If you’ve been following my blog, you may recall how a while back I didn’t want a smartphone. Eventually I started to cave and was tempted to join the smartphone masses. Then as I was finally about to upgrade, I got lucky and my boss bought me a new Samsung Galaxy S3.
Now I’ve had my new smartphone for about 2 weeks and I’m loving it. So as promised, here is my review as someone who had previously been a smartphone virgin.
Initial Thoughts Of The Samsung Galaxy S3
As a bit of background, my last phone was a Sony Ericson. It’s crappy enough that I have no idea what the model name is. Because I wasn’t using my phone back when I bought that, I just went with the cheapest the most basic phone I could find.
Now that I have a smartphone, I feel like I have finally entered the 21st century and gained so much convenience. Suddenly I have pretty much every major portable electronic device all bundled into one. Never before have I owned a GPS, a decent camera, a portable personal computer or a quality portable video game console…unless the old school Nintendo GameBoy counts. Everywhere I do I have access to all of that now.
I can’t say I’ve run into any of previous worries with owning a smartphone. It’s not costing me extra thanks to my generous boss. It’s not making me too accessible since I don’t really use it for facebook or twitter yet. Nor is it making me ignore friends I’m hanging out with. I was worried about being able to type well, but I’m really catching on now that I’m using an app called Swype. Instead of typing each letter, I just scribble my finger on the screen and it manages to guess what the closest words are.
The difference I notice most with other people’s smartphones is the screen size. The S3 has a nice big screen which makes everything so much easier. Whether I’m browsing the web, texting friends or killing time playing games, I’m glad I’m not squinting to see things. I thought this might make it awkward to carry around but it comfortably fits in my pockets and is barely heavier than my old phone.
The 8 megapixel camera is pretty sweet so far, but I’ve never owned a dedicated camera before. I know some phones have a 10 megapixel camera, but they tend to make the phone bulkier. The camera in this phone is nice and easy to use while having a bunch of extra features such as panorama shots, hd mode, smile shot and more. I haven’t had much chance to test it out though.
Battery life is another thing I was concerned about. I’d often hear about people with smartphones with batteries that can’t make it through the day. From what I’ve experienced so far I think many of those people just don’t properly limit the number of apps running, especially ones with auto-notifications. If you’ve got an app using the internet frequently throughout the day, it’s bound to drain the battery. I still charge my phone most nights, but I’m sure I could extend it to every other day if I felt like it.
I admit I haven’t used it for much work yet besides checking e-mails and responding to comments. I guess I mostly need to get used to typing on it more first. I’d think with any smartphone it’s far from ideal for a lot of typing. Regardless, it sure beats typing text messages on my dumb phone. I’m sure I’ll get more productive with it as I get better at using it.
One thing I was pretty surprised about was the quality of games. I’ve only tried some of the free games, but they were pretty entertaining and some actually had decent graphics. I even just installed a portable version of one of my favorite games of the past, counter strike. I remember many late nights playing that game back in college, sometimes until it was light outside. Now I can play it on the go.
Honestly I can’t think of anything I don’t like about the Galaxy S3. Maybe someone who has had a smartphone before would disagree, but I’m extremely happy about it.
What about you? Are you happy with your current cell phone?
Thanks for the review.
I have a Droid X and it’s getting to be on it’s last legs. It’s my first smartphone and was great when I first got it. The battery life now leaves a bit to be desired and I really don’t have a lot of apps on it or anything. I’ll probably be getting an S 3 when we can upgrade in January. We’ll be getting my wife a iPhone then as well. She still has a dumbphone and is constantly using mine. Maybe that’s the reason for the battery drag?!?
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I’m sure you’d be very happy with the S3 when you upgrade. If your wife is constantly using your phone, it probably is time to upgrade soon. I’d also check which apps are constantly checking for notifications though.
I used to have the iPhone 4S and then i decided to run it through the washing machine. I am now stuck using my old blackberry which I hate. It feels so ancient for being a “Smartphone”.
As soon as the upgrade on my phone comes up next June I will be upgrading back to a real smartphone.
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When I was worried about typing on an on-screen keyboard, I half considered getting a blackberry. Too many people were warning me against it though. Seeing how small the screens are, I can see why.
I really want the iPhone, but I feel a tad guilty getting it when I am sooo focused on paying off my student loans! UGHHH I need to just get it
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Go for the S3 instead Michelle! Read the comparison reviews. Even though you’re focused on paying off student loans, I’m sure you can find a way to fit it into your budget. Maybe your boyfriend can buy you one with all his car selling commission
I have he S2 Skyrocketing and it has been very useful for my blog. It allows me to comment in down time pockets throughout the day that would otherwise be wasted. Glad you are enjoying your phone.
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I don’t really know anything about that phone, but if it’s helping you be more productive, it’s obviously quite worthwhile. Commenting on other blogs is something I’ll have to setup on my phone soon.
I detest my current cell phone but I’m waiting until January to get a new one. Our contracts expire here in a few months and if we re-up on a 2-year deal then we’ll be able to save a bit on a new phone. Furthermore, I’m thinking about hopping on my mom’s family plan which would save us another $40/month.
Oh you said “by” in your title…shouldn’t it be “bye”?
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lol I noticed the title typo when I woke up this morning. I guess I proofread everything but the title.
It is frustrating having to wait for a new phone. You’d think cell phone companies would want to get people switched over to a new smart phone asap so that they can rack up the data charges.
I use to be a free phone guy, and I never had a blackberry. I caved in when the iPhone came out, but I still fought the smartphone market for months after it came out. I will be honest, I love my smartphone despite the monthly bill that comes along with it.
I wonder how much I’d like my smart phone if I were the one paying the bills. I probably would’ve cheaped out and got a lower level data package. Then I’d be limiting myself too much and not really enjoying all of the benefits.
I love your new phone…even if it`s the size of a tablet haha. It’s a great! I adore my BB but have accepted that RIM is going down the shitter so probably have to get a non BB phone for my next one. I love samsung phones, my best phones were samsung and the best battery life was always samsung, BB SUCKS at battery life. I just need to get over the total touch screen. I love my keyboard! ENJOY IT! Just wait until your hook up Twitter….
I really thought size would be an issue, but it’s not really too big. As long as it fits in any of my pockets, it’s fine. I thought I needed a physical keyboard too, but that hasn’t been much of an issue. I guess I’m still getting the hang of typing on it, but I know I’ll just get quicker at typing the longer I use it.
I love my droid razr…it allows me to do most my blogging on there and reply to emails. So in the business sense it is great, I just don’t like the monthly bill attached. As with everything there is always a downfall and I found that battery life is that. I feel as though I am always making sure that I have some way throughout the day to get a little charging in.
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I don’t think I’d be able to handle a phone that battery charging is so critical. If it’s that bad I suggest really going through all of the apps you have and limiting any notifications. I know at first I let every app notify me about this and that and it really ate up the battery.
“entered the 21st century and gained so much convenience.”
You sound like me when I got my first smartphone, the iPhone 4, about 1 year ago. With a smartphone I don’t have to check my email or fantasy sports scores when I get home because I had that info with me all day. Overall I also have saved time.
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If only the hockey season had started and then I’d have some sports scores that I cared enough to check on throughout the day. It is nice to come home to an empty e-mail inbox though. Now I can just take care of most of that on the way home from work.
It looks quite big next to your old phone. I guess that’s part of the reason smartphone batteries don’t last as long. But if it gets you through the entire day then that’s all you need. Gaming in high resolution on a mobile device does sound very appealing. I heard titles like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Plants Vs. Zombies are all really fun.
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Well my old cell phone was pretty small. So that probably makes for a huge contrast. The big screen and internet connectivity does use up batteries pretty quick, but the batteries are also more advanced. I’ve only had it completely die on me once but that was because I had a game checking for notifications every 5 minutes.
I have the Nexus S 4G and I love the phone but hate my provider. They promised 4G in my area soon and now it looks like I am a couple years away, oh and they changed technology from WiMAX to LTE (which is fine, except my phone won’t work on LTE). On top of that, their 3G is so painfully awful I cannot do simple tasks or stream anything. So I am getting ready to dump my provider and move to one where I can actually use my data.
That sucks that your provider can’t keep up with the phone technology and a bit vice versa. I’m already used to LTE and 4G. So I’d really suffer if I had to use slower internet on my phone. Hopefully you can get out of your contract soon.
I still have the old verserion Blackberry. I even got a new one but it was of the old model. I like it- I’m not ready to change!!! =)
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Some blackberry users really get hooked on their phones, but I don’t think I have good enough eyesight to use those small screens for much. A big screen is so much more convenient.
Wow, counterstrike on the phone? You will NEVER SLEEP AGAIN.
Glad to have you on the dark side, now. Enjoy
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Well luckily I haven’t been too into video games lately. So I haven’t got hooked on any games yet. Counter strike seems pretty cool, but I haven’t gotten around to playing an actual game on there yet. The graphics and controls seem pretty slick though.
I watched this video last night (http://joekraus.com/were-creating-a-culture-of-distraction) and decided against a smart phone. I’m already distracted to the point where I have a hard time focusing on what’s important without the help of new gadgets
But hey, if it lets you be more productive and save time here and there, why not?
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For some people it can be a huge distraction, but while I’m taking public transit to work a good distraction is somewhat necessary. By putting in a bit of work on the commute I free up extra time in the evenings. So it works out for me.
I have an iPhone and love it. I don’t use it for Twitter or Facebook either. It’s great to have a GPS and to be able to deposit checks by taking a pic.
I have no need for the iPhone 5 and even when my contract is up, I still probably will wait to get a new one.
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Yeah from what I’ve heard the iPhone 5 is just too similar to the previous model. I’ll probably eventually start using twitter on my phone, but with facebook I just don’t use it enough to need it on the go. I might even uninstall the app since I’ve heard that it is better to just use a web browser to access it.
I am waiting for my Republic Wireless # to come up and then I will make the switch. I think my wife is switching over to the Wal-Mart $45 a month plan soon too. At that point we will be assimilated.
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I think $45/month is a reasonable price for a smart phone plan. Then again I don’t know US pricing and Canadian pricing tends to be pretty high. Good luck on the switch Adam.
I have a blackberry curve. There’s not much I like about it and now that the bf has an iphone we can’t even blackberry chat anymore. Last month I went over my text plan because everybody and their brother texts me constantly. Looks like I’m going to have to step out of the dark ages and get a legit smartphone with an unlimited text plan. Or make some of my friends angry so they stop texting me
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Haha, at least you have more than one option. Yeah blackberries only seem worthwhile when you have a bunch of friends who have one so that you can use their chat. Compared to an iPhone or other smart phone, a blackberry is pretty outdated.
MY BF has the Samsung Galaxy 3 after having an iPhone since the first generations were out, and he loves it! And I’m talking he loves everything Mac, but he really likes the Samsung phone.
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Cool to hear that a huge Mac lover appreciates how awesome the S3 is. The Mac cult tends to get pretty brainwashed about all Apple products being the ‘shit’. I just don’t see myself owning another Apple product other than my first iPod.
Ha, love the post title mate.. made me think of the movie Night at The Museum for some reason.. Give me Gum Gum you Dumb Dumb… sort of like if you want answers you have to pay the price. Like with the smart phone you get it all with the dumb phone you get the basics. We have a dumb phone and although after reading your awesome review and nodding to myself, portable internet *oh that would be nice),GPS *That would be nice too *quality camera * even better ahhh.. sounds lovely mate but not for this bloke yet. I think Mrs.CBB would fall off her rocker ok lazyboy chair if I said can I get an IPHONE. If your boss didn’t get you the Samsung would that have been the Smart Phone you were going to go with or is that we your boss told you to get?
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Conveniently, they were pushing me to get the exact phone I wanted. I had been thinking about getting the S3 when I was thinking about making the upgrade on my own. I’m glad I didn’t have to settle for something inferior or try to convince them to buy me a better phone. One of these days you’ll give in and join the world of smartphones Mr. CBB. It’s just a matter of time.
Oh the gum, gum! LOVE IT!! I’ve been an iPhone user for several years and I have to say the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been trumped in every arena except apps. The apps are there, I just haven’t had enough time to play with my boyfriend’s phone to tell. He recently jumped the Apple ship and as stated below, I feared he would not like the Galaxy as much and would quickly be begging for his iPhone 4 back. Instead, I’m just salivating over his phone stealing it at every chance.
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I have heard of one Apple fan switching from the S3 back to an iPhone, but I think that’s a rare case. To me it just seems like a better phone all around. As for apps I’ve managed to find plenty of useful apps, but I’ve never checked out the apps available for the iPhone.
You’re making me really want to upgrade. My contract is up December 2, so we’ll see. I would love GPS. I’m always lost, even in my small town.
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I haven’t got around to using the GPS yet myself. It’s not very often that I go somewhere that I don’t know my way around. It’s nice knowing I have it there just in case though.
Nice phone! I hear it’s awesome. I’m tempted to go Samsung myself this fall. I just wrote a post about why I’m not buying an iPhone
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Yeah I noticed that post but didn’t have a chance to read it. I did skim through it to see if you were maybe considering the S3 too. It is a pretty awesome phone.
The S3 is actually on my buy list, I have the older 9020 from Samsung. I love the Android platform so that’s where you’ll find me smartphone wise for the next few years!
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I don’t really know the different between the different OS’s. The Android platform seems pretty solid to me though.
When I first saw that picture, I thought your phone was an old 1990′s HP Leasing Calculator LOL
Timely post for me as this is the exact phone I’m looking to upgrade to as well. Thanks!
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lol….nope it’s not a calculator. I’m not even sure if that phone had that feature. It didn’t even have Solitaire! You’ll be quite happy with this phone when you upgrade.
Me, my boyfriend and my son all have iPhone 4′s (not 4s’s, but just standard 4′s). You really struck the jackpot by entering the smartphone arena with the Galaxy S3. My boyfriend just jumped the Apple ship and got a refurb for $149.99 with contract extension. As much as I hate the idea of contract extension, I was worried that he would quickly revert to Apple. Instead, I’m now drooling over this fabulous phone and only wish he would HATE it so we could switch!! LOL! Have fun with it!
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Yeah I did manage to score a really sweet phone as my first smartphone. I probably would’ve been happy with any smartphone, but I love this one. It does everything I need and much more. If I had been buying it myself I might’ve looked into the refurb option.
Glad you’re liking the S3 – I hear it’s a great phone and hopefully it’ll last you a while. Swype is pretty awesome, too. A friend of mine who is visually impaired uses it on his DroidX and it helps him “type” so much faster than if he had to try and pick out where each of the individual letters were. Swype is much easier on his eyes.
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That’s cool that Swype is helping your friend like that. With me, I just have trouble hitting an exact key. So it’s convenient to just have to get close to the key as I slide my finger around. I’m sure this phone will last me a long time. The only worry is that I’ll get caught up in the whole upgrade cycle when something better comes out.
The S3 is one of the best Android phones out there, so hard to go wrong. Nexus 4 doesn’t look half-bad though
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Yeah the Nexus 4 looks pretty cool too. If I were to spend time shopping around I might’ve considered that instead. It’s a close call though.
I’m glad you’re finding your smart phone useful. I like your remark on the old school gameboys. I use to have one of those back in the day and I loved playing Tetris on it, those were the days. Also in my down time I like to play blackjack on my phone for fun.
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Ahh the Tetris days. That was one classic game. It was definitely the game I played the most of my old GameBoy. I haven’t got into any casino games on my new phone, but I’ve been playing Scramble with Friends which is pretty fun. Plus I’ve got about 10 other games that I’ll eventually get around to trying.
Signal strength is a big determinging factor on battery life as well. Poor signal, and it drains the battery faster, especially when it’s doing all those auto-notification things. When I’m working in the mountains, my phone is shutting itself off by the end of the day, even if I don’t actually browse the internet on my phone that day! But at home, I can go about a day and a half between charges, even using it a lot.
Good point Edward. Luckily I get pretty good signal throughout the day besides a few minutes when the train goes through a tunnel. If my phone was shutting off every day I’d be turning off every possible notification.
I had a similar phone as you, an SE, I bought the Sony Xperia Arc in April 2011 when it was released, haven’t looked back since…
I think you will find yourself using it more and more, I don’t have my facebook hooked up to mine because it annoys me to no end… but the note apps, the e-book apps, twitter, gmail app (oh if you have gmail a great app is SMSBackup+, backs up all your calllogs and messages to gmail automatically so you can purge your phone and can always find certain messages and numbers if you need them!)
Great thing with smartphones… the chargers are becoming pretty universal so you can always borrow someone’s plug to get some power! I’m happy with my phone but it’s aging and I’m considering the S3, jealous! Hope you continue to enjoy it
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That is good that plugs are becoming universal. Apple seems to be one company that wants no part in that. They make too much money from all their accessories. It sounds like you use a lot of different apps than I’m using so far. So I’ll have to check some of those out. I do recommend you switch to the S3, but there do seem to be a lot of great phones out these days.
It sounds like you really do love it! I missed a trick – didn’t realise your boss funded it – that is AWESOME. As you know, I am an iPhone fan boy so am pretty happy with my 4S… In contract until January, so may go onto a sim-only deal for a while as I am not sure the 5 is all that much better
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Screw Apple! Get the S3. The iPhone 5 is the same as the 4 but different size.
Not surprised that you love your new phone, Jeremy.. Now you will never be able to go back.. Having the entire internet at your fingertips (along with a camera, mp3 player, gps, so much more) is just something that it is hard to come back from….
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That’s for sure. There’s no going back now. I’m stuck on the dark side.
I’ve got a Droid Incredible that I’ve had for a long time now. I’ve been really tempted by the Galaxy S3, but I’m trying to hold out as I don’t want to lose my unlimited data plan when I upgrade!
An unlimited data plan would be tough to give up. That’s basically what I’ve got since I don’t pay the bill lol.
I just got an S3 a couple of weeks ago and love it! I had a BB curve before and I’m so much happier with my S3.
I got a sweet deal from Rogers. I still had a year left on my contract but I called them when the iphone 5 first came out and asked how much it would be to upgrade. I wasn’t sure what I wanted at the time so I wanted to just price it out. I was already considering the S3 at the time. It would have been about $200 to upgrade early plus the price of the phone.
However 2 weeks later Rogers called me and offered me a 32g S3 for $149 with no extra fees. I’m on another 3 year contract but thats what I would have had to do in another year anyways.
So theres a tip. If you are thinking about the S3 call and ask about the iphone. I don’t think it was a coincidence that they called me with a deal 2 weeks later.
Interesting tip Renee. It sounds like a pretty good deal, but I’m pretty wary of long term contracts. I got the 32gb model too. I wonder why they wouldn’t just push the iphone more if you had already expressed interest in it.
Yea I use my S3 primarily for pleasure, not so much for work. I was having problems with the battery life but I downloaded the app juice defender and this helped immensely.
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Hmmm I heard of juice defender but ended up using a different battery saving app. I’ve heard other people say that battery apps are pointless on this phone though. I found by just turning off notifications it saved a whole lot. I did turn down the screen brightness and it is set to automatically turn off some features overnight.
What an upgrade! I had no idea the smart phones were so much bigger than the older style mobiles, no wonder the battery life is so poor in comparison.
Be sure to check the permissions on some of the games as sometimes you can be giving away more access to your phone than you realize.
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It is a big contrast in that photo, but it is one of the smaller dumb phones and one of the bigger smart phones. The size of the screen and all that internet usage is what really kills batteries. Good advice about the game permissions. That would explain why some are free. I should look into that more. I wonder if there’s a list of games that are especially untrustworthy.
I have heard good things with the GS3. I just picked up an unlocked Samsung Galaxy Nexus in order to reduce my cell phone bill because Verizon has been putting it to me. If I had some extra money lying around, I would have picked up the S3 because I love the features that it has, plus Samsung has some of the best phone screens with great clarity. Good pick.
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I’m quite happy with the quality of the display. I might be comparing it to my dumb phone, but it looks pretty good in my opinion. Samsung does seem to be one of the leaders in cell phones these days even if they were ripping off some features of the iphone.