So for the past two weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of using a Samsung GSIII. So does it live up to the hype?
First thing I noticed when I pulled it out of the box was it was light. So light, I almost didn’t like it right off the bat. I was worried I was going to drop it at any moment; but after a couple days, I got used to it and it was actually really nice feeling. But I did have some issues with the physical home button. I’m not a fan of physical buttons and really wished it was a soft-key. But that’s a minor nuance I could live with.
Next up – the screen. It was really nice. This thing is huge! And it’s fast too! I have a Galaxy Nexus (which I love) and the GSIII is faster. I loaded up a bunch of apps and tried to bog down this phone, and it just wasn’t having it. Performed just like it did out of the box, which is incredible.
Now as for the camera – I’m extremely jealous. The speed is instant for snapping off a picture. It’s good quality too, even in low light. It has a lot of filter features which I had a lot of fun playing with. But what may be my favorite thing about it, the burst shot. You can pop off about 20 pictures in about 3 seconds. It’s great for action shots!
I do a lot with my phones. They’re my lifeline to nearly every aspect of my life. Work, family, friends… all of it. I choose my phone over my home computer 90% of the time. So battery life is very important to me. And with such a huge screen, I was ready to watch the battery life drain like the kitchen sink. So did it? If the sink had a clog! I was blown away. The first full day after setting everything up and playing around I used it as “my” phone. I did everything besides text my wife on it. And I mean everything, email, web, games, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube videos – the whole nine yards. At the end of the day, I had pulled off 17 hours and 59 minutes! And I still had 8% of the battery to go, so easily 18 hours. I thought it had to be a fluke. The next day I pushed it harder and still got about 14 hours. (I watched an hour of YouTube waiting at the dealership) I was really impressed. This was the AT&T version of the phone, so the battery life on a Verizon LTE version may be less.
So how about as a phone? I didn’t have any issues. Calls were clear and crisp. No issues here. And let me just quickly say, AT&T really impressed me with their network speeds. Big thumbs up to them and that’s coming from a 4G LTE Verizon user.
The phone I had was running Android 4.0.4. Ice Cream Sandwich. Once the GS3 gets Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it’s going to be even better. Especially with Google Now. But until then you’ll get S Voice. It’s Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Siri voice assistant. It integrates into the phone apps very well, but I just can’t get past the sound of the voice. It doesn’t sound natural and after using Google Now and the very fluid and natural sounding voice there, I just couldn’t get on board with S Voice. Besides that – it’s pretty cool for a virtual assistant. And it’s fun just saying “Hi Galaxy” to wake it up and start using it.
There are a lot of great things about this phone and very few not so great things. If you’re going to buy an Android phone in the next few months, you should look no further. This is the Android you’re looking for! (See what I did there? J) And the nice thing is all the major carriers have his phone. Are you going to get one? Do you already have one? Let me know! Leave me a comment below or tweet me! @Doctor_Droid
