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Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Reception and call quality No comments
- Display For me this is the best screen I've personally owned.
- Battery life I'm getting about the same battery life on this as I am on my Incredible 2.
- Camera This is one area I'm disappointed in and am still trying to figure out if it's my phone or not. More below
- Ease of use Samsung has made some things easy and other things are confusing, more below
- Design and form factor No comments
- Portability (size / weight) It's super light but in some pants pockets this thing barely fits.
- Media support No comments
- Durability It feels cheap but the back cover is super flexible and I've already dropped it once with no issue.
- Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) There are a lot of gimmicky apps that Samsung bundles in that I wish just weren't there.
Detailed review
When I decided to fight for an early upgrade from my Incredible 2 I zeroed in on the S III because it was a top tier flagship phone. For me I was tired of bargain phones and wanted something I could be comfortable with for the full two years of my contract.
I know the display is Pentile but for me I can barely notice. The display is one of the best displays I've used and seen, right up there with the iPhone 4/4s/5. Colors are really bright and vibrant and text is really clear. I haven't noticed the yellow hue yet to white backgrounds so that's a plus.
The camera is probably the biggest disappointment to me with the whole phone. I read the reviews, I saw samples, etc and it looked solid yet its been an up and down experience for me. With certain photos colors look good, clear and crisp but others they look really washed out. The camera does much better on close up macro style shots but wider angle photos is where I can really see the washed out look. I've been trying different settings to see if I can zero it in better and exposure controls are helping a bit but I was hoping for no frills out of the box experience. If this is what Samsung is putting into their flagship phones they have a long long way to go before catching up to the other big names in the camera phone arena.
If the goal of Touchwiz is to make things easier for the user than Samsung is about 80% of the way there. For the most part Touchwiz does offer a lot to the user experience and provides an easier way to get comfortable with Android. The notification shade controls are great and make it easier to get system toggles without needing widgets. However there is just so much to Touchwiz that diving through the menus can be cumbersome. There is a lot to go through and this can be very intimidating to users who are new to smartphones.
The S III may be a flagship device on the inside but on the outside it feels no different than your run of the mill budget phone. Samsung could stand to learn a little bit from HTC or Apple and build a nice feeling quality phone. A premier phone that you're putting up against the iPhone should offer a lot more than just plastic.
Samsung needs to stop trying to win the feature race with their phones and concentrate better on making a quality product all around. Samsung seems really intent on packing as much as possible into Touchwiz by bundling in gimmicky things like tilt to navigate, smart stay (moderately useful), pop up player, S Voice (which is really just a joke compared to Siri), S-Beam, etc. If this is what Samsung plans to focus on moving forward than I can't see myself owning another Samsung. Samsung should pull the reins back on all this extra fluff and focus on a really good camera and good design. At a minimum they need to really step up the game with the camera and focus there.
Even with the typical Android rumors swirling around I would still feel comfortable recommending this phone to someone looking for a powerful Android phone. Yes it's Touchwiz but if you load a different launcher it's really hard to tell, they've done a lot to fix the cartoonish aspect of Touchwiz. Camera issues aside in the end this is a phone that is reliable and powerful.
I know the display is Pentile but for me I can barely notice. The display is one of the best displays I've used and seen, right up there with the iPhone 4/4s/5. Colors are really bright and vibrant and text is really clear. I haven't noticed the yellow hue yet to white backgrounds so that's a plus.
The camera is probably the biggest disappointment to me with the whole phone. I read the reviews, I saw samples, etc and it looked solid yet its been an up and down experience for me. With certain photos colors look good, clear and crisp but others they look really washed out. The camera does much better on close up macro style shots but wider angle photos is where I can really see the washed out look. I've been trying different settings to see if I can zero it in better and exposure controls are helping a bit but I was hoping for no frills out of the box experience. If this is what Samsung is putting into their flagship phones they have a long long way to go before catching up to the other big names in the camera phone arena.
If the goal of Touchwiz is to make things easier for the user than Samsung is about 80% of the way there. For the most part Touchwiz does offer a lot to the user experience and provides an easier way to get comfortable with Android. The notification shade controls are great and make it easier to get system toggles without needing widgets. However there is just so much to Touchwiz that diving through the menus can be cumbersome. There is a lot to go through and this can be very intimidating to users who are new to smartphones.
The S III may be a flagship device on the inside but on the outside it feels no different than your run of the mill budget phone. Samsung could stand to learn a little bit from HTC or Apple and build a nice feeling quality phone. A premier phone that you're putting up against the iPhone should offer a lot more than just plastic.
Samsung needs to stop trying to win the feature race with their phones and concentrate better on making a quality product all around. Samsung seems really intent on packing as much as possible into Touchwiz by bundling in gimmicky things like tilt to navigate, smart stay (moderately useful), pop up player, S Voice (which is really just a joke compared to Siri), S-Beam, etc. If this is what Samsung plans to focus on moving forward than I can't see myself owning another Samsung. Samsung should pull the reins back on all this extra fluff and focus on a really good camera and good design. At a minimum they need to really step up the game with the camera and focus there.
Even with the typical Android rumors swirling around I would still feel comfortable recommending this phone to someone looking for a powerful Android phone. Yes it's Touchwiz but if you load a different launcher it's really hard to tell, they've done a lot to fix the cartoonish aspect of Touchwiz. Camera issues aside in the end this is a phone that is reliable and powerful.
good review!
5 people find this review helpful