Day 14 approaches-lots to like but ?? reception/batt

[pho_dog]

Hey all-end of my two week "trial" is approaching and overall I have been greatly impressed (coming from Palm Pixi Plus). Pros-speed, screen. Cons-reception always in the light brown at work and home which makes it necessary do a lot to keep battery happy. Actually left the data radio on for first time yesterday in another fringe area drained 40% in a couple of hours. Originally was going to get a Maxx because of batt and approaching ICS rollout but missed the fathers day sale. Decided to give the SGIII a shot because of screen, price, and ease of trying light, lean roms (pre-ordered so didn't know about locked bootloader). My last new from VZW was an HTC vogue so I've never returned a phone, do I have to pay a restocking fee? What is your experience, anyone else thinking of trying something else?

 

[Kaad_g]

If I had to do it again, I'd get the Razr Maxx. I got my wife one during the sale and planned on getting myself one too, but got a wild hair and got the GS3. Maxx has better reception, battery, and car dock.

On the GS3 I'm hoping software can improve reception, somebody comes up with a dedicated car dock (instead of a generic one) and the battery, though it can't match the Maxx, is decent.

My 14 days is up Monday, but I'll be out of town, so I'm keeping mine, and taking a chance that some things improve. I do like everything else about the phone though.

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

Love it, Def a keeper!

Tapatalk'd from my Galaxy S3

 

[jaguarpaw]

i was trying to find away to switch it to a gnex, but the only way to do it and keep my unlimited would be through ebayish avenues. ill prob just keep it. i want that jelly bean...

 

[dpham00]

$35 restocking fee. Phone does use a lot of batteries in fringe areas. Best option is to turn off data in those areas and only turn on as needed. I find that my rez is stronger in some areas, gs3 stronger in others. But perhaps another phone as may get better signal in your area. You should also consider that another carrier may get better signal in your specific area.

Another option would be a network extender as well.

 

[ibcop]

Well, you obviously live in a poor signal area - I doubt you would gain reception with the Maxx. Battery life - probably so. But I don't understand why people want to cripple their devices and turn everything off. Just get an extra battery and swap if you need it. Or simply use a charger. I'll be damned if I cripple mine - I'm going to use it the way I want to.

But all said and done, you will pay the $35 restocking fee if you return and/or exchange.

 

[JimBen73]

This is an awesome phone, I have not experienced any problems with it.

 

[miata492]

My wife and I both got GS3's and we are both having reception issues. Our 14 days is up tomorrow. I spent an hour on the phone with Verizon support trying to go thru the issues we are having with reception, 3g to 4G issues, and bluetooth, etc. We were away with friends this weekend (they had a BB and a Droid2). Both had full 3g (we were not in a 4g area) and we kept going between 1x and 1 bar of 3g and watching the battery drain. We could not even get apps to run (but we kept getting the turn on your wifi prompt but we had none available). I had my old Droid X in my car and that had full 3g. Verizon is waiving our restock fee if we were decide to return or change phones. Feeling like I should have gotten us RAZR MAXX's now. When I do have good signal battery life is great (obviously). I am sitting here at home and my GS3 has 1 bar of 3g and my DX has full signal. I have to use wifi at home now to use any apps, Web, etc.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

 

[ansextra]

If I had to do it again, I'd get the Razr Maxx. I got my wife one during the sale and planned on getting myself one too, but got a wild hair and got the GS3. Maxx has better reception, battery, and car dock.

On the GS3 I'm hoping software can improve reception, somebody comes up with a dedicated car dock (instead of a generic one) and the battery, though it can't match the Maxx, is decent.

My 14 days is up Monday, but I'll be out of town, so I'm keeping mine, and taking a chance that some things improve. I do like everything else about the phone though.

Interesting about the reception. My wife as the Razr (not the Maxx but it's the same software) and my reception and her reception are always within -2db of each other. We're in a 4G area but I think it's pretty marginal 4G because if we leave the house it sometimes changes to 3G less than a mile away. That said, download speeds are still good even with marginal 4G.

 

[lherch]

The S3 is/was the best phone Verizon has put out to date. I've tried them all and I loved the S3, but at the end of the day the phone has to be a phone and that's where the S3 failed. The phone would work as long as I was sitting straight up or standing in my house, but if I sat back or was laying down, I had no cell reception at all.

I will miss that squishy screen and how pretty it was, but I had to go back to my Razr.

Y'all enjoy your phones and I'll continue to read the threads in the hopes that the signal part gets fixed for my area of the world.

P.S. I did have to pay the restocking fee... but it was worth it to play with the phone for a week.

 

[fillossofer]

I was told the restocking fee would be $70. Anyone else?

I am really torn on this. I want to be able to unlock it and install a JB rom right away. The screen and battery life are much better than gnex. I said I'd give touchwiz a go and the only thing I like is the dialer. I have a few more days to decide, but I am leaning toward ebaying this one and buying the developer version. Sucks to have to go through that hassle because of Verizon considering what we pay them. That's whats got me thinking of returning it.

 

[VicVinegar]

I think I am keeping mine. What would I return it for?

Besides one strange weekend where 4G disappeared at my house, my reception has been pretty good. I stay on 4G 95% of the time and haven't had any dropped calls. Battery is reasonable in my opinion.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[allanmclovin]

My S3 battery has improved quite a bit over time. I did turn off S-Voice and enable power saver mode (I know some people hate the power saver mode, but the phone is crazy fast either way, and for me if I can squeeze out some extra battery life that means more). I get pretty bad reception in my house but I also got pretty ty reception on my iPhone so I wasn't expecting anything different. I'm attaching a screenshot of my battery life from yesterday - the screen time was 3 hours 50 minutes and I also streamed Google music for close to 3 hours yesterday in the car. I am satisfied with the battery life I am currently getting.

 

[chris.then]

Exchanged mine on Sat for a new one because of dropped data and wifi issues. New s3 is holding data and wifi now. So far so good. I recommend asking straight up for a new phone if you are having these issues and within the 14 days. Customer service on the phone was horrible. I explained my issues to the store and I had a new s3 in 10 min even though mine was a phone pre-order. Has a sticker that says "updated" too.

 

[caddy197]

I love this S3. I am coming from many adroid devices including Droid1, Droid2, HTC incredible, Thunderbolt and the Fascinate. I was use to having to charge those phones after 4-6 hours of use. Now......this S3 is giving me at least 14 hours a day. Freaking awesome. As for signal....Ive havent had one prob with mine. I am at day 14 right now. My personal opinion....I would never own another Motorola product again. Both my Droid 1 and 2 sucked. Droid 2 was the worse of the group though.

 

[pho_dog]

thanks all for responses. still on the fence. This morning just noticed getting a 4G signal at my house from a different tower than what usually shows up. ran a quick speedtest and best I got was 9.9Mbps down and 1.41 up. Best I have seen on the strongest local 4G signal I can get was in the 16 range but up has never been over 2. Anyone think that is ok for smaller 4G area? Getting 1x at my desk.