Human nature is that we tend to get attached with others who understand us, fulfil our needs and desires and generally take care of us. But when a human and a smartphone develop a similar bond, it should seem to be out of the ordinary. But it is not, when the gadget in question is the Samsung Galaxy S III - the smartphone right on top of the Samsung lineup.
While reviewing the unit I got so attached to it that even I set my photograph as the wallpaper, as if I owned it.
Before delving further into the review, let me put the verdict upfront - If you can afford it, go and get it. It will in all probability start a new love story between you and your Samsung Galaxy S III.
My review unit was white. However, the phone comes in two colours - marble white and pebble blue. The Galaxy S III is available for under Rs 39,000 in the Indian market.
Hardware and styling
The Samsung Galaxy S III is quite light in weight. The smooth curves and rounded edges make it comfortable to hold. Even though the phone has elegant looks, the phone’s looks are not exactly stunning. But it is definitely an improvement over its predecessors.
The rear of the phone is simple and wears a blank look. The flash, camera and the rear speaker are all in a line. It might not look ugly, but the back cover failed to impress me. I wish Samsung used a metallic back cover.
The rear cover has a ceramic finish that is also scratch-prone. Maybe you should consider investing in a cover for your phone.
The S III has a big glass on the front, two capacitive buttons - back and options, and a physical home button in the middle. The hard button could’ve been dispensed with.
It has a front camera and an LED notification light on the front. The sides house a volume rocker and the power key. The micro USB port is at the bottom. Weighing just 133 g, the Galaxy S III is 8.6 mm thin, which makes it one of the slimmest phones available in the market today.
Unlike its rival from Cupertino, Samsung is not exactly known for its design finesse and the Samsung Galaxy S III falls short on the design front.
Display
The display is a stunner. The phone features a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. The display on the Galaxy S III produces vivid colours and has excellent viewing angles. If you look at the display, you will be impressed with its detailed results. Besides, the screen is scratch-resistant. So you don’t need to be worried about scratches on the screen.
The screen size is actually perfect. It lies between the elephantine Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S III predecessor - the Galaxy S II. The touch is highly responsive. It call it ‘butter touch’.
Playing games on this powerful phone is an amazing experience. I was simply hooked to Temple Run. Reading books on the Kindle app and watching videos on this phone is also a treat.
Operating System, UI and Performance
The phone has some interesting features on offer. It will act as your personal assistant and will remind you but won’t interrupt if you are busy. Quite like an efficient assistant it would’ve performed a lot of tasks even before you issued instructions.
The phone runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, the phone offers excellent speed, and multitasking on this device is a breeze. The user interface is intuitive and the navigation is fluid.
The lock screen offers direct access to the camera. So, you can have access to the camera app without unlocking the device.
The smart stay feature is quite useful when reading documents or emails. This feature disables the screen time out if the phone detects that your face is watching the screen. So you don’t have to turn on the display over and over again to finish reading a document. You just need to hold the phone at a comfortable angle so that the front camera can detect your face.
I found the LED indicator on this phone quite useful. It not only indicates when the battery is connected to the charger, but also tells you when the battery level is low and when you have missed events, messages or application events.
Another interesting feature is that if you want to talk to someone, you don’t have to dial the number, just lift your phone to your ear and direct call will dial the number automatically for you. The Samsung Galaxy S III is smart - it understands when you want to talk. It reduces the number of steps between two functions. For instance, when you are messaging someone but decide to call instead, simply lift the phone to your ear and you will be connected.
I also quite liked the Pop up play feature, which lets you do your work - sending emails, surfing web, texting and chatting - while watching any video. At one click, the video is resized, which you can drag to anywhere on the screen.
Usually we don’t bother to check missed calls or messages until the phone rings again. But the Samsung Galaxy S III does not let you miss anything. With the Smart alert feature activated, you will be alerted if you have missed calls and messages. It vibrates as you pick the phone up if there are any missed events.
The phone lets you take screenshots by just simply swiping from left to right or vice versa with the side of your hand.
To protect the data on your phone from miscreants, the phone has some interesting options to lock/unlock your phone. Apart from the usual PIN, password and pattern unlock options, the phone also offers face unlock, face and voice unlock options. Though both of them are low security options, but nevertheless are interesting. You can also set multiple unlock options at a time.
Other interesting features on this phone include palm touch to mute or pause sounds while playing media, tilt to zoom in or zoom out images and pan to browse images.
In terms of storage, the phone offers ample storage space. It has an internal storage space of 16GB (the user accessible is 11.35GB), which is expandable up to 64GB using a microSD card.
The phone has a Siri like personal assistant app - S Voice. I, however, did not use it much, only used it to check its effectiveness. The S Voice app could not comprehend my accent all the time. Also its response speed depends on your data connection. I would rate this app 7 out of 10.
The phone has a 2100 mAh interchangeable battery, which gives good backup. The battery takes around 4 hours to get fully charged. On a full charge, the Galaxy S III can easily last for a day when put to normal use. I used the phone to surf the Internet, play games and watch videos. And, most of the time, I only had to charge this phone after reaching home from work. But for heavy users, the battery may not last for the length of an entire day.
Connectivity options include WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi Direct, S Beam and Android Beam.
Camera
The phone sports an excellent camera. It has an 8 megapixel rear auto-focus camera with flash and zero shutter lag that captures sharp images, and produces detailed and clear results in both bright light and low light conditions. Even in dark surroundings, the camera produced satisfactory results. In the burst shooting mode, the S III is capable of capturing 20 shots in a row.
The camera offers a lot of options to customise images, including shooting modes, ISO settings, scene mode, exposure value, focus mode, auto contrast and effects.
Not only the rear camera, the quality of the 1.9 megapixel front camera is quite good and snaps quality images.
In the video mode also, the camera again performed brilliantly. The camera captures 1080p HD videos at 30fps.
The only flaw here is that zoom in and zoom out are a little jerky, but smoother than its predecessors.
Miscellaneous
The phone’s signal reception is strong and the calling experience on this phone is good. The speaker is loud but not jarring and produces a clear sound that is audible even in noisy areas.
The phone comes bundled with a pair of good-quality in-ear headphones which is not only comfortable but also offers excellent sound output..
Verdict
In a word, it is wonderful. If the price tag doesn’t seem too high to you, don’t think twice. Only if Samsung could equally wow me with its design. If I were to buy this phone, the design would not be a hindrance.
Pros
+ Great performance
+ Excellent camera quality
+ Stunning display
+ Rich features
Cons
- Average looks
- Jerky zoom
- Marginally overpriced
Ratings: 4.25/5
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