Samsung galaxy s3 year of release. Review of Samsung Galaxy S III (i9300)

Apple and Samsung - who would have thought 5 years ago that these two companies would compete for leadership in the smartphone market? That Nokia, Microsoft, Blackberry will be in the “catching up” category, that Symbian and Windows Mobile will fade into the shadows of history, and their place will be taken by “super-open” Android and “super-closed” iOS?

No IT industry is changing as quickly and so dramatically as the mobile technology industry. It is in communicators that most advanced inventions are first implemented, and it is mobile computers that embody all the interesting developments.

A rapidly changing and growing market dictates its conditions to device developers. Only those companies that invest enormous efforts in developing and implementing new ideas and ideas can survive, let alone take leadership. It is breakthrough technologies and bold ideas that can attract the attention of users and the general public. As practice has shown, they can even create new demands, market segments, and change people’s attitudes towards imposed restrictions that they could not accept before. Apple and Samsung became such companies - each for its own reason, but still there is a connection between these reasons.

Their presentations further confirmed the importance of both companies’ devices to the public. Perhaps, the appearance of no new electronic device is surrounded by such rumors, speculation, excitement, admiration and disappointment as the appearance of a new iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S. The companies themselves are happy to stir up interest in the presentation and turn it into a show.

The two companies are friends and rivals, cooperating and simultaneously engaged in dozens of legal battles. Borrowing ideas from each other, legal and illegal use of technology - all this simultaneously divides companies and makes them dependent on each other.

This review is dedicated to the new Samsung flagship, one of the most anticipated mobile devices of 2012, the third model in the Galaxy S family - Samsung Galaxy S 3 (we will use the Arabic numeral in the model name below so as not to force you to distinguish between S III and S II).

Scope of delivery and characteristics

Environmental friendliness - the creators of the communicator remind us of this, as soon as we pick up the box with it. The instructions for water-soluble paints are printed on one side of the packaging. Thick white cardboard surrounds the communicator body, battery and accessories, reliably protecting them. All useful information about the mobile computer is printed on the back of the box: the main characteristics are listed, the model name is indicated, and many logos of the technologies used are placed. Compared to the Galaxy S 2, the packaging of the new product is slightly longer - just enough to accommodate the communicator that has grown in length.

Inside the package there are: a communicator, a battery, a Micro-USB-USB cord, a wall charger with a USB-compatible connector, a wired stereo headset with a set of spare tips, and documentation. Nothing superfluous, only the essentials are included.

The characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S III (GT-I9300) pocket computer are as follows:

• Samsung Exynos 4412 processor (quad-core ARM Cortex A9, 1.4 GHz) with ARM Mali-400 MP4 video core;
• Operating system Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich);
• SuperAMOLED HD display, 4.8″ diagonal, 720×1280 pixels, PenTile, capacitive, with multitouch;
• RAM 1 GB, main flash memory 2 GB (512 MB available), additional flash memory 16 GB (11.3 GB available);
• Communication GSM EDGE/GPRS (850/900/1800/1900 MHz);
• Communication 3G HSDPA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz);
• HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps;
• Bluetooth v4.0 + EDR;
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n;
• NFC, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA;
• FM radio with RDS;
• Glonass, GPS + A-GPS;
• Position sensor, accelerometer, magnetometer, barometer, RGB sensor;
• MHL 1.0, USB Host;
• CMOS camera with a resolution of 8 megapixels, autofocus, LED flash, additional camera with a resolution of 1.9 megapixels;
• Lithium polymer battery, capacity 2100 mAh;
• Dimensions 137x71x8.6 mm;
• Weight 133 g.

Design and appearance

The third model in the Samsung Galaxy S line has moved even further away from what is commonly called the “classic iPhone look.” If the first Galaxy was outwardly almost a complete copy of the iPhone 3G, which Apple did not fail to use in lawsuits, then the second Galaxy resembled the Apple company’s communicators only remotely. Of course, we haven't seen the iPhone 5 yet, but we can say with a high degree of confidence that the Galaxy S 3 looks like itself and no one else.

One can argue endlessly about the advantages and disadvantages of the design of the third Galaxy: some will call the communicator a “shovel” for its resemblance to the thin and long blade of this tool, while others will remember the hero of the review for the minimal thickness of the case and the extremely narrow rim of the huge display. In general, the design of Samsung devices should be the last thing you pay attention to: the company has always won the attention of consumers not with its exterior delights, but with powerful hardware and wonderful displays.

As soon as you take the Galaxy S 3 in your hands, you begin to feel the unusual thinness of the communicator's body, and your eyes are immediately drawn to the picture on the screen - everything else in the physical shell of the communicator is secondary.

Compared to the Galaxy S 2, the body of the new product has become a little longer, there are fewer straight edges, and the transitions between them have become more rounded. The width and thickness of the communicator's body have undergone virtually no changes; it has only stretched out following the increased diagonal of the display. The mass of the communicator has grown. If we compare the new product with other flagships of the summer 2012 market, it does not stand out from the general trend towards increasing the weight of the device and increasing the length of the case. The physical parameters of the Galaxy S 3 and its main rival HTC One X are almost identical.

The screen dimensions of the new product are such that the thumb covers only half of its area when working with the communicator with one hand. Even if you grab the computer case in the middle, your thumb still does not reach all corners of the display. Only by sacrificing the reliability of the grip, the author, with great difficulty, managed to reach all four corners of the screen at once with the finger of one hand. With its third version, Samsung Galaxy S has finally become a communicator that can be conveniently operated with only two hands.

The computer arrived at the editorial office in a white guise. This option, subjectively of course, looks somewhat ordinary. White glossy plastic makes the smartphone even more similar to a personal hygiene item, with which wits on online forums love to compare modern all-in-one communicators. The second color option for the communicator currently sold in the Russian Federation - metallic blue - looks more interesting.

The main advantage of white plastic is that fingerprints are invisible on it. They are also not visible on the silver material from which the keys and the stiffening rib that runs along the perimeter of the mobile computer case are made. Apparently, this is also plastic, although very durable. In general, there are no complaints about the assembly of the communicator: all structural elements are fitted very firmly and reliably. Creaks and play, which have disappeared even in the cheapest Chinese smartphones, are also absent from the Samsung flagship.

Despite its size, the communicator is comfortable to hold in your hand. The width and thickness of the mobile computer case provide a secure grip, while your fingers are directly above the sound and power control keys. The situation with carrying the review hero in your pockets is ambiguous: if it still fits in your trouser pocket, then you can safely forget about putting the communicator in your shirt pocket.

The arrangement of design elements has undergone changes in the Galaxy S 3 compared to the previous model of the communicator. The main key at the bottom of the computer's front panel has changed its shape, becoming narrower and wider. Subjectively, this had a negative impact on the ease of use of the device. The additional camera and sensors at the top of the bezel are now on the right side of the phone's speaker. To its left is now an information LED - a huge step forward for Samsung in terms of ergonomics. Now the owner of the communicator does not need to think and wonder whether his satellite is charged, whether new calls and messages have arrived, whether there are notifications from the system - just look at the LED. Surprisingly, it took Samsung 3 years and a bunch of devices to add one light bulb.

The set of touch keys and their location have not changed: to the left of the central key there is a button to call up the program menu, to the right - to return to the previous screen. They still tend to fire randomly.

The location of the speaker on the back of the device has also changed. From the thickening at the bottom of the body, it has now moved upward and is located next to the camera lens. The camera itself is located on a smaller protrusion compared to the Galaxy S 2. In general, the back panel of the communicator has become more even.

The battery compartment cover - which is also the back panel - now covers the entire area of ​​​​the case and extends its edges to its ends. Removing it is not a problem, nor is installing it back. It has sufficient flexibility, but you should not check it for breaks again.

Once you gain access to the battery compartment, it becomes possible to replace the memory card without disconnecting the battery. By the way, if you look at the location of the battery and microSIM card, the question arises: what actually caused the need to use a SIM card slot of this particular format? There is so much space that a regular-sized SIM card could easily fit.

The volume and power control keys are in their usual places: the first is on the left side of the communicator, the second is on the right. There is still no separate button to control the camera.

At the top of the Samsung Galaxy S 3 there is a headphone jack and an additional microphone. The main microphone and Micro-USB-compatible connector are located at the bottom end of the case.

How did the Samsung Galaxy S 3 turn out in the end? Everyone can decide this issue for themselves. In our opinion, the hero of the review is not the standard of design delights, but there are no objective complaints about the appearance of the new product. Design features are both negative and positive. The first include the narrow and inconvenient central key, as well as the unmotivated use of the microSIM card format. There is no need to remind us at all about the traditional absence of a camera control button and the touch buttons that are triggered at the wrong moment. Advantages in the design of the new product: the aligned rear panel of the communicator body and an extremely convenient information LED.

Software

It's no surprise that the Samsung Galaxy S 3 runs the latest version of the Android operating system, namely 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It is also not surprising that Samsung installed the proprietary TouchWiz shell on the communicator.

The most convenient way to identify innovations in the software of the review hero is to compare it with its predecessor, which has the latest firmware update from Android 4.0.3 installed.

The lock screen of the Galaxy S 3 has learned to send the user directly to several applications: phone calls, Samsung ChatON, browser and camera. It also displays information about missed calls and messages. This achieves the functionality that HTC Sense introduced last year. To access the communicator, you no longer need to move your finger across the screen; just touch it and tilt the device itself. All this is undoubtedly convenient, but does not make sense from a security point of view. To the methods of secure screen locking (password, face recognition, pattern, PIN code), another one has been added - face and voice (that’s right, at the same time).

Changes in the system's main screen shell are minimal: the weather widget has been combined with a clock, and a denser placement of icons has made it possible to place another icon in the list of main applications. The list of main communicator settings in the taskbar has grown and began to scroll horizontally.

Most branded applications received the prefix “S” in their names: S Memo, S Planner, S Suggest, S Voice. The first of them is a well-known application for creating notes, text and graphic, well known to Galaxy Note owners. The second is a calendar planner synchronized with Google. Third, as the name suggests, is a collection of applications that are worth downloading and installing on your device, according to Samsung. The last application, S Voice, is worth a closer look.

The Siri electronic assistant has become the basis for building a new type of user interaction with a computer. Various voice recognition systems have existed before and are being developed now, but it was Siri that brought this technology to a new level and attracted the attention of a wide audience - thanks to the huge army of fans of Apple devices. Naturally, Samsung, as a manufacturer of the main competing devices in the mobile computer segment, could not ignore the appearance of this program without attention. The answer to Siri was S Voice.

It is worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy S 2 has an application for voice recognition, but its functionality is limited to a set of primitive actions: call a subscriber, type a message, play a certain melody from the library. Also, do not forget that the Google search engine in almost all Android devices has a built-in voice recognition system that simply translates the phrase into a specific search query. Voice recognition is also built into many Google apps, but it doesn't compare to the centrality and ease of use of Siri and now S Voice.

The appearance of the S Voice program is laconic and extremely similar to the Siri interface. The owner of the communicator sees a button to call an assistant and phrases of dialogue with a virtual interlocutor. Like Siri, S Voice only works when connected to the Internet and actively communicates with the server that processes requests. The program understands speech in several languages, Russian is not among them.

To operate, the application requires access to a variety of data stored in the communicator's memory, including personal data. So before using S Voice, you should familiarize yourself with the policy for handling them, which is available on the website of the program developer, Vlingo.

The iPhone 4S review mentioned above includes a chapter describing Siri's capabilities and a few phrases that were asked of the assistant. It was interesting to know how his competitor would cope with them (the questions were pronounced in English).

The assistant relayed a query regarding Samsung shares to a Google search query. The Samsung Galaxy S 3 does not have a full-fledged application for working with quotes (only a widget), so we can consider this issue handled correctly. The question about the current US President did not force S Voice to launch the search engine; the correct answer was given within a few seconds. The response to a request to tell me something about Barack Obama was completely unexpected: for some reason S Voice suggested searching the Internet for information about the British Prime Minister. Considering that Siri didn’t answer this question at all, S Voice can be considered a more advanced program from the point of view of abstract logic. A request for information about New York City banks was processed incorrectly, likely due to an error in the phrase itself. The question of whether I need an umbrella, unfortunately, remained unanswered - the second loss of S Voice to a competitor.

The S Voice program tries to be useful to the user and copies the main part of the functionality of Siri. It wouldn't be surprising if both applications use the same knowledge bases. At the moment, both seem a bit crude, but Siri seems like a more advanced development. Although, of course, Siri has a greater head start - the support of a powerful corporation and an abundance of developers. Time will tell whether S Voice will catch up, as it will show the relevance and viability of this method of interaction between the user and the machine as a whole.

Concluding the description of the S Voice program, it is worth noting several more of its functions: firstly, waking up the communicator and launching the assistant with a voice command, and secondly, interaction with various built-in applications, from an alarm clock to a search in Google maps.

In general, the developers of the Samsung Galaxy S 3 tried to make the communicator more intelligent and responsive. The list of possibilities is extensive, most of them are related to the computer's position sensor in space. For example, if you pick up your smartphone, it will vibrate when there are notifications about missed calls and unread messages. Or another example: the communicator will start dialing the number of the subscriber whose information is on the screen if you bring the device body to your ear. Many of these features were present in the previous Galaxy S 2 model - for example, changing the image scale when tilting the device with two finger taps on the screen. Many don’t really work - for example, going to the beginning of a long list by tapping on an additional microphone. But it is worth noting the desire of the developers to make maximum use of the capabilities of the various sensors built into the communicator to simplify the life of the device owner.

The Samsung Galaxy S 3 has a place for many additional applications of the company itself. In addition to the above, these include: Samsung ChatON- analogue of Apple iMessage, messaging via an Internet connection rather than via SMS, Samsung Apps- Samsung's own application store, AllShare Play- an advanced DLNA client that allows you to remotely connect to the content of media servers via the Internet, Game Hub- catalog of paid and free games from Samsung.

Several well-known third-party applications were also found in the device's memory. Dropbox does not need any special introduction - this is one of the first cloud storage and file synchronization services. Galaxy S 3 owners are provided with up to 50 GB of virtual disk space. Yandex.Kinoafisha And Yandex.Weather- two services of a well-known Russian company that implement the functionality obvious from their name.

There is only one text input method (besides voice) in the Galaxy S 3 - the Samsung keyboard. The review hero does not have the Swype keyboard previously found in other Samsung communicators. But the Samsung keyboard can recognize handwritten input - if you practice, then practically without errors.

So, Samsung has done a great job of introducing new unusual technologies into the firmware of its flagship. Time will tell how popular they will be, but for now the owners of the new product should learn English and learn not to touch their neighbors when swinging the communicator's body.

Display and sound

AMOLED matrices are exactly what has always attracted the attention of mobile device lovers to Samsung products, both literally and figuratively. There is no need to describe the advantages of these matrices once again; it is better to dwell specifically on the display of the Samsung Galaxy S 3 communicator.

In general, its parameters are similar to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus screen. Judge for yourself: the matrix sizes are 4.65 and 4.8 inches, the resolution is 720 by 1280 pixels, the matrix type is HD SuperAMOLED. It is worth noting that there is no “Plus” prefix in the name of the matrices - this means that they are made using PenTile technology, unlike the SuperAMOLED Plus matrix of the Samsung Galaxy S 2 communicator. However, high resolution (in terms of dots per inch, the Galaxy S 2 had only 217 dpi, while the S 3 has almost 306), eliminates all the shortcomings of the PenTile matrix: the grain of the picture is invisible, and the lines of text characters look smooth and clear, but not blurry. If you put the Galaxy of the second and third generations side by side and look at the image on the screen, it is difficult to detect the difference between the picture on the displays of the first and second communicators.

The brightness of the Galaxy S 3's AMOLED display is very high. It is adjusted automatically, but not always optimally. In most cases, the display appears very dim regardless of the power saving settings: apparently, keeping the brightness level low when automatically adjusting is the developers' idea. In addition, constantly switching brightness is annoying.

The display sensor recognizes many simultaneous touches; up to 10 simultaneous signals were tested - there were not enough fingers for more.

Let's see how things stand with video playback of various formats on the Samsung Galaxy S 3.

The standard video player can handle video up to Full HD, but it is highly dependent on hardware support for a particular format. Third-party players that can play videos in software mode did a better job. We managed to watch almost all the videos.

It is worth noting an interesting feature of the Galaxy S 3: it can “play along” with the soundtrack using vibration. When the volume of sound at lower frequencies reaches a certain high level (it does not matter whether the sound is played through a speaker or headphones), the communicator begins to vibrate to the beat - such a mobile subwoofer.

The video player can be minimized into a window that hangs on top of other programs and continue playing while the owner of the communicator is doing other things. What practical use of this function on a mobile device is an open question. But it's unusual, that's a fact.

Standard video and audio players have the ability to stream to any DLNA device on the network. We were able to connect the communicator to a Samsung Smart TV and play both a video file and music.

The volume of the built-in speakers of the Samsung Galaxy S 3 is sufficient: the telephone one - for trouble-free communication with the interlocutor, the main one - for playing ringtones, alarm clocks and navigator tips. The volume level is changed both using the key on the left side of the communicator body and programmatically. The built-in audio player does not understand MP3 tags with Cyrillic, but allows you to “improve” the sound in various ways.

The included headset has good sound, but, unfortunately, it is not detachable: the headphones are not detachable from the control unit, which includes a microphone, volume and call control buttons.

After connecting a headset or headphones to the communicator, it becomes possible to use the FM radio receiver built into the Galaxy S 3. The receiver control program looks unusual, but it is very convenient to use. In the center of the screen there is a virtual analogue frequency control knob, by rotating which you can find the desired station. On either side of it there are buttons for quick station search. When you touch them, the program automatically searches for the nearest frequency with a sufficiently high-quality signal. The radio supports RDS, has good sensitivity and allows you to record the signal in the form of 3GA files. The frequency of any station you like can be saved in the communicator’s memory, and the sound is output both to the headphones and to the speaker.

Wireless Interfaces and Communications

The Samsung Galaxy S 3 communicator has a full range of wireless communication modules, only support for 4G networks is missing. The maximum data exchange rate on the cellular network for the hero of the review is 21 megabits per second for reception and 6 megabits per second for transmission.

There were no problems with cellular communications on the Galaxy S 3. The communicator successfully fulfilled the role of a mobile phone and provided access to the Internet at a speed appropriate to the area and the capabilities of the cellular network.

The latest versions of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi modules are: Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n. There were no problems with their work. The following additional technologies are supported: Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA, Kies Air.

We managed to connect a wireless headset to the communicator. The headset screen displayed track names correctly, but the caller's number was not displayed during a phone call. A single press of the call key on the headset launched the S Voice electronic assistant, a double press led to a repeat of the last call.

The Galaxy S 3 features a host of data sharing technologies that are rarely found in other mobile devices. Judge for yourself: Near Field Communication (NFC) in two forms at once - S Beam and Android Beam, both involve fast data exchange between two devices over a short distance, MHL - an HDMI-compatible video output option for wired connection to high-definition digital signal receivers, USB On-the-go is the good old USB Host, which allows you to connect USB devices such as mice and external storage devices - flash drives and hard drives - to your communicator. The last two interfaces are implemented in a Micro-USB-compatible connector on the bottom end of the communicator body.

But, of course, the main feature of the Galaxy S 3, at least in Russia, is support for Glonass. Yes, now the owners of the flagship Samsung communicator can determine their location based on the signal from domestic satellites, which sometimes come to the aid of their American colleagues from the GPS network. A-GPS technology facilitates quick and correct determination of coordinates.

Camera

The CMOS matrix resolution of the Galaxy S 2 and Galaxy S 3 is the same - 8 megapixels. As a result, the maximum image resolution that can be obtained on both devices is 3264x2448 pixels. Video is recorded at Full HD 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second. Video format - MP4 (H.264, AAC).

Opening the communicator by craftsmen showed that the Galaxy S 3 uses a Sony BSI sensor. The same, or very similar one, is installed in Sony communicators and Apple iPhone 4/4S smartphones.

The main camera of the review hero is equipped with an autofocus system and complemented by an LED flash. The start of the camera control program is fast, the time until the first photo is taken is short. The only thing the new product lacks is a separate key to control shooting.

The interface of the camera control program is similar in all Samsung communicators. The focusing system sight is located in the center; its location can be changed manually by touching the corresponding area of ​​the screen. On the right are: a button to start shooting, a switch for photo and video modes, a miniature copy of the last photo or video, which also serves as a link to the photo album program. On the left are icons for various camera settings. You can change their set yourself; you just need to hold the touch and hold the icon. There are a wide variety of shooting options available, from white balance and ISO to scene shooting and automatic insertion of GPS location tags.

Interesting features of the Samsung Galaxy S 3 camera include facial recognition functions when shooting, taking pictures directly during video recording, and an image stabilization system.

You can record video and take photographs using both the main camera and the additional one located on the front panel of the communicator body. In the latter case, photographs have a maximum resolution of 1280×960 pixels, videos - 720p, autofocus is not available.

The quality of photos and videos on the Galaxy S 3 is remarkable by the standards of mobile devices. You can verify this yourself.

Battery life

The increased capacity of the battery in the Galaxy S 3 is compensated by the increased load on it from the hardware. This has always been the case in the world of mobile devices, is and, it seems, will be until a radically new compact mobile power source is invented. The standard battery capacity of the new product is 2100 mAh, which is a very impressive value for communicators. It is also worth noting that the battery of the Galaxy S 3 is not simple; the antenna of the NFC chip is integrated into it.

Let's get straight to the point. Several standard battery life tests were carried out with the communicator, and here are their results. Reading an e-book in the FBReader program with 50% display brightness - 11 hours, with automatic adjustment - 12 hours. Listening to music with the display off - 27.5 hours. In the first test, the result of the Galaxy S 3 coincided with that of the Galaxy S 2, in the second the new product worked almost one and a half times longer. This means that the review hero is more energy efficient than its predecessor, but you need to constantly take care of the optimal level of screen brightness. As mentioned earlier, the automation itself does this, sometimes setting the display brightness too low.

The minimum battery life of the communicator is 6 hours. The size is more than worthy. But replenishing the battery charge is very slow, within the same 6 hours from the computer’s USB port.

Speed ​​and performance

The hardware basis of Samsung's new flagship is the company's own chip - Exynos 4412. It includes four ARM Cortex-A9 computing cores operating at 1.4 GHz and an ARM Mali-400 MP4 video processor. The amount of DDR2 RAM is 1 GB. If we compare the hardware bases of the Galaxy S 2 and Galaxy S 3, the difference between them is insignificant: the chip process technology has been changed, from 45 to 32 nm, two more computing cores have been added to the two, and the frequency has increased by 200 MHz.

After the theoretical part comes the practical part, namely a standard set of performance tests.

The Softweg Benchmark 1.03 test showed the complete superiority of the review hero over his rivals in almost all categories. The low scores in the graphics subsystem test are due to the specifics of the test (only two-dimensional graphics) and the increased screen resolution compared to other devices.

The gap between the review hero and his competitors in the Quadrant Standard test is even greater. Samsung Galaxy S 3 has displaced its main rival, HTC One X, from first place in the performance rankings.

There is no doubt that the Galaxy S 3 is a leader in the field of mobile computing, but to complete the picture, we will conduct a few more tests.

Test results in AnTuTu Benchmark 2.8

Testing the graphics subsystem in NenaMark 2.2 demonstrated a result of 58.7 frames per second.

Calculating pi in Super Pi:

conclusions

What can we say about the Samsung Galaxy S 3? Here it is - the most advanced and powerful communicator of 2012. You can compare it with its competitors endlessly; most of them can provide the owner with everything necessary for a mobile life, but if you need exactly the “best” communicator, then the choice is obvious, and this review is dedicated to it.

Samsung Galaxy S 3 is the result of the gradual evolution of Android devices and modern communicators in general. It is in no way a “discovery” or a “revelation”; its parameters and characteristics could have been predicted a year before its appearance. Should owners of previous Samsung flagships change their smartphones? The answer for those who have a Galaxy S 2 in their hands is no. The answer for those who have a Galaxy S and its numerous clones is not so clear; it all depends on the balance of financial capabilities and mobile needs.

Speaking of price: as is customary here in Russia, the starting price for “white” devices is skyrocketed. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the start of sales of the communicator in our country coincided with its appearance throughout the world. This means that the price of a smartphone is still high abroad, and also that suppliers of “gray” devices, who usually act as the main discounters on the market, are not able to seriously reduce its cost. There is only one advice in this situation - enjoy the summer, relax and wait until the price of the Galaxy S 3 reaches a reasonable value.

Until the appearance of the iPhone 5, the hero of the review will remain the most advanced communicator - perhaps even after. However, the development of modern smartphones raises one question that, it would seem, has already been answered. It sounds like this: “And then what?” An endless increase in the number of cores and display resolution - does this make sense when the size of the pixels is no longer visible to the naked eye, and there is nothing to occupy the extra cores with? Extensive development will sooner or later hit the energy consumption limit. Communicators in the usual sense seem to be reaching their limit and ideological impasse, as was the case with their Windows Mobile-based brethren. We need a new powerful push and a paradigm change - the same as the release of the first iPhone. But will it happen, and when?

It was announced on May 3, 2012. After which the smartphone passed several tests, which showed very mixed results. But still, everyone noted the good performance of the device, excellent screen, and good camera.

This Galaxy S III review will focus specifically on the technical characteristics of the device.

Note that the appearance of the new Galaxy S III smartphone does not stand out in any way.

Almost the entire front surface of the device is occupied by the display, above which there are sensors, a front camera and a logo.

On the back there is the main camera with flash and speaker.

The device body is made of special plastic. The phone's assembly is good: there are no creaks or backlashes during operation.

The dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy S III are 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, and the weight is 133 g.

Performance and Software

Samsung Galaxy S III has at its disposal a 4-core Exynos 4 Quad processor with a clock frequency of 1.4 GHz, as well as 1 GB of RAM, which makes the smartphone very productive. Some consider the new product to be the leader in performance among all currently existing smartphones.

The device also has a Mali-400MP graphics processor, which makes working with graphics very comfortable.

The Samsung Galaxy S III has 16, 32 and 64 GB of permanent memory, depending on the modification. But at the same time, there is a slot for cards, which will significantly increase the amount of stored information in the phone.

We also note that the Galaxy S III supports Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, Wi-Fi, LTE networks and 3G networks.

The smartphone has audio and video players, integration programs with, and applications for comfortable browsing on the Internet.

The Samsung Galaxy S III runs on the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Screen

It is worth paying special attention to the screen of the device - it is a 4.8-inch HD Super with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, protected by Gorilla Glass 2. Note that the smartphone uses a Pentile matrix, which caused dissatisfaction among some users, but Samsung representatives explained this by saying , that in this type of matrix there are more green subpixels than blue ones, so the screen will last much longer.

The image quality is very high. Viewing angles are wide, and image fading in the sun is negligible.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy S III is equipped with an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus. The quality of the pictures made a good impression: the picture is clear, the colors are saturated, conveying all the beauty of the captured moment.

The camera is also capable of recording Full HD video at 30 frames per second.

There is a 1.9-megapixel front camera for video calling.

Battery

Price

The cost of the Samsung Galaxy S III in Russia will be approximately 30,000 rubles, which is quite acceptable for a smartphone of this level.

Samsung Galaxy S III video review:

The debut Samsung Galaxy S was born in mid-2010. Here's a brief picture of the world of mobile phones, so that you don't consider the Galaxy S an "upstart" that was accidentally lucky enough to become a star:

• Nokia was already producing outdated Symbian smartphones,
• Apple released the long-awaited iPhone 4 with shameful network reception levels,
• LG was in the budget class (like Fly now, for example),
• Xiaomi smartphones have not yet been born,
• Meizu produced a parody of the iPhone running Windows Mobile.

Android was still of little use to anyone and looked like a short-lived experiment like the half-dead Maemo/Meego. Because most android phones were still goons - with poor autonomy, buggy firmware or memory deficiency. For example, HTC released Desire in 2010 with 576 MB (!) of internal memory, of which even less was free. Sony Ericsson sold the flagship X10 with 384 MB of RAM, ancient Android 1.6, incomplete color display and non-working multi-touch! Therefore, the Galaxy S, as the only Android flagship that had been brought to fruition, provoked a culture shock - there was simply nothing of such high quality, with all the working bells and whistles, not counting the iPhone!

Samsung Galaxy S

Yes, it was frustrating with the weak level of GPS reception (Samsung was just learning to produce its own processors), the flagship hardware had great difficulty running the proprietary TouchWiz shell, and the RAM was especially dirty. But in terms of display quality, headphone sound, rear camera and design, the Galaxy S was the best and only competitor to the iPhone. Success was predictable.

Galaxy SII - when the power reserve overcame all other innovations

Considered by many to be the best Galaxy S ever made. At one time, it was coolly received by “reviewers” ​​because it seemed like a boring piece of plastic with powerful hardware, but practice has shown that ordinary workers just needed an ordinary Android phone with excessive performance, a good camera and without showing off like a 3D camera/3D display (HTC Evo 3D) or designed for a game console (Sony Ericsson Xperia Play).

In the broadest sense of the word, the smartphone was indeed created on the principle of “the same cabbage soup, but pour more.” At the same time, cabbage soup was very expensive, and the processor, although it was better than the “low-power stove” NVIDIA Tegra 2 in the first dual-core LG Optimus 2X, was also very hot and gluttonous. And jokes with lamentations about the autonomy of Android flagships also began with the Galaxy SII - under load, the smartphones worked “from socket to socket” for only a few hours.

But SII was “stuffed” so much that even today, 6 years later, its characteristics do not look ridiculous. A very cool, powerful “mainstream” - a solid phone without experiments. Competitors were either late and weaker (HTC Sensation XE with its “under-RAM” 768 MB of RAM and 1 GB of internal memory, single-core Sony Xperia Arc with 512 MB of RAM), or were sold overseas (Motorola RAZR XT910) and did not really compete with the “worldwide” Galaxy SII.

Samsung Galaxy S2

In short, the exorbitant characteristics of the hardware with a design similar to the first generation justified themselves - the smartphone became wildly popular with initial buyers, and then very slowly dropped in price on the secondary market. Since then, the main complaint about the Galaxy S in comparison with the iPhone has been the case materials - the indecently expensive and plastic Samsung is somehow not very pleasing to the eye in comparison with the glass-metal iPhones.

In those years, Samsung did not yet consider enthusiasts to be the second class of buyers and did not put a spoke in their wheels with regional locking, changing bootloaders and KNOX, so the Galaxy SII is still popular among geeks - if desired, you can even install Android 7.0 on it.

Galaxy SIII - “soap box with whistles”

Starting with the third Galaxy S, Samsung began to “groom” its flagships with a new corporate design - instead of the “iPhone, but not an iPhone” appearance, for which Apple sued the Koreans, the flagships received, excuse me, slicked-down cases made of glossy plastic.

With such innovations, many Galaxy lovers experienced acute discomfort; the smartphone forever received the nickname “remnant”. But fans have always chosen the Galaxy because of its superior performance, and those same features have changed significantly since the SII - it's no surprise that sales skyrocketed and 50% more people bought the S3 than the S2.

Five years later, the Galaxy SIII doesn't look cool at all - it hasn't become a "living classic" like the SII, and very quickly "deflated" in terms of prestige/suitability for modern work, unlike peers like the LG Optimus G/Nexus 4 or iPhone 5. And the Galaxy SIII became the most problematic Samsung flagship in terms of reliability - many smartphones “died” due to premature wear of the internal memory, and the AMOLED display not only became more grainy (“thanks” to Pentile technology), but also and had a tendency to quickly “burn out.” That is, traces of applications or menus were immortalized on the screen.

Samsung Galaxy S3

The processor wasn't outstanding either - just a sandwich of Galaxy S2 cores with outdated graphics. For comparison, Qualcomm already offered a 28 nm process technology (APQ8064 in LG Optimus G and Xiaomi Mi2) and a 2 (!) times cooler video accelerator for games.

But, starting with the third generation Galaxy S3, the Koreans began to introduce a pack of “whistles” into their top model, which no one used (the happy exception was the auto-brightness of the display):

• Multi-window. Almost useless at 4.7 inches and does not always work adequately.
• S Voice. A stupid voice assistant that was only useful in English-speaking countries.
• Gestures and voice commands. Come on, remember without searching the Internet, what command did the Galaxy S3 use to take photos? How to take a screenshot without touching the screen?
• S-Beam. Transfer files via NFC. Have you used this feature many times or seen it used in practice?

We bought the Galaxy S3 not for its design (which was terrible in comparison with the Sony Xperia S/SL or the same iPhone 5) and not for the perfection of the camera, the primacy of which remained with the Nokia Lumia 920. The third generation of Galaxy was sold out partly by inertia, partly because, although the smartphone was not a leader in each of the individual categories, all the components in it were of high quality and flagship. They also bought it for the “adult” display diagonal and the same 4 cores, good sound in headphones and the regular release of new versions of Android, unlike LG Optimux 4S, HTC One X or Sony Xperia S, for example.

Galaxy S4 - an unattainable “spaceship”

The fourth generation of the Galaxy was closer in concept to the Galaxy SII than to its predecessor. Because Samsung pulled itself together and built the really coolest smartphone of 2013. Eight-core processor! Full HD AMOLED display with several color rendering modes (even photographers were pleased)! The screen is 0.2 inches larger in a more compact body!

Therefore, it seems rather strange that the S4 sold the same number of copies as the S2, that is, in the amount of 40 million units versus 60 million in comparison with the Galaxy S3.

The problem, probably, was that in the three years since the announcement of the first Galaxy S, competitors had also produced balanced flagships, and Samsung users were already tired of the plastic body (a little more elegant, but too similar to the S3), the fat shell and far-fetched software innovations . For example, the LG G2 gave Samsung a run for its money in terms of display brightness, performance, and video quality, while the co-platform Nexus 5 was also cheaper. The HTC One M7, with its stupid camera and weak battery, still looked much more expensive. And the “cut out” support for LTE (4G) in many countries could also confuse someone. Software innovations, such as pausing the video if you take your eyes off the screen, the slightly wiser S-Voice assistant and stupid photos with sound / photos on two cameras at the same time, as you might guess, did not take off.

Samsung Galaxy S4

And the Galaxy Note 3 pulled the blanket over itself, which from an experimental “shovel” with a stylus for artists and businessmen turned into a popular “big Samsung” when phablets were at the peak of popularity.

In any case, the Galaxy S4 has become one of the most technically advanced, popularly loved and “timeless” flagships, to which even Samsung engineers themselves were “breathing unevenly” - a situation when a non-Nexus is updated to a new version of Android a couple of years after its release, are vanishingly rare. This is a smartphone that you can use to this day and not feel deprived of anything (except, perhaps, LTE communications).

The Galaxy S5 is neither good nor bad. No

Either Samsung got tired of releasing the Galaxy S and the Koreans were preparing to replace it with other models, or it became difficult to snatch a bunch of performance and luxury records from the “bins” of the engineering department, but in the fifth generation the smartphone turned out... bland.

Firstly, Samsung “cheated” the holy of holies - the display and processor. Yes, Full HD AMOLED, as was the case in the Galaxy S4, only slightly brighter than its predecessor. That's all? Where is the top Samsung processor with which Galaxy defeated its competitors in 2011 and 2013? Why is the buyer of the “most sophisticated iPhone alternative” offered a consumer-grade Snapdragon 801, which is even available in an unnamed Chinese product (OnePlus One)? And why wasn’t the Galaxy Note 4, which has always played a secondary role, deprived of innovations? And only the lazy did not joke about the sickening varieties of “young plastic skin” in the style of the Lada ceiling and the peeling “metal” frame. The Galaxy S5 looked especially sad in comparison with the iPhone 6 of the same year.

But the smartphone became popular not because of its characteristics “on paper”, but, as in the case of the first Galaxy S, because of the quality of execution of what was built into it.

Samsung Galaxy S5

Simply because the “most likely” opponent from the point of view of bells and whistles, the LG G3, was slow, overheated and had little battery life (the processor supported the Quad HD display with great difficulty), and its camera was worse. The HTC One M8 firmly established itself in the “but we have a cool body and stereo speakers!” class, but it didn’t shine with anything else, Windows phones almost died, the Motorola Nexus 6 failed in sales because Google didn’t understand (and still doesn’t understand to this day, judging by situation with Pixel) that no one needs expensive Google phones. And in the fight against the Sony Xperia Z2, Samsung had the argument “I’m Samsung” and a similar class of water protection. Oh yes, another innovation of the model was the fingerprint scanner - disgusting in terms of the quality of work, but do you understand how indifferent ordinary workers were to such nuances?

In short, Samsung has produced a high-quality, super-reliable, but very boring flagship. And it was impossible to continue like this, because sales of the smartphone “didn’t take off,” and the company’s management realized that with this approach, not today or tomorrow, even the powerful “Chinese” would trample the great Galaxy S.

Galaxy S6/S6 edge - Samsung's revolutionary flagship with mediocre sales and "childhood diseases"

No top smartphone of 2015 was perfect, but the Galaxy S6 came the closest to that bar. Absolutely new, luxurious design made of glass and metal (the first non-ugly Samsung flagship since the Galaxy S2!), a bright and perfectly calibrated Quad HD display with a diagonal of 5.1 inches, the most productive and problem-free processor in Android phones in 2015 (thanks to the grandiose fiasco Qualcomm Snapdragon 810), super-fast internal memory for random operations, very high-quality rear camera, thin body. And the Galaxy S6 edge also has a futuristic design, albeit at the expense of ease of use.

In other words, in 2015, the most beautiful, fastest and most technically advanced Samsung flagship was born in two varieties - flat and curved. Even after two years, only two shortcomings can be noted in it: poor (by flagship standards) battery life and the lack of a slot for memory cards.

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge

True, defective copies of the S6 were more common than those of the previous generation model. Pink displays, failure of the rear camera to focus, purple spots in pictures taken with the front camera - users of Samsung flagships have not encountered so many problems since the SIII.

Samsung Galaxy S6

The sixth generation Galaxy can, without any exaggeration, be called the best smartphones of 2015, so it’s a shame that they couldn’t repeat the success of the S5. They failed so much that the head of Samsung’s mobile division was asked to do so. The problem was that Samsung management was piling the S6 and S6 edge onto the shelves in equal quantities, and the queues were lining up mainly for the curved version. And the price of the smartphone was astronomically high.

2 years ago 0

1) fits comfortably in the hand 2) flies in the first months 3) built-in 16g is enough

2 years ago 0

Excellent Smart, cool screen, fast processor, everything suits you, and most importantly, a large battery. Suitable for geeks since the hardware is top-of-the-line and it’s easy to root. The case is monolithic, nothing crunches or creaks, the screen is protected by gorila glas 2.

2 years ago 0

Prologue: - If you mix ten kilograms of jam and a kilogram of feces, you will get eleven kilograms of feces... - We are considering this phone only with official software and firmware. And now more specifically. The advantages of this phone are rather a consequence of the fact that it was a Samsung flagship. Nevertheless: - the camera is excellent, the video it shoots is also excellent. - GPSGLONASS picks up satellites very quickly. - In the “out of the box” version it worked for almost three days without recharging. It even charged from a car cigarette lighter with working navigation! My happiness knew no bounds then!..)) - The display is bright, it’s very comfortable to watch movies on the road.

2 years ago 0

Excellent optimization of Android, no smartphone has worked for me for so long on a single charge! Display, beautiful rich colors, glass is not easily soiled, excellent oleophobic coating. Removable battery, it is possible to quickly replace it in case of discharge, if it is not possible to connect to an outlet. Expandable memory, I don’t understand why many manufacturers refuse a slot for a micro SD card, because using cloud services with low-quality Russian 3G is practically impossible, although 50 GB in the Dropbox cloud comes with a smartphone as a gift for 2 years, this is a plus. It holds the network perfectly, I have a second smartphone, Sony Expiria V, but it didn’t pick up a signal where Samsung receives calls! Excellent sound in headphones, got rid of players forever, Wolfson audio chip produces excellent sound! Loud conversation sound

2 years ago 0

Everything is great!

2 years ago 0

Very good phone! Camera, I like everything

2 years ago 0

Mechanical home button, by pressing which you can answer an incoming call (configurable in the settings), which is very convenient.

2 years ago 0

Excellent camera, screen with good color reproduction, good hardware

2 years ago 0

Screen, dimensions (for gaming and the Internet - class), speed of operation in general and with applications, camera, front camera 2MP. different features, a bunch of settings that you can customize for yourself.

2 years ago 0

High-quality assembly, appearance 5. Large and clear screen (I use auto brightness mode, very satisfied). When you look at the screen it does not turn off. I didn't notice any special brakes. As for charging, it lasts for a day, several calls (by the way, calls are not as bad as when the screen is on), two hours of play when on the subway, and a bunch of synchronizations in different social networks. When I’m in the car I don’t worry about charging at all, I’m always charging. I use a navigator, GPS turns on instantly. Cool feature with an NFC sensor (so far I’ve only played with a metro card))) The camera is fine (I don’t consider the phone as a replacement for a camera) Convenient direct call function (for example, when viewing a contact, reading an SMS - if you put the phone to your ear, a phone call is made to him) Regarding S Voice, it’s a pity that it doesn’t officially work on

2 years ago +1

The whole impression of the phone was spoiled by the fact that it dies very quickly and eats your nerves! It freezes, programs crash, does not hold a charge, turns off unexpectedly, etc. Until you manage to make an emergency call somewhere, for example, an ambulance, you will die a hundred times over. Reflashing and cleaning do not help! The phone is not even two years old, but it’s time for it to be scrapped.

2 years ago 0

Gloss on the back cover
Built-in Launcher

2 years ago 0

Operation speed
The screen gets scratched if used fairly carefully. Compared to the same Nokia 5800, scratches are more severe.

2 years ago 0

1. There are quite a lot of defective screens. I came across defective ones with this model 3 times.
2. an explanation of why I didn’t like the assembly: there are jagged edges near the socket and charging, the palm seems to be scratching, not entirely bad, and maybe in my version it’s like that, but still not very pleasant. Vietnamese assembly
3. buggy - I had to take out the battery often
4. I didn’t like the touch-vis right away, it’s buggy, it’s dull, I loaded another launcher, which I advise you too, the touch also eats up the battery well)
5. there are 6-7 unnecessary applications, and they are very crazy, okay, at least they don’t eat up memory
6. It gets scratched quickly; you won’t have time to leave the store and by the evening the back will be scratched (for me this is the main disadvantage... but I bought it anyway)

2 years ago 0

The battery is weak. After 10 openings, the back cover of the case does not fit as tightly as at the beginning.

2 years ago 0

1) weak battery
2) after half a year the battery died and had to be replaced
3) it gets buggy over time, but after a year it lives its own life

2 years ago 0

A little big (but I’m fine with a big palm)
It gets warm in heavy applications.
Protect the charging socket from dirt.

2 years ago 0

No matter what they say, the plastic looks very cheap... And not only in appearance: the pleasant coolness of HTC metal is not the warm plastic of Samsung...
- After my good old HTC Desire HD, the official widgets are completely miserable, and there are very few of them at all. Additionally, they sometimes tend to freeze, such as the alarm clock widget.
- Inconvenient keyboard. It's been a year now and I can't get used to it. HTC was better.
- Lack of built-in offline navigation based on Locations type for HTC and car dashboard.
- Somewhere after the third official firmware update, it began to frantically consume the battery, almost within a day! At the same time, the main consumers of energy were the Android Platform and the Android OS. Now the situation is better, but for as long as in the out-of-the-box version, the phone no longer works...
- After above

2 years ago 0

The back cover gets scratched quickly, it’s good that buying it is not a problem and it costs about $10

2 years ago 0

Died six months later! It just won't turn on! like 2/3 of all Galaxy 3 boards burned out! repair price 12000r!

smartphone, Android 4.0, monoblock body, 4.8" screen, 1280x720, micro-SIM card, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS, Wi-Fi / 3G / NFC, dimensions 70.6 x 137 x 8.6 mm, weight 133 g

Top advantages of Samsung i9300 Galaxy S III

Lightweight, with ergonomic rounded shapes, the Samsung i9300 Galaxy S III has a 4-core Samsung Exynos 4412 processor with a clock frequency of 1400 MHz, a video accelerator - Mali 400 MP. The smartphone operates on the Android 4.0.4 operating system, complemented by the proprietary TouchWiz shell. Additional advantages are 1.5 GB RAM, built-in memory up to 64 GB, and a removable Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 2100 mAh. The device supports wireless charging and is equipped with a barometer, RGB sensor, accelerometer, magnetometer, and spatial position sensor.

Model weight and size, appearance

The weight of the smartphone is 133 grams. Dimensions: height – 136.6 mm, width – 70.6, thickness – 8.6 mm. The streamlined body is made of glossy plastic and is available on the market in several colors: gray, pink, garnet red, black, brown, white marble, sea pebbles.

Operating time without recharging

The battery charges in 3 hours and works: talk time - up to 22 hours on a 2G network and up to 11 hours on 3G, standby time - up to 900 hours on a 2G network and up to 750 hours on 3G. The ability to remove the battery makes it easy to replace it with a new one or a spare one if necessary.

Samsung i9300 Galaxy S III screen and cameras

The 4.8-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels is protected from shocks and scratches by tempered glass. It has ambient light and proximity sensors, supports auto-rotate function and Smart Stay technology (allows you to keep the device display on when the user is looking at it). The smartphone has two built-in cameras: an 8-megapixel main one for taking photos and videos, and a 1.9-megapixel front camera for video calling and selfies.