Regravity I write stuff, you might like to read some.

The flavor of the month in the world of mobile phones certainly has been the Samsung Galaxy SIII, and yes I’ve got one as you may have guessed from the title.

I’ve only recently upgraded from the HTC Desire (Bravo) to the Samsung Galaxy SIII and I’ve got to say that I had thought I’d seen everything that Android could offer on a pocket computing device… Boy was I wrong.

There is really no comparison I can make between the Samsung Galaxy SIII and any other phone, perhaps other than the HTC One X, although I’ve only briefly played with a HTC One X so the judgement calls will be skewed towards the Samsung phone.

What can I say though other that WOW, I am utterly blown away by this amazing little package of wonder. The Samsung Galaxy SIII has put the magic back into Android for me and then some, speed, storage, quality it is all off the charts. But lets get some perspective here before this review turns into fanboy drivel.

I use my phone, funnily enough, primarily as a mobile communications platform… (I know, who’d have thought right?) so yes I do take calls regularly, but for me its more about the connectivity to Twitter, Facebook and Google+ when on the go. I’d also consider myself a heavy user / heavy consumer of apps and media on a mobile phone from reading RSS feeds and email through to video, site specific apps and games. That said I think I’m in a good position to review the device.

1. Build Quality

This is perhaps one of the most important things to me when I look for a new device. If it feels plastic or flimsy then I’ll reject it immediately and it is safe to say that the Galaxy SIII is far from being flimsy. Samsung has really spared no expense when building this phone, its light and sturdy but most striking of all it is slim… REALLY slim. So much so that it is hard to actually imagine that inside the device is more computing power than the netbook I’m writing this review on.

2. Design

Some say the design of the Galaxy SIII is uninspired, I’m not one of those people but I will say this… The Galaxy SIII design is inspired by lawyers…

Harsh I know, but its evident once you get your hands on one. All Glass front? Check. Metal Surround? Check. Single “Home” button? Check. Sounds like an iPhone 4S so far doesn’t it?

Well that is about where it stops.

The design of the device may derive from candy bar touchscreen smart phones of old but the subtle curves and the in-hand feel of the Galaxy SIII is far superior to that of the ‘Rounded Brick’ that is the iPhone 4S.

3. Performance

Here’s where it all matters and holy crap does the Galaxy SIII ever perform. The quad-core Exynos chip really does the phone justice, there isn’t anything else I’ve experienced with the same power and grace that is delivered. Now remember I’ve come from a HTC Desire so my daily Android experience has been from a device that was great for a while, but without heavy modifications (read: Cyanogenmod) the phone was less than functional… Especially with the HTC TouchSense bloatware that was packaged, although on reflection this may have been due more to carrier futzing with the base HTC rom.

The Galaxy SIII has been like a dream come true, its robust power in a tiny box.

4. Features

Features… for most people its the do-or-die part of the phone, the edge of the coin that will tip the balance about one device or another. Let me say the Galaxy SIII is not lacking in any features at all. I won’t run through a list of specifications like most reviewers do, yes its handy to have in front of you when reading a review but if you really want in-depth stuff go hit up the Wikipedia article here.

The important parts for most are usually screen size, screen resolution, camera quality, storage capacity, chip speed, OS version and amount of ram.

The Galaxy SIII ticks all the boxes, especially when it comes to the camera. Now people will tell you “But its only 8 megapixels!” to which my usual response is “Who cares? its really about the quality of CCD sensor” which is PHENOMENAL in this device.

Here is proof:

Now the above photo is at its largest native resolution output by the Galaxy SIII (3264×2448 – click it to ) in superfine quality, no further editing has been done other than point and shoot, it was an overcast day and if you hadn’t guessed that is an engine under the hood of a car that wasn’t in direct sunlight.

You can immediately see 2 things, the detail and the sharpness of the image, especially at its native resolution. Moreover you’ll notice the range of dynamic colour is amazing and replicates the colours of reality with a fine precision.

5. Games

There is really only one game that is even worth mentioning here and that is SHADOWGUN.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWfLZluv7Ss

SHADOWGUN is one of the most graphically intensive games to date on the Android platform and you know what, that video above just doesn’t do the Samsung Galaxy SIII any justice.

The game is amazingly fun, lots of levels, heaps to kill… but it is freaking gorgeous and that’s only enhanced further by the Galaxy SIII. No lagging, no weird texture problems, just smooth action and amazing game play.

Considering the requirements of this game and the killer performance on the Galaxy SIII its pretty safe to say that any other game will run without a hitch.

The Conclusion

What more can I say? I’m blown away by the Samsung Galaxy SIII, I haven’t found anything that I don’t like yet.

Whenever you can wrap your hands around one of these devices DO IT.

Have any other thoughts? Hit the comments!

Tags: android, Android 4.04, Cyanogenmod, Exynos, facebook, google plus, google+, GT-I9300, HTC Desire, HTC One X, quad-core, Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy SIII, Shadowgun, TouchWiz, twitter

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2012 at 19:57 and is filed under Articles, Guides. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.