Official Indian GS3 Owners Thread -Discussion, reviews and more

Hi all,

Starting this thread to discuss all about GS3 and its availability in India!! One stop shop for all the info.
As samsung has already informed S3 will have a global launch, so we can expect it very soon in our Indian market from the date of launch..
Edit: The mobile is launched in Indian Market on May 31 2012 with public availability from the 1st week of June.

This post will be updated with all useful info related to s3.

1.SGS3 Screenshots:



Image courtesy from mobile-review.com & gsmarena.com

2.Features at a glance:

Hardware:

> Powered with Exynos 4412 chipset.
> 4.8" SAMOLED HD screen with 300+ ppi and ultra fast response time
> 8 MP camera with new sensor + 1.9 MP front camera capable of 720p video recording.
> Wolfson WM1811 audio codec.
> 16/32/64 GB variants.
> Notification LED.
> Polycarbonate body with Hyperglaze coating for extra smoothness.
> Native support for sdxc cards of size upto 64gb
> NFC
> Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX certification.

Software:

> Android 4.0.4
> Touchwiz Nature UI with new gestures
> eye tracking
> smart stay
> popup play
> allshare
> s beam

3.Initial Previews:

www.anandtech.com
www.gsmarena.com
www.mobile-review.com

4.Full Reviews:

www.gsmarena.com
www.phonearena.com
Galaxy s2 vs Galaxy s3

5.Purchase Details:

Its available all over the retail shops.

6.FAQ:

1. What is the full Specification?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

www.gsmarena.com

2. What are the basic things should i check after getting my sgs3?

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

* All samsung android device comes with lcd test menu in order to check the basic functionality of the mobile and it is also useful to check the tint issues
* Enter the dialer and input the following code "*#0*#, it will give you a set of options to test the mobile.
* The same lcd test menu can be used for testing the tint issues, the main menu of the lcd test should look white rather than pinkish white or warmer white. you can either decide it yourself by your eyes or compare it with another AMOLED screen.
* Black dots are present on almost all AMOLED panels with varying intensity. Its not an issue. But if you still want to check for lesser dots take your mobile to pitch dark environment and load a complete black wallpaper, once your eyes get setlled to the environment look over the scrren. you will notice those spots.

3. Im not getting enough battery life or its not upto the mark what should i do??

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Poor battery life is due to one of the following reasons

> keeping all the features on like wifi ,bluetooth,nfc,full brightness etc.
Solution:
Turn off all the unwanted features and set the brighness between 0 to 50 %

> Wakelocks are common in android, A wakelock is an event witch disturbs the cpu(waking the cpu) from a regular deep sleep when the device is not in use. Commonly wakelocks are caused by frequent syncing of data with apps like twitter,facebook etc.

look over the image below

The blue line rounded with circle denotes wakelock(though a few lines like the one shown in the above pic can be ignored) , the intensity of wakelocks varies depending upon the usage/settings. The best way to get rid of wakelocks is to use apps like "better battery stats" and "gsam battery monitor" to identify the app causing wakelocks and disable/tweak them.


Some Android Basics

Though many of you people here are not new to android,below are the details for android newbies
Read through these links and you will get a basic idea of all the modding/flashing stuffs
1.some basic android terms

Android provides much better customization than many other competing platforms, basically a customization is nothing but altering/tinkering the mobile according to the taste of the induvidual. It may be the look of the mobile, speed of the mobile or whatever it may be they can be customized

Customizing the mobile includes.

1.Rooting
2.Flashing Roms/kernels
3.Mods

Rooting:

A process allowing users of mobile phones running the Android operating system to attain privileged control (known as "root access") within Android's subsystem. Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user.

You can root your mobile simply by following this thread. Download the cf root from the same thread and flash it via odin. A separate how to root guide is here

Flashing:

Flashing is nothing but a method of installing/updating a ROM/KERNEL/MOD. Generally flashing is of 2 types.

* flash via odin

Odin is a software used in windows for flashing. Odin supports flashing of *.tar,*.md5(commonly used file formats).All the stock roms can be flashed only via odin. Kernels of tar format can also be flashed via odin.

This thread will give you all the details about how to use odin and the thread also has the collection of stock roms.

* flashing via cwm

cwm aka Clock Work Mod is one of the must have thing for a rooted user. Every android mobile comes with a recovery feature in order to troubleshoot if things goes wrong. CWM replaces the the basic recovery with advanced recovery features. CWM supports flashing files as zips. All the custom roms are generally flashed via cwm. Along with custom roms mods/themes are also flshed via cwm.

This thread will give you all the details about cwm and how to use it

Mods

Mods are nothing but tweaked apps/settings that enhances the functionality of the mobile. These mods can be flashed via cwm or can be copied manually via root explorer (for advanced users)

Voiding the warranty and rooting/customiztion

Rooting the mobile will void your manufacturer warranty. But at the same time wasting a powerhouse mobile like s3 without modding is mere waste So whats the solution??? Whenever you are in need of claiming your warranty there are methods to remove the root which in turn covers your mobile under warranty. Yet another thing you people have to know is galaxy s3 has a binary counter which counts the number of unofficial flashes (rooting,flashing cwm comes under flashing ). So if the counter is above 0 it will void your warranty again. A big thanks to "chainfire" for creating an app called "triangle away" which simply resets the binary counter to zero.

So if you people want to remove root for warranty purpose

1.install triangle away and reset the counter
2.enter cwm and factory reset the mobile.
3.put the mobile into download mode and flash the stock rom from the links given above .

Here are a few samsung secret codes you can play up with Thanks to anil84 for bringing this up ...
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=27342524&postcount=5587

Backup your efs folder!

The first thing you people have to do before flashing any kind of things to your mobile is to "backup EFS folder".

What is efs?
The "\EFS" folder in the root directory is responsible for storing your IMEI number. The folder may get messed up when flashing roms or any other thing which results in loss of IMEI which in turn results in "no signals!!". It is hard to recover IMEI once it is lost, sometime you may even need to change the whole motherboard.
But........... do not worry...!! this can be easily resolved by backing up the "EFS" folder.
Head over here, download the tool,backup the folder and keep it safe in your pc
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1308546

7.Exclusive poll section:
Want to know which rom/kernel/modem/etc etc serves us better? These polls will give you to choose the better ones.Polling section will be updated regularly so that we can easily choose among the best available for s3

26/05/2012
1.Which color will you choose for s3?

Samsung Galaxy S3 codes secrets

SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 CODES SECRETS

*#06# Shows IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number

*#0*# LCD Test Menu
Dial the secret code *#0*#. Now you get a screen with title LCD TEST as shown in image and below that you have lots of option to test various hardware parts of your phone such as speaker, sensor, lcd, etc

*#8999*523# LCD Brightness

*#1234# To check Software and Hardware information, PDA, CSC, MODEM (Firmware Version)

*#2222# H/W Version

*#*#4636#*#* user statistics and Phone Info

*#0011# Displays status information for the GSM

*#7780# Factory Reset
*2767*3855# Full factory reset (Don’t dial unless you have problem, it does not ask you to confirm )

*#12580*369# SW & HW Info
#*#8377466# S/W Version & H/W Version
#*2562# Restarts Phone
#*3849# Restarts Phone
#*3851# Restarts Phone
#*3876# Restarts Phone
#*5376# DELETE ALL SMS!!!!
*#197328640# Service Mode
*#0228# Battery status (ADC, RSSI reading)
*#32489# Service mode (Ciphering Info)
*#2255# Call List
#*3888# BLUETOOTH Test mode
#*7828# Task screen
*#5282837# Java Version
*#232337# Bluetooth MAC Adress
*#232331# Bluetooth Test Mode
*#232338# WLAN MAC Address
*#232339# WLAN Test Mode
*#8999*8378# Test Menu
*#0842# Vibra Motor Test Mode
*#0782# Real Time Clock Test
*#0673# Audio Test Mode
*#0*# General Test Mode
*#2263# RF Band Selection / Network modes select
*#9090# Diagnostic ConfiguratioN
*#7284# USB I2C Mode Control
*#872564# USB Logging Control
*#4238378# GCF Configuration
*#0283# Audio Loopback Control
*#1575# GPS Control Menu
*#3214789650# LBS Test Mode
*#745# RIL Dump Menu
*#746# Debug Dump Menu
*#9900# Takes you to System Dump, where Disabling Fast Dormancy gives a boost to your network speed on some networks (both wifi and Gprs), same code to re-enable it
*#44336# Sofware Version Info
*#0289# Melody Test Mode
*#2663# TSP / TSK firmware update
*#03# NAND Flash S/N
*#0589# Light Sensor Test Mode
*#0588# Proximity Sensor Test Mode
*#273283*255*3282*# Data Create Menu
*#273283*255*663282*# Data Create SD Card
*#3282*727336*# Data Usage Status
*#7594# Remap Shutdown to End Call TSK
*#34971539# Camera Firmware Update
*#526# WLAN Engineering Mode
*#528# WLAN Engineering Mode
*#7412365# Camera Firmware Menu
*#07# Test History
*#3214789# GCF Mode Status
*#272886# Auto Answer Selection
*#8736364# OTA Update Menu
*#301279# HSDPA/HSUPA Control Menu
*#7353# Quick Test Menu
*2767*4387264636# Sellout SMS / PCODE view
*#7465625# View Phone Lock Status
*7465625*638*# Configure Network Lock MCC/MNC
#7465625*638*# Insert Network Lock Keycode
*7465625*782*# Configure Network Lock NSP
#7465625*782*# Insert Partitial Network Lock Keycode
*7465625*77*# Insert Network Lock Keycode SP
#7465625*77*# Insert Operator Lock Keycode
*7465625*27*# Insert Network Lock Keycode NSP/CP
#7465625*27*# Insert Content Provider Keycode
*#272*IMEI# then we will get buyer code (For samsung galaxy sIII csc code)
*#*#7780#*#* Factory data reset - Clears Google-account data, system and program settings and installed programs. system will not be deleted, and OEM programs, as well as My Documents (pictures, music, videos)

Note : I have not tested all of above codes

ceo.mtcl said:

Well in that case gs3 is nothing special as well. They both are high quality phones. The only difference is that one of them is already out and the other one will be out in a month or two when the quadcore technology will be three months old already, 'buddy'.

I might get my hands on gs3 but as of now one x is the best choice.

Sent from my HTC One X on Leedroid's ROM v5.0.0.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

well i dont want to get on with an argument,but still



sgs3 has the better and faster processor/gpu than htc one x
sgs3 has the better battery(removable) than htc one x
sgs3 has rgb notification led which htc one x don't.
sgs3 has sd card slot which htc one x don't.
sgs3 has better screen in terms of contrast,color and black which htc one x don't.
sgs3 has wolfson audio which htc one x don't.
sgs3 has the better and new camera sensor which htc one x don't. (htc does has a good focal length here though)
sgs3 has smart stay, popup play and many more which htc one x don't.
sgs3 don't have any bootloader issues like HTC.
sgs3 has "hyperglaze" body coating for a smooth feel when compared to "polycorbonate unibody" of htc one x

And to summarise all

Sgs3 will have aggressive pricing policy which makes it cheaper than HTC one X after availability.



Both are masterpiece of the new technology but if something is inferior why not accept it ?

you will understand this only if you see it from a technical point of view (which i expect you wont if you are a fanboy)
so keep your "nothing special" and your htc fan boyism with yourself.

after around 1.7 years on xda fiinally crossed 10000 posts along with 5000 thanks feels nice :good::good:

guys the print price on 32gb s3 box is Rs39990, so that meanz 36-37 will be the bargain price, now many of u might ask for source, went to bluedart office to collect my courier, there was a huge samsung package i which s3 was packed in seethrough foil and so i hpnd to see the price. the box is diffrent from the international box. it a big one lyk the s2. cheer

and yes even saw 16gb version, was a strange thing cause samsung told they wont be launching that version. anywayz the price was Rs35520/-