Monday, July 16, 2012
Review: Samsung Galaxy S III for Verizon Wireless
The Samsung Galaxy S III released on all major U.S. networks to much fanfare. It's not uncommon to hear the Galaxy S III referred to as the pinnacle of Android smartphones, and with good reason. With the latest internal components, amazing external aesthetics and a killer screen, the Galaxy S III has everything the Android user needs and longs for in a smartphone. But will it be the de facto Android smartphone for 2012? Read on to find out.
We'll note before starting this review that we occasionally do joint-reviews of devices here at Android and Me, and Sean Riley contributed to this review.
1. Form Factor
If you're looking for a phone that breaks the Galaxy S mold, you aren't going to find it here. While Samsung finally stood up to carriers and ensured that customers received the same physical device regardless of carrier, the Galaxy S III still feels like a big slab of plastic with a screen. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and the device is super light as a result, yet still feels well-built and solid in the hand.
The Galaxy S III features a power button on the right side of the device, microUSB port on the bottom, volume rocker on the left side, and a 3.5 mm headset jack on the top. On the back of the device you'll find the camera, with an LED flash and speaker grill on the left and right sides of the camera, respectively. The Galaxy S III comes in two finishes, Marble White (reviewed) and Pebble Blue. The Marble White is a nice finish on the phone, and presents a refreshing change to the customary black slabs in the wild. The Pebble Blue looked equally good in the brief moments I had with that variant of the device, a good choice for those of you who prefer darker phones.
After having my hands on the AT&T HTC One X and the Sprint EVO 4G LTE, I can honestly say that I prefer the form factor of the Galaxy S III, and I think many of you will as well.
2. Software
When it comes to the software on the Galaxy S III, Samsung has included Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich complete with their customary TouchWiz UI. This isn't your familiar old TouchWiz; Samsung has pulled an HTC and toned down the UI a bit in order to give the Galaxy S III a slick look and feel. As with Sense 4.0, Touchwiz for Android 4.0 is a pleasant to use UI, the skinned applications actually work well and are in some ways better than the stock version in Android 4.0.
One of the better additions to Touchwiz 5 is the revamped lock screen that brings the same ability to launch four customary applications directly from the lock screen found in HTC's Sense UI. Most people primarily use only a handful of applications very often; for example, I use Phone, Tweakdeck, Facebook, and the Camera, and set those to the lock screen for quick access.
Samsung differentiates its UI by some of the included applications, one example is S Memo, which allows you to draw on pieces of paper or over screenshots you take from your device, helpful when you want to send something to someone with commentary. Perhaps the most notable added feature on the Galaxy S III though is the Siri-competitor S Voice, which allows you command your phone to perform certain tasks or search for things using only your voice. In our testing, both the S Memo and S Voice performed very well, though I must admit that the latter isn't quite up to Siri par here. We're hoping that Samsung and Google could work together to leverage Google Now and S Voice to come up with an unparalleled personal assistant.
In all, Samsung's Touchwiz UI remains slightly more polished and user-friendly than HTC Sense, and in my humble opinion at least retains its position as the preferred custom UI on Android smartphones.
3. Longevity
One of the biggest gripes users have with smartphones is the long-term usability, or longevity, of the device. Many people voice concerns that their device won't get the latest and greatest operating system when it's released to other, newer devices, and that manufacturers are slow to resolve bugs and hiccups that come with the device.
Samsung has made the Galaxy S III at least partially future-proof. The Galaxy S III includes 2GB of RAM, which makes for an insanely fluid user experience and ensures that the device will get upgrades for at least the next few years, or the life of your cellular contract. Additionally, forcing carriers to adopt the same device with only a bit of bloatware added will likely result in quicker upgrades, meaning it shouldn't be 6 or more months after an Android version is released for the S III to get the update.
Regardless, the Galaxy S III is a powerful device with top of the line components that will leave customers pleased with their devices for the two years they'll likely own it. That's still pretty much a rarity in Android smartphones these days, as most devices are much less pleasant to use after a year or so.
4. Hardware
Many were disappointed to hear that the U.S. Galaxy S III would not be getting the quad-core processor that is offered internationally, but I assure you that the dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor running at 1.5 GHz will change your mind almost immediately. I've never seen Android 4.0 run as smoothly as it does on the Galaxy S III. Transitions never seemed to stutter and apps launched instantly. Gaming was no different, I couldn't find a title in my library that the Galaxy S III wasn't able to keep up with. Now as noted in the previous section the 2GB of RAM no doubt has its hands in some of this performance, but regardless of how it is being achieved the point is that the hardware in the Galaxy S III will not disappoint.
It's worth noting that the Galaxy S III also features NFC, which Samsung is leveraging for their S Beam functionality that allows you to quickly and easily share content between devices.
5. Call Quality
Call quality is almost an afterthought for most people at this point; we simply expect that our devices will perform well as phones, which is and will continue to be their primary functionality. I'm happy to report that the call quality on the Galaxy S III was up to par. Both the in-ear and speakerphone produced clear phone calls, and parties on the other end of the phone reported being able to hear me just fine as well.
6. Display
The display was another somewhat contentious point for the Galaxy S III as the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the PenTile
