Sprint Galaxy S3 Review

Galaxy S3 (Sprint SPH-L710) Full review:

Technical Specs:

Processor: 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Processor

RAM: 2GB

Internal Storage: 16GB (actually around 12GB)

External Storage: N/A (up to 64GB MicroSD supported)

Screen Size: 4.8”

Camera: Rear 8MP/Full 1080HD Video recording, front: 2MP/ 720P video

Android Version: 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Look on Google if you need more specs…

Starting the review, this is my first one, may need some improving, give me feed back or questions.

First impressions, very light weight, attractive looking phone in Pebble Blue, still fits in my hand like the Galaxy S2, slightly more slippery and rounded.

Cons on body design: it is a little slippery without a case, I do plan on getting a protective case soon though, Power and Volume buttons seem like they are a 1/3 down the side of the phone, I prefer them towards the top more but this is a very minor complaint, and I do love the fact that they added a center home hard button, as much as I enjoyed the 4 soft buttons, having to press a button down is more preferable for me personally.

As an avid Rooter, I would flash a new ROM onto my Galaxy S2 every few weeks to test several out to find a favorite.  I am waiting a few weeks to throw a custom ROM on the S3 to fully test the stock capabilities of the phone.  Right away I am noticing a lot of the features from my S2 that were only available after I had rooted it such as; Facial unlock, Data usage monitor, displaying battery %, etc, small features that not many people care about but I thought were nice additions.  Then next big thing would be the Lock Screen modifications, I now can have a news ticker going on the bottom and can choose up to 4 shortcuts that I can directly access from the lock screen rather than unlocking and going through application list. The ability to watch a video complete with sound, while you are doing other things on the phone (Social media, email, text messaging, etc.) blew me away, it may be more of a gimmick, but I like having the ability to do it when I am browsing the web or something while watching or just listening to a video while I am focused on something else. 

The stock OS is amazingly smooth, no lag for anything, very fast reactions, the camera offers a no-lag shutter as well, and has a burst shot mode as well, and the ability to manual focus on something or auto focus completely separate which I have never seen done 100% in a mobile platform.  I still have not had the opportunity to video chat or do a G+ hangout, I do need to test these to see how quality is for everything.  I have seen a few reviews for the phone which are also very helpful being they are videos that you can watch and actually look at the device (link below).  S-voice (Apple’s Siri-like voice system) is pretty functional as far as I have tested this far, It is not a feature I will use very often unless I am driving more than likely, but it is very polished and helpful if you do tend to use Voice control.

All in all, I do really love this phone and do not regret buying it at all, the software improvements from the Galaxy S2 to this are wonderful, not many “new” features, but updates and more stable software is more important than flashy new features to me.  There are many minor features I’m sure I missed, also I have only had this phone 24 hours so I am sure there is still plenty to discover as well.  Worth the price if you use a top quality phone for its full capabilities.

As always, please ask any questions you have or any ideas as well.

Zedomax Review –

Zedomax International Quad Core Galaxy S3 Review

Zedomax Galaxy S3 Quad Core vs. Dual Core models

Zedomax Galaxy S3 vs. HTC One X vs. HTC Evo 4G LTE

Flossy Carter Review –

Flossy Carter Sprint S3 Unboxing and first impressions
Flossy Carter Full Review 

Outsourcing Customer Service

Outsourcing from American companies seems to be a large trending action within the last few years.  Not aware of this? Just pick up your phone and dial any fucking customer service department for any company!  There are probably more reasons corporations are doing this than I am aware, but who cares, it’s my blog, and I tell it how I see it.  To begin, saving money in the long run for the company; As this is a grand idea for any greedy bastard, there are more than likely a ridiculous amount of other ways you could save money rather than laying off x amount of employees (depending on company size).  I realize they may not all be overseas outsourcing, and in that situation, if you can speak decent English, and I can pronounce your name, I have no qualms.  I am not a racist, I am not a bigot, I want to be able to speak with a customer representative in a professional manner and not have them repeat every other sentence because I cannot understand what the hell they are trying to explain.  That being said, if everyone is whining and bitching about how god awful our economy is, and just needs someone to blame (the President generally) please realize, that the government as a whole is partially to blame, but it’s not like those greedy bastards are going to take a pay cut anytime soon… Would you? No.  Our country is built and based upon American greed, that being said, we have ourselves to blame as well, not just someone a bit higher up on the food chain.  Take responsibility for your own actions.  When these companies outsource to the Middle-East, or wherever the hell they are doing it now, those are American jobs flying out the window, sometimes hundreds or thousands, therefore, unemployment rises, and economy plummets yet again.  It is a vicious cycle and it helps no one at all, we need to be creating more jobs in our own country, that way more money will circulate and stimulate the economy.   Am I saying this will solve all of our problems? Not one bit, we are lazy, don’t want to work our asses off to earn a living, we want hand outs, free things and discounts for anything.  I do not claim to be a politician, I do not claim to be a genius,  I am just merely trying to state a fact that is so painfully obvious as an issue to me that I couldn’t let the internal hate fester anymore and needed to share my personal feelings on the matter.  I am 25 years old, I have a decent job at a growing company, I have debt that I am paying off by working overtime and paying my bills, I have no credit card and a bad credit score.  I am clearly not the poster child for knowing how to run a multi-billion dollar company.  That being said, I have learned valuable lessons in the last 7 years and I have grown from them, nobody is helping me get out of debt, I am doing it alone, I was dumb, got in over my head and now I am paying the consequences.  I am pretty decent at managing my money at this point and I feel like I know more now having gone through this than if I had not.  I want to hear feedback on this, bad or good.  I am not a child and can take it.

iPhone vs. Android OS

I am guessing this one will be quite controversial, so I am ready for the debates!  Keep in mind,  I have done plenty of research into both sides and will admit, at the beginning I almost went with an iPhone, but thought Android would become a better choice for me.

To begin; iPhone, iOS, etc. closed source software. What this breaks down to is the use of constraints on what can be done with the software and the restriction of access to the original source code (wikipedia) it basically means it is near impossible to modify.  Android on the other hand, very simple to modify and change because it is open source.

With that general explanation out of the way, lets get down to brass tacks here.  The iPhone 4s or whatever the newest version is... Seems to be still locked in the 3g network, now with 4g networks for mobile devices have been available for around 2 years give or take a few months, with this software available and usable, why hasn't the iOS adopted it yet? they have had ample time and it seems like a difference in internet speed that is quite drastic would be an easy upgrade. Android have tons of different phone designs over multiple manufacturers, which really captures the budget market and the higher spenders market and everywhere in between. iPhones do not have this, there is one device and it is an Apple product so therefore it is expensive.

Now the general customization factors in for me at least, I love making all of my own ringtones and alarms, etc, something you can't really do with the iOS or at least not do it easily... There are a ton of free applications on the Google play market that allow you to download free ringtones as well. From desktops to widgets you really can make an android phone 100% yours, which to a certain extent is available with an iPhone, but it is still fairly limiting.

Rooting your Android device is another thing that is completely Android specific, and what rooting is, it basically unlocks your phones true potential, you can find hundreds of ROMS online to change your UI elements, remove stock options that bogged your device down or that you weren't really fond of.  You can remove all the bloat software companies throw on your phone pre-purchase.  it allows you to over/under clock your device for higher performance or longer battery life, etc.  Now if you are generally happy with your Android device there is probably no need to root it for you, I love modification and finding out more about my phone so I have it rooted and have tried no less than 15 different OS modifications on it.

Now I am not saying Android is a perfect platform and there aren't faults, yes sometimes you get the force close, the laggy screens and similar issues, but you have to realize, android is a never ending adapting machine, they are trying to make everything work over what I can only imagine to be a couple hundred completely different phones with separate specifications, so yes, there will be down falls, but it is always to try to help more people be able to use the application or what have you.  I have played around with several different iPhones and just felt held back in comparison to what my Android devices have done and continue to do for me.

I still feel like the Android market will out last and over take the Apple market with time, with a uncountable number of people being familiar with Linux and Unix coding vs the one team of Apple developers, there will be  much more developments on the Android side.

Android is the future, iOS the past.  This is of course coming from a self-proclaimed Android genius and the many hours upon hours of research I have done.

Also if you had any questions about Android, please let me know, I can either give you an answer or find it for you.  If you are interested in rooting your android device, look up Max Lee or 'Zedomax' on YouTube or check out highonandroid.com, this guy is a genius and the best source for android information that I have found this far!

Hipsters

Ahhh yes my friends, the long awaited Hipster ranting has arrived!

I know all of the readers more than likely have an idea of what a hipster is.. if not, let me paint a horrifying picture for you; Greasy, scruffy seemingly unwashed looking hair, generally a plaid top, tight jeans/pants, and lets go with converse on the feet, also carry around Apple paraphernalia and are known to wear beret's/other douche-like head-wear.  Now that you have that image in your dome, let my wonderful hatred flow...  To begin, The whole indie subculture elitist attitude has got to be my biggest pet-peeve of this whole Occupy-era asshat group of insignificant pricks. The fact that they feel the need to mock you for being "mainstream" or not having culture or whatever is completely ridiculous and hilarious to me, given the fact, they wear a style of clothes that went out of "style" long long ago, they drink PBR like its the greatest damn thing ever invented, and swear by apple products... Now I find irony in the fact that whenever I think of Apple and any of their sheep driven products is that of conformity to the masses and what ever costs the most.  Now from what I have gathered in my real life research on this subject is that more than likely these miscreants are at least decently educated for the most part, and can afford to wear respectable clothing, but choose to be the evolution of the filthy hippy.  I will never understand the idea of this, I like wearing nice clothing and looking presentable, at least for the most part. As far as music choice goes, it seems like they are single minded and locked in the mindset that if it is popular, it isn't good.  Now I can agree with the fact that 95% of music today is complete shit and it is making people dumber and it more than likely will just continue to downfall, but I have tried listening to the indie music scene several times, and it seems so stereotypically similar... Moving along to the other big pet peeve that seems to follow hipster-like people... Dubstep; the most depressing thing to be considered music since Bob Dylan.  I'm sure I will get flak for that, but really, I don't care, Bob Dylan is horrible and if you enjoy hearing that mongoloid fart into your ear than I don't even feel bad for you. Back on track, Dubstep, I can't even call this travesty art or music, it is essentially a tangent form techno, which includes "drops" and fucking fax machine noises, it literally takes no talent, you use fruity loops or similar programs to time is up and create horrifying sounds, it has no instrumental qualities and it is pretty much the same type of uselessness as auto-tuning.  I would gladly listen to white noise and a fat guy scratching his nuts before being able to enjoy anything close to dubstep.

In conclusion, if I have offended you with this, then my job is done and you are more than likely one of the hipsters.  So shut your pie hole, go listen to beck and try not to spill that PBR on your fresh plaid, because lets be honest, you are just an emo kid that grew up a tiny bit...  I really do hate you.

The office awkward guy

"That one guy" in the office.  You all know him, can barely remember his name if at all, and are completely annoyed anytime he shows his awkward face.  I myself have fallen victim to this tragedy time to time, I have a few examples.  First of all I hope you have seen "Office Space" if not, you may not fully understand this reference...  So I am sitting in my wonderfully decorated cubicle (a hint of sarcasm) and just keyboard punching away, the time is probably around 7:20AM, and I am not a morning person by any means.  Normally I would have some headphones in or a fan going just so it isn't silent, but not this time, just dead silent.  Now the opening to the cubicle is behind me so I don't always see when someone is coming in or wants to talk, etc. 

Out of nowhere I here "Goooood morning CJ, how's it going?" In a low drab tone, mind you EXACTLY like Bill Lumbergh in Office Space, now I thought, "this guy has to be screwing with me", haha you have seen the movie too, blah blah... But no.  He was just that awkward guy coming to talk to me about bullshit for 10 minutes while I acted like I was busy and kept turning back to my computer and pounded at the keyboard a bit.  Now this was not the first interaction with this being, just one of the memorable ones. It happens a few times a week now because I made the mistake of talking with another co-worker about a video game he also has interest in and he swiftly came over to our conversation and butted in explaining he enjoyed the same game.  That pretty much killed the entire conversation, because nobody really likes talking with him, so we all went back to doing our own thing.  About 20 minutes later I get an email from him asking to play with me and some friends on our server, and the well crafted email was ridiculously pretentious and just screamed "I am so full of my self that Narcissus would cringe".

I immediately forwarded the email to some friends because it literally made me laugh out loud.  Whenever he comes over to get a cup of coffee, I just duck down and act like I am so busy that I have no time to converse with him, Yet he still comes over and being asked no questions feels the need to fill me in on every detail of work he needs to do today and how busy it will be... How about this, leave me the hell alone, go sit in your cube and do your work with out letting me know all of the details, because I don't honestly think that I could care any less about your day.  Now I know that I am probably coming off like a bitter asshole, which is fine, I can accept that role.  I know I am not the only one with this floating around their brain, and most of the people around in my area have the same damn things to say about him that I do so I can't be all wrong taking this stance.  My message to that guy or girl in the office; Why do you feel the need to drown people in your boring ass details of work? If you wanted to be my friend, come over, ask if I'm busy, if not, go off on something you don't like about work or a hobby we may have in common, but do it with out butting in to another person's conversation, or just being completely socially awkward, get off your damn high horse and talk to me like another drone in the corporate world.

Thank you.

Jersey Shore/Fake Tans

When I think about Jersey Shore, a few moronic thoughts come to mind.  First of all fake and stupid people, now I will be honest with all of you and clearly state before I begin that I have never watched this program, do not plan on watching it and honestly could not pick any of the actors/actresses out of a group of 20 people.  That being said, I have asked numerous people about why they are so intrigued by this idiocracy (it's a word don't judge me)... "it is so funny because they are so stupid" Is about the only real answer I can pry out of people.  My rebuttal is this; "If they are so stupid, why are you the ones glued to the TV for every new episode like it is the only thing on?" Now I am not downplaying the fact that they are probably handicapped in at least on way, based on the stories I have heard, but I mean, they are getting paid to continue being stupid, because you are stupidly watching them! I am not saying "go pick up a book its a better use of your time!" because I can't even do so and being a hypocrite is not really high on my to do list right now, all I am saying is take an IQ test, watch an episode, and see how much dumber you become.

Moving on to Fake tanning, which in doing a quick Google search basically describes Jersey Shore...
Once again, I live in Oregon. Enough stated we get sun MAYBE 2 months a year, and the rest of the time its raining or at least cloudy... So right off the bat, if you live here and are tan, its probably fake... moving along, with obvious known risks to skin cancer from UV rays, and membership costs (which I can only assume run fairly expensive guessing $40-$120 monthly?) you would think at least some of these damn orange peels would reconsider this "investment".  I know that the sun also emits harmful UV rays, and I love being out in it in the summer, but I wear SPF "thehighestIcanfind" so I can block as many as possible, I personally don't particularly want skin cancer at my ripe young age, why you subject yourself to the threat it willingly and regularly (several times a week if not every day) even get burned at the tanning salon sometimes is far beyond me.  I myself couldn't give to craps in hell about your damn skin tone, I am whiter than a piece of paper!  Now then come the excuses "I want to be darker, I want to look hotter for my significant other".  If you have a significant other, are they REALLY judging you on skin tone? or is it actually your selfishness and self consciousness that is eating away at you? take a quick tip from a nerdy, overweight, pale ass nobody: "Nobody that matters to you will judge you on your goddamn skin tone!!!!" and I say "that matters to you" because if you know someone who actually thinks less of you because you are not tan, they really deserve to trip into a ditch or at least be hit by a speeding truck.  If you are self concious about how you look, ok, so exercise, work out whatever, but skin tone cannot make that big of a difference on how you view yourself, if it does, come to my house, I will gladly spray paint you darker... less UV!

Uggs and Miniskirts

Starting off, I already hate the idea and look of the “UGG Boot” it is not an attractive shoe and the only reason I can imagine that it is popular at all is because of the cost, and perhaps comfortable. Beyond that, I don’t see it as footwear I would willingly wear out in public as a “fashion” statement.  Before anything else, I am NOT considering myself by any means a fashion expert, just someone who sees some of societies version of it a bit flawed.   But what I can assume is they are comfortable and keep your feet warm in the cold… Am I correct?

Moving along, the combo of a short jean skirt and the boots just seems like a walking oxymoron to me, I mean, you are wearing something to keep your feet and ankles warm, but you feel the need to expose 2/3 of your leg, it seems like you may be defeating the purpose a little bit.  This is probably on my top 10 list of clothing pet peeves that I see walking around in Oregon mind you…  It is fair weather for 80% of the year, rain, wind, etc.… In the winter, your legs must be freezing, in the summer you look stupid because you are wearing boots not flip flops… you need to make a decision on what season you are making the outfit for… not half way in between, please, my brain is going to explode.