One of the biggest rivals to the iPhone 4S is the Samsung Galaxy S3 and it has caused quite a stir thanks to its powerful hardware. It is one of the best Android smartphones money can buy and boasts features like a 4.8 inch Super AMOLED display, 8 megapixel camera and it runs on Android 4.0 ICS. Check out our full Samsung Galaxy S3 review below.
Samsung Galaxy S3 review
Screen: Images on the screen look very sharp and crisp. Thanks to AMOLED technology the blacks are nice and deep, unlike those seen on LCD TFT screens. Therefore the colors are more realistic and look more lifelike than all the other phone screens on the market.
Software: The Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with ICS Android 4.0 with the TouchWiz interface of Samsung and they have used this to make the handset even smarter. Samsung has an app that rivals Siri on the iPhone 4S called S Voice. S Voice is your personal assistant and can set alarms, pick up calls or reject them and much more. However it doesn’t seem to have the all-round flexibility of Siri. Another useful feature is Direct Call. This calls anyone you are texting if you move the handset to your ear.
Smart Stay ensures that the display on your phone does not turn off. This can be great when reading an e-book on your phone. With the Samsung Galaxy S3 you don’t have to keep tapping the screen to keep it lit as the camera will look for your eyes and recognize if you are looking at the screen.
TouchWiz is very much like it is on the Samsung Galaxy Note and version 5 has new features. It does however get competition from the Sense overlay we see on the HTC One X. Some say that the Sense is easier to use than TouchWiz. Android is considered a tool for developers as it can be tweaked and customized, however the average user would appreciate an overlay such as TouchWiz.
Camera: The 8 megapixel camera comes with Best Photo, which chooses the best shot taken, is another intuitive feature. It also comes with zero shutter lag and smile and face detection and it can record video while at the same time taking a photo. Video is in HD 1080p and colors are great, although it can oversaturate, the pictures are generally very impressive. There is also a 1.9 megapixel camera on the front which is used for video calls. This camera is also used for facial recognition for unlocking the phone and Smart Stay.
Hardware & Design: The Samsung Galaxy S3 has support for NFC which means users can swap photos or pay by phone in stores. One downside to the handset is the placement of the main speaker. This can cause problems with audio playback. The handset is light at just 133g, the iPhone 4S is 140g. it is also thin at 8.6mm, the One X is 8.9mm and iPhone is 9.3mm.
The handset doesn’t look very sturdy thanks to it being made of plastic. It does have Gorilla Glass 2 over the display, which is said to very resistant to scratches. However in recent tests which pitted it against the iPhone 4S, it didn’t fair so well when it came to drop tests. The Samsung Galaxy S3 has many excellent features making it a high end device that is more than ready for the future.
If you’re on the market for a next-gen phone then you can’t go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy S3. It is one of those smartphones that we can confidently say will last you through a standard contract with your carrier. While it came out mid-2012, it looks like other manufacturers are playing catch up and the next line of Android smartphones you see for the rest of the year will likely only be trying to match the specs of the S3.
