Re: T-Mobile Galaxy S III First Impressions/Reviews
Copy paste from XDA.
I don't own the phone yet but I did go to my local T-mobile store. They had both the white and blue one right next to each other. To be honest, I'd be happy with either of them. It's hard to decide. The blue doesn't look blue at all to me, at least not in the T-mobile lighting with tons of natural light pouring in from the windows. It is grey brushed aluminum in the front (like a lot of Asus laptops) and the back is a very shiny chrome. Looks very similar to packaging for crackers and misc snacks (teddy grahams!) or those anti-static bags for hard drives and motherboards. The white looks cleaner and is...white. The contrast with the silver rim also looks better in white.
The first thing I noticed was how completely different the phone felt compared to other Samsung phones I've used or owned. It's actually solid feeling this time. Really solid feeling. And dense. Weight is well distributed, no hollowness anywhere. The glazed back cover and body is really tough feeling and doesn't bend or creak. The toughest feeling Samsung phone I've felt by far. In comparison, the GS2 was a little squishy on the sides and soft with slight flex on the back. Mind you this is still much better than the original Galaxy S and many other phones. The HTC One X (I've literally handled all four grey/white demos multiple times at my ATT store) is always soft and hollow feeling and has a ton of flex and empty space inside. Feels like handling a toasted sandwich bun with electronics inside, or a thick rubber case that's more a case than an actual hard phone body. I really have to commend Samsung for answering all the b*tching I've been doing about flimsy feeling phone bodies. The GS3 is probably the most solid, super hard, and unibody feeling phone I've handled to date. It really does feel like a solid pebble. I have a lucky rock I keep on my desk that is also shiny. Has the same sort of solid feel and glazed lustrous look (the white does at least, the blue is more like a faux mirror...).
The front glass feels very tough and smooth, tougher feeling than the One X, and much better than the galaxy s ii which is eggshell soft. I think the GS2 had some coating that made it feel so soft.The silver edges are not very shiny. They are more akin to the Amaze 4G rim than the crappy shiny chrome rim the galaxy s ii (and various other samsung phones) have and feels like a part of the phone instead of something glued on. Feels nice and hard and secure. It also extends very little to none above the glass, which is sort of bad for durability if you drop it face first (I did with my GS2 and the rim saved it) but makes for a much more premium looking and feeling device. Running my fingers along the glass and having it drop off to the rim instead of hitting it makes it feel very premium. They are copying the Apple design here, but doesn't matter to me. I think the HTC One X went too far with the waterfall design here, and they don't have a faux metal rim for the effect, just their soft polycarbonate, which feels like a case for the glass instead of something fused and part of the phone.
Another thing I was not expecting was the home button. I've never liked raised Samsung home buttons (Samsung Wave, Focus Flash) but this is flush with a slight indent and it really changed my mind about it. It doesn't feel cheap or that it will wear down over time, but I'll have to see how usable it actually is over a capacitive one. Even if it is less usable, it already feels much nicer than the button on my iPad and something I would definitely see myself pushing idly with my thumb repeatedly (like the button on a retractable pen).
The screen is miles ahead of my streak ridden t-mobile galaxy s ii. I didn't see any banding or dithering or pixelation or streaks, just nice, smooth, clean, even, high contrast, high resolution, sharp, with punchy but not gaudy and bleeding colors. The skyrocket at my ATT store has the brightness all the way up and seriously the phone looks defective, like its glowing and bleeding its colors furiously through the pores of the screen, under indoor lighting. My GS2 would probably do the same too, but I only have it up to 50%, so it looks dingy and streaky instead. Yeah I'm just trying to say the HD pentile display on the GS3 is miles ahead of the Amoled+ low res stuff of yesteryear in so many ways.
In comparison to the One X, I still fail to be impressed by its LCD screen. My iPad 2 screen looks impressive, but I have yet to be impressed by an IPS LCD on a phone. It's because I can always see that glowing liquid crystal negative polarizer thing on all IPS phones, including the iPhone, especially on whites, and it ruins the look and makes it more difficult for me to see the screen, even head on. The contrast is also much lower. LCDs look way smoother to me, but the new HD screen makes that a non-issue now and focus shifts to how much of a contrast disparity the two screens have. With real blacks, infinite viewing angles (I can clearly see the color shifts on the One X and iPhone), and everything else, the GS3 really feels like what AMOLED was supposed to look like and as a real successor to LCD tech. Also love the 4.8" size. The One X screen feels a lot smaller because of the black border, and kind of dazed and fuzzier (because of the lower contrast and sleepy warm colors).
I wonder how much I'll write when I actually own this phone...
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