The Build Quality
Color
Let's start with one of the most prominent complains about the Pebble Blue version... the color of the dedicated home button. To quickly dispel the rumors - it is *not* a different color than the rest of the phone. It is the same exact color, however the reason many people claim it is different or "purple" is because it does not have the glass covering it, so it appears to be a different shade to the untrained eye (the glass adds a slight darkness over the Blue surrounding the face of the device). There is nothing about the color of the phone that is inconsistent. It has a nice, even Blue/Gray metal tone to it, with highlights of purple depending on the light hitting it. Personally I prefer black phones, however I have become accustomed to the Pebble Blue and I can say I definitely prefer it over a white phone. All in all, very happy with the color.
Back plate
I had seen a complaint from someone in the forum that the bottom of the back plate was not completely "flush" on one side. Although it is very minor, I can report a similar finding on mine as well. It doesn't seem to be a defect really, it's just not "perfect" to those of us with phone OCD (which is probably 85% of us on XDA). Overall the back fits well - not something I am worried about. Don't care much for the design coming from the GSII and the GSM Gnex, as I was used to the awesome texture and "inset" style of those back plates, however I do find that the material the GSIII is made of seems to stick to my hands somewhat making it less likely to drop pulling it out of my pocket. I have seen some users calling it "slippery" but I would have to respectfully disagree here. I find it adheres to my hand more than any phone I have ever owned, possibly due to the coating they used on it (that may be why they coated it the way they did). Most of us will probably throw a case on this phone anyway, so it may not even be relevant for most.
"Bezel"
The "bezel" around the glass appears to be made of a different material than the rest of the phone. It looks like it potentially could have problems down the line - almost appears as if it's made with minute cracks, although I believe that is just the look of the material. However, with recent reports of some cracking happening for no apparent reason (though I cannot confirm that the user(s) did not sit on the phone or something similar to cause it) this could potentially be the Achilles Heel of the GSIII. If we see a ton of issues with this, there will be some very unhappy GSIII owners and a slew of returns/replacements. Mine has not exhibited any problems so far, but this is something I will be watching closely. Again, a case is probably going to add some protection here, which is how I intend to stave off any potential problems. One thing that really makes this phone shine is the elimination of the bezel "lip" - your finger slides right over the glass from the side/bottom/top of the phone with no lip in the way, which is a nice change IMO.
Screen
Absolutely amazing. Gorgeous, vibrant HD screen that impressed me more than my GSII did. I do see a small amount of the ink blotting that is all too common with Super AMOLED screens, however it is much more minor than it was on my first GSII and pretty much unnoticeable even watching movies in the dark. The colors literally pop on this bad boy, and the brightness is more than adequate for great viewing in direct sunlight. I've never seen a better screen on a phone, period. I know this is subjective, just my two cents.. couldn't be happier.
The User Experience
Processing Speed
Holy **** Batman. This is the fastest phone I've ever seen in my life, hands down. This thing came flying right out of the box as faster than any over clocked dual-core monstrosity I've ever seen. In addition to the awesome speed I experienced myself, the Quadrant scores were in the high 4800's to low 5100's without any modifications at all. No root, no freezing bloatware, nothing. Handles everything I throw at it without even a hiccup. All while running a Live Wallpaper at 60 fps. Scrollable widgets, scrolling live wallpaper, stuff running in the background, jumping from one app to the next using the home button, nothing slows it down. Nothing. Granted, I am using Apex Launcher instead of TouchWiz but that means TouchWiz is still in the background somewhere since I have not frozen or uninstalled it. Doesn't seem to matter, it runs beautifully. This is true on Wifi or 3G/4G, consistent performance regardless.
Radios
I'm getting the best reception and data speeds on T-Mobile I've ever experienced. In my area, where on a good day I might see 5-6Mbps down, I am routinely getting 11-12Mbs. In my condo where I typically have one to no bars, I have three. Wifi connects like nobody's business, by the time I entered my password it was connected within a second. Literally couldn't even finish reading "obtaining IP address" before it said "connected". And I read very fast. I did notice, however, that the wifi signal strength appears weaker - but did not have any disconnections or problems with it, it just "looked" like I had less signal than on my Gnex & GSII. Still stayed connected, and honestly I probably need a new router because mine is crap anyway.
So far, this is all I have to write about today, I've only had the phone for about 20 hours, I will edit this to conclude my review in the next day or two.
Initial impression - get this phone, you will NOT be sorry. Best phone on the market hands down IMO
back with more later, thanks!
Color
Let's start with one of the most prominent complains about the Pebble Blue version... the color of the dedicated home button. To quickly dispel the rumors - it is *not* a different color than the rest of the phone. It is the same exact color, however the reason many people claim it is different or "purple" is because it does not have the glass covering it, so it appears to be a different shade to the untrained eye (the glass adds a slight darkness over the Blue surrounding the face of the device). There is nothing about the color of the phone that is inconsistent. It has a nice, even Blue/Gray metal tone to it, with highlights of purple depending on the light hitting it. Personally I prefer black phones, however I have become accustomed to the Pebble Blue and I can say I definitely prefer it over a white phone. All in all, very happy with the color.
Back plate
I had seen a complaint from someone in the forum that the bottom of the back plate was not completely "flush" on one side. Although it is very minor, I can report a similar finding on mine as well. It doesn't seem to be a defect really, it's just not "perfect" to those of us with phone OCD (which is probably 85% of us on XDA). Overall the back fits well - not something I am worried about. Don't care much for the design coming from the GSII and the GSM Gnex, as I was used to the awesome texture and "inset" style of those back plates, however I do find that the material the GSIII is made of seems to stick to my hands somewhat making it less likely to drop pulling it out of my pocket. I have seen some users calling it "slippery" but I would have to respectfully disagree here. I find it adheres to my hand more than any phone I have ever owned, possibly due to the coating they used on it (that may be why they coated it the way they did). Most of us will probably throw a case on this phone anyway, so it may not even be relevant for most.
"Bezel"
The "bezel" around the glass appears to be made of a different material than the rest of the phone. It looks like it potentially could have problems down the line - almost appears as if it's made with minute cracks, although I believe that is just the look of the material. However, with recent reports of some cracking happening for no apparent reason (though I cannot confirm that the user(s) did not sit on the phone or something similar to cause it) this could potentially be the Achilles Heel of the GSIII. If we see a ton of issues with this, there will be some very unhappy GSIII owners and a slew of returns/replacements. Mine has not exhibited any problems so far, but this is something I will be watching closely. Again, a case is probably going to add some protection here, which is how I intend to stave off any potential problems. One thing that really makes this phone shine is the elimination of the bezel "lip" - your finger slides right over the glass from the side/bottom/top of the phone with no lip in the way, which is a nice change IMO.
Screen
Absolutely amazing. Gorgeous, vibrant HD screen that impressed me more than my GSII did. I do see a small amount of the ink blotting that is all too common with Super AMOLED screens, however it is much more minor than it was on my first GSII and pretty much unnoticeable even watching movies in the dark. The colors literally pop on this bad boy, and the brightness is more than adequate for great viewing in direct sunlight. I've never seen a better screen on a phone, period. I know this is subjective, just my two cents.. couldn't be happier.
The User Experience
Processing Speed
Holy **** Batman. This is the fastest phone I've ever seen in my life, hands down. This thing came flying right out of the box as faster than any over clocked dual-core monstrosity I've ever seen. In addition to the awesome speed I experienced myself, the Quadrant scores were in the high 4800's to low 5100's without any modifications at all. No root, no freezing bloatware, nothing. Handles everything I throw at it without even a hiccup. All while running a Live Wallpaper at 60 fps. Scrollable widgets, scrolling live wallpaper, stuff running in the background, jumping from one app to the next using the home button, nothing slows it down. Nothing. Granted, I am using Apex Launcher instead of TouchWiz but that means TouchWiz is still in the background somewhere since I have not frozen or uninstalled it. Doesn't seem to matter, it runs beautifully. This is true on Wifi or 3G/4G, consistent performance regardless.
Radios
I'm getting the best reception and data speeds on T-Mobile I've ever experienced. In my area, where on a good day I might see 5-6Mbps down, I am routinely getting 11-12Mbs. In my condo where I typically have one to no bars, I have three. Wifi connects like nobody's business, by the time I entered my password it was connected within a second. Literally couldn't even finish reading "obtaining IP address" before it said "connected". And I read very fast. I did notice, however, that the wifi signal strength appears weaker - but did not have any disconnections or problems with it, it just "looked" like I had less signal than on my Gnex & GSII. Still stayed connected, and honestly I probably need a new router because mine is crap anyway.
So far, this is all I have to write about today, I've only had the phone for about 20 hours, I will edit this to conclude my review in the next day or two.
Initial impression - get this phone, you will NOT be sorry. Best phone on the market hands down IMO
back with more later, thanks!
