Would I be mad to get an s3 now?

[Guest RedMBristol]

Just want a few opinions if I could please. I've always like the Samsung s3 but never had one. Would I be totally crazy to take one out on a 2 year contract now, it's already an 'old' but very good phone, what will it be like in 2 years time, would I regret it ?

I suppose I like it cosmetically and it's so easy to get cases and covers for. I'd love an s4 or even better a note 2 or 3 but want to stay as low budget as possible but still have a considerable upgrade from what I have now. I get bored with phones easily so this one would have to be a keeper.

Right now I have a Huawei g510, less than a year old. I got it outright and use a 3 monthly sim in it, phone was £150 and sim under £7 a month. I don't play games really or watch lots of video. I quite like using my phone to take photos though. I also like a big screen, have 4.5" now, wouldn't want less, happy to go bigger!

Would an s3 be a noticeable upgrade for me, and an affordable one. I don't think I'd want 4g or anything. I use mainly wifi and not a heavy data user. Would a s3 still be decent-ish in a couple of years time? They seem to have held thir price well and are popular.

Please reply, be honest. Would you take an S3 now?!!!

[Guest taife32]

Well it's a tough question on my side since I'm always chasing new tech. I currently own both the S3 and S4. The S3 is still a seriously decent device. The only thing is that Android 4.4.2 is probably the last update it will get officially.

If you know and not afraid of rooting your device then the official updates don't matter too much as it will be supported by the developer community for sometime to come. It's a good phone no doubt.

[Guest WubWubWub]

I own my SIII for 3 days. I'm a very demanding user, and I loved the S4 as the SIII too. One friend of mine, bought the S4 some weeks ago. I don't see huge differences and I can say (as always I whine cause others have a better phone than me, which mine is crap) BUT, man it's the first time I'm so happy with my phone even in comparisson with the S4. I play whatever demanding I want, I take cool and clear photos, I never had issues with the ram. If you have the money buy the S4 (or wait for the S5). Otherwise buy the SIII, it rocks, and it has a lot of roms and kernels that give the option to overclock not only the CPU but the GPU too (from the stock 400 up to 700Mhz giving nearly 50 fps in the benchmarks!).

 

Even if the S4 prices fall in some months after the rumored S5 is released, buying now the SIII won't dissapoint you for the next 1-2 years. Or it maybe last longer (I mean if it can cope with the "then new" games).

What you will miss from the SIII that SIV has (extra features that you play for the first week, then you never use them after it):

• IR remote (ok maybe it's handful sometimes)
• Glance sensor that pause the video after you turn your eyes from the device and it play it again after you look at the device
• One feature that you select links, scroll etc with out touching the screen (it really sucks lol)
• Temperature sensor
• Humidity sensor
• Gestures (wtf)

What you may really miss

• 2GB RAM (Consider that the sensors are memory hungry, so actually there is no such difference
• A better GPU
• LTE (depends the device version for your country)

 

So I would still prefer the SIII even if SIV has a better GPU.  What? Oh the CPU? 8 cores? Really man? You wont see any difference,there is no actual practical use
(don't make me to say the same for the 4 quads too). The speed? Cmon, the first powerful cpu has 1,6 while the SIII has 1,4. Overclock it to 1,6 or 1,7 just to say you have a faster clock than the SIV.

 

SIII SIII SIII now! It's cheap, powerful and it will take the 4.4 Kit Kat version which is a way faster and lighter OS. Go for it!

Edited February 4, 2014 by WubWubWub