[HTC Rezound] Serinety:
I just came to post about this very subject.

I got my s3 on Monday (the 9th)

First let me start by saying, I have always wanted to like samsung devices. I tried with the captivate on att (hated it) tried again with the droid charge (hated it less, but still hated it) and now again with the S3.

I have always had great experiences with HTC phones. My first phone ever was an HTC incredible. I never had a smart phone prior, and i really had no idea what smart phones were. I was blown away by the incredible. Since then, I have owned the Thunderbolt, Dinc2, and Rezound (for HTC phones).

So in order, I went

Captivate (Att)

Dinc (vzw)

Thunderbolt (vzw)

Dinc2 (vzw)

Charge (vzw)

Rezound (vzw)

S3 (vzw)

I have had friends with moto phones. Bionic and Droid x and Dx2, my mom has a razr.

I feel like I have dealt with most all of the phones being offered by vzw, and a smattering of phones from other carriers.

The reason I never liked my samsung devices was not due to design or function (more on that later) but because of radio issues.

The Captivate had severe GPS issues that Att refused to deal with. It essentially could not get a GPS lock of you were moving, and even if stopped it was a crap shoot.

The droid charge was almost as bad. many times trying to navigate the sacramento area would it not locate me properly or in a timely manner.

Samsung does one thing very very well, and that is their displays. Touchwiz is OK.. but I prefer sense. their design is also okay, they tend to go with sleek and fancy, while HTC usually tries to go with solid and functional.

All of my HTC devices have always been beast phones. the dinc needs no introduction, we all know it was amazing. The tbolt had its battery issues.. but it was still beastly (although the kickstand placment made charging impossible if you used it.. lame HTC) . The rezound is easily the best device I have ever used. No need to go into it, but it just works.. ya heat issues suck, and battery life could be better, but its an amazing device.

All that being said, I was ready to dislike the S3 when I got it.

Well, My first impressions blew me away. The thing is... jaw dropping. The new Touchwiz (while no sense 4) is pretty decent and getting the job done. The screen.. omg the screen. It is VERY fast, VERY fluid.. It has so many little awe inspiring things, its hard to put them all in this post (hand swipe screen shots?! awesome!)

But like many of you, my MAIN concern is the radios. How do they stack up?

i have always had signal issues at my house. i have never been able to make phone calls unless I went outside, and even then it was spotty. Sacramento has 4g, yet it normally eludes me when I am at my house.

When I got the rezound, like all my other phones, I had no signal here (barley... if I put it in the window, stood on my head, put tin foil on my toes and made my wife dance in circles, I might get 1 bar of 4g). Then vzw pushed that radio update and all the sudden I have 4 bars of 4g at my house! hell yes!

The gps on the rezound is awesome , you alll know that.

so, how does the S3 compare to the rezound in the area of radios? Well I did some testing and this is what I have to say.

The S3 radio sucks... it is on par with the rest of the phones I have had here, so Im not going to say that its worse than other phones, but it is CERTAINLY not better.. and its a far cry from the rezound.

Here are some screen shots of the signal strength .

both shots taken from the same place at the same time.

The Rezound - 82dbm

The S3 - 117dbm (wow.. really?)

I was trying to call vzw to discuss this problem, but the call dropped 3 times in a row. I was very sad.

Now onto the GPS. Historically , the GPS on samsung devices is -bad-. but it looks like the S3 gets it right. Again, screen shots are done standing out in my backyard, open view to the sky.

The Rezound (good like usual)

And the S3 - Actaully better than the rezound, wow.

In use, the S3 locks on my location in 1 second or less with out issue, even when driving down the road at 70mph. I have yet to have location issues with it.

In conclusion.

The S3 is a beautiful phone. It has so many features that are just amazing you really have to play with it to see. It just cool.. it really is. but these radio issues are going to trouble me, and I may end up returning it and going back to my rezound. we will see what happens.

ya, the boot loader is locked too, there is a work around, and people have gotten root on it, but I have not tried it yet. I want to use it stock for a while to get a good idea how it functions before I start rooting and romming.

I hope this helps some of you . If you have strong 4g service and have never had an issue, then you are not going to have an issue with your s3. It really is a next gen device. Samsung has really produced a quality product that , in my opinion, is better than the Iphone. The screen is -to die for-.

Cheers.

-Serinety