Compare, contrast, opinions: GSIII vs EVO 4G LTE / Sprint-CDMA-S4 only

[NeoteriX]

AnandTech's review of the SGIII is out:

AnandTech - Samsung Galaxy S III Review - AT&T and T-Mobile USA Variants

As I’ve mentioned before, the device and form factor has grown on me considerably. I still wish the back was textured, instead of being the slick plastic that it is, and I still think that HTC has won the industrial design category this time. That said, there’s nothing overtly wrong with the phone. I hate idioms, but beauty really is in the eye of the beholder here, and while SGS3 isn’t a supermodel, it isn’t bad to look at either. You have to look at what else you gain with this type of design versus the competition - a big notification LED, real microSD card slot, removable battery, and easily accessible microSIM port. In addition, the large battery door grants you the opportunity to use extended batteries with an aftermarket battery door. These are things you lose if you move to some of the other space age form factors that might look and feel better, but ultimately aren’t expandable or customizable at all. It is just another tradeoff.

In the USA, the competition is primarily shipping phones based on the same SoC, and the result is the same level of UI snappiness and performance between the SGS3 USA and the One X (AT&T), EVO 4G LTE, and One S. Ultimately what will drive people to prefer one over the other will be the features around the edges, like camera, display, onboard storage, and expandability. The SGS3 takes some of the best video around, the largest display in its category, feels as smooth as the competition, and has expandable storage. Unfortunately where it does seem to lag behind is in the ever important in-hand feel, still camera capture (which has improved, but HTC's One camera comes out just ahead in low light), and HD SAMOLED with PenTile is still a divisive thing for some enthusiasts, in spite of how hard it is to notice on devices like SGS3. Overall I'm very positive about SGS3's prospects, however. There’s no doubt in my mind that SGS3 will be just as successful as its predecessors, if not more so.

 

[novox77]

Leaked Doc Reveals White HTC EVO 4G LTE Headed To Sprint

I think a white version makes it without a doubt the better looking phone (i know some people were on the fence about the design of the Evo.)

The white version would mask much of the fingerprints on the plastic part of the back.

 

[CriticalCritic]

I think a white version makes it without a doubt the better looking phone (i know some people were on the fence about the design of the Evo.)

Try a full-body skin (the kind that applies to the back panels of the device). I've been liking mine a lot more since I put one on. The whole back is now a dark and glossy black with very little difference in shading.

 

[mak916]

Aaron from Phonedog does a Dog Fight.

Samsung Galaxy S III vs. HTC EVO 4G LTE Dogfight Part 1 - YouTube!

Samsung Galaxy S III vs. HTC EVO 4G LTE Dogfight Part 2 - YouTube

 

[Complex757]

I didn't really understand his dogfight and how Samsung won. He seemed to gloss over stuff that maybe swayed his opinion.

 

[mak916]

I didn't really understand his dogfight and how Samsung won. He seemed to gloss over stuff that maybe swayed his opinion.

I honestly think it should have been a tie, or Aaron should have explained in detail why he felt the GS3 won. He seems to be a bit biased toward the GS3. I have been watching many of his reviews lately and he seems to favor the GS3 a lot.

 

[swazedahustla]

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs HTC One X test video - YouTube

Video comparison.......from the looks of it the EVO 4G LTE has the better video camera. That dogfight was pretty lame, if anything its a wash.

 

[NeoteriX]

Video comparison.......from the looks of it the EVO 4G LTE has the better video camera. That dogfight was pretty lame, if anything its a wash.

What are your reasons for thinking the HTC had better video?

I didn't watch too closely, but at a minimum, it's a known fact that the GS3 is recording at a higher bitrate and more complex encoding profile for video.

 

[i.have.droid]

Broke my EVO screen . Still works but is a pain to use.

Anyway, I see an S3 or LTEvo in my near future. I'm, leaning towards S3..it seems like it may be taking over the Droid market..maybe I am crazy, but it is the vibe I get from the research I am doing.

I won't cry if I get the EVO though..just sounds like it needs root and the multitask issue is not going away. I think rooting is no good unless you are way into phones. I need my phone for texting, phone calls, web use..a lot of people in root forums dont seem to care about those things as much as me.

 

[EarlyMon]

Broke my EVO screen . Still works but is a pain to use.

Anyway, I see an S3 or LTEvo in my near future. I'm, leaning towards S3..it seems like it may be taking over the Droid market..maybe I am crazy, but it is the vibe I get from the research I am doing.

I won't cry if I get the EVO though..just sounds like it needs root and the multitask issue is not going away. I think rooting is no good unless you are way into phones. I need my phone for texting, phone calls, web use..a lot of people in root forums dont seem to care about those things as much as me.

Samsung has more manufacturing and marketing capacity than HTC, it's practically a foregone conclusion that the SGS3 will outsell the One X variants, in total.

Both phones will sell in sufficient numbers on Sprint to be fully supported by the dev community, fwiw.

Not sure what else to say about "taking over the Droid market."

I'm happy with my LTEvo and don't see how you can go far wrong with either phone.

I find call quality on mine to be rather exceptional.

 

[mak916]

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs HTC One X test video - YouTube

Video comparison.......from the looks of it the EVO 4G LTE has the better video camera. That dogfight was pretty lame, if anything its a wash.

I don't know if I can say the One X camera is better than the GS3. I think they both have their strengths and weakness. In the beginning of the video, I think the One X is a little too dark for me. When the man went inside his job, the GS3 was a little yellow as he said. It all depends on how you like your pictures. Either way, we are all getting better cameras than we have had in the past.

 

[klipsch]

Aaron from Phonedog does a Dog Fight

I watched this and thought it was a great comparison. Personally...I'll opt for Hardware over Software every time. Software can be upgraded or swapped out for free or a minimal cost.

 

[drexappeal]

I don't know if I can say the One X camera is better than the GS3. I think they both have their strengths and weakness. In the beginning of the video, I think the One X is a little too dark for me. When the man went inside his job, the GS3 was a little yellow as he said. It all depends on how you like your pictures. Either way, we are all getting better cameras than we have had in the past.

One thing I preferred on the One X camera was the audio. The noise isolating on the One X seemed so much better, when watching the video and listening with ear buds. The reviewers voice was more crisp when audio was being fed from the One X vs. the SGS 3 which seemed to accept more outside noise. As for video quality, I actually prefer the SGS 3. It just seemed that the video stabilization was better, IMO.

Nontheless, I love that all of these comparison videos keep coming out. It's really helping me in my decision making, so definitely keep them coming!

 

[i.have.droid]

Samsung has more manufacturing and marketing capacity than HTC, it's practically a foregone conclusion that the SGS3 will outsell the One X variants, in total.

Both phones will sell in sufficient numbers on Sprint to be fully supported by the dev community, fwiw.

Not sure what else to say about "taking over the Droid market."

I'm happy with my LTEvo and don't see how you can go far wrong with either phone.

I find call quality on mine to be rather exceptional.

This is the problem, they are both great phones. I am reading more people with GPS and multitasking issues since the htc is already out. I could go buy a new EVO right now and end the misery of my touchscreen malfunctioning everytime I go to send a text, but I am still curious about the s3.

Of course there is a 14 day return window as well.....

uggh.

 

[EarlyMon]

This is the problem, they are both great phones. I am reading more people with GPS and multitasking issues since the htc is already out. I could go buy a new EVO right now and end the misery of my touchscreen malfunctioning everytime I go to send a text, but I am still curious about the s3.

Of course there is a 14 day return window as well.....

uggh.

Yeah, I really believe that the GPS and multitasking issues are the same memory overflows that are somewhat controllable via configuration of apps, and more so via various rooting choices.

Call me crazy, but should I pick up the SGS3, I'll find something egregious about it only solvable with root - I wouldn't be surprised.

Because everything is just perfect at pre-launch, right?

If it helps any, maybe look at it this way - there's no perfect phone and in fact, there's no "best" phone (actually, a technical fact) - there's only the best phone for you at this point in time.

So, if I were in your shoes, I'd gauge when the Samsung is coming out and take your first chance to hold working models side-by-side and then trust your gut instincts. Don't know about anyone else, but mine have never let me down - if something doesn't feel right, I don't buy it, if it does, I do.

And maybe consider Best Buy - you can still get 30 days to return there, in case there's going to be further delay and surprises on the SGS3 (remember our launch here, ok).

Just some ideas.

 

[i.have.droid]

Yes all good thoughts. I do need to figure out when the Sammy is actually going to come out.

 

[mak916]

One thing I preferred on the One X camera was the audio. The noise isolating on the One X seemed so much better, when watching the video and listening with ear buds. The reviewers voice was more crisp when audio was being fed from the One X vs. the SGS 3 which seemed to accept more outside noise. As for video quality, I actually prefer the SGS 3. It just seemed that the video stabilization was better, IMO.

Nontheless, I love that all of these comparison videos keep coming out. It's really helping me in my decision making, so definitely keep them coming!

I would definitely say the audio was better to me on the One X. With the One X you don't have all that outside noise. This is good where you only want your voice. But I think where the GS3 is good with the audio is if you're at an event, like a sports event, where you want to capture the feel and noise of the crowd. I would like to see this tested on both devices.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

With rumors of 4.1 Jellybean on the horizon, I'm wondering how fast these two phones will get the update. The original Evo went from Eclair (2.1) to Froyo (2.2) in a matter of months, but it took the Epic (Galaxy S) until Feb/March of the next year to get Froyo, well after Gingerbread (2.3) was announced. If you root of course this is a moot issue, but I've always felt that phones need to stand on their own when in comparison.

 

[PyroSporker]

I don't know if I can say the One X camera is better than the GS3. I think they both have their strengths and weakness. In the beginning of the video, I think the One X is a little too dark for me. When the man went inside his job, the GS3 was a little yellow as he said. It all depends on how you like your pictures. Either way, we are all getting better cameras than we have had in the past.

In this particular video I personally preferred the One X in the outdoor shots. It was a little more subdued, but seemed more realistic in my opinion?

The thing that really made my opinion in this video was the sunlight haze filtering through the trees at around timestamp 7 seconds for the Galaxy S III. There could be any number of variables at play (moisture/oil on the glass, humid air, etc.), however, it appears the light metering is different and the One X appears to have better performance at full light and low light, even if it is sort of subdued visually in comparison.
(The One X can be hazy at times as well, but may be better handled overall?
Interesting to compare the red colored cars and how different they appear in each side)

I would definitely say the audio was better to me on the One X. With the One X you don't have all that outside noise. This is good where you only want your voice. But I think where the GS3 is good with the audio is if you're at an event, like a sports event, where you want to capture the feel and noise of the crowd. I would like to see this tested on both devices.

Yes, the audio did sound better on the One X side in my opinion.
I suspect the Galaxy S III has a higher dB (decibel) threshold though.
The One X and Evo 4G LTE are not great at capturing audio in loud environments I have read - someone else postulated it may be an overactive wind reduction feature?

 

[bupolo]

I went ahead and purchased the LTEvo and I really, really like it. Thin, big, fast, clean lines, no lagging, no GPS issues, nothing. Though I've noticed when the screen is mostly white, there are two tiny pinkish dots on the screen that look like a hardware problem (there are no scratches or anything indicating that I've dropped it). So I will be returning this LTEvo and most likely replacing it with a newer version.

The main thing so far that I don't like about the phone is the battery life. Fairly weak in my opinion.

 

[Chris Broderick]

I have been watching this thread and many others for a while. I have been out of the country and could not order the EVO on it's release date and knew the Galaxy S3 was going to be released soon. The Phonedog comparison was the review I have been waiting for however it really swayed me in favor of the EVO because the when it comes down to it the software is easy enough to dransfer to either devise and I feel the EVO has the better hardware all together:

Screen
Kickstand
Camera button
Audio
Camera
Look and form

The S3 has 1gb more ram (cool but I'm no power user), the processor and GPU are the same. In the end though when I get back I am going to go into a store and compare them side by side. Thanks for all the great posts and insight.

Chris.

 

[mak916]

The main reason I am going for the GS3 this time around is for the battery life and internal memory. I know that LTEvo has great battery life but the non removable battery thing gets to me. Its just how I am. And 32GB of internal memory is just what I need. I have always wanted a phone with a lot of internal memory. I still have a lot of love for HTC, but for now I got to try out Samsung.

 

[drexappeal]

I would definitely say the audio was better to me on the One X. With the One X you don't have all that outside noise. This is good where you only want your voice. But I think where the GS3 is good with the audio is if you're at an event, like a sports event, where you want to capture the feel and noise of the crowd. I would like to see this tested on both devices.

Good point about events and crowd noise. I'm getting really antsy trying to wait for all the superphones to release. Part of me wants to go into the store on July 1 and just pick one or the other. Good thing the screenshots came out about there being a white EVO in the pipeline. As of right now, it'll either be the 32gb pearl blue SGS 3 or the White LTEvo.

Although, just now, while searching for pictures of the car dock made for the SGS 3, I found this article:
Samsung Galaxy S3 'explodes' in Ireland | The latest news from the Computer and IT Industry | PC Retail

That's a deal breaker for me, if there's a problem with the SGS 3 and use in the car dock. In L.A., I spend a lot of hours in my car and having a car dock is essential to my day-to-day activities.

And from the pics I've found, the Samsung SGS 3 specific car dock is only a universal, it's not an actual "dock" meant for the phone. That's another point deducted for me getting the SGS 3.

 

[mak916]

Good point about events and crowd noise. I'm getting really antsy trying to wait for all the superphones to release. Part of me wants to go into the store on July 1 and just pick one or the other. Good thing the screenshots came out about there being a white EVO in the pipeline. As of right now, it'll either be the 32gb pearl blue SGS 3 or the White LTEvo.

Although, just now, while searching for pictures of the car dock made for the SGS 3, I found this article:
Samsung Galaxy S3 'explodes' in Ireland | The latest news from the Computer and IT Industry | PC Retail

That's a deal breaker for me, if there's a problem with the SGS 3 and use in the car dock. In L.A., I spend a lot of hours in my car and having a car dock is essential to my day-to-day activities.

I hope exploding GS3's will not be a problem in the future. The article didn't say if the cause was the car dock or the phone. And we don't know if it was an oem car dock or not. I guess we will see when they finish the investigation. And a white LTEvo would look really nice. Can't wait to see that. I am still thinking of picking up an LTEvo off Craigslist around the end of the year. I see them on there now for around $400. So tempted to get one soon.

 

[MOTO_DROID]

If this has already been posted I am sorry for bring it up again.

Hello! I am no where new to Android however I am new (maybe) to the Sprint network.

I am currently on Verizon using the HTC Rezound (damn good phone) and well because of company changes (dads work) are family finds in their best interest to switch over to Sprint.

I have done some research on both phones on the LTE network that Sprint is providing. Seems like the network is really holding back the true potential of these phones, even on LTE. I know that both phones have 4G LTE radios, 1.5 gHz S4 CPU Chips, 8 MP; 1080P HD camera senors and ship w/ ICS.

I love my HTC, the build quality is second to none, the Snapdragon (S3, I know the EVO has the S4) is a great ship! So I feel more bias to the HTC. The reveiws that I have seen said that it gets better Quadrant scores, better widgets, has a durable feel and has better personalizations for the end user. The kickstand is a nice touch as well as "ImageSense." HOWEVER, its does only have 1 GB compared to the GS3's 2 GB. And am very partial to the removable battery.

But on the same note the GS3 has a positive features as well. I love the fact it has a removable battery (just my personal opinion) it also has all the "Biult for Humans (which they are calling Samsung Motions)" and finally a 2100 mAh battery. The biggest down fall(s) I see with GS3 is the fact that has a plastic cheap feel, the sleep/wake button is on the side (hate that) and that you can't personalize it like Sense 4.0

But these are just my opinions, I'd love for everyone else to put in feed back.