Samsung Galaxy S III

[Kisakuku]

So far the main difference between the EVO LTE and SSGS3 is the screen, especially outside, EVO wins

 

Went to a Sprint store yesterday and played with two S3 display units. Colors on both screens looked extremely oversaturated. Color temperatures were high as well; white backgrounds in Display Tester had a blue cast both at 50% and 100% brightness. Viewing angles were adequate, but not nearly as good as on the EVO LTE. Effective resolution seemed a tad lower than on the EVO, but not dramatically so.

 

I was considering switching from the EVO to the S3, wasn't bothered by the plastic feel (will put a Trident Cyclops on either phone anyway), lack of camera button / kickstand and presence of TouchWiz. More RAM and internal storage, functional multitasking unlike the EVO and potential radio advantages were all nice bonuses too. However, the screen is a deal-breaker to me, painful to look at it after getting used to the EVO's SLCD2, which is pretty close to my calibrated IPS panel.

[S4GRU]

Went to a Sprint store yesterday and played with two S3 display units. Colors on both screens looked extremely oversaturated. Color temperatures were high as well; white backgrounds in Display Tester had a blue cast both at 50% and 100% brightness. Viewing angles were adequate, but not nearly as good as on the EVO LTE. Effective resolution seemed a tad lower than on the EVO, but not dramatically so.

 

I was considering switching from the EVO to the S3, wasn't bothered by the plastic feel (will put a Trident Cyclops on either phone anyway), lack of camera button / kickstand and presence of TouchWiz. More RAM and internal storage, functional multitasking unlike the EVO and potential radio advantages were all nice bonuses too. However, the screen is a deal-breaker to me, painful to look at it after getting used to the EVO's SLCD2, which is pretty close to my calibrated IPS panel.

 

It's funny the difference in preference to screens. I find the EVO LTE screen under saturated, slightly washed out colors and too bright. When I reduce the brightness of the EVO screen, it almost feels like it is adding gray to the screen, instead of reducing the intensity of the backlight, because without brightness it appears to be slightly hazy. The clarity between the two screen seems identical to me, it's just a color/saturation/brightness difference that I detect with my eyes.

 

Robert

[Kisakuku]

It's funny the difference in preference to screens. I find the EVO LTE screen under saturated, slightly washed out colors and too bright. When I reduce the brightness of the EVO screen, it almost feels like it is adding gray to the screen, instead of reducing the intensity of the backlight, because without brightness it appears to be slightly hazy. The clarity between the two screen seems identical to me, it's just a color/saturation/brightness difference that I detect with my eyes.

 

Robert

 

Well, I've had a lot more time with the EVO (a month) than with the S3 (30 mins), so maybe I'm just used to the flaws of SLCD2. Mine definitely does not seem undersaturated though when compared to a calibrated IPS panel, so it could be unit variability. Ultimately, once Supercurio makes custom screen profiles for S3, a lot of the saturation / color temp issues will be circumventable. However, by then I'll be well past the return date on the EVO, so I guess I'm keeping it.

[Jaggrey]

I'm noticing an improving battery life in my GS-III. Maybe a 25% improvement in life after 6 days?

 

Robert

I noticed the same thing with my Evo LTE, and my friend with their Galaxy S3.

 

Regarding the screens, I noticed more pop on the S3 vs. the Evo, mainly (I think) because I used an Epic for over a year and really liked that screen. I also had a background on my Evo that was pretty plain and mostly white. I changed the background to one with a lot of colors and wow my screen pops too! lol

[Kisakuku]

Regarding the screens, I noticed more pop on the S3 vs. the Evo, mainly (I think) because I used an Epic for over a year and really liked that screen. I also had a background on my Evo that was pretty plain and mostly white. I changed the background to one with a lot of colors and wow my screen pops too! lol

 

Best way to compare is side to side with Display Tester.

[DataHawg]

Congrats on receiving your new phones everyone. Both my Sprint lines are upgradable in September. Might decide to wait and see what Nexus device rolls out hopefully in November since I'm pretty happy running ICS on my rooted E4GT.Does anyone know if the S3 can be upgraded via software to work on LTE Advanced? I know it's a year or more from reality, just curious. Is LTE Advanced needed to make the HD Voice work? I guess it's unclear if the S3 has that feature. Sorry if these have been covered. I haven't spent much time in the forums yet. Great info here. Thanks

[S4GRU]

Congrats on receiving your new phones everyone. Both my Sprint lines are upgradable in September. Might decide to wait and see what Nexus device rolls out hopefully in November since I'm pretty happy running ICS on my rooted E4GT.Does anyone know if the S3 can be upgraded via software to work on LTE Advanced? I know it's a year or more from reality, just curious. Is LTE Advanced needed to make the HD Voice work? I guess it's unclear if the S3 has that feature. Sorry if these have been covered. I haven't spent much time in the forums yet. Great info here. Thanks

 

AFAIK, no current LTE device will be able to move up to LTE Advanced. The biggest feature of LTE Advanced is Carrier Aggregation and 4x4 MIMO support and greater. None of the current devices have the hardware to be able to support these features.

 

However, LTE Advanced is backward compatible with LTE devices. So current LTE devices will run on LTE Advanced just fine. They just will not be able to take advantage of aggregated carriers and more than 2x2 MIMO. These are going to be challenges for OEM's to overcome in future devices.

 

Robert

[DataHawg]

Thanks Robert. So no doubt then the manufactures and carriers will make a big deal out of it when the first LTE Advanced capable devices are released.

[iansltx]

I for one welcome an LTE-A equipped Galaxy S4, though that means I'll have to sell my SIII mid-cycle to pay for it

[JeffDTD]

Got an GS3 today !! My gut feeling to cancel that Best Buy preorder on June 23rd paid off. Saw over on Android Central about the $149.99 price at Radio Shack.. .despite the 2 shacks here claiming they "lost their contract with Sprint" (all the phones are strangely gone outta 2 stores here that have always sold them) , I asked nicely and gave my sweetest sad puppy dog face to an effeminate young man and got my $149.99 price match at Best Buy Mobile in the local mall. Together with the $50 phone freedom coupon from earlier this year, not feeling bad at all about paying $100 for this beauty.

 

Anyways, no regret about leaving my GS2 behind. The GPS functionality is night and day. My data connection also seems more consistent. I carried the GS2 and GS3 around the house and compared the RF strength.. at no point did I see a discernible difference. In fact, the GS3 held lower dbm in many places, more often, than the GS2. I also believe the wifi radio is much better. On the GS2, I can barely pull a signal in the back part of my house and lose it in my garage.. the GS3 picks up and works just fine in both of these places without significant speed degradation. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't see how someone who is in a moderate to good Sprint market could really have issues with this phone.

[QWIKSTRIKE]

OOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DROPPED IT THIS MORNING. NOW Does TEP cover this, and how does this work. Screen looks gorgeous, but faint hair line cracks are there.

[QWIKSTRIKE]

Got an GS3 today !! My gut feeling to cancel that Best Buy preorder on June 23rd paid off. Saw over on Android Central about the $149.99 price at Radio Shack.. .despite the 2 shacks here claiming they "lost their contract with Sprint" (all the phones are strangely gone outta 2 stores here that have always sold them) , I asked nicely and gave my sweetest sad puppy dog face to an effeminate young man and got my $149.99 price match at Best Buy Mobile in the local mall. Together with the $50 phone freedom coupon from earlier this year, not feeling bad at all about paying $100 for this beauty.

 

Anyways, no regret about leaving my GS2 behind. The GPS functionality is night and day. My data connection also seems more consistent. I carried the GS2 and GS3 around the house and compared the RF strength.. at no point did I see a discernible difference. In fact, the GS3 held lower dbm in many places, more often, than the GS2. I also believe the wifi radio is much better. On the GS2, I can barely pull a signal in the back part of my house and lose it in my garage.. the GS3 picks up and works just fine in both of these places without significant speed degradation. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't see how someone who is in a moderate to good Sprint market could really have issues with this phone.

 

Bar for bar is on par with my Photon and dbm wise....I will keep it. Also I dropped it and now must figure out this TEP thing if it applies. Amazon has a 64 gig SD ultra for $48.00, and a 32 gig SD from Sandisk for $19.95 for those needing more storage

[aerxx]

OOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DROPPED IT THIS MORNING. NOW Does TEP cover this' date=' and how does this work. Screen looks gorgeous, but faint hair line cracks are there.[/quote']

 

Suuuucks. The phone is soooooo slippery with out a case.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forum Runner

[JeffDTD]

OOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DROPPED IT THIS MORNING. NOW Does TEP cover this' date=' and how does this work. Screen looks gorgeous, but faint hair line cracks are there.[/quote']

 

What kinda fall was this? Approximate distance from ground and what surface? My epic touch went down at least 10 times and never broke.

[JeffDTD]

I do realize that one person's experience isn't going to be ubiquitous of others, but I'd like to share positive and negative as I continue to use the GS3 where I had specific memorable experiences with the GS2.

 

Here is a screen shot of my battery life on yesterday's charge.

 

 

Didn't do much talking, but I've got the eye movement detection turned on and spent more time than usual digging around the UI and changing settings. I probably sent 20-30 texts in the last day.

 

I had been having issues with losing connection at my gym, which is in a cinderblock building, with the GS2. In the back area , away from the windows, my streaming from spotify would hiccup and often stop. I chalked it up to weak signal. The GS3 worked like a champ today, holding connection. Also, I didn't notice the same rapid discharge while streaming spotify that I would so often notice with the GS2.

 

The auto brightness on the GS3 is making me nuts. I disabled it completely.

 

I am interested to use in weak signal areas and see how quick it is to jump into roaming.

[aerxx]

Damn. 21% screen...... You sir....have great restraint. lol

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forum Runner

[pyroscott]

Damn. 21% screen...... You sir....have great restraint. lol

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forum Runner

 

Agreed. I have never looked at the battery info and had the screen be anything but number 1 battery drain.

 

Sent from my Jelly Bean Toro using Forum Runner

[S4GRU]

 

I would like to know how your phone works in medium to weak signal areas in terms of battery life. My Viper isn't what it was cracked up to be' date=' and am now looking at getting a GS3 ASAP.

 

If anyone has a GS3 and they have been using it in areas where the signal drops to -100 or worse on a consistent basis, please tell me how the battery life is. Thanks.[/quote']

 

Did I mention I was doing a radio performance article? It will include both the GS-III and the Viper.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[MacinJosh]

Did I mention I was doing a radio performance article? It will include both the GS-III and the Viper.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

 

Ooh! Awesome. Can't wait to see it.

[QWIKSTRIKE]

What kinda fall was this? Approximate distance from ground and what surface? My epic touch went down at least 10 times and never broke.

 

Waist high to the ground about 3.5 feet at most, and it hit the concrete ground flat on the back side....no scrapes or scuffs, but a mildly cracked screen.

Edited July 5, 2012 by QWIKSTRIKE

[QWIKSTRIKE]

I would like to know how your phone works in medium to weak signal areas in terms of battery life. My Viper isn't what it was cracked up to be, and am now looking at getting a GS3 ASAP.

 

If anyone has a GS3 and they have been using it in areas where the signal drops to -100 or worse on a consistent basis, please tell me how the battery life is. Thanks.

 

In my house I get weak -96dbm to -101dbm and I can go all day with over 12 hours with it just laying there. I can tell you I let my Photon stay next to it doing DBM test from network dbm tester and they are pretty darn close signal wise. Don't hesitate to change from the Viper to this. I am not passing anecdotal or euphoric information.....all of this is from testing my Photon signal strength from a side to side comparison position.

[aerxx]

Also....my phone just pushed a 2MB system update....any idea on what that is....?

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forum Runner

[aerxx]

Im also fighting another issue right now....It almost seems like towers are fighting over my phones signal. Im between 2 towers at work, and working in a buikding where signal does not penetrate AT ALL (thats what she said) it would explain my constant disconnect and reconnect of 3G data. I dunno....

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forum Runner

[thelasthallow]

Well i went in to my local sprint store to check out the demo units and i must say THEY ARE UNGODLY AWESOME! i asked how many they had in back due to the fact that they just released and the guy said they had like 6 or 7 in stock.

 

I tell you what when they say video adds 10 pounds they are right! when i held the GS3 in my hand for the first time i was like UGHHHH (jizz in my pants) its so thin and so light compared to how people make it look in video reviews. the phone itself was so fast switching between apps compared to my old Zio i almost melted my brain. nothing lagged NOTHING! even closing out apps and re starting them there was no wait time what so ever.

 

over all if i were a reviewer i would say this phone was AMAZING and that if you didnt get it you might have some sort of brain tumor or something!

 

BTW the screen also made me go UHGHHHH (jizz in my pants) a 2nd time. clearly this phone is amazing and for 199 i am really considering paying off the rest of my contract and getting this phone.

 

Though im not sure if it would be better to wait 4 months so i can get $150 on a new to year contract.

Edited July 5, 2012 by thelasthallow

[JeffDTD]

Im excited to get inductive charging whenever samsung rolls it out. I absolutely adored the touchstone with the palm pre