Galaxy S III First impression

Note: pardon the poor quality of some of the images. Today, I learned a lesson! A lesson that I would remember for a long time. When Samsung first announced the Galaxy SIII and images of this flagship phone first came into light, many including me disregarded it as one of the ugliest flagship smartphones ever made. Well, I was wrong. Even when some fellow bloggers said that the phone looks much better in hand, I didn’t believe and today, I totally agree with them. Package Content Similar to most smartphone packs these days, Galaxy S III pack comes with a minimalist design. No photos and captions at the top and sides but the bottom of the box lists device specification and description. Once you life open the top, you are greeted by enormous looking Galaxy SIII and underneath the phone are the below accessories:

• No, you don’t get any fancy stickers with company logo
• Some manuals
• In-Ear headset with three sets of silicon buds (small, medium, large)
• Charger with detachable USB cable

Listed below are photos taken while unboxing the phone: I liked the content which is minimalistic and just the right content. First look In stark contrast to what I thought, this phone is a stunner in looks department, the only downsides being scratch prone rear plate and slightly odd rim that surrounds the phone (sits between glossy back and the display) which is matte and feels out of place and reates u-onuniform look. When the smartphone is viewed from the backside or front, it looks amazing but when you see it from the side (you sitting in a chair and phone kept at a distance on the desk), it looks okaish, due to this rim. If you really want to see how good this phone is or if you want to do an immediate show off, the moment you setup the phone, head to video player and play Wonder of Nature mp4 video. My jaw dropped on seeing the video playing on a 4.8” 720p display. As usual, Touchwiz looks like a toy but after looking at Touchwiz on Galaxy S II, this one felt and looked infinitely better. Thanks to the quad core CPU and powerful GPU, the phone was flying! Google Play was downloading huge list of apps that I had set to download and there is absolutely no lag when I was moving between homescreen at a flick per second. What did I like?

• Breathtaking display (though it is Super AMOLED). Watching videos and photos the best thing to do on this phone
• Great touch response. The feel that your fingers get when you place on touchscreen is great.
• Notification LED
• Awesome looks.
• Screen shot feature (swipe across the screen in the air and screenshot is taken)
• Superb video playback quality
• Nice package
• Feels lightweight and feels good in hand though sometimes it feels slippery. Even though my fingers are not that long, my thumb could reach almost all corners of the display, which is a good thing given the size
• Monster battery

What I didn’t like:

• If you have sweaty palms or stay in areas with high sweating (Chennai, Vijayawada etc), be very very careful!
• Glossy back panel is prone to scratches (already see few tiny scrathes)
• The rim that surrounds the phone (sits between glossy back and the display) is odd looking and feels out of place.
• Didn’t like the placement and feel of ‘home’ button.
• Toyish looking icons, sometimes I feel that TouchWiz adds too much contrast to ICS and sometimes, it does hinder ICS (more in detail later).
• Flimsy back cover. It is so thin that a 1 year old kid can chew it up thinking that it is a wafer.
• Micro-SIM
• Earphones are white in color and they don’t match the phone’s color tone. No play/pause/forward buttons on the headset
• Samsung’s bloatware comes pre-loaded (ChatON, Samsung Apps, S-* apps, AllShare, Game Hub etc). Yet to check if they can be removed or not.
• No dedicated camera shutter key. Given how tall the phone is, clicking on the screen is not exactly ergonomic.
• Charging takes long time

Must remember: Back silicon cover and screen guard are must have for this phone and I would suggest you to buy them along with the phone (even though they cost a bit high). We couldn’t find a silicon case for this phone yet but we will let you know about the price etc once they are available. Photos of Galaxy S III Well, we cant share much in this post as this is more of a ‘first impression’. Do wait for our full length review and hey, it can be looooooooooooooooooong! Will it be a head turner? YES! Does it look like a premium product? YES! How is the display? MIND BLOWING! Is it worth shelling out 39k for this phone? Probably no. Is it the best smartphone available for purchase? Wait for our full review