T-Mobile Galaxy S3 First Impressions

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1SiK1500

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2012
448
96
Orlando FL
Please share you first thoughts on the phone and software.. Also let us know if you picked it up opening morning; Was it busy? Was it worth it?

Im curious to see some Benchmarks and Network speed test? !:D:D
 

kelmerp

Senior Member
Jul 13, 2010
89
8
It'd almost too thin. I will definitely be getting a case for this. Or maybe an extended batter and a case.

The power button is too small/difficult to press. Probably just needs some getting used to. The back and menu button light up and go away so when you're looking at the phone you don't actually see them. this will probably also take some getting used to, but it does make the phone look minimal.

The screen looks huge and is very sharp. Like crazy sharp. There's a widget called Media Hub on by default and inside it are 3 little movie posters or box art covers and they are just incredibly sharp.

I have fairly large hands, but wouldn't want to use this if my hands were any smaller perhaps.

T-Mobile didn't have any accessories. They really weren't prepared for this launch.

update: The included headset seems decent. I was slightly miffed that the GS2 didn't include a headset since, the bulk pricing on them is like 5 cents. The only "but" is it has an always-tangle cord. Why do they even make these anymore? Flat, non-tacky/sticky cord would have been too much to ask for?

update: it did offer me the 50GB of free dropbox which some other carriers opted out of for some reason
 
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1SiK1500

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2012
448
96
Orlando FL
Where are you located? Where did you pick it up? What color? Gb?How responsive is it? Sorry for the questions! Just eager to know!!
 

kelmerp

Senior Member
Jul 13, 2010
89
8
I live in Chicago. I was told 5 of our area stores got it in stock. ~75 phones per store. The store I went to was around 51st and Pulaski. I had called yesterday and a nice young girl put me on a list. My wife (who happened to be on staycation this week) showed up and picked it up for me.

The only one they have is the blueish pebble color, 16GB in stock. I don't think I would have paid $50 for the extra 16GB even if I had the option. I ordered a 64GB microSD (SDXC or whatever its called) for $50 from Amazon, but Newegg has them for even cheaper.

Not sure how to answer the responsiveness question since my "old" Galaxy S2 was quite responsive. Her line was eligible for upgrade also, so I gave her my GS2 and she gave me the GS3. Everything is pretty much instantaneous.

I would say going from a GS2 to a GS3 the only thing that really jumps out at me so far is the screen. It is incredibly sharp. The phone is also crazy thin.
 

FreydNot

Senior Member
Jun 21, 2010
232
60
Seattle
I got mine at one of the Southcenter mall locations (about 10 miles south of Seattle). I got there 45 minutes before opening and the place was a ghost town. They opened the doors 10 minutes before opening time and there was no crowd at all. I walked right up to a sales person and purchased the phone.

T-Mobile made sure to point out (and require my initials in acknowledgement) the $50 restocking fee. That will probably keep me from returning the 16GB within my buyers remorse period and getting a new 32GB.

They only had the blue 16GB phone so that is what I got. I would have purchased the 32GB version if they had it. My previous phone is a Galaxy S1 running Slim ICS. The new touchwiz is taking a little getting use to, but it's not bad. I'm enjoying learning about the new face detect and motion jesture features. Seems like they might come in handy.

I'm stumped trying to connect my PC to the phone in mass storage mode. My only choices are media mode or camera mode. Neither are very fast. Windows is telling me it will take 5+ hours to move 7.5GB of data (that took about 10 minutes to copy from my old device).

I came to XDA today to see if anyone had made a rooting guide. I need to get adfree installed and Titanium backup would be nice to have so I could restore data from a small handful of apps.

EDIT: It was also interesting that debugging mode is enabled by default. That doesn't seem normal.
 
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tennandcoz1

Senior Member
Feb 28, 2011
911
119
No worth the price.going back to my sgII.It's not that much better at all.I feel like a sucker to tell the truth.getting my money back.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
 

swehes

Senior Member
Jul 26, 2010
542
82
Utah
OnePlus 7
OnePlus 11
...I'm stumped trying to connect my PC to the phone in mass storage mode. My only choices are media mode or camera mode. Neither are very fast. Windows is telling me it will take 5+ hours to move 7.5GB of data (that took about 10 minutes to copy from my old device)....

Install a server that can handle SAMBA/CIFS and install AndSMB on your phone. Then transfer files that way. it is pretty sweet, especially if you are running N on your wireless router.
 
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Babydollll

Senior Member
I got mine at one of the Southcenter mall locations (about 10 miles south of Seattle). I got there 45 minutes before opening and the place was a ghost town. They opened the doors 10 minutes before opening time and there was no crowd at all. I walked right up to a sales person and purchased the phone.

T-Mobile made sure to point out (and require my initials in acknowledgement) the $50 restocking fee. That will probably keep me from returning the 16GB within my buyers remorse period and getting a new 32GB.

They only had the blue 16GB phone so that is what I got. I would have purchased the 32GB version if they had it. My previous phone is a Galaxy S1 running Slim ICS. The new touchwiz is taking a little getting use to, but it's not bad. I'm enjoying learning about the new face detect and motion jesture features. Seems like they might come in handy.

I'm stumped trying to connect my PC to the phone in mass storage mode. My only choices are media mode or camera mode. Neither are very fast. Windows is telling me it will take 5+ hours to move 7.5GB of data (that took about 10 minutes to copy from my old device).

I came to XDA today to see if anyone had made a rooting guide. I need to get adfree installed and Titanium backup would be nice to have so I could restore data from a small handful of apps.

EDIT: It was also interesting that debugging mode is enabled by default. That doesn't seem normal.

Debugging mode was also enabled by default on my One X (int version)
It's definitely something I wasn't expecting

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
 

Docavelli

Senior Member
May 8, 2009
825
122
psst... right behind you
I got mine around noon today in Indianapolis. I wasn't excepting them to get them. I don't think they were either.

Coming from a G2X, I'm really liking it so far.


*The screen is very nice, especially when watching videos.

*It's light but it feels nice in the hand. I don't have really big hands but I find it easy to use one-handed. It helps that Samsung puts their power button on the side of the phone.

*It's fast and smooth. I just got all of my apps and widgets loaded and no noticeable lag yet.

Gonna play some more and report back.
 

imsohungover

Senior Member
Oct 26, 2011
131
3
So far hows T-Mobile network working with it? Do they have Visual voicemail and wifi calling?

yes they do. I havent had much time to mess with my phone yet but one thing that bugs me is the Email App. you can't multi-select email and mark as read, only for mark as unread, deleting and move to another folder. Will test out other things later.
 

harrij4

Member
Oct 4, 2010
18
1
Here's a question that I haven't seen answered - hopefully it's not a stupid one.

One of the things I've really enjoyed about my G2 is the deep integration of Google Voice. It's like having a dual sim phone.

Has Samsung limited that integration with Touchwiz? Overall, how well-integrated is Google Voice?
 

afbengochea

Senior Member
Jan 10, 2012
665
130
Here's a question that I haven't seen answered - hopefully it's not a stupid one.

One of the things I've really enjoyed about my G2 is the deep integration of Google Voice. It's like having a dual sim phone.

Has Samsung limited that integration with Touchwiz? Overall, how well-integrated is Google Voice?

It looks like the same setup for the gs3. I was able to set my main messages app to use for google voice. So I don't even have to go into the voice app to send a text message
 

eff0rtless

Senior Member
Jun 17, 2010
77
8
Seattle
Picked up phone at 9am at t-mobile in bellevue. 4G seems spotty for me so far..

display is nice and big though. Device is super light. Enjoying it so far
 

polo045

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2010
145
8
I'm from Philly, my phone is the bomb. It's ultra responsive, just like ios, Touchwiz is way better, feels more refined for ics. I'm thoroughly impressed by Samsung for getting it.

Sent from Another Galaxy to the 3rd. Power.
 

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Vibrant03

Senior Member
Mar 28, 2011
181
10
I'm stumped trying to connect my PC to the phone in mass storage mode. My only choices are media mode or camera mode. Neither are very fast. Windows is telling me it will take 5+ hours to move 7.5GB of data (that took about 10 minutes to copy from my old device).

i think the reason for removing the mass storage mode is because of kies air.. samsung wants us to use the software..
 

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  • 5
    Sorry for the late first impression, I was late for work and JUST got home (finally!).

    Samsung Galaxy SIII
    Pebble Blue
    16GB

    OK, so at first power up, it was a little slow connecting to their network...which scared me...but after first connection, it was great.

    The phone is f-ing fast. Blazing. Coming from the Galaxy Nexus (it was stolen) and the fact that I felt like this might not be a true "upgrade" from that, I was really worried and frustrated with paying so much for the phone....but I don't regret it. The screen to screen response is better, the fluidity is better, the overall response is just better. I couldn't really force it to lag, though I didn't try REALLY hard.

    The screen is epic. It looks so vivid and crisp its unreal. Haven't watched any movies or anything yet, but pictures and everything look great. Colors, brightness, I really dig it.

    Touchwiz was one of the things that scared me. I bought the Nexus One when it came out and then bought the Galaxy Nexus next. I've pretty much ALWAYS used stock Android (N1 was my first Android phone) even when rooted...I always stick to ROMs that are lean stock, I don't like crazy heavy modding. So, like I said, I was iffy about using Touchwiz. Let me tell you, in my opinion, I'm really enjoying it. The layout and how it works in general is really really nice. Its a really neat change of pace from stock Android. The fact that I'm still learning and adjusting to it, and the fact that I'm really enjoying it already and not getting frustrated with it leads me to believe it'll only get better.

    I haven't really taken any pictures yet, but I did play with the camera app and it appears to be pretty stellar and solid.

    The sound......wow, the sound is awesome. I was extremely disappointed in the sound quality of the Galaxy Nexus. I basically had to "cup" my hand behind the back speaker while watching Netflix in order to kind of hear what was going on. Also, I had a really hard time hearing while on the phone (and I have really good hearing) but the SIII is amazing. The sound is so loud but crisp, in my opinion. I watched a Youtube video and it sounded so awesome. I haven't listened to any music yet on it, but I'm pretty confident it will also be quality.

    Connection has been solid so far. Wifi connects right away. Haven't had any drops as of yet. Can't complain here.

    Battery life seems pretty solid. This is another area I obviously cannot fully comment on because I only charged it for like 5 minutes before work after coming directly from T-Mobile. I played with it a lot (XDA, Facebook and just touching the beautiful screen lol) and the phone was at like 60% still. Not sure what it started at though...but it seems really solid to me.

    The build, to me, is solid. I heard complaints about it feeling "cheap" or whatever, but I think it feels really light weight but solid. I have no complaint about the build, personally.

    The dedicated home button, to me, is useless. I NEVER use the home feature on any of my phones, I always use "back" to back out of the apps completely so they don't run in the background. Its nothing bad to me, though, and for the people that are worried about the "purple" color....it literally looks like it blends in with the screen. It doesn't really look purple.

    My ONLY gripe, and its not a fair one in my opinion, is the screen size for handling (width). Its a bit big for me, but to be fair I have small hands *shrugs*. The Galaxy Nexus felt absolutely perfect in my hand. I could reach anything and everything without adjusting the phone in my one hand. The SIII take some moving to reach the top portion, especially the top left, while handling with one hand. That's more my problem then it is the phones though, lol.

    So, in a nutshell, this is my first impression. No buyers remorse and I'm going to spend a few good hours now getting to know my new love interest (the wife will understand). Hope it helps some of you guys out. If you want to know anything in particular, feel free to ask :)
    3
    has Anyone run a Quadrant who cant post a pic of the results or just the results??

    Ran one .

    XDA Mobile
    2
    Please share you first thoughts on the phone and software.. Also let us know if you picked it up opening morning; Was it busy? Was it worth it?

    Im curious to see some Benchmarks and Network speed test? !:D:D
    2
    How do you leave yourself a VM?
    call your self.
    2
    LOL i'm right there with you.. I may try deleting my vmails now to see if I can get it to go away..

    I had this problem too, just leave yourself a voicemail, then from your SGS3 call your voicemail and listen to it, erase it and it should go away...worked for me atleast:good: