Better, faster: Samsung’s 4G LTE Galaxy S3 reviewed

One thing you may not like, however, is the battery life, which only manages to survive a day through regular use, such as downloading from the web, social networking, making calls, sending messages, checking email, and playing a game or two.

A day of life isn’t amazing, and from what we saw, the screen seemed to kill the battery more quickly than anything else, so if you’re looking for ways to conserve power, we’d start with turning the brightness down and move on from there.

We also noticed that the screen is a touch more slippery on this model than the 3G model. We’re not actually sure why this is the case, as the technology shouldn’t have changed, though it’s possible the coating has.

It’s worth noting, that with the slick plastic back already in use on the Galaxy S3, you may find that the now slippery front causes the handset to fall from your hands if held loosely.

Outside of the battery and screen, Samsung has made a change that we’re not too enthused by, including an icon dock that can’t be changed. It’s one of those odd things that actually worked in the 3G S3, but for some reason doesn’t work here.

We hope you like using phone, contacts, messaging, internet, and the apps menu, because in the version of Android we tried on the 4G Galaxy S3, you can’t change them.

This probably comes from some of the odd changes that Samsung has made with regards to the “home screen mode” section of the device, offering first-time users of Android an easy way to get accustomed to how home screens actually work.

Strangely, there are basic and easy modes, but no advanced mode, which we suspect would give us this level of customisation.

Conclusion

Three months on, Samsung’s 4G Galaxy S3 is even better than the first one, managing a handset that feels faster, even if much of it is the same.

Of course, the fourth-generation mobile speeds are blazingly fast, something you’d have to expect, and anyone expecting a first-rate performance will no doubt be pleased, but the phone manages to be an even better experience altogether.

Owners of the first model, the 3G one, will soon find themselves in pleasant company, with Samsung releasing the next version of Android for their handset and making the handset better, although possibly not as fast, as the extra gigabyte of memory in the 4G model probably helps a great deal here.

Still, if you crave the 4G speeds on offer by Telstra and Optus, desire a big screen, and want something that just works, then this is an awesome phone to look at.