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Samsung Galaxy S III

8.5 Verge Score 8.3 User Score Write Review
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Verge Review

How do you review a phone like the Galaxy S III? It’s already been subject to so much speculation, exposure, and early judgment — some of it coming from myself, admittedly — that it feels overwhelming to try and condense what it means to everyone into a single treatise. To Samsung, it’s the new flagship handset to keep the company ahead of every other Android OEM through 2012, for most people it’s a device that stretches the definition of the smartphone form factor, and to mobile...

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Basic Specs

Thickness 0.34 inches
Weight 0.29 pounds
Form factor Slab
Screen size (diagonal) 4.8 inches
Carriers Other
Operating system Android
Launch OS version 4.0

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Tech Specs

Hardware

Height 5.38 inches
Width 2.78 inches
Thickness 0.34 inches
Weight 0.29 pounds
Form factor Slab
Color White / Silver, Black / Silver, Red / Silver, Brown / Silver, Blue / Silver
Loudspeaker Yes

Display

Screen size (diagonal) 4.8 inches
Technology Super AMOLED HD
Pixel arrangement PenTile
Resolution (Y) 1280 px
Resolution (X) 720 px
PPI 306
Touchscreen type Capacitive

Connectivity

Carriers Other
GSM Yes
GSM frequencies supported 1900, 1800, 900, 850
UMTS / HSPA Yes
UMTS frequencies supported 900, 2100, 1900, 850
WWAN data standards supported UMTS, EDGE, HSPA+, HSUPA, HSDPA, GPRS
Max WWAN downlink speed 21 Mbps
Wi-Fi Yes
Wi-Fi support 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a
GPS Yes
Bluetooth Yes
Bluetooth version Bluetooth 4.0
NFC support Yes
Media streaming AllShare

Processor

Manufacturer Qualcomm
Brand / family Snapdragon S4
Clock speed 1.5 GHz
Number of cores 2

GPU

Manufacturer Qualcomm
Model Adreno 220

Memory

RAM size 2 GB

Storage

Internal size 16 GB, 64 GB, 32 GB
External Yes
Max external size 64 GB
External type microSD

Front Camera

Resolution 1.9 megapixels
Video resolution 720p
Video framerate 30

Rear Camera

Resolution 8 megapixels
Flash LED
Focus type Autofocus
Video resolution 1080p

Software

Operating system Android
Skin TouchWiz
Launch OS version 4.0
Notable apps Flipboard

Interface

Video out Yes
Headphone jack 3.5mm
Other ports Micro USB

Sensors

Sensors Compass (Magnetometer), Proximity, Ambient light, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Barometer

Battery

Capacity 2100 mAh
Removable Yes
Wireless charging Yes

Benchmarks

Quadrant 5283
Vellamo 2008
GLBenchmark 720p 101 FPS
GLBenchmark 1080p 59 FPS
AnTuTu 10568
8.3

Average User Review

of 23 total reviews
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  • 10
  • Design 7
  • Display 8
  • Camera(s) 9
  • Reception / call quality 9
  • Performance 9
  • Software 8
  • Battery life 8
  • Ecosystem 8

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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by Calogero Indorato (Previously owned)

    November 27, 2012 09:47 am

    io lo so che non sono solo anche quando sono solo e lo so che non sono solo, e rido e piango... e lo so che puo far bene o male, mi annoia molto scrivere mie opinioni e non lo trovo giusto impormi di scriverle, pertanto riempio le 50 parole cosi che a voi piaccia o meno ciaoooo

    The Breakdown

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    • Reception / call quality 9
    • Performance 10
    • Software 10
    • Battery life 9
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by Mindbogglycows (Currently owns)

    November 27, 2012 04:20 am

    The SIII is one helluva smartphone. the nature UX is indeed very nice and soothing, with many features like smart stay, s beam, and so on to bring this phone above the android crowd. However, after a while, the UI simply gets boring, I love the phone for one thing, the raw power that it possess. After rooting and installing custom themes and so forth, I've fallen in love with the phone again, and it's absolutely amazing at everything I put it through. If you are one to invest time to root and customize your phone, this phone is definitely worth it. If not, sticking with vanilla android from the nexus series would be a consideration.

    The Breakdown

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    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 9
    • Performance 10
    • Software 10
    • Battery life 8
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 10.0
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    Reviewed by levelm (Previously owned)

    November 21, 2012 07:23 pm

    The best Android device I've used thus far. Fast, beautiful, and full of options. Samsung gets it right! People will complain about plastic this or Touchwiz that, but the truth of the matter, is no one puts together a better package. Yes, I would prefer stock Android but no, Touchwiz doesn't kill it for me and certainly doesn't slow it down (I had the 2GB RAM model).

    I gave the screen a 9 only because I would kill to have a Super LCD 3 on it. Overall, the best Android phone I've used yet. The only newer device I've had the pleasure of using is the Galaxy Note II and it's just too large for me.

    With Black Friday deals on the way, you can pick this bad boy up for next to nothing. Completely worth it!

    The Breakdown

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    • Camera(s) 10
    • Reception / call quality 10
    • Performance 10
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 10
    • Ecosystem 10
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by iOSDroid (Currently owns)

    November 2, 2012 11:38 pm

    Negatives:
    I do see stutter while scrolling list with thumbnail photos. Battery life still has a lot of room for improvement, would like to have at least 2 full days (48 hours) of coverage with power usage (3 hours of video, 4 hours of surfing, 4 hours of music, 1 hour for gaming and rest standby). Build quality should have been like HTC One X. Better voice assistant - like Jarvis.

    Positives:
    I love the display specially because of the deep blacks & saturated colors. Really smooth graphics with amazing customizing ability, e.g. I have used Nova, Home++, Launcher Pro, GO, SPB & finally stuck with TSF shell.

    The Breakdown

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    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 10
    • Performance 9
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 8
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by defrndr (Currently owns)

    October 29, 2012 05:29 am

    My first Android phone and probably the best device I have ever brought.
    Even after months of usage there no lag or slowing down! This phone will make me stick to Android for long time.

    The display is amazing usually but under direct sunlight it disappoints. Still not much problem for me.
    Touchwiz is not as bad as what people male it to be.

    Only problem is that there is a copy-paste problem which a lot of people are experiencing but Samsung has launched no fix for it, yet!

    The Breakdown

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    • Design 8
    • Display 8
    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 9
    • Performance 10
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 8
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 8.0
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    Reviewed by hardmelon17 (Currently owns)

    October 10, 2012 12:40 pm

    although it's a nice phone, it needs to have a better design like google nexus. I also didn't really like its body and google nexus will be better if it has 8 MP camera. Some of its shortcut feature are also complicated to use. So I personally choose iPhone for the present best smartphone.

    The Breakdown

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    • Display 8
    • Camera(s) 8
    • Reception / call quality 8
    • Performance 8
    • Software 8
    • Battery life 8
    • Ecosystem 8
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  • 8.0
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    Reviewed by arturojain (Currently owns)

    October 9, 2012 09:19 am

    The Samsung Galaxy SIII phone is the best Android experience phone out there, therefore, I find my self struggling with the Touch Wiz interface. Also, the size of the phone makes it kind of difficult to have a well-gripped phone. Finally, in terms of battery life the phone can overpass my last phone (iPhone 4s) by far.

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    • Display 7
    • Camera(s) 8
    • Reception / call quality 9
    • Performance 10
    • Software 8
    • Battery life 9
    • Ecosystem 8
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  • 10.0
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    Reviewed by AndersAa (Currently owns)

    October 8, 2012 11:42 am

    One of the best Android phones out there by far, only thing that messes it up is touchwiz, which makes it a bit laggy sometimes. And S Voice is a drag, can't wait for Google Now to step it up a notch.

    But other than that it's a great phone!

    The Breakdown

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    • Display 9
    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 10
    • Performance 9
    • Software 10
    • Battery life 10
    • Ecosystem 10
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  • 8.0
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    Reviewed by cjschris (Currently owns)

    October 6, 2012 09:12 pm

    Coming from a terrible HTC Surround Windows Phone, the Galaxy S3 is almost perfection, despite TouchWiz and the boring design. Once you get past those two fairly major, yet at the same time ignorable annoyances, the S3 is a great phone. I feel that it looks bad, but still feels great in the hand. And, while some hate cheap plastic-y phones, which the GS3 is, I still like a phone to be like this. I also loved the Galaxy Nexus for this reason.

    TouchWiz is annoying, but there are still some nice inclusions such as screen rotation lock and some gesture features, however they only work in stock applications. Android 4.0 is great, and for me I find it much more powerful than iOS, but that's just me. For some people, iOS is simply more polished and I agree. But I'd prefer more features and a little less polish, which is what 4.0 does. And Jelly Bean is coming soon.

    Go to a store and hold a S3 before you buy one. I love the way it feels, but I only wish it was a little less slippery. Otherwise, I love the S3. It's not perfect, but it's one of, if not the, best Android phone. And it's a flagship from Samsung, so people will support it for some time to come.

    The Breakdown

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    • Display 9
    • Camera(s) 9
    • Reception / call quality 7
    • Performance 9
    • Software 7
    • Battery life 7
    • Ecosystem 9
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  • 9.0
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    Reviewed by Section VIII (Currently owns)

    September 30, 2012 09:09 am

    I was going to wait for the iPhone 5 before purchasing the SGS III; however, I had to pick one a couple months ago to keep my unlimited data plan.

    I compared the "older" iPhone 4s, HTC One X, and this one. Overall, the features convinced me to go with the SGS III (I had to go by reviews from international owners). I got the pebble blue 32GB and got my wife the white 16GB. The size is no issue for me or my wife who has smaller hands than the average woman her size but it didn't really matter since she uses both hands all the time.

    The battery life for me is not as good as I would have liked (Wi-Fi and LTE on always) given the size of the battery. It lasts for two-three days at home but doesn't last 7 hours at work. I think it's because the materials/layout of the building I work in as all my cell phones got worse battery life/reception but this one gets a little worse than the others I've had. It's probably due to the phone trying to get the LTE connection all the time. I'm too lazy to go 3G only so I just recharge it at work.

    The Breakdown

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    • Camera(s) 10
    • Reception / call quality 10
    • Performance 10
    • Software 9
    • Battery life 8
    • Ecosystem 10
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