. It has great functionality. It’s battery backup is also good.