It may seem a bit odd reviewing this handset nearly a year on since it's release, but you will begin to realise as you read through this review that the handset warrants another review.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 was perhaps one of the most anticipated and difficult follow-up of recent times. The S3 went on to became not only the leading Android phone of 2012 but also the world’s best-selling handset.
After the recent announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S4 it is becoming apparent that the S3 is still sufficiently powerful enough for your needs. The S3 is packed with innovation and now takes full advantage of Android's Jelly Bean OS.
This review will go over the specifications, build quality, features, camera & video, performance, battery life and briefly cover the new changes jelly bean bring's to the S3.
Specifications:
Screen:
4.8” Super Amoled HD display
Storage:
16/32/64GB depending on model, plus expandable MicroSD card
Cloud storage:
50GB Dropbox for two years
Colour:
Pebble blue or marble white
Battery:
2,100mAh (wireless charging optional extra)
Camera:
8MP rear; 1.9 MP front
Resolution:
720 x 1280 px (306ppi)
RAM:
1GB
Dimensions:
136.6 x 70.6 x 8.55 mm
Weight:
133g
Operating System:
Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
Processor:
Exynos 4 Quad (1.4GHz)
Build Quality:
Compared to the S2 the changes in the S3 are in its shape, with more curvature to its edging. The physical home button has grown wider and slimmer but remains the focal point of the phone. At 4.8-inches, the screen is a full half inch larger than its predecessor. It towers the iPhone which has really fallen behind in the size stakes, even with the iPhone 5 at 4 inch. The display is sharp and bright rocking a 720p resolution.
Running around the edge of the handset is a brushed metal-like strip housing the on button and volume control. The back of the phone unfortunately has a plastic cover, not something you would expect a premium phone to use. When taking off the back panel to insert your sim, SD card and the battery, it is quite flimsy, but of course this makes the handset incredibly light at 133g.
As a handset unit, the S3 feels good in the hand and despite its considerable size, doesn’t feel big. It’s lightweight and the design is solid and sturdy, however the plastic cover does not help the S3 in the looks department. HTC One X as a direct android competitor to S3, thanks to it's unibody and premium materials used oozes sexiness in it's looks and feel. Having said that the S3 has advantages to having a plastic cover, that being the removal battery and expandable storage.
Features:
Samsung's marketing campaign pointed out that it's not just a smart phone, it's more human. And while the S3 didn't quite become a human companion for me, I was impressed with the features that have been packed in.
Smart Stay - Uses the front-facing camera to sense when you are looking at the screen to make sure that it remains bright and easy to read. When you look away, the screen dims to conserve your battery's life, however while I've been using the phone, Smart Stay has been inconsistent and frequent brightening and dimming of the display is probably a drain on battery's life.
S-Voice - Samsung's personal assistant (Siri), it is launched with a double tap of the home button, it's integrated throughout the phone, providing voice activation for the camera, web browsing and playing music, among others. S-Voice generally responds well to commands and overall performs better than Smart Stay.
S-Bean - A quick sharing feature incorporated into the S3. You simply put two S3's back-to-back and you can easily share content and large files. This performed quite well, as this feature is not so gimmicky in nature.
Camera & Video:
The S3 features a built in 8 mega pixel camera, as photographers know it's not all about the pixels but more the features and stability of the camera. The S3 focuses on the latter and impresses. The S3 adopts a fast and responsive shutter which has zero lag.
The camera has extensive customisation options and incorporates features such as multi-shot, which enables you to take a burst of photographs in quick succession, allowing you to pick the best of the bunch. Smile and facial detection features are also available to use.
The S3 uses a feature introduced by the HTC One X where still photographs are taken while simultaneously shooting a video. Both the photograph and video quality is great whilst using this feature on the impressive 4.8 inch Super AMOLED screen. The camera app also has built-in face detection HDR modes, macro shots and panoramas.
In general the camera is superb to use and handles reasonably well in most conditions, only suffers occasionally with low light conditions. The picture quality may not be the sharpest in the high end phone section but still impresses.
Performance:
The 1.4 GHz Cortex A9 quad-core processor inside the S3 makes this a super-quick handset, with Android's latest Jelly Bean release the handset continue's to fly through everything it faces.
The four cores really make multi-tasking and multiple processes on the S3 a breeze to handle and make this one of the most responsive handset on the market. Samsung has really taken advantage of this for example, the S3 enables you to watch a video whilst you carry out other activities using its Pop up Play feature. This feature works flawlessly, however whether this is actually necessary is another matter.
Out of all the current mobile operating systems, Android is known to suffer from occasional slow downs and lag in it's OS. Surprisingly the S3 handles quite well here in general use and does not suffer from these problems. However after continues use and having more apps installed the handset is known to crash on the occasional application, but this is a rarity.
Battery Life:
The S3 is equipped with a huge 2100mAh battery, which is needed to power the quad-core processor and 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen. The life of any smartphone battery is determined by how much you use it, and what functions you're using. For this reason the results will vary but at the very least you can expect to get through a day from the battery.
The S3 features a power saving mode letting you extend the duration of the battery, whilst having this feature enabled I noticed some lag into the performance of the S3. This is not something you would expect a powerhouse handset like this to suffer from.
But the advantage of the S3 is that you can take off the backing and replace the battery with a spare one. Very few smartphones allow access to the battery, so even though the battery might not last a heavy day's usage, it can simply be replaced.
Jelly Bean:
New Features Android 4.1.2 Update Galaxy S3
- Multi-View/Multi-Windows/Multitasking functionality, same as in Note 2.
- Page Buddy with contextual page functionality as in Note 2.
- Note 2 like Gallery App with multiple view modes.
- Music Hub App + widget
- Video Hub App
- Ability to capture a screenshot while playing a video.
- Improved File Manager
- Customizable Notification Panel
- Brightness Slider in Notification Panel Can Now Be Disabled
- Adjustable Smart Rotation with your angle of viewing.
- Continues Input in Samsung Keyboard (like Swype or Android 4.2 Keyboard).
- Paper Artist App
- Group Cast App
- Chrome Browser App pre-installed.
- A new equalizer preset at Music Player app.
- Auto adjust screen tone.
- Many others…
The Multi Window feature is something that the S3 users been waiting to experience. It is the most striking feature of the official Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean firmware for the Samsung Galaxy S3. It is really nice to see the large screen being utilised, two windows opened side by side on your phone’s screen with two apps running together. It is such features that take this smartphone to another level.
The gallery app has been updated with Multiple View Modes a feature added from Galaxy Note 2. This enhances the way you view the images in your phone gallery with three modes, Grid, Timeline and Spiral View adding to the overall experience.
The update bring a feature that I feel was missing in the S3, that being a customisable notification panel. Thanks to the update you can now customise the toggles to appear at the Notification Panel.
The update has brought other minor update, it has improved the File Manager, given the ability to capture a screenshot while playing a video along with new apps like Music Hub, Video Hub, Group Cast, and Paper Artist.
Group Cast App is meant for sharing buddies. The app enable's you to share your experience with another friend or group of friends in real time as you view documents and photos or listen to your favourite music. For this you and your friends need to be connected with the same WiFi network to share content. This feature works well enough to justify it's inclusion and proves quite handy.
In regards to the performance of the handset with the Jelly Bean update, unfortunately it has not brought any improvements and the battery life has actually slightly reduced.
However as the handset is already fast and responsive the update does not need to improve it's performance and still remains very capable.
Final Thoughts:
Samsung Galaxy S III still remains one of the top phones in the handset market right now, let alone the Android market. Some software issues aside the phone still out performs so many other handsets. The powerhouse hardware alone is brilliant and with the Jelly Bean update the S3 has been refreshed with new features making the handset current. With the S4 announced for release next month, the S3 is bound to reduce in price making the device even more appealing. Dare i say even more so than the S4 itself!
Build Quality: 6/10
Features: 8/10
Camera & Video: 8/10
Performance: 9/10
Battery Life: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
Samsung last year shortly after releasing the Galaxy S3 announced another device to accompany their flagship handset. That phone of course was the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, which essentially was a smaller, less powerful version of the Galaxy S3. Primally aimed at those who were turned away by the size and price of the flagship handset.
