Samsung Galaxy S3 review(review extended)

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 4.0.4
Processor: 
Exynos 4 Quad (1.4GHz)

Samsung Galaxy S3: Build

With a 4.8-inch screen on board, the S3 isn't exactly small. Measuring 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm, the S3 is slightly longer, wider and fatter than the S2 (125.3 x 66.1 x 8.49mm), which may prove to bit a little on the large side for some although the extra thickness may actually make the S3 slightly easier to hold and less likely to slip from your hand, particuarly when taking a photo.

At 133g, the S3 is very slightly heavier than the S2, although only be 3g so if we hadn't have told you, you probably wouldn't have even noticed.

The slightly rounded design means that the new phone has more in common with the looks of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus than with the S2, although the plastic finish on the back feels more premium than its predecessor.

The S3 has the usual Home button along with Settings and Back touch controls on either side, while the front-facing camera has inexplicably moved from the left to the right of the screen.

The brand takes it's 'Inspired by Nature' theme through to the finishes - you can choose from Marble White and Pebble Blue.

Samsung Galaxy S3: Features

There are plenty of new featues on board, not least the Smart Stay function which uses eye detection to ensure that the screen 

doesn't dim as long as you're looking at it, which could well be useful, albeit a potential drain on on your precious battery life.

Smart Alert means that the phone will vibrate as soon as you pick it up to let you know that you have a notification, presumably if looking at the notification light is slightly too taxing for you. Not exactly a game-changing feature, but something new, nonetheless.

Another new feature is Smart Call which automatically dials the number you're looking at as soon as you lift the phone to your ear when you're in contacts, messages or call log. This sounds like a clever piece of technical wizardy (which is based on proximity sensors and motion detection), but whether it's useful or not will be down to personal preference.

S Voice is essentially voice-activated control that will give you direct access to functions such as the camera, calls, text, the alarms, weather, calendar and music and it'll even work when music is playing. What it won't do is answer you back with pithy retorts, like Apple's Siri.

You'll also be able to watch videos in a (very tiny) pop-up screen whlie multitasking in other apps. We're not entirely sure what this would be useful for, but video conferencing could be the key here.

Social Tag will instantly recognise faces from pics and automatically offer to text the image to the people featured in the image.

All Share PLay enables wireless transfer to all other connected devices while SBEAM will transfer files using an NFC connection, although for bigger files you'll need to go back to Wi-Fi. And it'll only work with other Galaxy S3s.

Samsung Galaxy S3: Screen

The gigantic 4.8-inch screen is probably the phone's most striking feature, and while it's an inch bigger than that of the HTC One X, it's not as square so it doesn't look quite as massive. It's still quite a leap from the S2's 4.3-inch screen, while the pixel density has been upped from 218ppi to 306ppi, with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. Once again the screen uses Super AMOLED technology, to keep the viewing angle as wide as possible.

Even under the artificial lights of the demo room, we could see that the screen was of excellent quality, but we've to try out in bright sunshine.

Samsung Galaxy S3: Camera

While many were expecting a 12MP camera to land with the new S3, Samsung has stuck a relatively average, but thoroughly decent, 8MP snapper and it will also shoot and play 1080p. Not much has changed since the previous model in terms of specs, but there are a couple of new features.

The burst mode takes contiunous shots at a rate of 6fps, and from that the camea will pick the best shot based on smile detection, blink detection, contrast and blurring. According to Samsung, the camera has zero shutter lag along with an improved shot-to-shot time.

Face Slideshow will zoom in all the faces within a picture if you're viewing your pictures in a slideshow. Does anyone view their phone-based photos in a slideshow? We're not so sure.

You'll also be able to set up rules for photos to be automatically placed in groups based on faces, contacts or location. There's also Face Zoom which means that you can tap on a face when lining up a crowd shot and the camera will zoom in automaticlly. The lack of optical zoom means that this is going to be fairly limited, but we look forward to trying it out in the wild.

We can't help but think that some or these features may be overthinking the problem somewhat. We just want a camera that offers the best quality snaps possible...

Somewhat curiously, the front-facing cam is 1.9MP compared to the S2's 2MP. While this kind of difference will make absolutely no difference at all in practice, it seems a little strange for the specs to be going down rather than up. However, the good news is that you can shoot video in 720p and also capture stills and the same time that you're shooting video.

Samsung Galaxy S3: Performance

The quad-core processor certainly seemed to do the trick in the limited time that we had with the phone. There was barely any lag when switching between home screens and firing up apps.

The S3 sports 1GB of RAM (the same as the S2), while the Flash memory is available in 16, 32 and 64 GB versions, improving on the S2's 16GB offering, while there's also a micro SD card slot should you wish to expand the memory. There's also 50GB of free storage for your content on Dropbox for the next years, which is double what HTC is offering on its HTC One X.

Samsung Galaxy S3: Battery

The S3 packs a 2100mah battery, compared to the S2's 1650mah cell. Obviously we haven't had our hands on the phone long enough determine exactly how much difference this will actually make, the presence of a more powerful processor (not to mention all the extra features) will certainly require more juice. 

Samsung Galaxy S3: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S3 certainly looks impressive, especially thanks to the zippy operation that results from that quad-core chip.

Some will see the new social, voice and notification features as being compelling reasons to buy the phone. Some will see them as an unnecessary drain on the battery and will spend their first few hours with the phone deciding which of the features to deactivate first.

Either way, there's no denying that the S3 is a powerful phone that could well be a contender for the Best Android Phone crown. We'll just have to see how it performs when we get one in for testing at T3 Towers...

Samsung Galaxy S3 availability: 30 May

Samsung Galaxy S3 price: TBC

Design

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is, according to Samsung anyway, 'inspired by nature – it sees, listens, responds, and allows you to share the greatest moments'.

While this is all a little hyperbolic, the nature theme is certainly present when you handle the phone for the first time. Brushed plastic – you've got a choice of 'Marble White' and 'Pebble Blue' – adorns the large device, which runs in with dimensions of 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6mm, despite still having to pack in a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen.

We'll lay it out right now: the plastic feeling of the Galaxy S3 won't appeal to all. It feels very lightweight (despite tipping the scales at 133g) in the hand, and some people will read this as feeling a little cheap.

However, it's exactly the same sensation as we found on the Galaxy S2, and given the silly numbers of sales that had, we think there's more than a market for a phone that you'll barely notice in your pocket most of the time.

Compared to rest of the Galaxy line, the S3 has more in common with the original Galaxy S than the Galaxy S2, with curved edges the theme in the design language. The home button has also been elongated, although the same menu and back buttons remain from the prequel.

Overall, the effect is much more like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus than anything else – rounded edges, HD screen but with a more minimal bezel to really accentuate the screen in the hand.

And let's take a minute and talk about the screen: it's beautiful. We almost feel sad that this isn't the first HD screen we've seen on a mobile phone, as it's kind of lost its lustre since the likes of the Nexus, Note and One X have all managed the same trick – but if you've not seen one before and you compare it to a Galaxy S2, its worlds apart.

The 309ppi pixel density is up there with the iPhone 4S, and it makes us realise that while a Retina Display is lovely, 3.5-inch screens just don't cut it any more.

We'll be mightily surprised if the combined popularity of the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3 don't prompt Apple into a re-tooling of the screen with the iPhone 5, as the contrast ratio, large display and excellent colour reproduction will definitely wow users on the shelves.

It seems Samsung has tweaked the colour balance on the Galaxy S3 as well – things don't look as saturated as before, which will certainly help entice those that previously were against Super AMOLED before due to the harshness of colours.

But in the hand, the Samsung Galaxy S3 feels superb. The design contours well against the palm, and while the screen size may be a little big for some (you'll need a bit of shuffling to reach the upper section of the screen) it's definitely useable in the hand.

So in short: if you don't mind plastic and you like big HD screens in your pocket, this is a phone definitely worth checking out.

Interface

Samsung has unsurprisingly re-tooled the Touchwiz overlay for the Galaxy S3, and has really gone to town with the whole 'inspired by nature' business.

For instance, the lock screen now becomes more interactive than ever. You don't get a visual clue when you're unlocking (which may be a nod to the litigation brought forth by Apple on the subject) but touch the screen and you'll see a little water ripple under the finger.

Added to that is a little water drop sound, and the whole effect is surprisingly pleasing. We can see it irritating a few people after a while though, so turning it off will probably be a decent option.

It's clear with the S3 that Samsung has worked out there's only so much it can do on the hardware side these days – not to say that we're pretty impressed with the spec list - and as such has tried to bring the unique flavour through the interface instead.

With the re-worked Touchwiz, there's a definite sense the whole process has been simplified, as the phone has got a much easier feel to it when swiping around. That's not to say there aren't loads of widgets to be played with, but there is less clutter on the larger screen.

The dock at the bottom of the display has been increased to now hold five favourite items, which is a real plus for those that want internet, mail, phone and messaging all within easy reach (as well as the app menu).

Swiping around the display was easy as pie – it's not exactly taxing on the processor, but we could not find a jot of slowdown in the pre-production model we were playing with, which always bodes immensely well.

However, there is a worry that the quad core 1.4 GHz Exynos CPU could suck power a little too dramatically – and to that end Samsung has come out with an innovative eye-tracking method called Smart Stay.

This idea will track your eyes when looking at the display, and dim it when you're not checking out your phone. In practice it seemed a little all over the place when trying it, but there's only a momentary icon that pops up to let you know if the eye has been tracked by the camera.

It's a novel idea though, and one that could really be ace if it comes to fruition as Samsung hopes.

The other 'smart' idea Samsung had was the idea that voice recognition could work with Smart Voice – and we hope that this does actually happen as it was nowhere near Siri level on the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Visually, there are a few cues from Siri in the demo we saw – although we couldn't actually try it out as the connectivity was really poor in our demo. But in theory you'll be able to say 'Hi Galaxy' or 'Hi Buddy' to activate the voice control, and do anything from change the music control to initiating the camera.

We're still not convinced that voice control will ever really work on a phone, but Samsung is touting 'natural language processing' as the reason why the phone will be more accurate in hearing what you say.

Smart alert is also present, and will be a lot more useful than voice activation. Pick up the phone when you've got a missed call or text and it will vibrate gently in your hand in combination with the notification light to let you know you're a popular bunny.

But overall the good news is the large screen looks great, the slick operation under the finger is exactly what we wanted and the little touches like the rippling lock screen do actually feel quite natural.

Internet

While the focus of the Samsung Galaxy S3 is all about the new things it can do, spare a thought for the humble internet browser – it's goshdarn good on this large screen as well.

Over Wi-Fi, the loading speeds were noticeably better than a Galaxy S2from a standing start – around two or three seconds on most cases.

The words on the screen look pin sharp and really ping off the screen, as do pictures and Flash video where necessary.

As this is Android 4.0.4 under the hood, you've got all the Ice Cream Sandwich bells and whistles, meaning the ability to turn desktop mode on and off to see different versions of the web – although this didn't always work every time.

Using Pop Up Play to watch a video while you're browsing the web is a really fun feature – however, in today's attention-deficit-based times, we're not sure that being able to mess about on one's smartphones twice as hard is the best thing in the world…

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S3 camera is 'only' 8MP, which is bound to bring forth ire from users that always want a big step change in a sequel.

It's not necessary to have a 12MP sensor on here though, as the S3 is more than capable at taking snaps and brings a much more intuitive experience compared to the Galaxy S2.

Samsung also promises excellent low-light snaps from the S3 as well, but 'hasn't finalised' the aperture ratio at the time of writing.

From a blindingly bright flash to a backside illuminated sensor, our quick snaps came out crisply and clearly – and when we say quick, we mean it.

To put it into real numbers: you can take three photos manually per second, or 20 in a row (at six per second) in burst mode.

Burst mode also brings with it 'Best Shot', which isn't a new experience – but the phone was adept at noticing when no smile or closed eyes were present in a picture and easily chose the best out of 20 photos – this is the sort of element we think users will really get on board with.

The facial recognition mode allows you to zoom in on any mug without a hitch – a double tap is all it takes to make sure that person is the focus of the photo, although the digital noise is hiked up quite a bit.

You also get a 1.2MP camera on the front of the phone for some decent personal snaps – plus you can also get 720p video recording out of it as well if you're into those 'I love Britney so much under a sheet' movies.

The whole range of functionality is on board: High Dynamic Range (HDR), panorama, Smile Shot, Beauty Mode and many more all offer something different in varying degrees.

But it's the post-snap area that also impresses: it can work out where the faces are and tag them based on your contacts' profile pictures, as we mentioned before. Should you want to start a slideshow on a larger screen is also a slightly tweaked experience, as the S3 will show the whole photo before bouncing each face in the photo.

Why? We don't know. Samsung seems to think it fits in with the whole 'human interaction' element though.

You can also set up specific groups in your phonebook, and when the S3 recognises each person will automatically sort them into the correct pile – meaning if you're one of those that likes taking pictures of your kids or cats you can easily have them in one place.

Apps

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has a similar number of pre-installed apps – well, mostly Hubs, but other like S Suggests and S Memo are pretty clear on what they are.

We're wondering if the Hubs available on the S3 have been pared back from the Galaxy S2 – we saw no Reader Hub for magazines and newspapers, and the Social Hub to unify your social networking accounts and email wasn't anywhere to be seen either.

But the likes of the Video Hub are now available to take its place – and this will be a real portal to movies on the go to take on HTC Watch and the (also installed) Play Movies from Google.

We've not been given information on how much said movies will cost from Samsung, but we've been told the collaborations with studios is pretty comprehensive from the outset.

The Music Hub is also present and correct, with music available to buy (sadly not stream) but still not any cheaper than can be found on the Amazon MP3 store.

Gamer Hub is a more interesting proposition, as Samsung has managed to get some top titles on board that really make use of the quad core graphical power and HD screen.

Samsung is touting up to 65% improvement over previous GPU capability on the Galaxy S2, so it will be interesting to see what that actually looks like in real terms – and when it comes to pounding the battery.

S Beam is also present – which is a turbocharged version of Android Beam from Google, allowing you to send content between phones over NFC.

But with S Beam, Samsung uses the NFC capability to connect the phones, but then uses Wi-Fi direct to transfer movies, photos, music or office files.

So instead of being only able to send links or map directions to a buddy, now you only have to hold the phones together, wait for the beep, tap the screen and you can send content at 300Mbps… and it really comes across that quickly too.

You can share a whole photo library almost instantly in this way – but sadly it's only limited to Galaxy S3 units, despite being theoretically possible with an HTC One X or similar.

Battery

Samsung has managed to keep the thickness of the Galaxy S3 pretty comparable to the Galaxy S2 (OK, 0.1mm thicker) but upgraded the battery from 1650mAh to 2100mAh, promising a much larger capacity and therefore longer life.

However, with all those extra pixels (1280 x 720) to drive and more cores – we're not sure whether this will actually translate to better battery life or not. Samsung has promised that the power management will be more intelligent than ever before, but we're yet to play a good half hour of HD gaming and then a monster movie marathon on the S3.

Early verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has got all the hallmarks of the best Android phone yet – exactly what Samsung wanted to achieve.

The specs are all industry leading: 4.8-inch Super AMOLED+ HD screen,NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, 64GB internal memory, eye tracking and so much more. The design may be lightweight but is certainly iconic, and the feel in the palm and pocket is impressive.

Samsung's decision to focus on services and interaction as much as design will be the area that makes or breaks the Galaxy S3 – if they all work as intended, the rest of the competition will really have to work to catch up.

However, if the likes of Smart Stay or S Voice don't live up to expectations, this is still a cracking phone – it's the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on steroids and covered with Samsung's own overlay, which will divide opinion for Android lovers.

But we're really excited about this phone – following up the Galaxy S2 was always going to be a difficult task, but with the S3 we've definitely got a phone that could be worthy of that crown.

buy from amazon