The Samsung Galaxy S3 is now the Android smartphone to trounce, reviewers from popular tech sites reason out, with the phone expected to arrive in U.S. territory through AT&T and Sprint.
However, all major telecoms carriers in the country have already shown interest and signed up to sell the next-generation Galaxy S phone.
This time around though, consumers will no longer receive any sappy monikers or slight modifications of the unit, as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile plan on offering the Samsung Galaxy S3 as is – save for the carrier branding on its back cover.
While the U.S. will get a single variant across all networks, the international version is different: the latter’s 1.4 GHz quad-core processor will increase to a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, and RAM will jump up from 1 GB to 2 GB.
Other notable hardware specs include a 4.8-inch 720p HD touchscreen display, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video recording capability, and Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on top of the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich mobile operating system from Google. Interested buyers should prepare around $200 for the 16GB model on a new two-year contract.
The Samsung Galaxy S3. (Image: Vernon Chan, via Flickr / CC)
Galaxy S3 Reviews
Below are comments from some of the community’s trusted reviewers, as they give their first impressions on the Samsung Galaxy S3.
“The Galaxy S3 is a solid, capable phone. But its most important feature may be ubiquity.” Mossberg brings up an interesting point: “The Galaxy S3 lacks any game-changing capabilities and is instead packed with a dizzying array of minor new tricks that users will turn to frequently. There are so many of these that it can take hours to learn and configure them. I had the strong impression Samsung’s designers failed to focus and just threw in as many technical twists as they could, some of which didn’t work very well.” — Walt Mossberg, All Things D
“So is it an iPhone killer? Let’s call it a worthy contender. It’s not worth breaking your current contract over, but if you’re in the market for a new, top-of-the-line Android phone then [the S3] should be a top consideration.” — Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post
“Galaxy S3 is a technological triumph. Not at first sight, perhaps, but Samsung has done the overwhelming majority of things right. The camera is easily the best I’ve used on an Android device, the processor claims the title of benchmarking champion, and the customizations layered on top of Ice Cream Sandwich are mostly unobtrusive and sometimes even helpful.” — Vlad Savov, The Verge
Savov, however, noted, “…the extra-large size of this phone, even with its great ergonomics, may prove to be a stumbling block for those who can’t comfortably fit a 4.8-inch handset into their daily routine.”
While struck with the Samsung Galaxy S3, David Pogue of the New York Times remarked, “…with great flexibility comes great complexity. The phone bombards you with warnings and disclaimers–sometimes upside-down. You really need a Learning Annex course to master this thing.”
Nathan Olivarez-Giles of Wired was not so keen with the new Samsung Galaxy S smartphone, saying, “…simply doesn’t feel like a finished product. It could use more polish, more thought, and a more elegant user experience.” He also picks on Samsung’s TouchWiz software, which “includes a lot of half-baked features that aim for innovation but miss the mark–sharing apps in particular. Styling is boring, and not exciting enough for a flagship phone.”
Ed Baig of USA Today, on the other hand, almost found the Galaxy S3 complete apart from its lacking S Voice feature that will not work as seamlessly as voice-enable assistant Siri on the Apple iPhone.
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