Samsung Galaxy S3 Unboxing and initial Impressions

The Samsung Galaxy S3 (or Galaxy SIII if you will) promises the sky, and we found it to be almost there atleast at the first look.

When we received the Galaxy SIII for review, we were almost praying for the pebble blue version, and the blue box would have clicked if we knew they have the box colors according to that of the model. It’s only when we saw the model color on one of the sticker were we thrilled!

Back to the business – Samsung promises to give us a device that promises to know your emotions, made for you. The Galaxy SIII looks like it’s perfectly placed to prove it. But we won’t give it to the SIII without a fight, shall we?  – So let’s get started.

Technical specifications

• 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm dimension
• 133gm
• 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with 720p resolution and 16M colors
• Corning gorilla glass 2
• 1.4GHz Quad-core Cortex A9 processor with Exynos 4412 chipset
• Mali 400MP GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB internal memory, external supported via microSD card
• Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich with a brand-new TouchWiz
• 3G HSPA+
• EDGE/GPRS (850/900/1,800/1,900 MHz)
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct
• 8MP autofocus back camera with autofocus and LED flash, records 1080p videos @30fps
• 1.9MP front camera, records at 720p @30fps
• NFC and MHL
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Li-Ion 2100mAh battery
• Free 50GB Dropbox space for two years
• S Voice, Social tag, Direct call, Smart stay, Smart alert, S Beam, AllShare, Buddy photo share

You can grab the Galaxy SIII from Amazon.com for about $630, from Amazon.co.uk for about 480 pounds or in India from Flipkart for INR 37,990.

Packaging

Gone are the graphical representations on the box, and instead Samsung replaced it with a look reserved for extremely exclusives. It’s a no-nonsense blue box (white for the ceramic white model) for the Pebble blue model with only the back side showing the quick specsheet. A look at the box and the meaty material will tell you that the packet is set to impress even the stringent of connoisseurs. In fact the first resemble came to me mind is the Blue Label King George V limited edition! A perfect package to tell you it’s a price you have just possessed.

What’s in the box

Apart from the phone and the 2100mAh battery, there is the charging adaptor and microUSB data cable and a pair of beautiful white in-ear earphones with controls and extra 3 pairs of earbuds of different sizes for different canal sizes. Documents include quick-start guide, warranty card, a SIM security related information card and a Chat On advertisement pamphlet. No TV out cable or free microSD card.

Design and built

It is one of the most gorgeous looking beast out there – tigers included! The gorgeous 4.8-inch super AMOLED HD screen is protected by a very tough Gorilla corning glass 2 that might hardly need a screen-guard (not that I’m telling you to take chances). Very narrow borders on both sides of the screen make the phone smaller than it actually could’ve been. Also the 8.6mm thinness makes the phone almost a blade. There’s a curved borderline adorns the sides of the phone that almost gives a concave look to the phone – much to what Samsung’s claim of no straight lines. The round surfaces further reduces any chances of the phone looking a bulky one.

Apart from the gorgeous screen, the front side has the earpiece, front camera, proximity sensor and the LED notification on top, and the hard home-key at the bottom. The back soft-button is on the right and the menu on the left of the home key. The left side has the volume rocker, the right side has the power key, the top has the 3.5mm audio jack and the bottom has the microUSB port for charging, data transfer and MHL. The back side houses the 8MP full-HD camera with LED flash and the speaker. Open the back flap and you’ll know that the 2100mAh battery covers most of the space. You’ll have to remove the battery for any SIM transaction. The Galaxy SIII only supports a microSIM card. The microSD card slot is besides but don’t need you to remove the battery.

We have heard complaints from a lot of readers about the plastic body of high-end Sammy devices, but the Galaxy SIII won’t give you any chances of complaint. It is built with a high-quality polycarbonate material that is almost as tough as metal but is as light as plastic. Also there is a hyperglaze coating on the body that prevents the glossy body from retaining fingerprints – cool huh?

Display

The 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen is very sharp and the colors are also vivid. It is as impressive anything can get. The blacks are deep, and the sides don’t lose any color texture at all. The viewing angles are so amazing that you can read the icon names even while holding the phone in almost horizontal position.

The sunlight readability is also among the best thanks to the almost negligible reflectivity of the AMOLED.

Conclusion

We will be back very soon with the complete review that should tell you about the interface and some of the default apps coming with the Galaxy SIII. Tune in till then.