Samsung Galaxy S3 review
The basics
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is Samsung’s latest Android smartphone. It comes running the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system out of the box, powered by a quad-core 1.4GHz processor. The Galaxy S3 also has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a front-facing 1.9-megapixel camera. Its 4.8-inch display can display HD images. For storage the Galaxy S3 has up to 64GB of room for music, movies and photos.
The good
With its 4.8-inch screen, the Galaxy is a bit of a beast. But don’t let its size fool you into think it’s a cumbersome thing. The Galaxy S3 is slim, light and feels great to hold. Into the nitty gritty of its performance, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is blisteringly quick. Webpages take just a few seconds to load up. The Galaxy S3 is one of the fastest Android phones around, if not the fastest.
The 4.8-inch AMOLED screen is also a beauty. There’s little fault to be found. Pictures look glorious, and full of colour. Some would say that Apple’s Retina Display is just that bit sharper, but that's only because it's physically smaller, and on immediate glances both look as fantastic as each other. Full HD 1080p video on the Galaxy S3 is another wonderful sight to behold. This is a smartphone you’ll want to watch movies and play games on.
The Galaxy S3 is littered with cool features such as Smart Stay, which prevents the screen from blacking out when you’re still looking at it - handy for when reading long passages of text. You’ve also got NFC technology built-in to let you pay for goods using your smartphone - although admittedly this technology isn’t so widespread at the moment.
Photo quality is up there with most of the best cameraphone images around. The snapper is reassuringly fast in operation. Colours look natural, without the wash-out you get with a lot of phone cameras, and the autofocus also works a treat.
Battery life is similarly impressive, you’ll easily get a day out of the Galaxy S3, even if you browse the web, listen to music and indulge in a bit of social networking over Twitter or Facebook.
The bad
A downside to such a large handset is that one-handed operation can be awkward. Unless you own some large fingers, that is. Stretching your fingers from one of the device to another proves uncomfortable.
Like Apple’s Siri, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has a voice assistant. Here it’s called S Voice, which in truth feels like a bit of a gimmick. It does work, but we’re not used to talking to speaking to our smartphone just yet.
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The bottom line
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is quite simply the best Android smartphone you can buy right now. It’s fast, has an amazing screen, lots of extra features, a cracking camera, and excels in almost every area.
User comments (16)
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Mark Simmons-miller13 June 2012
Love the show . But do miss the other stars !!!!
Report as inappropriateRiley01 July 2012
Nice review! I’m just waiting for my Galaxy SIII to get to my house. I’m looking forward to being on the LTE network since many of my Dish co-workers seem to love the speed of it. I like to stream live TV and movies on my phone, which is where the Dish Remote Access app comes in. I have a feeling that the app will work perfectly on the LTE network and the phone. I can’t tell you how nice it is being able to watch live TV even while I’m at the airport or bus station. Now all the needs to happen is my phone’s speedy arrival!
Report as inappropriateOllie11 July 2012
Just ditched my 4s for one of these, best thing I've done. I'm free from Apple!!! (and I have a phone that wipes the floor with an iPhone) Love it!!
Report as inappropriateAnonymous22 August 2012
Beautiful phone, I just think that they'll keep making these models. I would love to get one of these, just the price of it.
Report as inappropriateItzMehh06 September 2012
Awesome phone, stunning hd screen and everything u need! love it.
Report as inappropriatewayne11 September 2012
got this model as soon as it came out (upgrade from nokia N8) the processor is fast in operation but can slow up if you load too many apps where it will become juddery just make use of task manager! The rear facing camera could have been better ! it feels like a downgrade after the N8 HOWEVER IT WORKS WELL WITH BEST PIC AND BURST MODE PROVING USEFUL . smartstay is the best feature and should be standard on all high end smartphones, This handset will connect to almost anything wirelessly, you will get used to the size and after time forget about it all in all a great phone, I rate it 8 out of 10 , it would score higher with a more sensitive rear camera
Report as inappropriateJamieViaSamsung17 September 2012
Would love to see some case tests to see the best way to protect my S3.
Report as inappropriatedave16 November 2012
the comment upto 64gig of memory is incorrect i have a 64gig card in mine plus the 16gig of the built in so that makes ???? 80gig
Report as inappropriatedavid50205 December 2012
Awesome phone.
Report as inappropriateapollo4007 December 2012
I wish sky would pull their finger out and get a patch for jellybean!!!!
Report as inappropriateJoanne30 January 2013
I've just become the proud owner of the S3 and its by far the best phone I've ever had easy to use great apps and a stunning camera as well,this phone will be staying with me for sometime
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alps198306 April 2013
Amazing phone, ive used this and the iphone 5 and the galaxy s3 is by far a better devic.
Report as inappropriateArcangel114 May 2013
Galaxy SIII is simply the best phone to ever grace the market... iphone.... whats one of them!!! its all about the S3 now every bodys talking about it !
Report as inappropriateEmma Wallace27 May 2013
Can an iPhone 5 SIM card be inserted straight into an s3 straight away?
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