This is a not so good review of the Samsung Galaxy S III cellphone. I bought one Saturday and I’m probably going to return it later today for a refund and reactivate my Motorola Droid X. Maybe some of you can talk me out of it. The interesting thing is that the Samsung Galaxy S3 gets glowing reviews everywhere and I will say up front, ALL THE STUFF IN THE GLOWING REVIEWS ARE TRUE.
So – you are asking – if this is such a great phone, why am I thinking about returning it?
It has to do with what I use my phone for and what I need it to do. I have been generally happy with my droid X but it’s not a 4G phone so I can’t talk and be on the Internet at the same time. The GPS is somewhat flaky and at times GPS stops working for some unknown reason. And a faster processor with more memory would be nice. So I’m interested in upgrading. But the upgrade has to do all the stuff my DroidX does and more.
The Galaxy S3 had all the specs I was looking for and then some. Assisted GPS works far better than the DroidX, the screen was bigger, faster processor, more memory, talk and surf at the same time, front facing camera, Android 4.0x ice cream sandwich. I thought – this is the phone for me. I very much wanted for this phone to be something I liked and was highly motivated to make it work.
But – after buying it I came to realize it had flaws that I just can’t live with and am about to wipe it to factory setting and send it back. Here’s why:
The DroidX has real buttons at the bottom for Back and Menu. The Galaxy S3 has touch buttons that are far too sensitive. And the real buttons are far too easy to push. So you can pick up the phone or hand it to anyone without accidentally pushing things that you don’t intend to push.
The phone is also thin and slippery and hard to pick up and when you do pick it up you find yourself pushing the side buttons accidentally. I did buy a cheap plastic case protector to put it in and that did help a little and maybe if I got a better one that would help solve that problem.
The next big item is that I use my phone in the car a lot. I live in the San Francisco Bay area and GPS navigation is a must and Samsung has no car dock for this phone. Tried some generic docs but just not the same. With my DroidX it just snaps in and I have power and it brings up the vehicle menu and it just works. After fooling around with a number of options I eventually realized that I was never going to get the car functionality from the Galaxy S3 that I needed.
Unlike Microsoft Windows which is about the same no matter what brand you get the Android phones are very different from brand to brand and Motorola gets the details right on usability. It generally just works. Samsung doesn’t pay that much attention to detail. I think the difference is that perhaps Motorola actually tests with real users and perhaps Samsung doesn’t or they would realize their problems.
It’s just a lot of little things. When I pair the Bluetooth with my 2012 Honda CRV the music player starts automatically. When I push the button on the dash to stop the music it doesn’t work. So I have to dig through the menus to stop the music when I get into the car. The DroidX auto launches the car app as soon as I mount it. The S3 doesn’t. So I have to unlock the screen and start a car app manually.The DroidX also would display the song title on the Honda screen, the S# doesn’t. I though the music player would be more compatible, not less.
Rotation is also annoying on the S3. This is a software issue but the damn thing is always flipping between portrait and landscape modes in an annoying way. Just enough to drive me nuts and makes me hate this phone. Generally I want it in portrait mode unless I turn it all the way on its side. Actually the DroidX flips too often for me as well but the Galaxy S3 is worse.
All the ring tones that come with the unit suck.
The S-Voice feature sucks as well. They are trying to clone Siri and Siri is just a gimmick. What I’d like to see is Google voice search get a few more useful commands and hold off on the nonsense until they get the AI really good.
The larger screen is nice but actually because it is larger it doesn’t fit in my hand as well. I’m not seeing as much benefit as I had hoped and Android is written for a smaller screen. So I’m beginning to think that 4.3 inches is actually the sweet spot for screen sizes.
The battery is larger than most 4G phones but you really need 2500 mah minimum for a 4G phone and battery like on the DroidX still seems better. Because of the larger screen this phone should have 3300 like the Razr Maxx. If they did it would make the phone a little thicker and easier to pick up.
The phone dialer is lame compared to the DroidX which shown more options. Much easier to redial.
Overall, this phone’s software needs a lot of work. There are just a lot of little things that should work that either don’t or don’t work right as compared to my DroidX. I think Samsung just doesn’t get it when it comes to doing it right.
So I’m about to take it back unless someone can talk me out of it. Feel free to comment. I’m thinking I’m going to hold out until someone comes out with a better phone than a DroidX.
With those complaints there is absolutely no reason you should be keeping the phone. You found faults where most users wouldn’t, that should already be an indicator.
You have more reason to return it then keep it. maybe your next phone shouil also be manufactured by Motorola as well, as that should keep the options you use (hopefully) the same! I also have a Droid X and am looking to upgrade. I hate the fact that there are NO car docks made to work with an aftermarket case! I use a Seidio. For all the reasons you posted, the S3 is not for me.
If you don’t like it, return it and stop sniveling.
Ahh the dark underbelly of Android fragmentation.
The author is absoutely right on all aspects. I have similar experiences and am also thinking about returning the S3 and sticking it out with my old iphone since it does everything correctly minus the slow 3g and small screen.
Your home is valueble for me. Thanks!�
Bro you need to take an English class. This article is all over the place and your grammer is so horrible it makes the article hard to read.
The author has the right to complain since he spent money to buy it. It’s you who has not right to complain when you just decide to read someone’s blog and doesn’t like what it says.
He has valid points. Although I might still get the phone (waiting for what Apple does with iPhone 5), the side buttons are extremely easy to press and and the lower touch sensitive buttons are way too sensitive. I tried it out on a few separate occasions because my friend got one, and I keep accidentally adjusting the volume and trying to dial.
“When I pair the Bluetooth with my 2012 Honda CRV the music player starts automatically. When I push the button on the dash to stop the music it doesn’t work. So I have to dig through the menus to stop the music when I get into the car. The DroidX auto launches the car app as soon as I mount it. The S3 doesn’t. So I have to unlock the screen and start a car app manually.The DroidX also would display the song title on the Honda screen, the S# doesn’t. I though the music player would be more compatible, not less.”
The Samsung Galaxy S3 uses Bluetooth version 4.0. The Motorola DroidX uses Bluetooth version 2.1 which is more compatible among devices since that version was released years before version 4.0.
There were a lot of Bluetooth pairing problems between the iPhone 4S – which also has Bluetooth v. 4.0 – and cars when the iPhone 4S was released last year.
I had a droidx and wanted to upgrade for the same reasons as you. I’ve been pleased with the x2 and now the razr.
Motorola really has the interface dialed in. I think I’m locked into Motorola just for their interfaces. Every time I play with a Samsung or HTC I feel like I’m using a phone from 5 years ago.
Mark, do you ever proof read anything that you write? Ever?
What are you talking about here?
“The DroidX has real buttons at the bottom for Back and Menu. The Galaxy S3 has touch buttons that are far too sensitive. And the real buttons are far too easy to push. So you can pick up the phone or hand it to anyone without accidentally pushing things that you don’t intend to push.”
He’s talking about the volume and power buttons on the side. It’s very tricky to handle the phone without accidentally pressing these buttons.
Mark, I agree with every thing you said, however after using my Galaxy S3 for a while I realize that most of my complaints have a solution. The more I get to know the phone the more options I find. I’m not always sure which changes in the os are touchwiz and which are moving to ICS.
ROFL, you ask this frustrated individual to proof read his posts. I think you might want to take your own advice. His name is “Marc”.
Makes sense to me. But I don’t proof read anything.
hehe, colles kommentar.
I understand perfectly well from the writer, English is my fourth language. On the other hand, I don’t understand your response until other posts commented.
Maybe just instead buy another car with built-in Sat Nav so all your problems are solved at once? 🙂
Bluetooth in my 2012 Honda CRV worked great with old Samsung dumb phone. With the Galaxy S3, it disconnects every two minutes and then reconnects in about 10 seconds. Drives me crazy. Anybody else having this problem? What to do?
I have the same problem did you figure out how to keep it connected.
I also have the same problem. Please let me know if you find any solution. I also have another issue that when I connect my S3 through the car speakers it makes a pricking noice. very irritating. Working with T-mobile on this
someone should tell you guys it’s hondas sync issues, you can upgrade it via transfering an update from usb to your car…
bunch of morons on this thread
i love this new design and it’s look better then iphone 4s
I returned my Galaxy S3 after a week because the screen was too dim (even after removing the auto brightness feature) and because it required me to press three buttons just to make one phone call. I have an itouch and the screen is way more crisp so I’m going to buy an iphone 5 this Fall.
are you retarded? you can clip the phone option at the bottom… nvm don’t answer that question it’s very clear.
What kind of stupid name is skwoagc? Enjoy your idroid. I am enjoying my iphone 5, ten times better than your dark screened I-droid. We all know who stole what.
Go buy a box of tissues. I’ve had all iPhones and have decided to try something new because I’m not a “fanboy”. Well after 2 weeks I’ve realized the s3 is good and powerful but it doesn’t work that well. Android feels clunky compared to IOS and it doesn’t do the things I want to do as well as the iPhone. U have to download a lot of apps just to get decent functionality out of this phone. U can spend days tweaking and downloading different apps to replacement stock ones. which u have to do since stock text, keyboard, email, browser, music player and everything else aren’t any good. Then after tweaking it for days I find out I still dont like the way it works. The battery is terrible. The time it took to read the comments and type this I lost 10% battery and I’ve done all I can to conserve battery. Anyway I could fill up a page with stuff I don’t like about this phone, and stuff the iPhone does better for me. But what’s the point? Gonna factory reset this weekend and bring it back for an iPhone 5. Guess since I like how iPhone works better I’m a fanboy. I gave the s3 a try and it didn’t agree with me. Peace out
I unfortunately agree. I came to this review after owning the s3 for 2 months. I searched for “s3 buttons too sensitive”. It’s absolutely driving me nuts, and I’m talking about all buttons physical and non physical. I was hoping for a solution to fix this issue. The absolute worst is when you pick up the phone from the car console to view directions you inputted and you hit the back button. You’ re screwed start over.
your a fanboy go back to your “shiny” objects lol
[Deleted for violation of blog policies – ed.]
I am by no means an Apple fan. I hate the fact that having no freedom to drag and drop items (pics, music, etc) I wanted to be able to move pictures around to other folders in the phone and not have them all ganged up in camera roll or photo stream. sync it to a folder and now i have a few folders in my phone with duplicates. Move pic to a new folder within the phone and delete the old and both delete. My wife takes alot of pics and she always wants me to fix it so she can have new pics in the camera roll and saved ones in different so if she shows pics to someone they dont see all ones she dont want to show. This is the reason I wanted to try something new. I have read for few months on Android OS vs IOS and decided i wanted one. Reading the “whats the Best Android phone today” pointed to S3 so when Iphone 5 came out i went in and checked both out. Wasn’t impressed with Iphone 5 not really improving from old ones so Went with the S3 it looks awesome. I knew that just playing with it store would not give u they true test so I took it home knowing will cost me 35$ for 30 day trial. I got it on Saturday, by Sunday thoughts of returning was hard to ignore. It’s Monday now and I have spent 48hrs shutting off all bloatware that comes pre installed in the phone that has no use to me in order to save that battery so it can last 1 day with out have to find a jack some place to recharge it. Reminds me of the Electrical charging stations u see all over now for the cars so they can make it home, lol. Battery issue aside (looked for the larger 4500mA to fix that prob), Phone calls was a prob now. took me awhile to figure out how to answer a call not hearing other ones because the speaker on the back when laid down muffles the sound. When i answered the phone the phone is slippery and slides down till my fingers touch a button or i accidently did it but i loose the call. I figure ok a Otterbox might help with this issue. I am use to hands free also talking on the phone with my earplugs with mic, but they don’t work on this phone either ok I will have to get a bluetooth earpiece. So when i think about it I Had to spend 48hrs turning off things adjusting things buying things just to make this beautiful phone work for me. Love the screen and the way this thing records and takes pics plays movies (which u can really eat up battery watching 1 movie) but too much work just to use this thing. I know alot of flamers will bash me but I am gonna return it and pay restock fee and get the I5, it may not be the prettiest lady at the dance but she is one I know. Don’t listen to the haters go with what makes u happy .. shouldn’t have to work so hard to accept something you paid alot for. Should be happy right from start with your purchase. Maybe Apple will one day fix the picture area of their phone.
I went from Iphone 3 to Galaxy SIII. 12 days and returned the S3 and ordered iphone 5.
Love the screen size of SIII. But the features and flow was not as good as Iphone.
cause ur a moron clearly. the flow of the android vs ios is uncomparable, i can do ten times what you can. you just are to dumb to use it properly
good day
Who comes online asking if they should turn in their phone or not? Stop whining get offline and figure it out yourself. Oh and this phone just got delivered to me 🙂
…. I never had a problem with my S3… been using it since it arrived in the market.
Bluetooth never was an issue (the devices I paired my S3 with connected for several hours without issues).
Maybe the bluetooth in the device you’re trying to pair your S3 with has an issue? Too old, or maybe some option in your S3 is disabled?
But seriously, I love my S3. This, coming from someone who also has IPhone, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia.
You guys have us version of s3 and it is much better than international version. As an owner of int. Version I have all the problems that you described plus low ram issue, crashing of apps, redrawing of home screen and annoying lagging almost all the time. In my opinion company that sells the same brand named device with different hardware specs that affect a lot are not trustable! When you buy iphone you get iphone no matter where you bought it, samsung it is not the same 🙁
I just bought Samsung Galaxy Note II. After few months I might get used to not pressing the buttons accidentally. But as of now. its very annoying. Mostly while typing, browsing, using the S Pen suddenly the working screen vanish,because the super sensitive back button is touched by mistake. Other buttons also get pressed frequently when not required. I tried to use S3 and the problem also exists in S3. The phone is “Designed for Human”. May be there is something is wrong in me.
Have to agree with the few people that say the S3 is good but not as good as an iPhone. I wanted to really like this phone and while it has a lot of positives the nagging multiple quirks just really tick you off after a while. You basically have to learn to hold a phone a different way. And don’t put the phone in your pocket without putting it to sleep first as just by walking with the phone in your pocket you’ll be pushing every button and opening apps.
Marc i hope your not in the tech blogging business as you sounds very uninformed and idiotic. Your arguments are very pointless and most of them can be solved by looking outside the box. Your box isn’t that hard to begin with. let me refute your arguments in paragraph style like you have done sooooo well.
buttons on the bottom being to sensitive, they’re touch buttons would you rather they be pushed hard, plus touch buttons mean no wear and tear longer lasting no hard in breaking, they aren’t that sensitive.
phone is to thin and slippery, i’m sorry did you dip it in lube. The case thing is definatly your solution btw, go with an otter.
Your gps is totally right i suggest getting an iphone 5 and using its gps XD while your at it just drive off a cliff cause apple maps is THAT good. for whatever reason my phone syncs and uses gps just fine so clearly its an issue with your POS Honda :).
Rotation issue? LMAO you can lock the screen in the pull down menu at the top…also are you juggling your phone? Cause i have yet to find an issue between it flipping, lastly iphone does this as well, but you have to go through a settings screen to lock it…
ring tones suck…are you seriously trying to compare ringtones, BUDDY buy a ring tone you got the top phone out their buy the ringtone you want, and if you think iphone ringtones are better again your mistaken. btw you can customize your ringtones on the S3
S voice is a gimmick? i can tell it to change my FB status, change my event dates, text my gf, how does it suck? your arguments are soooo dumb!
i love the screen size! it makes a difference especially when your showing it off with a video people always comment on how a bigger screen is helpful!
“The battery is larger than most 4G phones but you really need 2500 mah minimum for a 4G phone and battery like on the DroidX still seems better. Because of the larger screen this phone should have 3300 like the Razr Maxx. If they did it would make the phone a little thicker and easier to pick up.” First off you clearly either don’t know what your saying and clearly a knock off reviewer or your just a retard trying to make a wanna be tech argument. You JUST complained about size, now you want it thicker.. buddy your just making my day!
your last paragraphs are dumb and aren’t even paragraphs. you should really not be posting blogs cause you look retarded. Sorry to be rude but this kinda stuff is bad because your neglecting facts and misleading people who don’t have a mind of their own.
Get a galaxy S3 and when you do, learn it and play with it, it will blow your mind.
Right and i came on here for the battery issue, no it doesn’t run out quick, no it doesn’t just shut off or anything of the sort, i actually was just researching how often i should be charging it, cause i always have it connected since i’m ALWAYS ON IT!
I agreed with everything you wrote until you said it can ‘text my gf’….there is absolutely no way YOU have a girlfriend! Now I can’t believe anything else in your post. Unless “gf” stands for “GrandFather”…then, yes, I agree with your post.
We all have warranties. Use them if there is an issue. I used mine because I bricked it, but they were kind enough to fix it. A legitimate reason like blue tooth or other hardware issues, would be a no charge fix by Samsung. Heck, maybe they’ll just a give you a new phone. Use your warranties for that.
Ok. Now to the guy that returned his phone after 12 days because the flow and features weren’t as good as the iphone. I disagree with that. I can go from my last home page to my first wit a swipe. My wife’s iphone does not do this. That’s one simple example of flow for the gs3. There’s lots. Now, everything I want to know now is my pages in the form of widgets that update when I want. That’s a basic example of features that that brings my gs3 to the top over the iphone.
Please don’t think I dislike the iphone. I’ve had a 3g, 3gs and my wife has a 5. It’s a brilliant phone that’s easy to use, and with a well rounded operating system. That’s where it seems to end. I want to do whatever with my phone. Change it how I want it. Android and gs3 let me do that. I choose my gs3 because it let’s me do what I want to do, when I want to do it.
Gs3 for me.
Sorry, I don’t punctuate well.
There’s a simple solution to the back key sensitivity issue; simply buy an otterbox case 😀 I had the same problem as the other commenters but I found that buying an otterbox fixed everything I wanted fixed… Ics is just so much more customizable and detailed than ios.. (I’ve had two iphones in the past: iphone 4 and 4s.) btw those apple fan boys that said that Samsung didn’t go into enough detail.. Jellybean has incredibly simple and minimal fixes that one would never have thought as necessary.. Anyways.. S3 and iphone 5 are just different phones. Leave it at that. Some people prefer one over the other.. I don’t understand why people go online only to boast about a phone which will become outdated in a matter of days or weeks :/ and truthfully I would definitely prefer the iphone if it had a larger screen. BUY AN OTTERBOX GUYS 😀
I get it. The guy with the literary diarrhea reciews of the galaxy is really just doing a satire of the android phones. He’s one of us and is trying to how us how much he values the iPhones simplicity. I’m with you man.
Like really dude.. Scroll up and read those ridiculously long comments arguing with someone else OVER A PHONE..guys go live your lives instead of spending all your time writing out long-ass comments and messages on random websites :/ theyre JUST PHONES..
I totally agree with your comments on the s3. I am not much of an apple lover so i tried the s3 for a change. I just need tobxhange this phone and i think i am foing back to blaxkberry. I just hate the phone software in this phone, the dial pad, the bottoms sensitiviy level, i had to block the turn around function as it is always moving around. The phone is very slow…i have to wait everytime i go to contacts or try to dial a phone number. The word is slow. This phone was made for kids that want to play or watch a movie….but it isbuseless for work. Dial a phone number you get 10 questions before actually dialing it. It freezes. Battery lasts 6 hors at the most… the screen turns black when talking and when you finish it doesnt come back so you cant hang up. The dial screen is terrible no way you can write withiut typos.. . At the beginning i though that at least the camera was good….but that is not true either…colors are intense and nice but strangely i have never been able to capture a pretty miment. I think i am gojng back to blackberry….frustrated….
Solutions for you:
(I have this phone and also use it for navigation, and hate the rotating screen)
1) Screen Rotates: Pull down your notifications bar and tap the screen rotation icon.
2) Car mount: I bought the one at Sprint, which was about $40
3) Slippery: I found the best case is a combination of plastic and silicone. Check out amazon’s selections.
4) Ringtones: I transferred my own music and made that my ringtone. It can be absolutely anything you want.
5) Short battery life: Samsung actually released a longer lasting and larger battery.
6) Screen size: If its too big for you, there’s actually a smaller version of the S3 called i9300.
—- Svoice: I don’t like it either. Its okay.
—- Music player: not sure about it in the car because I don’t have the aux cable.
If you’re still not convinced with these solutions, then just stick with your DroidX.
🙂