Galaxy S3 - First impression & Questions

[rafian]

Dear Members,

I just purchased a brand new Samsung Galaxy S3 (pebble blue). I bought it in India - I am assuming it's International version. This is my first Android phone. Here's my first impression.

- Awesome phone - Everything is great about this phone:
- Stunning looks
- Great screen
- Graphics - resolution, speed, clarity...
- Good battery life
- Out of the box apps
- Good audio quality
- V.good phone voice quality - both ways
- Average music player
- Excellent microphone (voice memos recording is of v.good quality)
- Fairly good voice-to-text application
- Good Camera
- Good video capture

I installed Samsung Kies software. It prompted for a firmware update (PDA:LFB / Phone:LF3 / CSC:LF3 (INU)). I ok'd it. Kies took an hour to download and install. Installer completed successfully.

I am listen to music a lot. The sound quality seems to be good. The volume is low through the headphones though. The speaker is loud enough for my needs. Looks like the tiny built-in headphone amp is not configured well enough to drive high impedance headphones.

The voice quality during phone calls - both ways - is very good. I feel dialing numbers could have been faster.

The Kies sync software is very slow. The music manager is very very slow. It sucks big time. I am unable to create playlists on my PC and copy it to the phone. I am forced to create playlists on my phone.

Kies takes up most of my CPU power. I desperately need to switch to a better Sync software, especially for music.

In case if you have any questions for this new S3 user feel free to shoot.

Questions:
- What are my options - for a better music sync application ?
- What are my options - for a better music player ?
- How can I read/send messages (sms) from my PC through my phone?
- Is there a way to find out if the phone indeed has wolfson's DAC?
- How do I send a contact as a vCard, text-message or mms? Surprisingly I am not able to figure this out. In all other phones this feature stares at you.

Thanks,
Rafian

 

[Ballymoss]

I am listen to music a lot. The sound quality seems to be good. The volume is low through the headphones though.

When you open Music Player click the bottom left button and it will give you a range of options for music quality. Click them until you find one that suits you - "Externalisation" or "Cafe" are best.

 

[rafian]

When you open Music Player click the bottom left button and it will give you a range of options for music quality. Click them until you find one that suits you - "Externalisation" or "Cafe" are best.

I tried the different EQ settings and Externalization. I am unable to get the volume of sound I desire. As a workaround I am using a low impedance headphone at full volume. That helps but I usually don't like to max out the volume control.

Now more than a good music player I need to find a good sync software. Kies is terribly slow, uses almost 100% CPU and doesn't allow me to do some basic things like create playlist and push it to the phone, pick up new tracks from my library folders (perhaps thru a reload option, if not automatically).

I tried Kies Air. The wireless feature with browser (java) interface is cool but it's even slower.

Thanks for replying to this thread.

 

[dmanindfw]

I believe there is an app called Volume + or look for an equalizer app that allows you to boost the sound level.

It sounds like you have the international version of the phone. From my understanding the international version has volume limiting circuit to comply with some European standard that dictates volume levels...I assume to protect your hearing. I don't know that for a FACT, but believe I had read that on another post here.

 

[rafian]

Thanks for that piece of info.

Meanwhile, I found answers to two of my questions.
- How do you send a contact by sms
Goto contacts -> Find the contact you wish to send -> Press and hold that contact -> A pop-up menu comes up -> there you find options to send contact info (via email, sms, etc.,)

- How to send sms from your PC
Use the terribly slow Kies Air. It allows you to send sms from your PC through the phone.

Besides this, I also found couple of more features that the folks probably know already.
- You can call a contact straight from the list of contacts by sliding on a contact from right to left.
- You can send a sms to a contact straight from the list of contacts by sliding on a contact from right to left.
These features let you send sms or make a call a bit quickly.

Hope the community finds this info useful.

Thanks.