Samsung Galaxy 3S for people that own one?

[A_Gitarman]

I've also got an S3 (my 3rd Android phone) and find it freakin' amazing.

Yes, the screen can be difficult to see in the harshest of light (direct sun), but only if you have the brightness set too low.

As for the battery, I only have problems at work where I get little to no 3G/ LTE connectivity. As a result, my phone is spends all day trying to connect and the battery is about halfway shot at the end of the day. FWIW, I've had this 'problem' with EVERY phone I've ever brought into the building. Outside of work, the battery in my S3 will last me all weekend.

My only real gripe is regarding the camera - while it is fast and offers a lot of flexibility (filters, different ISO settings, panorama, etc), overall picture quality isn't quite as nice as my old DX.

I could also complain that I'm still stuck on ICS, but that really has nothing to do with the phone or Samsung... Damned Verizon

[satannica]

I don't find the screen hard to see. The camera is excellent. A lot of my issues seem to be related to the UK S3. Knocking out the car docks and the general lag problems are just a pain in the arse. Oh and there's the issue where I'll get home and it just flat out will not connect to the WiFi. It will see the SID of my wireless network, my GF's HTC and my laptop will connect to the WiFi perfectly fine, but the S3 will just attempt after attempt after attempt and get nowhere. Not a problem if you have a huge mobile data plan. When it happens, the only remedy is to power cycle the phone and then it will connect first time.

TBH, I came from an old brick style Ericsson. I wish I still had it!

[stratotastic]

I have a love/hate with mine.

Cutting to the chase, here are the things I don't like about it. It's only a couple, but they're huge:

- Fragile screen. Mine smashed after literally a 3-foot drop. Gonna cost me major bux if I decide to get it fixed

- Lack of hard keys. The screen is so big there is barely any surface on the front that you can touch without accidentally activating something, backing up, etc, so you have to awkwardly hold the thing along the edges pretty much at all times. I thought the hard keys along the bottom of my Droid X were annoying, but now that I don't have them, I miss them a lot. First, you had to make some deliberate effort to push them, none of this your-finger-gets-slightly-close-to-it-and-it-presses, and second, it gives you some surface along the front that you can grip making the phone easier to handle overall.

That being said, I have no issues with the screen (have an auto brightness app), battery life is great, runs fast and smooth, keyboard isn't bad (upgrade to Swype and you'll be much happier), camera's great once I got used to it, loud clear phone calls, etc.

I recommend it, just get some sort of rubber case for it and it'll be easier to hold and protect that {censored}ty-ass breakable screen.

[Elric]

It's a phenomenal phone. Arguably the best total package Android daily driver smart phone out there.

[duncan]

 

Originally Posted by Elric

It's a phenomenal phone. Arguably the best total package Android daily driver smart phone out there.

 

Except for the LG Optimus G. That phone rules so hard.

[exafro]

 

Originally Posted by stratotastic

I have a love/hate with mine.

Cutting to the chase, here are the things I don't like about it. It's only a couple, but they're huge:

- Fragile screen. Mine smashed after literally a 3-foot drop. Gonna cost me major bux if I decide to get it fixed

- Lack of hard keys. The screen is so big there is barely any surface on the front that you can touch without accidentally activating something, backing up, etc, so you have to awkwardly hold the thing along the edges pretty much at all times. I thought the hard keys along the bottom of my Droid X were annoying, but now that I don't have them, I miss them a lot. First, you had to make some deliberate effort to push them, none of this your-finger-gets-slightly-close-to-it-and-it-presses, and second, it gives you some surface along the front that you can grip making the phone easier to handle overall.

That being said, I have no issues with the screen (have an auto brightness app), battery life is great, runs fast and smooth, keyboard isn't bad (upgrade to Swype and you'll be much happier), camera's great once I got used to it, loud clear phone calls, etc.

I recommend it, just get some sort of rubber case for it and it'll be easier to hold and protect that {censored}ty-ass breakable screen.

 

Wait, so you dropped a phone with no case from 3 feet and then complain when the screen breaks?

[Miter Gauge]

 

Originally Posted by MattACaster

I had the S3 for a while and totally loved it. Best phone I've ever had and I've had A LOT of them (IT guy where I work so I pretty much end up test all the phones that come through the company now.

The phone gets even better if you root it. Battery life gets longer, ad blocking, free wifi-hotspot...

 

What does that do and how do you do it?

[MattACaster]

 

Originally Posted by Miter Gauge

What does that do and how do you do it?

 

Gives you more access to the phone. You can then run programs that require root. For example, I'm running a program called CPU Sleep on my Galaxy Note 2 that puts the extra 3 CPU cores to sleep when the phone's screen is off. It's gone a long way to improving the battery life. The phone can now go 2 days without charging.

The process is different for every phone. There are generally some good videos on rooting on YouTube. I think for the GS2, look for the ones by QBKing77. His are usually the best.

[Armitage]

I love mine!

[SexWithRobots]

 

Originally Posted by stratotastic

I have a love/hate with mine.

Cutting to the chase, here are the things I don't like about it. It's only a couple, but they're huge:

- Fragile screen. Mine smashed after literally a 3-foot drop. Gonna cost me major bux if I decide to get it fixed

- Lack of hard keys. The screen is so big there is barely any surface on the front that you can touch without accidentally activating something, backing up, etc, so you have to awkwardly hold the thing along the edges pretty much at all times. I thought the hard keys along the bottom of my Droid X were annoying, but now that I don't have them, I miss them a lot. First, you had to make some deliberate effort to push them, none of this your-finger-gets-slightly-close-to-it-and-it-presses, and second, it gives you some surface along the front that you can grip making the phone easier to handle overall.

That being said, I have no issues with the screen (have an auto brightness app), battery life is great, runs fast and smooth, keyboard isn't bad (upgrade to Swype and you'll be much happier), camera's great once I got used to it, loud clear phone calls, etc.

I recommend it, just get some sort of rubber case for it and it'll be easier to hold and protect that {censored}ty-ass breakable screen.

 

I will agree that I think the glass is more fragile on the S3. I had the first galaxy s phone and dropped that damn thing so many times on concrete and not a single little dent or scratch on the screen. My S3 fell out of my hoodie pocket when I kneeled down to take my dogs leash off, it fell maybe a foot and cracked the screen. Luckily it was in the bottom corner but it was not even a week after I got it and my case didn't arrive yet. Other than that I love everything about the phone.

[Harvest]

 

Originally Posted by GuidanceOfSin

I have a gnex as well. A year old and it's still the best Android phone out there imho. Not a fan of the LG Nexus...the Note II looks cool but it's not a Nexus...

 

I have a gnex too, running AOKP Jelly Bean. I had a Moto Milestone (OG Droid) before that and that was the last Motorola device I will ever own. Nexus devices are the only way to go with Android I think, no screwing around for months or years waiting for the hardware vendor & carrier to ignore updates for a perfectly useful device just so that you'll upgrade sooner.

[Cortfan]

I love my S3. I ordered an OtterBox from Amazon.com (half what verizon wanted) to take the baby home.

[nitrous2400]

 

Originally Posted by FearTheVoices

As someone who is pretty much obsessed with phones i'll lay down my thoughts..

I have had the phone 3 times trying to get away from iphones(iOS has been getting stale for the last couple years)

Each time i had the s3 the same things sucked..

1. The screen absolutely sucks outside in daylight...AMOLED screens are just junk outside. No comparison to IPS LCD.

2. Colors WAY over saturated as usual on Samsung phones, nothing looks realistic. Color profile is only adjustable on international versions.

3. Android, Even though ICS 4.0 and Jelly Bean are nice, still a very cumbersome OS.

4. Battery life was meh, probably about 3hrs expected usage per day. On weekends the phone was dead all the time when going out to bars/clubs..got sick of that really quick.

Only thing i will recommend is get a phone with a IPS LCD. 10x better and more realistic looking color profiles. There are only a few phones out there with them though..

Iphone - 4 - 4s - 5

HTC - OneX and 8x

Nokia - 922

HTC - Droid DNA

Either way..if you must stick with android and have verizon, get the DNA. It blows the S3 apart in all catergories..Plus it has the new efficient IPS LCD's from sharp and battery life is great from what i have been reading(10-20% better than the S3)

If your open to change and hate iphones..try out the Windows phones, they are great. I am probably going to pick up the 8x in the next couple weeks here to replace my iphone 5.

 

This, I usually check my own photography website to test-drive how accurate/crisp phone screens are (since I know how my photos should look) and the saturation and color casts are probably the most annoying thing about Samsung screens in my opinion. I'm in the market for a new phone, I've been holding off since they're already comin out with the oneX+ and butterfly, and rumor is the S4 and iPhone5s will get unveiled in the next few months. I'd rather wait and get a solid quad core phone with LTE and an accurate screen. I was gonna get the note2 since the majority of my time on a phone will be web, text and reviewing photos with clients on the run when I don't have my computer, but I'm not really caring for the saturation for my uses.

 

Originally Posted by Chrisjd

{censored} samsung screens. They put an annoying blue tint in in their screen, is washes everything over and looks fake. My HTC's LCD screen looks a MILLION times better and is brighter.

 

THIS! I thought I was the only one that noticed this, the color cast pisses me off so bad. I'm thinking about grabbing a oneX+ since they're about to hit the market here in the US really can't beat it from what I've heard.

[The Anomaly]

I think you guys are expecting a bit too much from the screen. It's a smartphone, not a proper high quality camera. That screen is meant for more than just displaying photos and videos.

Any product that tries to do everything, usually fails at one or more things, or isn't the best at any of them.

That would be like complaining about the guitar tone you're getting from the Guitar Hero game, and how it could be better. It probably could, but that's not what they were going for.

[Elric]

 

Originally Posted by duncan

Except for the LG Optimus G. That phone rules so hard.

 

That's what "arguably" means. A case can be made for it but it's not provably definitive.