Pros
- 4.8" 720p screen. This might be a con for people who don't like large screens, but I love it. And the fact that there's no on-screen navigation buttons make it even better for me. On-screen navigation buttons take up about 0.3" of the usable area of the screen in nearly every aspect of use (except for watching videos). With the S3, you're getting the full 4.8" (unlike with the Galaxy Nexus, where the on-screen buttons take the 4.6" down to around 4.3" of usable screen area). Until we can get a phone that is all screen on the front and zero bezel, I'll stick to preferring physical/capacitive navigation buttons.
- Performance. The S4 processor plus 2GB of RAM makes the S3 snappiest phone I've ever used, even with TouchWhiz bogging things down. This thing would be unbelievable with stock Jelly Bean.
- Fantastic camera. HTC's One series are the only Android phones out there with a better camera right now, and they aren't better by much. Having previously owned an iPhone 4S, I can also say that I've been more impressed by the shots I've gotten from the S3.
- Battery life. Except for the RAZR MAXX, it definitely gets the best battery life of any Verizon LTE phone with a stock battery out there at the moment, even with the 4.8" 720p screen.
- Removable battery. It's sad that this has to be considered a pro, but with the recent moves HTC and Motorola have been making to non-removable batteries, it's nice to see Samsung sticking with it. It's great for those times when you have a spare battery and no time/ability to plug into a charger.
- MicroSD slot. It's also sad that this has to be considered a pro, but with the direction Google has been trying to push Android in, it's a major selling point for me.
- Accessories. All versions have exactly the same dimensions (except the Korean super duper version), so accessories for the S3 are universal.
In-between
- Reception. The reception on the S3 is good, but for many users (myself included), Samsung's CDMA/LTE smartphones have all had noticeably poorer reception compared to devices from other manufacturers, and this holds true with the S3. The reception on the S3 is the best I've seen from Samsung, but it's still weaker than Motorola and HTC in my experience. This is definitely a major consideration if you are often in areas with weak signal. It will impact not only your ability to send/receive calls and use mobile data, but also your battery life. That said, I've found the reception to be more than acceptable, and I haven't had any of the issues I had with the Galaxy Nexus. It tends to stick to 3G more often in weak LTE areas than my previous LTE phones, but several users who have updated to the leaked radios have noted an improvement in that and in reception as a whole. Hopefully that will hold true whenever the first update might hit (and at this point, there's no word on when that will be).
Cons
- Touch Whiz. This is really personal preference here, but I don't like Touch Whiz. There are some nice additions here and there, but overall, I don't care for the UI. The UI that Motorola uses, especially on ICS, is much nicer and far less intrusive. A custom launcher can remedy much of this though (and a custom ROM can take care of all of it), so it's not a huge con.
- Build quality. Even though it feels cheap, I think the S3 is built pretty well. That said, many people don't care for the light, plastic feel of it. Also, while I haven't had any issues, there have been more reports of cracked screens than normal. Of course the users with cracked screens will be far more vocal than those without, but it does seem to be happening more often than usual.
Overall, I really haven't run into any major cons, and most of the cons/in-betweens I did list can vary from user to user. I was a little hesitant to make the move to the S3 after having bad experiences with the Galaxy Nexus, Droid Charge, Stratosphere, and Fascinate, and especially after absolutely loving the RAZR MAXX, but I've been very pleasantly surprised. This is the first Samsung Android phone on Verizon that I can completely recommend to people. It really is a fantastic device.
