Samsung Galaxy S3

The Galaxy S3 was launch on May 01, 2012, and has been our recommended Android smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S3 follows on from the runaway success that was the Samsung Galaxy S2, which won great praise and sold in huge numbers, helping Samsung snag the crown of the biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, and has since been joined by the pared down Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

In the US, it's carried by AT&T Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular, and Cricket. The phone runs on the Android operating system, which is the most widely used mobile platform on Earth.

With 4G LTE support, it supports the fastest connectivity band currently available on smartphones. With 4G via HSPA, it's missing out on LTE speeds, but has extended battery life over LTE models. The Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE is the updated version, with a new wireless chip to support EE's 4G network, putting it on par with the 4G-enabled iPhone 5.

Display

The Galaxy S3 has a 4.8 inch Super AMOLED screen, making it 20% larger than an average smartphone screen. The screen has a resolution of 1,280 pixels by 720 pixels, giving it 306 pixels-per-inch of screen, which means it's 31% sharper than an average screen. The phone can also connect to an external display through an HDMI adapter via its microUSB input.

Battery Life

The Galaxy S3 has an advertised talk time of 22 hours, which is significantly longer than the average of 7 hours. In terms of battery capacity, which is the best indicator of overall battery life, it holds 2,100 mAh, a massive battery capacity for a smartphone.  

Dimensions and Design

The phone's body is 136.65 mm high, 70.61 mm wide, and has a depth of 8.64 mm, 1,820% thicker than an average smartphone.

With a weight of 133 grams, its weight is about average for a smartphone.

Processor and Memory

This phone houses a quad core Samsung Exynos 4 Quad 4412, or Snapdragon S4 Dual core processor with LTE and 2GB ram processor.

Its CPU runs at 1.4 GHz, which is somewhat faster than average for a smartphone CPU.

1,024 MB of RAM means that it has more memory than an average smartphone, which will boost overall phone peformance.

The phone uses a touch screen keypad to capture user input, which is standard on most modern smartphones.

Camera 
It has a 1.9 megapixel front camera and a 8 megapixel primary (rear) camera. It can capture 1080p high definition video with its primary camera, which is second only to 4K in terms of recording quality.

Storage 
The base model of the Galaxy S3 offers 16 GB of internal storage, making it a good choice for storing a moderate amount of media. If 16 GB isn't enough, you can expand its storage by up to 64 GB via microSD and microSDHC.