Galaxy SIII

[dpham00]

I received my pre-ordered S3 yesterday. After 1.5 days of usage (and many comparative speed tests), the data signal on the S3 appears to be somewhere between the Nexus (which I had for 1 week before trading it in due to its horrible signal) and Rezound (which I still have as my backup). The S3 speed tests have been, on average, about 60% of what I was getting on the Rezound in the same places, but still "good enough." It also appears to bounce between 3G and 4G a lot more in fringe areas (i.e. my house and office) - the weird thing is that this usually happens only when I'm holding/handling the device. When I set it down, it holds 4G signal much more consistently. I wonder if antenna design is causing this behavior somehow.

So far it has passed test #1: maintaining steady 4G signal at the office (while sitting on the desk) to allow me to listen to streaming media. Tomorrow will be the next test: I have 5 hours of conference calls from home, and I'll be counting the dropped calls and taking note of the quality.

One of the best differences I've noticed between the devices thus far (besides OOTB ICS and the beautiful screen) is the battery life: today (on only the second full charge) I was off the charger for almost 12 hours, and during this time, I ran youtube videos for 3+ hours and TuneIn for 45 minutes before the battery hit critical. I would never have dreamed of being able to achieve this on the Rezound stock battery.

i got around 40mbps this morning on my gs3, in the same location, i saw about the same speeds on the rez. but i did notice that at other times, speed wasn't as fast as the rez. it only dropped (well kinda stuck for about 30 sec) once today. the rez would get stuck once in a while too.

try not to hold the phone at the bottom, the lte and cdma radios are at the bottom of the phone

 

[anon(94115)]

try not to hold the phone at the bottom, the lte and cdma radios are at the bottom of the phone

Click to view quoted image

IS this an iPhone? Don't hold it by the sides...

Sorry couldn't resist and no I am not just picking on you lately.....

 

[musicalprogrammer]

IS this an iPhone? Don't hold it by the sides...

Sorry couldn't resist and no I am not just picking on you lately.....

Haha, "Antennagate" was exactly what I was thinking as well. However, it appears there is some truth to this - the signal immediately drops by 4-6 dBm (-109 to -115) and my downstream speeds are cut in half or worse when I hold it in such a way that my hand covers the spot where the LTE antenna is housed. I'll have to modify my 1-handed grip if this turns out to be consistent behavior, but I'll gladly take that trade-off to avoid worsening my already shaky signal strength.

 

[anon(94115)]

My Fascinate was like that too.

It is certainly one thing the rez has going for it, essentially the whole back of the phone is an antenna.

 

[dpham00]

IS this an iPhone? Don't hold it by the sides...

Sorry couldn't resist and no I am not just picking on you lately.....

I fully agree, it is not a good design. But I was just pointing out that there is a fix, albeit not a great one. I am not a huge fan of Samsung phones, and to be honest, probably would not have gotten one had it not been for Verizon ending unlimited data plan for subsidized 2 year upgrades. With that said, the s3 feels substantially lighter than the rezound and the battery life is better than the rezound on extended battery. Radio is close to the rezound from what I can tell. I have never been a fan of touchwiz and Samsungs updates are atrocious. But for my needs, it is the best phone That I could get before the end of the unlimited data plan for subsidized 2 year upgrades.

 

[woodyt74]

I had a Fascinate before it died and I replaced it with the Rezound. There is no comparison between those two as far as the radio goes. My wife still has her Fascinate and she is always dropping calls or getting no signal and asking me for my Rezound. I will have to hear MANY great reports on SIII signal strength before I would EVER consider a Sammy again.

 

[majorpayne]

I had a Fascinate before it died and I replaced it with the Rezound. There is no comparison between those two as far as the radio goes. My wife still has her Fascinate and she is always dropping calls or getting no signal and asking me for my Rezound. I will have to hear MANY great reports on SIII signal strength before I would EVER consider a Sammy again.

the Fascinate had some serious radio issues. My wife had one and she wouldn't even register that I called her and went to voicemail... I'd be sitting next to her at times...