My SG3 review / experience.

[Prime85]

I am going crazy trying to make my choice. I don't know if i want an iPhone 5 or SIII. What i am worried about is i have my mac and an appleTV but i also have a samsung smartTV which lets me play videos from the SIII. But then again it doesnt do airplay mirroring that the iPhone 5 will do. I also like the reminders and note apps syncing from my mac and my phone.


I HAVE NO IDEA WHICH TO CHOOSE!!!!!!

my brother got the SIII and it is a great phone, i have played around with it for awhile but i have yet to see what the iPhone5 brings to the table.

I am a little disappointed in the "Rumored" 1gb of RAM concidering the SIII has 2GB and the Rumored 1ghz duelcore processor when the SIII has a 1.5ghz processor.

 

[Vegastouch]

One of my buddies went over to the S3, and he does nothing but moan and complain about how he needed to reset his S3 and Android would not save ALL of his settings & apps unless he "rooted" it, which he didn't want to do. In iPhone-land, this is simple as pie to backup & restore your phone, should you really ever need to, with no loss of any settings or apps.

He doesnt need to root it. If he has a Gmail account, it saves all his apps and reloads them automatically after a reset. You can also make a backup of your launcher to put all the icons back where you put them on your home page. Seems your friend is yet another who doesnt know how to use Android.

He complains about the Bluetooth quality of calls sucking and is even to the point of unusable with his Toyota car.

Never had a complaint from the other end of my bluetooth calls and i can hear them load and clear. I also used to work for Toyota and own one and Androids are simple to set up and work fine wirelessly with them.

He complains that TouchWiz causes an error and needs to restart every so often.

The grass is not always greener, and in the S3's case is DEFINITELY not greener. The 4S (and coming 5) are indeed the gold standard of communication devices.

Maybe he just needs to exchange his phone for another if he is having all those issues. Dont understand why some people dont get that. Plenty in here have exchanged their iPhones when it has issues.

Apple has spoiled us for all other phones, at least Android ones.

People should just appreciate & reward what we do have, and not reward other manufacturers for bad phones with Android being a cheap, imitation knock-off operating system that people need to tweak and fiddle with and reboot all the time!

iPhones are good, just lacking for me and they have issues as well.

 

[asr10 user]

What integration are you guys missing so much with ios? With my I phone I had everything synced to Google anyway so I'm not missing anything except airplay. Which I do sorely miss. I will need an ipad for my airplay music directly to my receiver, but for video s3 has dlna built in so it actually works with much more.

Also posting this tethered from my hp touchpad. Pretty cool.

 

[kevinof]

Saw a press release a month or so back where some company was about to release an Android airplay implementation. Maybe in a couple of months you'll get that functionality back.

What integration are you guys missing so much with ios? With my I phone I had everything synced to Google anyway so I'm not missing anything except airplay. Which I do sorely miss. I will need an ipad for my airplay music directly to my receiver, but for video s3 has dlna built in so it actually works with much more.

Also posting this tethered from my hp touchpad. Pretty cool.

 

[asr10 user]

Saw a press release a month or so back where some company was about to release an Android airplay implementation. Maybe in a couple of months you'll get that functionality back.

There are actually a few Android apps which can do Airplay. The main one being Twonky. The problem with them is that they are app specific. Airplay on the ios can be system wide, meaning I can stream youtube, or jango, or anything wiht sound to my airplay setup.

Android airplay apps can only stream from within the app. But since ive been in the ios world for so long, im realizing I can just use bluetooth and can probably get a cheap bluetooth reciever to hook up to my system.

 

[kevinof]

I have bluetooth speakers in the house and they are great with my S3. Would really really well. Only thing you have to watch out for if you're having a party or whatever is to put the phone on silent otherwise any texts messages or other notifications will go to the speakers.

There are actually a few Android apps which can do Airplay. The main one being Twonky. The problem with them is that they are app specific. Airplay on the ios can be system wide, meaning I can stream youtube, or jango, or anything wiht sound to my airplay setup.

Android airplay apps can only stream from within the app. But since ive been in the ios world for so long, im realizing I can just use bluetooth and can probably get a cheap bluetooth reciever to hook up to my system.

 

[asr10 user]

So bluetooth streaming is system wide? All sounds will go straight to the bluetooth receiver? I thought I would need to go into each app and hit share, then select the bt receiver. System wide is even better!

Wow I was totally stuck in the Apple ecosystem. Looks like the only thing i'll miss is the apps that I bought.

 

[Sincci]

So bluetooth streaming is system wide? All sounds will go straight to the bluetooth receiver? I thought I would need to go into each app and hit share, then select the bt receiver. System wide is even better!

Wow I was totally stuck in the Apple ecosystem. Looks like the only thing i'll miss is the apps that I bought.

As long as the bt receiver has been paired even once with the Android phone, it will automatically connect to it when you enable bt. And yes, it's system wide.

 

[kevinof]

Its system wide. Its also smart enough to send music and alerts to the bt speaker in my house, but not any incoming calls. It simply mutes the speaker and reverts to phone mode. Once you end the call the music kicks in again.

So bluetooth streaming is system wide? All sounds will go straight to the bluetooth receiver? I thought I would need to go into each app and hit share, then select the bt receiver. System wide is even better!

Wow I was totally stuck in the Apple ecosystem. Looks like the only thing i'll miss is the apps that I bought.

 

[Cinnamon&Nutmeg]

I always say the same thing to those who push the Samsung GIII towards me: the phone itself looks good and as with most high-end Android devices, specs-wise and performance wise it performs excellently I'm sure.

However, the fluidity of the iPhone experience far outstrips these in MY opinion. I have invested on Apps and the so on which I don't want to lose. But even without these, I find a lot of the Android tweaks and bobbles little more than minor novelties.

If I truly wanted these, I could just jailbreak. Obviously some iPhone users do jailbreak and amongst those are some of the most tech-savvy people I've come across.

I don't have a problem with Samsung or Android other than the fact that with so many devices ourt there, with varying levels of compatibility with the different iterations of the Android OSs, I always feel as though you have something great for about 2 minutes.

Most members of my family and friends own an iPhone, ranging from the 3GS to 4s. The consistency of user experience remains the same though different members use their phones for vastly different purposes.

My brother owns a SG2 and I daren't list all the problems he has with his phone (lest I'm labelled a fanboy or an Android-hater etc). Same goes with many of my colleagues and friends.

Bottom line is: Android is excellent and will only get better - as will their top-end flagship devices from Samsung, HTC, Sony etc.. I'm sure the android Eco-system will improve further too.

But so will the iPhone. Maybe not so glaringly obvious in terms of out-and-out specs and bells and whistles, but it will solidify its see experience on an OS that is purpose built for ubiquitous and seamless compatibility with its hardware.

So it boils down to preferences. Those who prefer android, good choice. Those on IPhones, like me, we are more than happy too.

I don't think anyone should be labelled 'fanboys' or 'phandroids' for having their choice an personally find it ridiculous. iPhone IS the brand that gets media attention and so is seen as se sort of commercial sell-out for tech-ignorant people but as I said earlier, iPhone owners that DO want more, tend to jailbreak. Some Android users tend to feel as though they are the illuminated intelligent users who reject 'big brother' apple. It would be useful to remember Google is currently mapping ad analysing the world and its partner.

Anyway, that's my tuppence.

Good luck with whatever your device is. If it meets your needs, then that's all that matters.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

What integration are you guys missing so much with ios? With my I phone I had everything synced to Google anyway so I'm not missing anything except airplay. Which I do sorely miss. I will need an ipad for my airplay music directly to my receiver, but for video s3 has dlna built in so it actually works with much more.

Also posting this tethered from my hp touchpad. Pretty cool.

I was wondering the same thing. I was sync both iCloud and Google on my iOS at the same time.

What everyone is referring to as integration, I refer to as being proprietary features and software. Apple seems to be winning at that and only adding more.

 

[nestafaria]

Had an S3 and returned it to buy an iphone5. Really tempted to go back to the S3. Ios6 is really disappointing. The iPhone itself is really nice but I wish the screen was bigger. What I really want and will definitely be getting is the new google nexus. I feel like iPhone had its run.

 

[Mrg02d]

Had an S3 and returned it to buy an iphone5. Really tempted to go back to the S3. Ios6 is really disappointing. The iPhone itself is really nice but I wish the screen was bigger. What I really want and will definitely be getting is the new google nexus. I feel like iPhone had its run.

I keep reading these style posts and wondering if iPhone fanatics are just more simple than android users? You know the iPhones and iPads do calls and texts really good, right? What else are they good at? Style, yes, but nothing else really.

Who cares about LTE on a screen that ain't meant for looking at. AMIRITE?

 

[nestafaria]

I keep reading these style posts and wondering if iPhone fanatics are just more simple than android users? You know the iPhones and iPads do calls and texts really good, right? What else are they good at? Style, yes, but nothing else really.

Who cares about LTE on a screen that ain't meant for looking at. AMIRITE?

Who cares about a screen that you can't see in direct sunlight? The S3 screen is awful.

 

[Mrg02d]

Who cares about a screen that you can't see in direct sunlight? The S3 screen is awful.

I can see mine in direct sunlight just as we'll as I could see any of my phones including the 4s so....Also, how many times are you actually in direct sunlight? I'm only in it while walking to my car, in which case I can call when I get inside.

Judging a screen, or a phone in that matter, based on full sun performance is ridiculous.

 

[nestafaria]

I can see mine in direct sunlight just as we'll as I could see any of my phones including the 4s so....Also, how many times are you actually in direct sunlight? I'm only in it while walking to my car, in which case I can call when I get inside.

Judging a screen, or a phone in that matter, based on full sun performance is ridiculous.

Its not ridiculous at all. I play golf at least 4 days a week. The s3 was worthless. I also sit outside and have breakfast, lunch, dinner, quite frequently. Again, the strain required to see the S3 was a deal breaker. Just because you only use your phone in your home or office, doesn't mean the rest of us do.

 

[Mrg02d]

Its not ridiculous at all. I play golf at least 4 days a week. The s3 was worthless. I also sit outside and have breakfast, lunch, dinner, quite frequently. Again, the strain required to see the S3 was a deal breaker. Just because you only use your phone in your home or office, doesn't mean the rest of us do.

The majority of people DON'T use their phone primarily in direct sun. Just because you do, and YOU cannot see the screen DOESN'T make the gs3 worthless.

You people are all alike...baaaaaaddd

EDIT: the 4s was no different. I couldn't see the screen any better either. I distinctly remember walking into a parking lot and having to wait to get into my car just to see who was calling me. Seeing as the ip5 has the same screen, I suspect it also is no different.

 

[Dolorian]

Stock dialer/phonebook/text apps: Very very bad compared to iOS. It takes about 3 pushes to call someone...

I found it rather easy and quick to make a call or text someone. Just tap the phone icon, hit contacts and slide the contact to the left to text or to the right to call. Very quick and cool. It works the same way in the Logs and Favorites tabs.

The S3 is absolutely fantastic and I enjoyed most of the experience, including 4G LTE. However, the one thing I was concerned about turned out to be a lot bigger than I had thought it would be.

The size of the S3 was one of my fears while I was looking at specs, pictures and reviews. I was thinking that it would be too big to use comfortably. Much to my surprise when I finally to to try it out in person, I found it's size to be excellent and very comfortable to use even with one hand. My sister and stepfather who are both considering getting one also said "it's not to big, I can use it fine" when they were playing with my S3.

It truly is an amazing phone, I have almost two weeks with mine and I am completely pleased with it.

 

[asr10 user]

Just when I was getting a bored with the S3, I found something awesome. 3D Wallpapers. I thought they were useless but thanks to the .25 cent app sale going on, I bought Ocean HD and wow, its great.

It really does sound pointless, but once you use a 3D background, its very impressive. Especially when I am thinking of building a Nano Reef at home, the Ocean HD wallpaper is just what I needed.

I guess another score is the Play store allows apps to be sold at any price, so there are going to be a bunch of apps available for the next 5 days at .25 cents each. No way would that ever happen on the App Store.

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I have to add that I love and hate both the GS3 and iOS. So I try to not be biased. I love them both. And I hate them both.

I also probably had $200 into iOS apps. So far im about $30 into Google Play apps. All the big apps are on both and function the same on both, but they are sometimes better on Android because they let you do more.

Example would be Evernote, Youtube, and Astrid. Much better on Android than iOS.

 

[Vegastouch]

Just when I was getting a bored with the S3, I found something awesome. 3D Wallpapers. I thought they were useless but thanks to the .25 cent app sale going on, I bought Ocean HD and wow, its great.

It really does sound pointless, but once you use a 3D background, its very impressive. Especially when I am thinking of building a Nano Reef at home, the Ocean HD wallpaper is just what I needed.

I guess another score is the Play store allows apps to be sold at any price, so there are going to be a bunch of apps available for the next 5 days at .25 cents each. No way would that ever happen on the App Store.

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I have to add that I love and hate both the GS3 and iOS. So I try to not be biased. I love them both. And I hate them both.

I also probably had $200 into iOS apps. So far im about $30 into Google Play apps. All the big apps are on both and function the same on both, but they are sometimes better on Android because they let you do more.

Example would be Evernote, Youtube, and Astrid. Much better on Android than iOS.

Some months ago they had apps for only .10 cents.

 

[iphonefan74]

Stock dialer/phonebook/text apps: Very very bad compared to iOS. It takes about 3 pushes to call someone, and the text app is also pretty crappy. Luckily you can change all of these with 3rd party apps.

Seriously? I think the dialer on the iPhone is ridiculous. I love how I can just start hitting numbers on my SIII dialer and my contacts start showing up. Not the case on an iPhone. On Android, you also have the options to call, text or add a new number you entered into contacts. The stock dialer is worlds better on Android.