Thunderbolt Forever ..... S3

[GtoJon]

Sorry ..... had to move on ..... it took 3 days to really start appreciating the S3. I really do love my Bolt, but the S3 is the first to deserve to the move. I tried the Bionic & the Rezound ..... not! I thought about the Nexus .... not! I went to the store a couple of weeks ago to look at the S3 ..... I was amazed at how close the color was to the Thunderbolt : ) I really liked the large screen. A week or so later I ordered it after some consoltation with VZ. The first 2 days I was still not comfortable with it ..... today my anxiety went down. The S3 really does all that my Thunderbolt did except the FM tuner .... never used it anyway, but was important to me. I still had to install Go Launcher EX with Alien ware skin : ) The Rezound was absolutely deplorable with EX! Initially the size of the screen was too much for me .... really! After 3 days, I really do like the size. I increased font sizes & icons & wow, it really does work well : )) Out in daylight the screen is better than the Thunderbolt : ) Inside it's about the same .... not worse by any means : ) The option of having 32gb internal & 64gb ext card is GREAT! I have the stock VZ clamshell holster & it works great! Changing batteries may be a little tougher at first. Battery is a tad better after one real day with battery. I expect battery will get better : ) Speaker phone is a lot better ... I was really surprised when sound level was better in the car : ) Both ways it was better my wife said! Right now I am running with the 32gb SD card from my bolt & will find a inexpensive 64gb SD card when I sell my bolt. Again I really want to stress my belief in the Bolt .... absolutely rates with the best on 4G!! Historically it will take a better phone than the S3 to remove it from the top!

Cheers, & hope this helps anybody

 

[armeddroid]

How is the GPS system?
This is the main reason why i haven't jumped to Samsung due to hearing this is a gripe amongst users.

 

[GtoJon]

GPS is great! Bolt would put me at least 6 blocks away, S3 puts me in my house 3G & 4G work great also .... no hickups at all! Signal strength is as good as my Bolt.

Hope this helps

 

[worwig]

How is the GPS system?
This is the main reason why i haven't jumped to Samsung due to hearing this is a gripe amongst users.

I too went to the dark side with an S3 too.
I was very reluctant to do this. I own a Samsung Fascinate, and the GPS was worthless. the entire phone was crap IMHO, attached to a nice screen.This, after years of HTC Windows Mobile phones with great GPSs.
But I don't see HTC introducing anything good on VZW for a long while yet, and then it will likely not have a replaceable battery or memory slot. And I don't care much for Touchwiz.

Anyway, I use my device on a handlebar mount on the motorcycle as a GPS.Two things I found. 1) Compared in the store windows in the sunlight, my Thunderbolt and the S3 screen had about the same brightness. But I found that on external power, in direct sunlight on the motorcycle, the S3 gets MUCH brighter. 2) The GPS finds the satellites quickly. Just now in the house, the GPS status app shows 3 seconds to position location. More interesting, the chipset also uses the Glonass satellite system. So it is seeing 14 out of 23 satellites right now indoors. The DOP claims to be within 1.1 meter accuracy, indoors.

Other than the Thunderbolt battery being a bit too small, I was generally happy with it. It was just an urge to move on and this is the only device with the features that I wanted.

 

[armeddroid]

GPS is great! Bolt would put me at least 6 blocks away, S3 puts me in my house 3G & 4G work great also .... no hickups at all! Signal strength is as good as my Bolt.

Hope this helps

Yes it does.

I too went to the dark side with an S3 too.
I was very reluctant to do this. I own a Samsung Fascinate, and the GPS was worthless. the entire phone was crap IMHO, attached to a nice screen.This, after years of HTC Windows Mobile phones with great GPSs.
But I don't see HTC introducing anything good on VZW for a long while yet, and then it will likely not have a replaceable battery or memory slot. And I don't care much for Touchwiz.

Anyway, I use my device on a handlebar mount on the motorcycle as a GPS.Two things I found. 1) Compared in the store windows in the sunlight, my Thunderbolt and the S3 screen had about the same brightness. But I found that on external power, in direct sunlight on the motorcycle, the S3 gets MUCH brighter. 2) The GPS finds the satellites quickly. Just now in the house, the GPS status app shows 3 seconds to position location. More interesting, the chipset also uses the Glasnoss satellite system. So it is seeing 14 out of 23 satellites right now indoors. The DOP claims to be within 1.1 meter accuracy, indoors.

Other than the Thunderbolt battery being a bit too small, I was generally happy with it. It was just an urge to move on and this is the only device with the features that I wanted.

Cool. And thanks to both of you guys.
This was my concern. I use GPS very often and heard that there was a time when Samsung phones were just terrible in this feature.
I too, was originally waiting for the One X to come to VZ but that was a disappointment that it wasn't slated to come.
I am def going to re-weigh my options now.

 

[anon(394005)]

I have to admit the upcoming black SGS3 looks pretty good (assuming it comes to Verizon, see link below). But alas, as tempting as it can be, can't. let. go. of. the. kickstand (use it all the time)! Well, that and can't stand Touch Wizzzzzz....(nor third party launchers).

Black Galaxy S3 coming in October with 64GB of storage, says retailer | Android Central

 

[armeddroid]

I have to admit the upcoming black SGS3 looks pretty good (assuming it comes to Verizon, see link below). But alas, as tempting as it can be, can't. let. go. of. the. kickstand (use it all the time)! Well, that and can't stand Touch Wizzzzzz....(nor third party launchers).

Black Galaxy S3 coming in October with 64GB of storage, says retailer | Android Central

Yeah, I saw that this morning.
I am interested now.

 

[worwig]

I have to admit the upcoming black SGS3 looks pretty good (assuming it comes to Verizon, see link below). But alas, as tempting as it can be, can't. let. go. of. the. kickstand (use it all the time)! Well, that and can't stand Touch Wizzzzzz....(nor third party launchers).

Verizon sells a thin case with a kickstand built in (you can get it on Amazon for $12). That case kickstand actually works VERY well, better then the T'Bolt stand IMHO. It works vertical, left or right. I used the same case with a belt clip on my T'Bolt (but with a simple hole for the stand) so it is familiar in my hand.

 

[anon(394005)]

Verizon sells a thin case with a kickstand built in (you can get it on Amazon for $12). That case kickstand actually works VERY well, better then the T'Bolt stand IMHO. It works vertical, left or right. I used the same case with a belt clip on my T'Bolt (but with a simple hole for the stand) so it is familiar in my hand.

Thanks, but I have yet to see any kickstand case I could live with; most are either ugly IMO or would get in my way considering I prefer multiple batteries and swap out on the fly. Admittedly though, there are some good ones in the kickstand thread over in the SGS3 forum (link below). But, I'm super picky and really don't care for cases anyway (prefer naked). I do however find it ironic that so many look for one that includes a kickstand (see it all over the forum). Proves to me there should be more phones with a native one!

http://forums.androidcentral.com/ve...official-galaxy-s3-kickstand-case-thread.html

 

[GtoJon]

Yup ... I have that holster on my S3 .... fantastic

 

[kentrol72]

Thanks for the review on the SIII I may be upgrading here shortly.

 

[jackmei2]

I have to admit the upcoming black SGS3 looks pretty good (assuming it comes to Verizon, see link below). But alas, as tempting as it can be, can't. let. go. of. the. kickstand (use it all the time)! Well, that and can't stand Touch Wizzzzzz....(nor third party launchers).

Black Galaxy S3 coming in October with 64GB of storage, says retailer | Android Central

tbh, I thought I wouldn't like touchwiz either, but you can put a custom launcher over the top (I use go launcher) and everything looks fine to me. I've actually been enjoying the S3 a lot, and I feel it's a huge improvement over the tbolt.

 

[southbank]

I moved on to the S3 the day after it came out. I was interested in a larger screen and was tired my to TBolt hanging up on any phone call when I pulled it out of my jeans pocket.

The S3 was a little tight on a full day's battery use but it was fast with a great display. The Samsung UI was easy to adjust to.. The light thin phone felt funny after using my TBolt with the extended battery.

After the first couple of days I was convinced that I had made the right move. I finally noticed a pattern of losing 1/2 of phone conversations. I stopped by Verizon and it did it in front of the clerk. They gave me a new on and I moved on..

Had a couple of happy weeks and then I had a bad morning using my phone in my office basement. That was a pattern that has progressively gotten worse over the last 2 weeks. When I looked at the forum I found that poor phone service in fringe areas was a common problem with also not holding a WiFi connection.

This morning I went to Verizon and had them reactivate my TBolt. They acted a little surprised until I told them about the problem. I have put my S3 in a drawer and will wait for a software fix which is rumored by 10/1.

Flakey WiFi and basic radio connection problems are very common with this phone and seem to mirror the problems with the Nexus. (which was fixed eventually by a software patch)

Your trial period with the S3 (Verizon) is 14 days. Most of the connection problems developed after 14 days so I would suggest anyone considering moving to the Galaxy S3 watch the forums for an upgrade/fix before moving. I will go back to it when they fix it.

 

[southbank]

I moved on to the S3 the day after it came out. I was interested in a larger screen and was tired my to TBolt hanging up on any phone call when I pulled it out of my jeans pocket.

The S3 was a little tight on a full day's battery use but it was fast with a great display. The Samsung UI was easy to adjust to.. The light thin phone felt funny after using my TBolt with the extended battery.

After the first couple of days I was convinced that I had made the right move. I finally noticed a pattern of losing 1/2 of phone conversations. I stopped by Verizon and it did it in front of the clerk. They gave me a new on and I moved on..

Had a couple of happy weeks and then I had a bad morning using my phone in my office basement. That was a pattern that has progressively gotten worse over the last 2 weeks. When I looked at the forum I found that poor phone service in fringe areas was a common problem with also not holding a WiFi connection.

This morning I went to Verizon and had them reactivate my TBolt. They acted a little surprised until I told them about the problem. I have put my S3 in a drawer and will wait for a software fix which is rumored by 10/1.

Flakey WiFi and basic radio connections are very common with this phone and seem to mirror the problems with the Nexus. (which was fixed eventually by a software patch)

Your trial period with the S3 (Verizon) is 14 days. Most of the connection problems developed after 14 days so I would suggest anyone considering moving to the Galaxy S3 watch the forums for an upgrade/fix before moving. I will go back to it when they fix it.

 

[GtoJon]

The last few days I had an issue with Wi-Fi & have norrowed it down to Google Play Store itself. I really thought it was a Wi-Fi issue, but found that my Wi-Fi was working fine. When I have several apps that are listed as needing upgrades I click the upgrade all ..... I click "Upgrade All" & it starts downloading & turn the screen off. Well, when I look at it later, The first app had downloaded & installed & the others are still on the race track .... not really downloading If I cancel the updates & start them again it will do the same thing .... do the first & get stuck. I am now on 2gb limited & can't see if this happens with 4G, but I do know it actually has nothing to do with Wi-Fi. I am now in a fresh new 4G area & when I leave the house, I am on 4G, when I come back home, Wi-Fi starts automatically & it works absolutely flawless. I have been checking weather radar constantly for the last 5 days & have never had an issue with my Wi-Fi data, except for Play Store updates

I really do love this GS3 a LOT more than my Bolt!!! This has been an absolute perfect replacement for the Bolt! The only drawback is the battery lasts about the same as the old Bolt! I do admit, I do use the GS3 more than I did the Bolt! After 14 days, there is nothing about the Bolt I like better .... not even the FM!

Cheers, Jon

 

[dpham00]

I moved on to the S3 the day after it came out. I was interested in a larger screen and was tired my to TBolt hanging up on any phone call when I pulled it out of my jeans pocket.

The S3 was a little tight on a full day's battery use but it was fast with a great display. The Samsung UI was easy to adjust to.. The light thin phone felt funny after using my TBolt with the extended battery.

After the first couple of days I was convinced that I had made the right move. I finally noticed a pattern of losing 1/2 of phone conversations. I stopped by Verizon and it did it in front of the clerk. They gave me a new on and I moved on..

Had a couple of happy weeks and then I had a bad morning using my phone in my office basement. That was a pattern that has progressively gotten worse over the last 2 weeks. When I looked at the forum I found that poor phone service in fringe areas was a common problem with also not holding a WiFi connection.

This morning I went to Verizon and had them reactivate my TBolt. They acted a little surprised until I told them about the problem. I have put my S3 in a drawer and will wait for a software fix which is rumored by 10/1.

Flakey WiFi and basic radio connections are very common with this phone and seem to mirror the problems with the Nexus. (which was fixed eventually by a software patch)

Your trial period with the S3 (Verizon) is 14 days. Most of the connection problems developed after 14 days so I would suggest anyone considering moving to the Galaxy S3 watch the forums for an upgrade/fix before moving. I will go back to it when they fix it.

sorry to hear about your problems with your s3. i bought a preorder s3 as well and have not had problems even though i am in a fringe 4g area. the radio runs pretty close to my razr maxx and rezound, and way better than my tbolt. i have heard that the early s3's before the software upgrade has a better radio. i don't have wifi problems either.

with regard to the return period, you an buy from Costco and have a 90 day return/exchange period. some other 3rd parties have a longer than 14 day return period as well. of course, you are locked into your contract after 14 days regardless of where you buy.

 

[scott750]

For those who went from the Thunderbolt to the S3, did you pay full retail price or contract price? Reason I'm asking is I got my Thunderbolt the day it came out, but I don't get an upgrade until November. So I'm wondering if everyone is upgrading early and if you're paying full price?

I'm ready to move on but also don't want to lose my unlimited data plan.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2

 

[GtoJon]

I was on Bolt #4 out of 5 .... with the problems I had, they gave me an early upgrade .... also tried the Droid X2 (3 days) & the Rezound (2 days) .... both had bigger problems than my Bolt. Considered the G Nexus ..... NOT. Called Verizon & asked about the SIII & they gave me the 32gb for $199 matching an online price. I never Never go to the store except to touch! I did lose my unlimited data, but didn't have to do the Share Crap plan. Share plan is only good for 3 or more data devices!

Hope this helps

My SIII still is better in every way than my Bolt!

Cheers, Jon

 

[motty69]

I'm due for upgrade in November and would like to stay HTC, but have no interest in their current phones on Verizon. If the rumors of the One XXL going to Verizon are true that would work. If that doesn't pan out I guess I'll be rocking an SG3 with Apex launcher.

Sent from my Jellybean Kindle Fire