AT&T Galaxy S3 First Impressions/Reviews

[Cyber Warrior]

Hello everyone,

The purpose of this thread, is to hear members thoughts & opinions on how the Samsung Galaxy S3 stacks up amongst a suggested list of attributes:

• Aesthetics
• Screen
• Hardware
• Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
• Overall User Interface (including TouchWiz)
• Widgets
• Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
• GPS
• Social Networking
• Email/Calendar
• Battery Life
• Performance
• Media (music, movies, DLNA)
• Keyboard's
• Camera (both still & video)
• How the Galaxy S3 compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
• Disappointments (if any)

Feel free to provide as little or as much detail as possible, while trying to make it as useful as possible. Hopefully this will help others who are considering the Galaxy S3, but would like to hear some user feedback first. Also, please do not review the Galaxy S3 prior to having one

And if you read a review that you found helpful, please use the Thanks button to show them your appreciation!

 

[jjb70]

Post your first impressions.

Curious to see what everyone thinks right out of the box.


Coming from the Skyrocket, this phone definitely didn't seem too big. If anything, with the thinness and the curves it felt a little smaller and not as chunky.

The blue is not as dark as I thought and it does not look like plastic. It looks like metal. I think some will like it, some won't. I'm on the fence. It's the glossiest Samsung I've seen by far.

The LED light is awesome and I've been missing it all the way back to Windows Mobile days.

The build quality is best I've seen from Samsung.

The screen is just what I hoped. Very sharp and bright and yes, Pentile Schmentile, you cannot tell. I had the HTC One X briefly and I'll take pentile and Super Amoled any day but I realize it's a personal opinion. But the VERY BEST thing is that it has the typical Samsung sensitivity of the Galaxy S2 variants. Maybe even more so. Many many other OEM hardware IMHO is brutal to use and gives Android a bad name. I won't mention names but the responsiveness and sensitivity of many Android devices I've used is downright painful to interact with. The GS3 is very responsive and only requires a feather light touch. That was the only thing I was nervous about. It passes with flying colors.

Last, being able to turn the screen on with the home button will be nice too.

Anyone else care to share their first five minute's observations?

 

[Newtoandroid99]

Re: Post your first impressions.

Coming from a one x myself. I really love this SG3, the screen is awesome, I can't tell a huge difference from my one x, the phone is super fast, stay on feature works great, s voice is actually pretty cool, kinda of puts Siri in her place in my opinion. It Launches apps which in it self is way ahead of Siri for now. I do miss how the one x just made folders if you held a app over another. That's pretty much my only gripe, and it's not even a big deal. This is defiantly everything they said it would be

 

[planoman]

Re: Post your first impressions.

I have a lot of experience with Samsung phones having owned a Captivate, Skyrocket, International and ATT Galaxy Notes and now the SGSIII!

- I was stuck by how thin and light it is. (I have a Galaxy Note) it felt good to do many things one handed I cannot do on my GNote. It is a bit slippery!
- Very fluid and smooth UI. So this is how it is supposed to be!
- Lots of settings and menus, almost overwhelming
- I like using the home button to wake it (I had a International GNote) just wish the button was a smidge bigger...
- Camera is superb! Taking video and shooting picture is just great! This will come in handy!
- GPS locks like a dog on a bone! Inside my house!
- I like the gingerbread keyboard better than the Samsung keyboard.
- Speaker is surprising load and clear even when laying back down.

Just some quick thoughts after setting it up and playing with it for a few hours. Overall, I am very impressed an excited with the progress Samsung is making with their android devices!

 

[anon(153966)]

Re: Post your first impressions.

From an iPhone 4S, to an HTC One X, to a Samsung Skyrocket, to a S III.

I just wish it wasn't so slippery, gosh. But, overall, I like it.

I remember the LED notifications from my BlackBerry days. I immediately turned that option off, but, I may try it for a day or two, to see how it goes. I had it off on my Skyrocket.

The home button, hmm, I'm not sold on this yet. It feels a little cheap, like at some stage it will simply fall off. But, that's just my opinion...

 

[jjb70]

Couple more,
Smart Stay is not a gimmick. It really works well.
Face unlock actually works well and quick.
Installed ADW Launcher and assigned S Voice to a swipe up after disabling it from home button. No more delay on home button and so I think I'll actually try it for awhile.
Lock screen is much improved.

Can't yet get a 3rd party screen off and lock to work.
Can't seem to find a way to activate Google Voice Search from one press or press and hold. Any ideas?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[cgardnervt]

Re: Post your first impressions.

Great tips guys! Also these sound minor so I am happy about that. Minus the home button feeling cheap. Anyone else feel that way? I have yet to get mine but I was worried about that when I saw the home button months ago!

Thanks for the info!

 

[20blks]

From an iPhone 4S, to an HTC One X, to a Samsung Skyrocket, to a S III.

I just wish it wasn't so slippery, gosh. But, overall, I like it.

I remember the LED notifications from my BlackBerry days. I immediately turned that option off, but, I may try it for a day or two, to see how it goes. I had it off on my Skyrocket.

The home button, hmm, I'm not sold on this yet. It feels a little cheap, like at some stage it will simply fall off. But, that's just my opinion...

I'm not in love with the home button either

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[20blks]

The extra gig of ram is greatly appreciated might I add.........

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[jjb70]

Re: Post your first impressions.

Great tips guys! Also these sound minor so I am happy about that. Minus the home button feeling cheap. Anyone else feel that way? I have yet to get mine but I was worried about that when I saw the home button months ago!

Thanks for the info!

Everything's subjective I guess. I actually think the home button feels very solid and nice. Only issue is that it's placed a bit too low. And it's a little bit of an adjustment to go from tapping a capacitive button to pressing a physical home button.

My coworker who uses an iPhone actually commented (un-solicited) that he really likes the home button. Doesn't feel like it's gonna break over time he said.

So you'll probably have to just judge for yourself.

 

[cgardnervt]

Re: Post your first impressions.

Everything's subjective I guess. I actually think the home button feels very solid and nice. Only issue is that it's placed a bit too low. And it's a little bit of an adjustment to go from tapping a capacitive button to pressing a physical home button.

My coworker who uses an iPhone actually commented (un-solicited) that he really likes the home button. Doesn't feel like it's gonna break over time he said.

So you'll probably have to just judge for yourself.

I hope for the option to "judge for my self" comes soon! Still back ordered sadly.

Thanks for your input though!

 

[planoman]

Great tips guys! Also these sound minor so I am happy about that. Minus the home button feeling cheap. Anyone else feel that way? I have yet to get mine but I was worried about that when I saw the home button months ago!

Thanks for the info!

I would not say it is cheap, certainly not any cheaper than my ipad home button. The shape, oblong, makes it a bit harder to hit reliability compared with the previous Galaxy home buttons.

I prefer the smooth capacitive buttons and will not be using s voice. I have already disabled it for the double home press which also makes the home button more responsive since it does not delay waiting for a second press to activate s voice.

 

[atlbuc]

Re: Post your first impressions.

Everything's subjective I guess. I actually think the home button feels very solid and nice. Only issue is that it's placed a bit too low. And it's a little bit of an adjustment to go from tapping a capacitive button to pressing a physical home button.

My coworker who uses an iPhone actually commented (un-solicited) that he really likes the home button. Doesn't feel like it's gonna break over time he said.

So you'll probably have to just judge for yourself.

I totally agree about the placement of the button, feels like its going to slip out of my hand using it one handed to press it.

 

[KTMDirtFace]

Re: Post your first impressions.

My first impressions.

Its sweet! Coming from a iPhone 3gs, ( POS ). Its way faster at everything. Never used android before but it works well easy enough to figure out.

The camera is crazy how fast it snaps shots.

My only gripe.... the weird non-standard USB port on it.. I have like 20 mini usb cables for my cameras/psp/vita...helmet cameras...hard drives... the phone uses some strange one thats smaller than the standard ones. Guess I need to order about 4 spares now. thats my only gripe. Oh i wish the power button was on the top its really hard to press on the side.

 

[tpags]

For u guys that have yours already. Is the screen modes in the US versions. I thought I read somewhere that particular setting isn't in our phones. I would be nice to be able to adjust to different color setting with the amoled screen.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[planoman]

For u guys that have yours already. Is the screen modes in the US versions. I thought I read somewhere that particular setting isn't in our phones. I would be nice to be able to adjust to different color setting with the amoled screen.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

No screen mode setting that I could see in the display menu.

 

[kryptonite_2448]

Re: Post your first impressions.

Overall, moving from webOS, I like the device. I did install CM9 on my TouchPad so I had a little experience with ICS. I perviously had an HP Veer so this screen is phenomenal. The camera is the best! My wife has the 4s and I think these pictures puts hers to shame. One thing I wished was that the power button was on the top of the phone. Previously coming from a Pre and a Veer probably doesn't help. I miss webOS' card style, but I just need to sit down with Task Changer and turn the swipe the other way .

Overall, the phone is amazing!

 

[jcp007]

Re: Post your first impressions.

Tap to top does not appear to work consistently. Maybe I am not thumping it correctly. I also have not enabled NFC yet due my lack of ease never had it before coming from RIM.

 

[bmsara]

For those of you that got the blue version how is it compared to the white looks...

And is the home button still the violet color?

 

[rbess1965]

Re: Post your first impressions.

I don't own one but one of my co workers got theirs today. I can't boot it up and take it for a spin but snapped a couple of shots of it next to my razr maxx. It's a bit thinner and it feels really light. It's a really sharp looking device though and I hope it turns out to be a good one for everyone.