WHAT’S YOUR HANDSET OF 2012?

WHAT’S YOUR HANDSET OF 2012?

Season’s Greetings, Synapse Circuit Readers!

Yes! We have survived the Apocalypse! Whoo hoo! It’s great to see you as always! I hope that by now you have done all your preparations for the Christmas holidays! And, hey, if you are still wondering about Christmas presents you are still able to buy some decent software that you can download instantly online! So, don’t panic! Check out Synapse Circuit magazines for some great ideas! Wink, wink! Lol!

THE HANDSET OF 2012: SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII

I have to say that I think that the Samsung Galaxy SIII is the handset of the year! Whenever I review a top of the range Samsung Android handset and give it back I miss it like I don’t know what to say... A girlfriend? Hahaha! From the time I tried out the Galaxy S, SII and lately SIII, I have become a Samsung Android disciple! For me, the Galaxy S series of handsets have been vital in my being a tech writer! The Galaxy S was like having a computer in my pocket and now the SIII was very much the equivalent of Intel introducing the dual-core from the Pentium! Wow! As you may or may not know, I am the proud owner of the Galaxy S, SII and Note II! What? What’s that you say? The Note II and not the SIII? I will tell why I made the decision in a bit...

When the Galaxy SIII was introduced I was taken aback... I didn’t know what to make of the design; I was expecting something like the Galaxy SII and the SIII design was quite radical! And it wasn’t in black as I had become accustomed to! Pebble Blue and Marble White???? I wasn’t sure! I thought these colours were decidedly odd! The handset looked like a piece of cheap plastic – albeit from a distance. However, when a fresh virgin Marble White Galaxy SIII was delivered to my door I was thrilled! It did look like something out of the future. The plastic looked far from cheap! Like all the Galaxy S series the SIII felt like a weird bar of soap! I had to be careful not to drop it it’s so smooth!

It took me a while to get used to handling the SIII; the one thing I would hate is to tell Samsung’s PR that I’ve busted a high-end handset! The worst part of handling the SIII is where taking pictures and videos were concerned; it’s just too thin for a burly man with big burly gorilla man hands! But once I got comfortable I was able to take great pictures and videos! You will almost certainly benefit from getting a case for it that will not only protect the massive 4.8 screen but make it easier to handle for taking pictures, etc.

OPERATIONS
I just appreciated how the SIII worked from S Voice – yes, the S Voice works quite well for basic functions. Receive a text and instead of replying via text just put the phone to your ear and it’ll start calling that person! Excellent!

I enjoyed the speed of the 1.4 quad core CPU which turned in fast results when surfing the Net both WiFi and 3G!

The video playing over any screen was great! Sure, you can get that function via an app but it’s good that you don’t have to! Also watching video is a superb experience with that lovely screen!

And the Smart Stay eye recognition was more than a novelty! It really works – in good lighting conditions!  So, why did I opt for the Galaxy Note II instead?

THE SECOND HANDSET OF 2012: SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE II

Well, the Galaxy Note II is a superlative handset; it’s just like the SIII only bigger! The 1.6 GHz quad core processor just shifts! YouTube video is a breeze; the Internet is zippy and TouchWiz is the best yet! It works so very well – it’s responsive! The combination of TouchWiz & Jelly Bean 4.1 is sublime! I used to think that Samsung ought to run Jelly Bean vanilla, but the Galaxy Note II is a good argument against it! So many people use launchers anyway i.e. Go Launcher, Nova, Apex, etc.

The S Pen is a great addition that allows you to preview the contents of a folder, gallery, etc without touching the screen! It’s easy to preview a video ahead before you get to get to those specific frames!

Then there’s the multitasking... You can have two windows opened at the same time... Email and the Internet... Facebook works in the multiview mode now! It is fantastic!

I think that anyone who does business who uses email and the Internet heavily then the Galaxy Note II is the way to go! I know people who have the first Note who are absolutely thrilled with it as a business device!

I also appreciate the S Note and that one can create some interesting documents. It has the possibility to add video to the Notes but you can’t (unless I have missed something) export to Interactive PDF whereby a video playing within the PDF is possible. I assume that Samsung are banking upon the S Note format becoming popular so that other Note users can share with each other. However, PDF documents can be created and can be edited in suitable software such as InDesign or PagePlus!

The only negative – if you can call it a negative - that I can think of, like most reviewers, is the huge 5.5” screen! Some may find the handset too big, but I love it! The screen is quite vibrant when you turn up the brightness which drains the battery! But a moderate setting will have the 3100 mAh battery lasting a day and a half with light usage! The good thing about the battery is that it charges in roughly an hour! It’s all good!

It also has a whopping 16GB (32 & 64GB on other models) of storage that can be expanded with microSD up to 64GB and 2GB of RAM!!!!

So, there you have it! The Galaxy SIII and Note II are, in my opinion, the best handsets going!

Oh, I have heard that there’s a problem with some SIII units that go dead all of a sudden... I am sure Samsung will either fix or replace faulty handsets! I’ve not heard of any issues with UK users – yet!

Thank you for reading!

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