Galaxy S3...Few questions before purchase.

[mulder]

So I have done alot of reading and searching, I have an upgrade avail from Verizon and will be switching finally from my droid 2 , to the S3. I have 2 somewhat trivial questions to ask...lol.

Will I need 32 gb or is 16 fine...I mean...I believe my D2 has what...8 ? Where will I need the difference..I dont use my personal phone a ton..since I am on a work phone most the day.

I take my phone mountain biking alot though.

And the other question...since I am the most in decisive person on the planet.....White or Blue? lol

[Noir Angel]

Depends on your usage. If you were not limited by 8GB before, 16 should be just fine for your needs, but if you're planning to put a lot of music on it go for the 32.

As for the colours: Personally I think the white phone's a little nicer looking than the blue but that's just my personal taste.

[Glassed Silver]

I'd go with 32GB personally, but that's because on my iPhone (I know I know...) apps alone take up 16GB+ and I went with a dark phone, because using the phone in the dark becomes so much better due to the device taking a backseat. (especially when watching videos in your bed or what have you)

All this is because I'm a media guy and need the storage... or want it.

I'm sure 16GB can get you by relatively okay though if you've been living on 8GB, keep in mind though, if you take videos and photos you'll adore the extra space, especially as videos on the GS3 are 1080p. :)

The S3 has a SD slot, so if you don't need even those 16 extra GBs, I'd go with the 16GB model and top it off with a nice fast 32GB SD card, 16 if you're "cheap" :p ;)

Glassed Silver:mac

[mulder]

Thx for the replies...and I have one other question..How is the glass on these? I have never used a protector on my D2 and amazingly it has no scratches. ( unsure what type of glass screen they had) Does the S3 have pretty tuff screen or does it scratch easily?

[Noir Angel]

The glass on most smartphone screens is incredibly hard to scratch, so unless you're the kind of person prone to dropping your phone you won't need a screen protector. The SGSIII is a premium smartphone so I'd wager the screen glass will be of high quality.

[Lingwo]

S3 uses gorilla glass like most smartphones. So they're pretty tough. The s3 is very thin though, so i would get some sort of protection for it.

In answer to the other questions.

16GB is fine. If you need more space then go for a 32GB microSD card for it, it'll work out cheaper.

Also i'd go for the blue S3. I own a white one and it shows dirt up. Plus the blue looks much nicer overall.

[abysal]

Does the S3 support SDXC 64GB + memory cards?

[Roger H. Veteran]

^^^^ - Yes.

[UKDarkJedi]

GS3 owner here.

I haven't even begun to test my 16Gb model yet, got 8Gb or so of music on there, and a couple of movies, along with my collection of photos (which I love Samsungs software for btw) and it's got quite a lot of space still. Depends how you use your phone? If it's a catch all jukebox and you simply must have all your tunes, 16Gb might get cramped, but if you're like me and you chop and change it depending on your tastes, you'll be fine. And as has been mentioned, you can stick in a SD card and away you go.

As for the colour: blue for me, I found the white looked a little too bright and tacky, but it's my opinion.

With regard to the glass, I drop mine far too much, so long as you're not hurling it onto concrete it should survive. Just to be on the safe side, I bought a casemate style case and both phone and case are spotless since I got mine on release day, regardless of my rough treatment.

[mulder]

I was also wondering , on the site it says these have ICS installed, I was under the impression from reading other threads they had JB. Is that an update after purchase? And again...I appreciate the replies :)

[javagreen]

Current S3's have ICS out of the box, but will soon receive an update to JB - you need not worry.

[mulder]

Very good..and thanks...ordered blue 16gb...thanks for all the info everyone :)

[techbeck]

^ there are two new colors coming out.

[mikearnill]

I will recommend you, that you should not hesitate for a moment to buy it. I mean it is one of the coolest phone I had ever seen, damn simple and flexible to use, have lovely design, marvelouss user interface and have many other cool features.

[Nashy]

GOing to throw it out there. If you want something that feels a bit more sturdy, go the One X if you can.

Before I get called a fanboi, I currently have both, and am currently using my S3. I love it, but design wise, meh. The plastic bezel is ugly.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Does the S3 support SDXC 64GB + memory cards?

MicroSDXC, yes, not full size SDXC.

[abysal]

MicroSDXC, yes, not full size SDXC.

Cool, yeah I meant to say micro. So far I've only seen the 64 GB micro sdxc cards, but 128 GB should be out soon. Although if a full size 128 GB SD costs $220 on Amazon, I can only imagine how expensive the micros will be initially.

[parazito86]

I will recommend you, that you should not hesitate for a moment to buy it. I mean it is one of the coolest phone I had ever seen, damn simple and flexible to use, have lovely design, marvelouss user interface and have many other cool features.

I agree with you, but for me the price is still quite a too much.

[Nothing Here]

Am also considering getting an S3, but I don't understand why it's so hard to play music in flac format on these smart phones. I don't want to have to keep converting my own rips from flac to mp3.

[Ambroos]

Am also considering getting an S3, but I don't understand why it's so hard to play music in flac format on these smart phones. I don't want to have to keep converting my own rips from flac to mp3.

Get an Xperia S (or ion, or T if you're in the US), they sound amazing and have native support for FLAC since Android 4.0 :)

[Nothing Here]

Hmm, looks like the Xperia T will be the one I go with. Thanx..

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Am also considering getting an S3, but I don't understand why it's so hard to play music in flac format on these smart phones. I don't want to have to keep converting my own rips from flac to mp3.

Pretty sure the S3 can play FLAC files, if not by default then through Poweramp.

[UKDarkJedi]

N7 player plays flac according to here. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.n7mobile.nplayer&hl=en

Personally I've never bothered with Flac, at least on mobile devices. MP3 at high enough bitrate should be more than sufficient.

[DeadEndAccount]

Going to throw it out there. If you want something that feels a bit more sturdy, go the One X if you can.

Before I get called a fanboi, I currently have both, and am currently using my S3. I love it, but design wise, meh. The plastic bezel is ugly.

I'd personally go for the HTC One X if it weren't for these issues:

1) Non-user replaceable battery.

2) No SD Slot.

3) Not particularly good record when it comes to providing Android updates.

4) Battery is rather weak.

If those were addressed by HTC I'd have no problems with it but so far HTC has been reluctant at addressing short comings of their flagship phone.

Regarding FLAC playback - it can support it according to the specifications from Samsung's own page:

Audio Format MP3, AMR-NB / WB, AAC / AAC+ / eAAC+, WMA, OGG (Vorbis), FLAC, AC-3, apt-X

[Nashy]

I'd personally go for the HTC One X if it weren't for these issues:

1) Non-user replaceable battery.

2) No SD Slot.

3) Not particularly good record when it comes to providing Android updates.

4) Battery is rather weak.

1) Not an issue for me purely because I have a new phone every few months. Can see how it's a problem for a lot of people who plan to keep it for years though.

2) Not an issue as I don't use it for much music. Mainly apps. Can see why it's an issue. Would rather expandable memory, but oh well.

3) I custom ROM. I didn't realise this, was my first HTC in a couple of years.

4) Not really weak. It's pretty crap, but I still have enough after heavy use.