Samsung GALAXY S3 Review & Price [Malaysia]
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| Samsung GALAXY SIII Full Review |
The first time I saw Samsung GALAXY S3 and i feel S3 got the elegant curve edge with silver metallic feel cover at the edge, shining Samsung Logo at the front together with the ear speaker and front camera. S3 is available in two colors - Marble White and Pebble Blue. I personally prefer Pebble Blue because it won't get dirty easily. But oh well, I think I was destined to have a Marble White GALAXY S3 (Thanks to Samsung Global Blogger). When I carry my S3 on hand I can feel the light weight of the phone, maybe it is because of the plastic casing that make S3 weight at only 133grams. As for the speaker, I personally hope that it can build at the side instead of the back as when I place my phone on carpet/clothes I won't able to hear the loud music as I wanted. Other than that, Galaxy S3 looks good with its inspired by nature design.
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| Live Wallpaper with Malaysia news on S3 |
- Super AMOLED Plus Touchscreen
- Android OS v4.0 Ice-Cream Sandwich
- Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9
- 8MP Camera w/ 1080p recording capabilities
- WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth
4.8 HD Super AMOLED Screen: One of the big selling point for this smartphone, together with the screen everything displayed on the screen just simply look vibrant and awesome.
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| Surfing Facebook while watching my video through Pop-Up Play |
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| Macro mode of S3 8MP camera |
Smart stay: A new feature on GALAXY S3 that whenever your eyes are on the screen the screen will stay on. However, this function might not work well when you are using your S3 in a dark environment.
Social tag: It keeps track of your loved ones. A glance at your friends’ photos will show you their current SNS status. You can tag your friends on the photos taken using your S3 and you can choose to email them the photo with just a click.
Direct call: It is a good feature where you were typing a long message to your friend but then decided to just call him. All you need to do is to move the phone near to your ears. Your S3 will immediately make a call to your friend.
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| S Voice on Samsung GALAXY SIII |
Smart alert: It knows when you've been away from your phone. A vibrating nudge lets you know that you have missed calls or messages.
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| Samsung GALAXY SIII S Beam - Touch to beam and share your files easily |
Buddy photo share: It shares with everyone instantly. As the phone recognizes your friends' faces, it can share photos with them instantly. A feature to share photos with your friends with a few clicks. So far I haven't really use it. Sharing photos on Facebook is a lot easier with more interaction too.
AllShare Cast and AllShare Play: It lets you share with everyone. Access documents and multimedia even when you're away from your computer
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| Samsung GALAXY SIII 2100 mAh battery just above the MicroSD and microSIM slot |
Ever since I start using a smartphone, the battery life is always one of my concern. I've always using the data plan on my phone for Push Email, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and now my new favourite - Instagram. All these applications cause heavy usage of the wireless data AND also battery life! Therefore your battery will finish in just a few hours if you keep your data plan, WiFi, Bluetooth always on. There are a few tips to save battery life, disable unnecessary synchronization (only press Refresh button when you want new updates), enable WiFi/Bluetooth only when you need it. Enable the 'Power Saving' Features and make sure your screen is not over bright. Close unnecessary background application too, this will definitely make your S3 battery last longer. If you still think it is not enough, get a portable charger along with you =)
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| In the graphics processing test, the results show the Galaxy S3 blowing everything else out of the water Referred from ElectricPig |
Processor Speed and GUI
The Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 of S3 has made the using experience smooth and matching much with the Super AMOLED Screen. Just make sure you don't install too much applications that run at background and consume too much RAM of your phone that might cause the lag. As for the GUI, I like the shortcut where you can access to certain controls (On/Off Wifi, Data Plan) and Setting. No more numerous pages flip to access your setting page. One thing I like to see in the future GALAXY S4 is they have the less sensitive back button. Because when I watch the video and twist around I always accidentally pressed the back button and need to stream the video again. Maybe there should be a lock button on all video apps so that the screen won't affect my viewing experience afterwards. (currently only available on default video player)
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| Play YouTube with your Samsung GALAXY S3 is much easier today JasonChen - one of my favourite YouTube Artist |
Video viewing is always great on the big 4.8" Super AMOLED Screen, everything looks vibrant especially when you are viewing HD video. There is a screen lock button only for the default Video Player. All you need is to press the lock button at the side to lock the screen. As for the Audio, consider moderate quality from the single speaker at the back of the phone. I personally think it is a good design to have Camera at the center, LED Flash and speaker align together at the side. This makes an equal design looks at the back of the phone =) However, I do hope there are speakers installed at the side (this might increase phone thickenss) instead of at the back as I always use my hand to cover the back of the phone so the audio will redirect to my ears.
PS: If you are free do check out Hyuna Gangnam Style video on Youtube in HD!
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| My blog TianChad.com is loading well on Samsung GALAXY S3 |
Make sure you install the latest version of Adobe Flash Player so that your S3 can display website accurately. So far my browsing experience is almost as smooth as surfing the web on PC. Only certain website with Flash Pop Up will face display error. Usually the Internet browser can only open up to 8 different tab but it is good enough to keep your phone least occupied by lagging browser. Unlike me, always open 20++ tabs on Google Chrome/Firefox that slow down the PC haha.
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| Zero-lag camera on Samsung GALAXY S3 Remember you can always customize your camera shortcut =) |
One of the best feature that I like about S3 is the zero lag camera. It can snap a few photos in just second and the picture quality is great even at low light. (Make sure you enable the 'Auto contrast' in your camera to have better low light photos). As for the video recording features, it can record HD quality video and I am gonna show you some video that I recorded using my S3. The best thing is you can capture photos while recording video! Isn't that great? Zero lag somemore!
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| You can now snap photos and recording at the same time with your S3 |
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| HD Video recording has been made easier with Samsung GALAXY S3 Spotted a kitten and immediately I start recording! |
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| Went to Christina Perri concert in Malaysia and this is a photo snapepd using my S3 I was watching Christina singing far away from upstair! Glad how the picture turn out |
Christina Perri Live In Malaysia with Meme Couple A Thousand Years
Recorded using my Samsung GALAXY S3
The audio recorded using GALAXY S3 is quite clear and I am satisfied with the quality of the video recording through this smartphone. The only thing is I hope future GALAXY S4 can let us have better control on the exposure (for video recording) so that the video will not over expose when Christina standing among the dark background.
During my trip to Pulau Kapas, I've also try to record underwater video using my Samsung GALAXY S3. Here's how my video turn out, apparently it still can record my voice with the waterproof cover on it. Check out my video below!
Pulau Kapas Underwater | Recorded using Samsung GALAXY S3
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| Blood and Glory - A game with nice 3D Graphic |
Gaming Experience
To be honest I don't play much game using my S3 as all the social networking tools I am using already took most of my time. Thanks to the Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9, you can basically play any 3D game without lag.
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| SvZ (Samurai vs Zombies Defense) - An easy to play and addictive strategic game |
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| Kies air - A mobile applications enable you to share files and browser-based management |
Basically you can transfer all files through WiFi by using Kies Air application. Just make sure you've installed the latest Java Script on your PC for transferring multiple files. I personally still think that transferring through USB is faster as the transfer speed through Kies Air consider a bit slow. Maybe it involve file conversion that took longer time? However, it does save you when you forgot where you placed your cables/card reader. I am sure in future wireless file transfer will be the features of all gadget soon.
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| WiFi file transfer between my S3 and Samsung NX20 |
Basically there are three official Samsung GALAXY S3 accessories: Desktop Dock, Flip Cover and Allshare Cast Dongle. I've seen the Desktop Dock which is to hold your S3 and act like a clock while charging at the same time. Nicely designed Desktop Dock but doesn't seems necessary for me;
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| Autographed by Jamie Oliver on my Limited Edition London 2012 Olympic Games Flip Cover |
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| Samsung GALAXY S3 with London 2012 Olympics Limited Edition Flip Cover The case is harder compared to the given ori case |
Conclusion
Ever since I got Samsung GALAXY S3 as my new gadget, I already like how it makes my life easier. I use it for replaying all important emails on time, do all my social sharing especially Instagram snapping photos using the 8MP camera. I like how easy and fast to locate and travel to certain place using Google Map. Just that I still wondering how to make the screen stay on so I don't need to press the screen to unlock and show the map again. The Super AMOLED Screen is one of the selling point for S3 as everything seems so colourful and vibrant at the same time. Since I always have my data plan switched on, the battery is dying fast and I will need to bring a portable charger with me. To safe battery level, read my tips above. I am looking forward for better Samsung GALAXY S3 with better battery capacity. Talking about S Voice, I will only really use it when it perform faster than we human do. Maybe Google Voice can have collaboration together in Android 4.1 JellyBean version. Other than that, feel free to bump your S3 with your friend for easy file sharing. It is fun doing that. I think Samsung GALAXY S3 is suitable for all human especially if you are always on the internet doing all the social sharing. It is also a good gadget to entertain you with video and music, you can have more storage space for your video and music with the extra Micro SD slot.
I've been looking for Clock and Calendar in S3. Didn't know 'Calendar' appear as 'S Planner' and the 'Clock Alarm' is not synchronized in the clock on the mainpage.
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| Follow me on Instagram - @TianChad |
Oh well, I hope in future Samsung GALAXY S4 will have better OS, better processor and more RAM for better performance, better S Voice (of course, now it seems useless to me) higher battery capacity (at least 3000mAh), better camera that shoot nice low light photos, better design with less plastic feel cover but maintain it's light weight, best if can have waterproof and shock proof Galaxy S4 so we don't need to purchase expensive casing to go underwater snapping good quality photos AND videos. Oh ya, a wireless charging device would be great to achieve wireless-connection-gadget-age. Oh ya I hope S4 has better NFC that allow you to pay your bill by touching the phone on a terminal too.
That's all from my review about Samsung GALAXY SIII. Currently Samsung GALAXY S3 is retailed at RM 2,199, you can get it at the nearest Samsung Retail Stores. You can also get your Samsung GALAXY SIII at cheaper price as a bundle with telco package. The only turn off is the long contract term (24 months).
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