Review: Samsung Galaxy S3

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When I was 16 I got my first cell phone, it was the Motorola Startac Flip Phone, it was a decent phone, very small and fit into my pocket nicely. At the time, in my opinion, it was the best phone on the market.

My next was a Nokia phone another great phone, not as visually appealing but a great phone. Then came the Motorola Razr, I realized after getting that one that Motorola had gone downhill.  So I decided to try a Samsung product and I have been a huge fan ever since, Samsung products are built to last and they make things easy to navigate.

I would say when it comes to Mobile Phones, Apple and Samsung have the market cornered hands down.  The Samsung Galaxy S3 doesn’t disappoint.

It’s massive 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED (1280×720) display, makes it really easy to play games, watch videos and surf the web.

It did take a little bit to get used to it again, but my love for Samsung and ease of use quickly came back to me. For example I used to love that the Auto-Correct gives you options on the different words you can spell. So when I type “An” when I am texting it gives the options “An”, “And”, “Any” or “Another”. Makes those embarrassing Auto-Correct messages less likely.

I also really like the “Back” button, this enables to you go back, whether you are in an app or on the web. That way you don’t always have to click the home screen button to go back to what you were doing before, opening the app.

Inside the S3 boasts a Qualcomm 1.5 GHz Advanced Dual-Core Processor which gives support to either LTE or HSPA+ dual core network speeds which is complimented by 2 GB of RAM. It also runs on the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

Ice Cream Sandwich introduces loads of features, one of the coolest is S Beam. You are able to transfer large files via NFC technology. Here is an excerpt from Android Site:

“Android Beam is an innovative, convenient feature for sharing across two NFC-enabled devices, It lets people instantly exchange favorite apps, contacts, music, videos — almost anything. It’s incredibly simple and convenient to use — there’s no menu to open, application to launch, or pairing needed. Just touch one Android-powered phone to another, then tap to send.

For sharing apps, Android Beam pushes a link to the app’s details page on Google Play. On the other device, the Google Play app launches and loads the details page, for easy downloading of the app. Individual apps can build on Android Beam to add other types of interactions, such as passing game scores, initiating a multiplayer game or chat, and more. “

For iPhone Users this is similar to the Bump App.

I also really like how you can resize widgets. This is great for a news widget like Flipboard, I am able to see the latest headlines from my various news feeds.

Finally I would like to mention that I also really like how they have the Google Search bar on the Home Screen. Makes it easy to search for something really quick.

Battery life is great as well, due to the shoddy Battery life of the iPhone 5 when Bluetooth is linked. I actually link the S3 in my car to my Bluetooth instead of the iPhone 5 to conserve battery.

The Cons

It would be nice to have a Silence button on the phone like the iPhone 5.  I like to be able to just reach in my pocket and flip the switch to silence my phone.

Maybe I am just used to iPhones, but I think the phone is too large. Due to the large size of the phone (136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm), I keep feeling like I am going to drop it. Other people that have handled the phone have made similar comments.  It is pretty light though weighing in at 133 g.

I’d say it is lacking in ringtones too, there was not one that appealed to me; so I used Zedge to get new ones. I used the Nokia ringtone just for fun and because Nokia is my 3rd favorite phone company.

All in All I would recommend the Samsung Galaxy S3, it is a great phone. If you have a lot of Apple Products and you can afford it, or you want a smaller sleeker phone then the iPhone 5 would be your best bet.  But if budget is an issue or you want to try something new then the Samsung Galaxy S3 is a great option.

A lot of companies are either giving them away with a contract or pricing it very competitively against the iPhone 5.

Look out tomorrow when we stack each phone against each other.

Do you have a Samsung Galaxy S3? What do you think, we would love to hear your comments below.