I’ve reviewed more phones than I can count anymore. And I’ve loved most of them. I’ve said several of them were on my shortlist-the Droid Razr Maxx, the Droid Bionic and many others. But the Samsung Galaxy SIII was different. In fact, mid-way through my review time period, I went and bought one for myself. Thank goodness I’m a Verizon Wireless customer.
Yes, it’s that good.
The thing I love about the Galaxy SIII is that it’s so intelligent. It knows when you are looking at the screen, and if you aren’t, it shuts the screen off. If you are texting and decide to call that person, all you have to do is bring the phone up to your ear and it will dial that number. It’s light-weight, it take amazing pictures and I have yet to experience something I don’t like about it.
I’ve been hesitant to leave my Droid X behind, but after a fall off a counter at a store, it had some weird “screen issues” and needed to be retired. I was scared to make the change because I, like many, were on the unlimited data plan offered to Verizon customers. I was afraid leaving that would really be an issue. Almost a month into it and it seems there will be no data overage issues. Apparently, I’m not an overly heavy user.
So, what was it about this phone that makes it so much fun? Everything.
The display is a 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED (1280×720). In English, that means, it’s sharp, crisp, vibrant and smart. Watching videos, playing games, looking at pictures, surfing the web or just using it as a flashlight to see inside your purse are impressive. It’s easy to read all of the blogs I catch up on through FlipBoard, or to read a few pages of my books on the Kindle app while I’m on the go.
The screen brights and dims based on the light around the phone. It also has a Smart Stay feature. You might never notice it, but it helps preserve your battery life. Every once in a while a little eye will pop up in the task bar. That indicates the Smart Stay is checking to see if you are looking at the screen. If you are, it stays on, like when you watching a movie. If not, it dims or shuts off.
And what better to look at on this amazing screen than pictures you took or video you shot. With a 1080p full HD video and 8 mega pixel camera on the back and a 1.9 mega pixel camera and HD records on the front camera, the Galaxy S3 can capture anything you throw at it. There is ZERO LAG TIME on the shutter. It’s finally a camera I can take nice pictures with. In fact, here are some of the pictures I’ve taken. There are also several photo options, including burst mode, which will take shot after shot and best picture, which takes several so you can’t find the best one.
The video is pretty darn good too.
The phone also has a ton of fun features.
- S Voice is a lot like Siri for the iPhone. Tell it what you need and it will make it happen. Set appointments, tell it to take a picture, search the web, or whatever you want to do and S Voice will help you.
- Direct Dial uses the motion of the phone to determine if you want to make a call. If you are mid-text message and would rather give the person a call, just raise the phone to your ear and it dials. There are other motions too. Shake the phone and it will update and refresh whatever application you are involved in.
- S Beam allows you to hold two phones back to back and transfer files.
- The AllShare features let you share documents, files and pictures while you are away from the computer.
- Buddy Photo Share recognizes friends in your photos and automatically shares your photos with them.
- Pop Up Play let’s you watch videos while doing another task, like texting.
