Samsung Galaxy S III

From Legacy Portable Computing Wiki
Samsung S III in Garnet Red turned off, front
Samsung S III in Pebble Blue, front

The Samsung Galaxy S III (also known as the Galaxy S3) is a flagship smartphone released by Samsung in May 2012. It is the main representative among the Galaxy S series's 3rd generation phones.

It sports a rounded design, being made out of plastic and, unlike its predecessor, has a (mostly) consistent design across all variants of the S III. It was planned to release with a ceramic design, shown in Pebble Blue as a prototype in February of 2012, but was scrapped in favor of a plastic design because it "did not perfectly reproduce the S III's fundamental design concept creating an aesthetic that was inconsistent with the planned product".[1] The Galaxy S III was initially available in two colors: Pebble Blue and Marble White, with color variants Amber Brown, Garnet Red, Sapphire Black, Titanium Grey[2], La Fleur Red (with pink flower back design)[3], Amethyst Purple (Sprint US exclusive)[4] and Martian Pink (South Korea exclusive limited edition)[5] being released later on.

It comes with a completely new user interface nicknamed TouchWiz Nature UX. The interface went under a complete design overhaul, straying further away from the generic AOSP look, and came bundled with more interactive elements such as animations and UI effects.

Most review aggregators have highly praised the phone, becoming the best smartphone of 2012 and overall the best-selling phone of the Galaxy S series, making it to 80 million units at the end of the 2010s.

Related phones

Variants

International variants

Models Description
GT-i9300(a)(t) International variant (different versions have different bands).
GT-i9305 International variant with LTE.

Korean variants

Models Carrier Description
SHW-M440S
Galaxy S3 3G
SKT SK Telecom exclusive, has 1GB of RAM and no DMB support
SHV-E210S SKT Has a T-DMB tuner instead of an FM tuner, and it is slightly thicker at 9mm.
SHV-E210K KT
SHV-E210L LG U+

North American variants

Caption text
Models Carriers
SCH-R530c Cricket (CDMA)
SCH-R530 U.S Cellular (CDMA)
SCH-R530M MetroPCS (CDMA)
SCH-i535 Verizon Wireless (CDMA)
SPH-L710 Sprint (CDMA)
SGH-i747 AT&T (GSM)
SGH-T999(L) T-Mobile (GSM)
SCH-S968C TracFone (CDMA)

Japanese variants

Models Carrier Description
SC-06D
SGH-N064
NTT DoCoMo Supports 1-seg and FeliCa/Osaifu-Keitai.
SC-03E
SGH-N035
Galaxy S III α
NTT DoCoMo Revised variant of the SC-06D, although swaps the Snapdragon S4 Plus for a Exynos 4412.
SCL21
SCH-J021
Galaxy S III Progre
au by KDDI Comes with a different design and supports 1-seg and FeliCa/Osaifu-Keitai.

Chinese variant

Model Carrier Description
GT-i9308 China Mobile G3-branded, has TD-SCDMA support.
SCH-I939 China Telecom E-surfing branded, has CDMA support.
SCH-I939D China Telecom Dual-SIM variant of the I939, supporting both GSM and CDMA dual-standby, and runs Android 4.1 instead of 4.0.

Neo

  • GT-I9300I
  • GT-I9301I

Specs

Basics

GT-i9300a SGH-i747SGH-T999
HW Platform/ChipsetSamsung Exynos 4412 Quad
1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 quad core
Qualcomm MSM8960 (Snapdragon S4 Plus)
1.5 GHz Krait dual-core
Qualcomm MSM8960 (Snapdragon S4 Plus)
1.5 GHz Krait dual-core
Media DSP/GPUMali-400MP4Adreno 225Adreno 225
SW Platform/OSAndroid 4.0.4, TouchWiz Nature UX
Upgradable to Android 4.3
Android 4.0, TouchWiz Nature UX
Upgradable to Android 4.4.2
Android 4.0, TouchWiz Nature UX
Upgradable to Android 4.3
Display 720 x 1280
AMOLED
Capacitive multitouch
720 x 1280
AMOLED
Capacitive multitouch
720 x 1280
AMOLED
Capacitive multitouch
LED IndicatorRGB notification LEDRGB notification LEDRGB notification LED
SensorsAccelerometer
Barometer
Compass
Gyroscope
Proximity
Accelerometer
Barometer
Compass
Gyroscope
Proximity
Accelerometer
Barometer
Compass
Gyroscope
Proximity
Flash memory16 GB
32 GB
64 GB
16 GB16 GB
32 GB
RAM1 GB2 GB2 GB
Memory card slotmicroSDXCmicroSDXDmicroSDXD
Charging and data connectormicroUSB (MHL TV-out)
OTG capable
microUSB (MHL TV-out)
OTG capable
microUSB (MHL TV-out)
OTG capable
Regulatory infoFCC ID: A3LGTI9300A (approved 2012-05-14)FCC ID: A3LSGHI747 (approved 2012-05-26)

Connectivity

GT-i9300a SGH-i747SGH-T999
Operating modesGSM (850/900/1800/1900)
HSDPA (850/900/1900/2100)
GSM (850/900/1800/1900)
HSDPA (850/1900/2100)
4G (4, 17)
GSM (850/900/1800/1900)
HSDPA (850/1700/1900/2100)
4G (4, 27)*
DataHSPA 21.1HSPA 21.1, LTEHSPA 21.1, LTE*
*LTE is not enabled on the T999, but LTE functionality is still present, enabled on the T999L variant
WLAN802.11 a/b/g/n802.11 a/b/g/n802.11 a/b/g/n
SIM sizeMicro SIMMicro SIMMicro SIM
IrDANoNoNo
Bluetooth4.04.04.0
PC LinkMass storage
Samsung Kies
Mass storageMass storage
Data tetheringBluetooth, USB, WLANBluetooth, USB, WLANBluetooth, USB, WLAN

Input

All Galaxy S3 models
Input methodsSamsung keyboard
Google voice typing
Touch screen5-point(?) capacitive multitouch
Soft keysPhysical "home" key
Capacitive "menu" and "back" keys
Side keysPower and volume keys

Media

All Galaxy S3 models
Rear camera8 MP (3264 x 2448) with AF; single LED flash
Video recordingFull HD (1920 x 1080) with stereo audio
Front camera1.9 MP (1392 x 1392)
Supported image formatsBMP, GIF, JPG, PNG
Supported sound formatsAMR, AAC, AC3, FLAC, IMY, MIDI, MP3, MXMF, WAV
Supported video formatsDivX, H.264, MP4, XviD, WMV
Speaker configurationEar speaker and loudspeaker
Line out3.5mm stereo jack with mic
SynthesizerSONiVOX Common, with reverb
ExtrasPolaris Office 4.0
"Paper Artist" photo editor
S Memo
Voice recorder

Messaging

All Galaxy S3 models
SMSYes
EMSNo
MMSYes
EmailYes (built-in email client plus Gmail)

Pre-loaded content

Apps

GT-i9308

  • Weibo
  • Fetion
  • Customer Service
  • 10086 "mobile portal"
  • 139 Mailbox
  • 咪咕音乐 (Migu Music)
  • 手机阅读 (Mobile reader)
  • 随e行 (Travel with e)
  • 移动游戏大厅 (Mobile Game Lobby)
  • 手机导航 (Mobile navigation)
  • 号簿管家 (Directory manager)
  • 手机视频 (Mobile Video)
  • MM商场 (MM Mall)

Gallery

Garnet Red

Pebble Blue

Accessories

Batteries

Chargers

  • Any microUSB cable

Headsets

  • Any 3.5mm headsets

Trivia

  • As of September 2023, this is still one of the available devices in the Roblox Studio Device Emulator[6], even though Roblox no longer supports Android 4.x.
  • As of October 2023, WhatsApp is no longer supported on any of the stock S III Android versions, as it no longer runs on anything below Android 5.[7]

References