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Samsung Galaxy s iii
Introduction:
Samsung kick-started its whole Galaxy line of Android phones back in 2009 with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy I7500 – the first Android smartphone of the manufacturer. Initially, there wasn't such great interest in the product; it was an OK device with moderate specs and no special feature to spawn interest. This was the beginning of Samsung's Android business – no fanfares or great expectations. The company was still trying to figure out if there's potential in the open-source platform.
A few months later, at the end of 2009, Motorola somehow managed to nail it with its new Android phone, the DROID, exclusively available through Verizon. And this turned out to be the moment Google (and the entire Android community, as small as it may have been at that time) was waiting for. In just a few months, everyone knew about Android, and it was mainly Motorola that gained from this. Never wanting to be left out of the limelight, Samsung went back to the lab, firmly decided on crafting the ultimate Android phone, or the ultimate Galaxy phone, to be more specific. In mid-2010, the South Korean company was ready with its new product and unveiled it to the world. Named Samsung Galaxy S, it was a phone that didn't catch the eye, but managed to get every geek excited with its hardware characteristics. With Android becoming more and more popular as an alternative to iOS, and with the Galaxy S basically being the best Android had to offer at the moment, the phone just couldn't fail. And it didn't – the Galaxy S went on to become one of the most popular Android phones ever. Now, the obvious question is how do you follow such a successful product. How do you follow the Galaxy S? Well, with the Galaxy S II, of course! Introduced in 2011, the Galaxy S II actually become something like the people's champ in Android Land. Even when newer models with significantly refined user experiences began to show up later, users preferred to hold on to the Galaxy S II, claiming that it's still unbeatable in many areas. In a way, that meant that all these people were waiting for the Galaxy S III.
Well, it is now 2012, and the time has finally come for the Galaxy S III to show up on stage. The difference between this launch and those of the Galaxy S's before it is that the expectations of the audience are much higher now. People were waiting to see the next BIG thing in the world of wireless. They weren't hoping for a top-notch specs sheet – that was pretty much taken for granted. They were hoping for a ceramic body, a new, premium design that would not only get the job done, but would also spark a few envious glances along the way. That's why many were kind of disappointed after the official announcement of the handset, because it isn't really what you'd call a looker.
Our first impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S III were quite positive. Yeah, the handset may not be so eye-catching, but it does run incredibly smooth and has learned some very cool new tricks, in an attempt at enhancing our user experience. However, the time has now come for us to take a good, in-depth look at the device and see just how much of a Galaxy S this new Galaxy S III happens to be.
Design:
The Galaxy S II was actually a good-looking handset. It wasn't spectacular, but it had its own style that managed to make the phone appealing to a good number of people, not only hardcore geeks. With the Galaxy S III's design, however, Samsung has made a few controversial decisions. First, it has made the whole device somewhat more rounded. Gone is the simplistic rectangular silhouette of the S II, making place for a new, pebble-inspired shape. So far so good, that could only make the device seem friendlier and more approachable by the regular consumer. Meanwhile, however, the company has also significantly increased the screen size, which is a move that would mainly appeal to the regular geek. This would hardly mean that the Galaxy S III would appeal to both regular consumers and geeks, but would rather mean that there will be a smaller, more specific audience for this particular model. While the GS II was well-received by consumers, due to its relatively compact and sleek form factor, a much bigger device like the Galaxy Nexus, for example, could never become popular in the mass market. There aren't too many reasons to believe that the Galaxy S III will magically become a hit with the average Joe. The device is definitely on the bulkier side. Samsung has tried to decrease the size of the bezel so that the bigger screen doesn't impact the overall device dimensions dramatically, but even with those efforts, the S III is as big as the Nexus, if not bigger.
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A few months later, at the end of 2009, Motorola somehow managed to nail it with its new Android phone, the DROID, exclusively available through Verizon. And this turned out to be the moment Google (and the entire Android community, as small as it may have been at that time) was waiting for. In just a few months, everyone knew about Android, and it was mainly Motorola that gained from this. Never wanting to be left out of the limelight, Samsung went back to the lab, firmly decided on crafting the ultimate Android phone, or the ultimate Galaxy phone, to be more specific. In mid-2010, the South Korean company was ready with its new product and unveiled it to the world. Named Samsung Galaxy S, it was a phone that didn't catch the eye, but managed to get every geek excited with its hardware characteristics. With Android becoming more and more popular as an alternative to iOS, and with the Galaxy S basically being the best Android had to offer at the moment, the phone just couldn't fail. And it didn't – the Galaxy S went on to become one of the most popular Android phones ever. Now, the obvious question is how do you follow such a successful product. How do you follow the Galaxy S? Well, with the Galaxy S II, of course! Introduced in 2011, the Galaxy S II actually become something like the people's champ in Android Land. Even when newer models with significantly refined user experiences began to show up later, users preferred to hold on to the Galaxy S II, claiming that it's still unbeatable in many areas. In a way, that meant that all these people were waiting for the Galaxy S III.
Well, it is now 2012, and the time has finally come for the Galaxy S III to show up on stage. The difference between this launch and those of the Galaxy S's before it is that the expectations of the audience are much higher now. People were waiting to see the next BIG thing in the world of wireless. They weren't hoping for a top-notch specs sheet – that was pretty much taken for granted. They were hoping for a ceramic body, a new, premium design that would not only get the job done, but would also spark a few envious glances along the way. That's why many were kind of disappointed after the official announcement of the handset, because it isn't really what you'd call a looker.
Our first impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S III were quite positive. Yeah, the handset may not be so eye-catching, but it does run incredibly smooth and has learned some very cool new tricks, in an attempt at enhancing our user experience. However, the time has now come for us to take a good, in-depth look at the device and see just how much of a Galaxy S this new Galaxy S III happens to be.
Design:
The Galaxy S II was actually a good-looking handset. It wasn't spectacular, but it had its own style that managed to make the phone appealing to a good number of people, not only hardcore geeks. With the Galaxy S III's design, however, Samsung has made a few controversial decisions. First, it has made the whole device somewhat more rounded. Gone is the simplistic rectangular silhouette of the S II, making place for a new, pebble-inspired shape. So far so good, that could only make the device seem friendlier and more approachable by the regular consumer. Meanwhile, however, the company has also significantly increased the screen size, which is a move that would mainly appeal to the regular geek. This would hardly mean that the Galaxy S III would appeal to both regular consumers and geeks, but would rather mean that there will be a smaller, more specific audience for this particular model. While the GS II was well-received by consumers, due to its relatively compact and sleek form factor, a much bigger device like the Galaxy Nexus, for example, could never become popular in the mass market. There aren't too many reasons to believe that the Galaxy S III will magically become a hit with the average Joe. The device is definitely on the bulkier side. Samsung has tried to decrease the size of the bezel so that the bigger screen doesn't impact the overall device dimensions dramatically, but even with those efforts, the S III is as big as the Nexus, if not bigger.
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The design of the Samsung Galaxy S III is actually quite relaxing and feels good in the hand
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You ca compare the Samsung Galaxy S III with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.
With that out of the way, the device by no means looks bad. Its inspired by nature design is actually quite relaxing and feels good in the hand. Due to the phone's thinness (8.6mm) and light weight, the Galaxy S III doesn't feel too much like the bulky phone that it is.
As we said in our introduction, many fans hoped to see a new fancy ceramic coating used for the S III, which would have given the handset a new, premium appearance. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and we were treated to the good-old plastic solution. This has practically guaranteed a relatively light (good), but also uninspiring/flimsy (bad) construction. Samsung has come up with the name “Hyperglaze” for the specific finish of the utilized plastic, but we couldn't find anything that special in it. It's just a glossy plastic with an OK texture on it.
There are just three physical buttons on the Galaxy S III (actually four, if you count the volume rocker as two buttons). The home key, situated under the display, is surrounded by old-school capacitive menu and back keys. Apparently, Samsung isn't willing to make the switch to on-screen navigational keys for its flagship line just yet. We aren't big fans of the exact position chosen for the home button and even the capacitive keys surrounding it. They don't take the center of the plastic area below the screen (considering the vertical axis); instead, they are placed a bit lower. While this may sound as nitpicking to you, it does have a significant (negative) effect on the appearance and comfort of using the phone. It has a negative effect on the appearance, because the home key look very good in this position, while the comfort is compromised because the capacitive keys sit too close to the edge, meaning they are easy to press accidentally (yep, we had many of those frustrating situations).
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Android buttons
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Front-facing camera
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Of course, there's the usual 3.5mm jack at the top, as well as microUSB at the bottom. The glossy backhouses an 8MP camera with LED flash and the speaker grill right beside it. Interestingly, gone is the characteristic bump that's present on the lower-back sides of the Galaxy S and S II. Not that we'll be missing it much. Removing the flimsy back cover will grant you access to the Micro-SIM and microSD card slots.
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Power key (right)
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3.5mm jack (top)
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Volume rocker (left)
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microUSB port (bottom)
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The sides of the Samsung Galaxy S III
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Overall, we aren't blown away by the looks of the Galaxy S III. The phone is OK to look at, but could have been much better. To tell you the truth, it should have been much better, having in mind that it's a top-of-the-line Android smartphone we're talking about, not just some run-of-the-mill budget offering.
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Back
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Rear camera
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Battery compartment
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Display:
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Samsung has been an innovator when it comes to screen technology in phones. Its AMOLED-based screens have been customer favorites for a long time now, and obviously the company intends on sticking with that tech in the long term. In the Galaxy S III, what we have is an enormous 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, with resolution of720x1280 pixels. As with every AMOLED screen, this one has extremely saturated colors. In some situations, like when browsing the web, for example, this doesn't look great, as we aren't really used to such “colorful web” experience. It doesn't seem natural, so to speak. However, in many other situations, like viewing photos, watching video or playing games, having such vibrant colors really pays off. There's in an option in the settings, however, which allows you to set a different color saturation level. For the purists, there's a "Natural" presets, which makes colors look much more... natural and not as vivid. When you combine that with the great contrast (black color that is completely black, not just very dark gray, as in LCD displays), multimedia consumption does get much more enjoyable.
Many were actually disappointed when it was announced that the S III will use a PenTile matrix for its screen, instead of a regular RGB one as in its predecessor. Just recently, Samsung USA's Philip Berne shed some more light on why Samsung decided to stick with PenTile. Obviously the reason is in the longevity – according to Samsung, a PenTile-based AMOLED screen will keep its initial quality for a longer time, compared to an RGB AMOLED one, which will suffer from deteriorating blue subpixels over longer periods of time. Well, since we don't really find the traditional drawbacks of the PenTile screen to be that visible in the GS III, that seems like a good decision by Samsung. If you look very closely at the screen of the Galaxy S III, you will notice some pixelization going on here and there, but when you look at the screen from a normal distance, those nasty dots aren't really visible, due to the high resolution.
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