Great descent phone

I've been using this phone for a week, seems descent but not really blown away. Coming from an HTC inspire user this phone needs some getting used to.
The good- big screen, lightweight, fast with minimal lag. has lots of options/setting.fast multiple camera shots, notification lights has different colors for different messages. picture in picture in video mode but not for youtube, expandable memory and battery. solid design. phone cases adds bulk.

The bad- battery life could be better, one setting fit to screen zoom in web browser, map loads differently,auto correct takes longer to use. camera takes descent pictures HTC yakes better photos, slow response auto zoom camera. difficult to hold while texting.

overall its a nice phone

Nice big screen and that's really all it has going for it.

I had a Droid X and I use an iPad so comparing the Samsung Galaxy SIII includes those devices. Battery life is pretty bad...definitely need a car charger and maybe a recharge device, too, especially if you like a screen bright enough to actually see: the battery manager makes the screen really dim, especially for the internet...had to turn it off.

More app options than for Apple devices, but many of them are poor.

Device does not have as simple management for settings as Apple devices, and the Apple devices make it easier to actually turn off applications with the OS, instead of having to find an app to do it, or go into the task manager to turn off apps, as in the Droid devices.

My Droid X and the iPad both have better cameras than the SIII. That is a disappointment. My Droid X takes photos as nice as a camera with amazing detail when one zooms in on the picture. The photos on the SIII are not worth the time to take them: they are grainy and dull in appearance.

The phone feels flimsy and kind of cheap compared to the other devices, so a protective case is probably something to seriously consider.

The voice for text-to-speech in the Samsung program SVoice is pretty awful: a robotic sounding female voice that really is just annoying, IMHO. There are limited options for modifying the voice, none of them good. There are no options to replace that voice, and according to my research, many users just turn it off, which defeats the purpose of the program.

The size is an issue for people with small hands: it is not a comfortable fit and takes getting used to. The bigger screen is nice, though, so it is a trade off. However, the size combined with the placement of control buttons is an annoying problem: volume control is directly opposite to the power button: I either hit volume control when trying to put the phone to sleep, or put the phone to sleep when trying to adjust the volume. This is just bad design because the phone is so big there was plenty of room to move one of them someplace else!

The phone is faster than my 3 year old Droid X, but speed in internet is affected by the connection one has, too. Is the minor difference worth the large price tag? Only you can decide that...

I will keep the new phone, but if my Droid X was not limited to Verizon, I would not. I actually love that Droid X, and I am not in love with the SIII. At home, I will still use my iPad.

Great phone. Don't be surprised if your laptop pc starts collecting dust.

Not quite as user friendly as iPhone5, but has more features at a lower price. No longer tied to "Apple world". This phone is really easy to reconfigure for alternative carriers, like Straight Talk. I get unlimited 4g for $45 a month, no jailbreaking required. I am having a problem with getting music apps other than Google Play Music to play music from Play Store. They only recognize music that is uploaded from a computer or my old iPhone4. Battery life is pretty good for such a big screen and fast processor. Web browsing is crazy fast, faster than my laptop. The camera is excellent, and the huge screen is great. I do wish they had done a little more with the design. It looks like every other android phone on the market, with the huge screen being its most dominant feature. It looks a little plasticky and fragile, but feels surprisingly sturdy in the hand. Pictures don't do the pebble blue color justice. It looks kind of ugly in the pictures, but it actually has a silvery metallic look that is much nicer than you would expect.

Great Phone!! Fast, Reliable, Great Form Factor, and Excellent battery life

For those of you looking for a great LTE (HSPA+ or "4G" overseas) the Galaxy S iii is well worth it (upgrade or retail price). It is easy to sync (even for you iTunes users), Fast in for browsing and offline use. The phone has plenty of RAM for multitasking (2 Gb), and a beast of a processor (1.5ghz dual-core snapdragon). The camera isn't half bad either (8MP). It is extremely light-weight, and features an incredible 4.8'' AMOLED display. Some features I love are:

Kies Air - allows you to retrieve media (txt messages etc...) off the phone by wirelessly sharing a wi-fi signal with your computer at home.
Smart Stay - Recognizes your eyes when fixed on the screen to avoid annoying timeouts (when display turns black after some time without use).
Android's "Google Now" - this is the most responsive and forgiving voice activation I have ever used. In my opinion, it blows Siri out of the water (with JellyBean update).
Burst photo mode - I can press and hold to activate the rapid shutter speed for multiple photo's in fast succession.
Quick Contact access - Allows me type swipe right on a contact to call the immediately, or left to text.
- Side note - you can also call someone when in the middle of a text by just raising the phone to your ear when inside a message thread.

Then of course you have the famous "S Beam" and "All-cast". As some of you know from the commercials, s-beam uses NFC (near field communication) allowing you to share media when in close range with another capable samsung device. All-Cast. All-cast allows you to wirelessly share displays with a monitor or TV. This is great for watching your shows when you're not at home.

I can go on... and on....

This device is totally worth it. However, it still hasn't dropped much in price. You can find similar phones for cheaper (both retail and upgrade). For example, the LG Optimus G (ranked the #1 smartphone by Consumer Reports currently). Although, you will miss out on some of those exclusive Samsung Features. Do your research =)

Brandon Sanders (AT&T employee)

Real user experience (read it and make your own choice)

Pros:
-Very fast and responsive (2 GB RAM real feel)
-Nice screen, but not mind blowing
-Wonderful camera for 8 MP
-Great call quality
-Almost native android experience
-High quality feel
And lots more...

Cons:
-Average battery life, especially after Jelly Bean update
-The space between the bottom of the screen and the capacitive buttons is unnecessarily large.
-Case is definitely not scratch resistant, not even one bit. You will need an otterbox otherwise it'll be all scratched in a minute.
-Even minimum brightness is really high, so at night you'll hurt your eyes and even waste some battery time. Still there are some apps to lower screen brightness.
-A bit expensive compared to other high end phones.
-Some of the features of the phone drain the battery very fast, so you'll end up not using them.

Does it worth the money?:
If you really get stressed with slow phones (like me) then you will enjoy and value your purchase, if not, you might want to check other phones a little bit less expensive but keeping key features.