Motorola Electrify - Motorola Photon 4G

How different is the Electrify from the Photon? Is it a world phone as well. Does it have the WCDMA band 2100? Would i be able to use it for GSM and 3G in India?

slightee said:
How different is the Electrify from the Photon? Is it a world phone as well. Does it have the WCDMA band 2100? Would i be able to use it for GSM and 3G in India?
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as far as i know electrify is cdma only, it doesn't support gsm networks

Actually it does have gsm
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using XDA App

Yup only difference in the photon is the wimax radio. Photon comes with sprint sim, electrify doesn't have anything preinstalled. For giggles I took my sprint sim and put it in my brothers electrify, sadly it didn't really do anything other than pop up a 'sim inserted' notification.
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From my understanding if you got a sim card from a carrier in India and put it in the phone it will work. Other than a few carrier specific things they are pretty much the same phone.
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

Kcarpenter said:
Yup only difference in the photon is the wimax radio. Photon comes with sprint sim, electrify doesn't have anything preinstalled. For giggles I took my sprint sim and put it in my brothers electrify, sadly it didn't really do anything other than pop up a 'sim inserted' notification.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
So basically, its an inferior version of the Photon. Wonder why anyone would buy it? Is it substantially cheaper?

MultiDev said:
So basically, its an inferior version of the Photon. Wonder why anyone would buy it? Is it substantially cheaper?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not that it's inferior. US cellular doesn't use sim cards in any of their phones son there is no need for one. Sprint uses sim cards and therefore the photon has to have one to work on their network. Put one in the electrify and activate it and it will work. Not sure of how to activate it though. Other than that and the radio differences their the same phone spec for spec.
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

From the android central review I think the led actually works right and some other bit of software actually works right.
And sprint does not use sim cards in the us.
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bfd1513 said:
Its not that it's inferior. US cellular doesn't use sim cards in any of their phones son there is no need for one. Sprint uses sim cards and therefore the photon has to have one to work on their network. Put one in the electrify and activate it and it will work. Not sure of how to activate it though. Other than that and the radio differences their the same phone spec for spec.
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint doesn't use SIM cards, they have SIM cards to make international roaming easier. Its a roaming agreement with another carrier so you don't have to buy a card in the country you visit and the international data and voice is just billed straight to your regular bill. Only issue with this is price, its much cheaper to buy a prepay plan where ever you go than use sprints roaming agreements. US cellular sees this fact a chooses to not offer international roaming, only offer a phone that makes it possible.
Like I said the only difference is in the wimax radio, which is useless even in 95% of the US.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

Verizon and Sprint don't use simcard. Just take a evo or epic touch and you will see no simcard slot. But some phones have a simcard slot for European traveling. Att t mobile use simcards only.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App

bfd1513 said:
Its not that it's inferior. US cellular doesn't use sim cards in any of their phones son there is no need for one. Sprint uses sim cards and therefore the photon has to have one to work on their network. Put one in the electrify and activate it and it will work. Not sure of how to activate it though. Other than that and the radio differences their the same phone spec for spec.
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds to me like its still inferior. I understand the SIM card is only included for convience.
But the Electrify still lacks Wimax supports making it an inferior phone. Why buy an inferior phone? Is there a big price difference?

Have bought one from ebay. Price is cheaper by about $40 to the Photon. Planning to use the phone on GSM, so lack of Wimax does not worry me.They support the WCDMA band 2100, which is the 3G band for all GSM carriers in India. 4G will take an eternity to come to India Does anyone use the Electrify on GSM over here? Does it take a long time to boot like the Photon? If so, is there a work around like for the Photon?

Thanks . . Planning to buy it in India.

Dame pbone just no 4 g and a silver metalic edging
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using XDA App

Isn't wimax obsolete anyway? Everyone supporting it dumped it and left sprint at the alter. Only a few cities got duped into building networks. My son bought a 3D a few months ago and is upset that he has no hope for any high speed support beyond 3g/ 4g or wifi in less then 5% of US, and that percentage should be shrinking not growing. Its like saying a bluray player is inferior to dual HD DVD/bluray player.

so from what im reading if i understand right even if you live in an area that has 4g for sprint with the electrify you cant use it? so the motorola photon 4g mb855 doesnt connect to 4g? or doesnt connect to sprint carrier?

spleef said:
so from what im reading if i understand right even if you live in an area that has 4g for sprint with the electrify you cant use it? so the motorola photon 4g mb855 doesnt connect to 4g? or doesnt connect to sprint carrier?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Electrify doesn't have a WiMax radio. It has no way to connect to any 4g signal at all. You can be saturated in 4g signal, but it wont make its 3g any faster.
The Photon is only capable of connecting to Sprint/ClearaWire WiMax 4G. No ATT or VZW LTE 4G.
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it'd be nice after US Cellular gets 4g we can get the 4g radio put in...b/c I know theres a space for it.

IBMguy said:
it'd be nice after US Cellular gets 4g we can get the 4g radio put in...b/c I know theres a space for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
US Cellular starts to roll out 4G early next year, By the time it gets to all USCC Markets the Electrify will be old tech and no-one will want it by then....
Seriously...

Oh I agree with you, uscc is usually slow like that.
Sent from my Motorola Electrify using XDA App

Related

Motorola Rep Says Photon Has LTE Chip!

Just got off phone with Motorola and they confirmed the Photon has a LTE chip installed! I called sprint and they said it didn't. Somebodies lying, my bet is sprint.
My guess is that the Motorola rep is confusing that for 4G in general. I highly doubt the Photon has LTE.
Now, I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if it does, but I imagine that would have been in the FCC certification.
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I bet Motorola is lying... Because they want you to buy their product.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App
I highly doubt this, but my buddy works at the mobile division in Libertyville IL (My town! Woot woot Google! ) and he works on the development of the LED flash for all the phones cameras. Im sure he will have insight about this, ill post back what he says.
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i'm too lazy to search youtube, has anyone done a teardown of this phone yet? I mean its not magic, if there is a LTE chip inside you'd see it. Granted I'm not willing to doante my phone to such a process but I mean phones break, you'd think someone who broke their Photon had to have tore it apart by now to see its guts.
I doubt they would have added an expensive piece of hardware just for the heck of it. The fact that it isn't touted as a feature to"future proof" the phone leads me to assume it isn't there.
The build.prop in system has alot of refrences to an LTE radio...but then again it has quite a few refrences to VZW as well....
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27s said:
The build.prop in system has alot of refrences to an LTE radio...but then again it has quite a few refrences to VZW as well....
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They probably just took the Atrix, redid the outer shell, modified code to work with Sprint, then threw it on the shelf.
Overstew said:
They probably just took the Atrix, redid the outer shell, modified code to work with Sprint, then threw it on the shelf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The hole in that thought is the matrix is on ATT(GSM) which is different from VZW in more ways then one.
The VZW references is due to the you can roam in VZW and a possible launch of the phone on VZW.
It seems that this phone has a lot of Q's surronding the radio freq's it uses so we are going to need to find a good tear down and look to that for answers.
Ok so in case people didn't know, LTE uses sim cards for the 4G. But it can't be in the photon, sprint wont have it for some time.
My buddy at Motorola replied to me "wimax". So I guess its not LTE ready and that moto rep is misunderstanding that sprints 4g is different. After all, this is the first moto android phone on sprint
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Who cares though...by the time Sprint uses LTE the MoPho will be obsolete and something different will be in your hands.....
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ORam78 said:
Who cares though...by the time Sprint uses LTE the MoPho will be obsolete and something different will be in your hands.....
Sent from my MoPho using XDA Premium.
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Click to collapse
Amen to that
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
What about us Sprint users roaming data using Verizon's LTE network. Now wouldn't that be sweet? Just dreaming out loud! lol
sub2k1 said:
i'm too lazy to search youtube, has anyone done a teardown of this phone yet? I mean its not magic, if there is a LTE chip inside you'd see it. Granted I'm not willing to doante my phone to such a process but I mean phones break, you'd think someone who broke their Photon had to have tore it apart by now to see its guts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://androidforums.com/motorola-photon-4g/398558-video-teardown-photon-4g.html
lcpl said:
http://androidforums.com/motorola-photon-4g/398558-video-teardown-photon-4g.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I can say is the Photon is Built like a brick shi%house
sslbaron said:
What about us Sprint users roaming data using Verizon's LTE network. Now wouldn't that be sweet? Just dreaming out loud! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that's the case why aren't you on Verizon?
Plug the photon in and look in device manager, it has an LTE modem period. There is no argument here, find it for yourself. Sprint will have LTE but not for awhile, as for the Photon working on it, who knows, but I am damn sure that it is capable of it. If you are asking a Sprint Rep any questions about a phone, 97.38782% of them don't know much about them, yes there are a few who actually do their homework on each and every phone they come across but that is few and far between. ( And in case you work at Sprint and you are reading this, don't take it personal, I'm just saying that most reps sell phones, they don't study them and know them inside and out) As for Motorola, who knows, it all depends on who you talk to, but I would believe one of them over a random Sprint rep who 'sells' phones for a living, being that Motorola actually built the thing.
But all you really need to do is plug it in and look for yourself.
-DJ
Djspinister said:
Plug the photon in and look in device manager, it has an LTE modem period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that is interesting indeed
It just might have a LTE radio. Maybe Sprint's plans are starting to show up in current and future phones? Here is an excerpt:
If Sprint were to tap into Clearwire’s LTE network it wouldn’t gain any additional coverage beyond its current 4G footprint. It would gain additional capacity, but it would come at a price. Since Clearwire’s LTE wouldn’t even cover existing WiMAX markets completely, Sprint will need to deploy dual-mode WiMAX and LTE devices. That’s already a tall order for device makers, but Clearwire is using an unpaired spectrum configuration for LTE, meaning Sprint will need LTE chips not only for Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz frequencies but in a time-division duplexing (TDD) mode that no other operator uses in the U.S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can read the whole article here: http://connectedplanetonline.com/3g4g/news/sprints-4g-predicament-0823/index.html
Maybe Sprint actually has a 4g plan?
Djspinister said:
Plug the photon in and look in device manager, it has an LTE modem period.
-DJ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There may be some logic to this from Moto perspective...
It 4g and it a world phone...it suports cdma and gsm...
But is it also the first "4g" "world phone"? having both wimax and LTE ?(you got the sim like verzion LTE phones need)
So for Moto one hardward build for all world markets...and would also make it one hell of a development phone for google android to test everything on
Would the EVO 3d and Samsung Galaxy 2 people crap if true....
A phone with all these radios cdma, gsm, wimax and LTE would be hacker heaven
Who knows could be source of unlocked 4g issues that just the Photon seem to have ... that bootstrap has an extra radio to set up
===One other thing I recall Sprints Touch pro 2 "world phone" was not certified for GSM by FCC for US so radios were not listed on FCC doc...but it had them
Other thing in all the Photon "tear down" ive seen...ive never seen the chips because of how the lable sits in the battey compartment covers the chips...you would need to destroy the phone to see

Anyone using Atrix 4G unlocked on T-Mobile?

Is anyone here using their Atrix 4G unlocked on T-Mobile or anyone other carrier which is not AT&T?
I unlocked it with a tmob sim last night. Noticed I did not get bars with it though
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
im using mines and works great
I have used mine with three different carriers and no problems (US, UK, SP).
I use Simple Mobile. Does anyone know of another carrier in the U.S that could provide 4g speeds with AT&T bands?
I just gave away my spare atrix to my wife's friend. She's on T-Mobile and hasn't had any problems yet. I did warn her she's on 2g forever and ever.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Yea I use T-Mobile... I got more bars with the Atrix than I got with my last T-Mobile phone lmao... I use prepaid so 2g-4g doesn't affect me...
how can I get it to run 4G on T-mobile?
raa320 said:
im using mines and works great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine it's running slow internet..... can you help me verifying the settings?
lomelir said:
Mine it's running slow internet..... can you help me verifying the settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will always be slow since its on 2g, nothing you can do.
Why aren't there laws that make it so cell phones are all interchangeable? Something like consumer freedom so you can buy any phone you want and use it on the carrier of your choice.
Use straight talk. Hspa compatible.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
uisgdlyast said:
It will always be slow since its on 2g, nothing you can do.
Why aren't there laws that make it so cell phones are all interchangeable? Something like consumer freedom so you can buy any phone you want and use it on the carrier of your choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, T-Mobile has said they're going to start adopting AT&T's 3G bands with the hope that Apple will let them sell subsidized iPhones. So depending on where you live, you may get 3G on the Atrix. I agree though, more interoperability is needed. This GSM/CDMA split we have is ridiculous.
I'm not using T-Mobile right now, but in a year (when my contract expires) I'm switching to one of their value plans and will unlocking my Atrix to use with them if I'm still happy with it. Given that so far the only spec I see improving on newer phones is the screen resolution, I think it'll still be plenty usable when that happens.
how
how do you unlock the atrix 4g to work with tmo
harv65 said:
how do you unlock the atrix 4g to work with tmo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SIM unlock?
Sent from my MB886 using xda app-developers app

Rezound 4g lte question

I am currently with us cellular and have the samsung aviator. us cellular is the only 4g lte carrier in my area and will be the only one for a long time. I love the 4g lte speeds, its crazy fast, but the phone leaves a lot to desire. My question is, if I buy the rezound out right, and put the 4g lte sim card into the rezound, will it be able to use the us cellular towers and their frequencies?
Thanks in advance
I don't think it's that easy.
I'm pretty sure it's not that easy.
I'm also sure there's some tinkering with the data settings you'd have to do, assuming their SIM even fits in the Rezound.
Good chance the frequencies they use for lte are different too, so I highly doubt it, but unless the Samsung you have uses a micro sim, the sim card will fit just fine, they've been the same for years.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
The LTE network isn't the same frequency. Just wait until Verizon has 4g in your area.
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Using my t-mobile HTC amaze on at&t

Is it true that I can put a at&t sim card in my t-mobile amaze and get 3 and 4 g coverage?Does this phone have LTE bands in it?and I was told thY the white amaze is better than the black one why?
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA
Mesaman2012 said:
Is it true that I can put a at&t sim card in my t-mobile amaze and get 3 and 4 g coverage?Does this phone have LTE bands in it?and I was told thY the white amaze is better than the black one why?
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both white and black are the same, yes you will get 3G and 4G coverage on at&t since 4G is hspa and at&t supports hspa.
No this phone doesn't have lte and just a heads up, though you will get 4G, it might not be as fast t-mobile from what I've heard, their HSPA isn't that fast but still pretty decent.
I appreciate that.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA
Is this phone pentaband? If it is specific for TMO bands only, you will only get edge on AT&T as I understand it......
gagb1967 said:
Is this phone pentaband? If it is specific for TMO bands only, you will only get edge on AT&T as I understand it......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has the 1900 band, at&t's HSPA network runs on that band.
What about 3g?
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using XDA
gagb1967 said:
What about 3g?
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HSPA is 3G, HSPA+ is 4G, the iPhone has both HSPA and HSPA+, which works on the iPhone's 1900 band, get where I'm going with this?
I'm using my Amaze on at&t through straight talk and it's 4g.
Sent from HTC Chicken Eater 4G.
Using my amaze on straight talk at&t towers, works great with 3g/4g.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using XDA
redeyss said:
Using my amaze on straight talk at&t towers, works great with 3g/4g.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you post some screenshots of your speed tests? I didn't think straight talk supported 4G.
Dark Ellipse said:
Can you post some screenshots of your speed tests? I didn't think straight talk supported 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two people made this claim, doubt they would both be lying.
Dark Ellipse said:
Can you post some screenshots of your speed tests? I didn't think straight talk supported 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ST does support 4G but right now my tower is under a full noon load.
12 noon speed is awful but 12 midnight speed is great.
At&t doesn't keep up on maintenance with these towers.
Are you forced into an at&t data plan?
jtevis said:
Are you forced into an at&t data plan?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think they can force you into one if you bring your own device.
Dark Nightmare said:
Don't think they can force you into one if you bring your own device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bingo
Dark Nightmare said:
Don't think they can force you into one if you bring your own device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to work for Business End User Care for AT&T. As of the time I left (november), if you placed your sim in a smartphone and used it for about a day the system would add the lowest data plan and send you a text message indicating it had been added to your account. Even if you were using someone's phone while your "feature phone" wad being replaced, it was required. I've had to read that section of the TOS to many, many angry people. I would call and confirm just to be safe.
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Biohazard0289 said:
I used to work for Business End User Care for AT&T. As of the time I left (november), if you placed your sim in a smartphone and used it for about a day the system would add the lowest data plan and send you a text message indicating it had been added to your account. Even if you were using someone's phone while your "feature phone" wad being replaced, it was required. I've had to read that section of the TOS to many, many angry people. I would call and confirm just to be safe.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt know that, wow ATT sucks
That's hot I didn't now we could do all these things to a device. I had idea until my friend mentioned it sweet.
Biohazard0289 said:
I used to work for Business End User Care for AT&T. As of the time I left (november), if you placed your sim in a smartphone and used it for about a day the system would add the lowest data plan and send you a text message indicating it had been added to your account. Even if you were using someone's phone while your "feature phone" wad being replaced, it was required. I've had to read that section of the TOS to many, many angry people. I would call and confirm just to be safe.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DO NOT CALL to ask..... as they won't know the answer, and might put a note on your account to force a data plan(well, you could call and ask on someone else's phone without giving your account number)
the primary way (so far that I've seen) that AT&T detects your smartphone is via IMEI. Secondary might be you using >100GB/month, connecting to their 4G APN settings, going to a store for help and letting the customer rep see that you have a smartphone
does AT&T have your IMEI? probably not.... AT&T has IMEI of all of their smartphones, so you can't use an AT&T smartphone. You can try using an (unlocked) t-mobile phone, but might not support the right 3G/4G bands that AT&T use. You can try international phones, canda phones(from Bell, Telus...). WARNING>>>. AT&T might have your IMEI because the manufacture gave them the IMEI(See Google Nexus phones), inference from branded phones that they carry(eg Phone is sold/branded by AT&T and t-mobile... AT&T gets a list of their phone IMEIs that might include t-mobile's IMEIs), screwups(Samsung Note overseas was misentered as a tablet on AT&T's network, white i9100 Galaxy SII is misentered as a Blackberry on AT&T's network)
The link at the end of this post gives a guide to what phones are 100% compatible(3G/4G on 850/1900) on AT&T's network.
According to this, the T-Mobile Amaze 4G is compatible with AT&T 3G/4G, but I have some confusion on the 850/1900 mhz band for the 3G/4G data, trying to sort it out(last few posts on that thread)
Guide to what phones are 100% compatible with AT&T's network
anyways, quick update
got a T-mobile Amaze 4G to play with
(with unlocked bootloader, S-Off, Super CID and SIM unlock, all available on this forum), works on AT&T 4G (HSDPA)
speeds right now ~ 1000 kbits/s up/down, hard to test because my location is spotty

Sprint Galaxy S 3 (USA) vs international galaxy s 3 question

Here is my issue. I am currently in the US. I might teach ESL overseas in Korea in January. I am not sure which phone to get. Will the USA one work over in Korea? Will thew international one work in the US?
It could work but Sprint has the radios locked.
Would developers be able to get them unlocked?
Buy international set
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
thegameksk said:
Would developers be able to get them unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They propably can but the intl one supports more radio frequensies and is assembled to work worldwide so I'd buy it in any case rather than us version.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
The international one works in the US flawless... just not on all carriers... it works the best on AT&T if you want to use it in the US and get 4G(HSPA+)
You can use it on T-Mobile but you will have to settle for EDGE(2G)
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
It would work on most carriers which uses the international frequencies.
Not just AT&T for US. Works with Rogers, Fido, Telus, and Bell Mobility in Canada for instance.
YoungAceAtlanta said:
The international one works in the US flawless... just not on all carriers... it works the best on AT&T if you want to use it in the US and get 4G(HSPA+)
You can use it on T-Mobile but you will have to settle for EDGE(2G)
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a side note, HSPA+ is not 4G. It's still 3G. LTE/WiMax is 4G.
so which companies will it work with 4g/lte? Will it not work with Sprint? Anyone know any deals for the international version?
Sprint (and Verizon) is on an old CDMA network while the majority of the world is on GSM, you know, operating with a SIM card. If you're set on travelling, it's better to get any of the GSM-variant, that way, you can just pop in any sim card from any major carriers all over the world.
I currently have a photon which has a sim card slot in it. So the Galaxy s international wont work on Sprint? Damn I want to keep my SERO plan lol. So where can I get an international verison from? Also would I have to pay full price for it?
Does the photon has an active sim card in it? I'm assuming no. I've never used a dual-mode phone before (nor am I familiar with how they operate on different networks), so I dont know the ins-and-outs on how to get it activate for a GSM carrier.
Damn, now i have a headache just trying to figure out how it works to have an intl GSM phone on a network that is predominantly CDMA whom happens to offer a dual-mode phone on their network
Call sprint problem solved
Sent from my HTC Evo 4G using xda premium
Chaos Residue said:
Just a side note, HSPA+ is not 4G. It's still 3G. LTE/WiMax is 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In 2010 the International Telecommunications Union redefined 4G to include HSPA+.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374564,00.asp
thegameksk said:
I currently have a photon which has a sim card slot in it. So the Galaxy s international wont work on Sprint? Damn I want to keep my SERO plan lol. So where can I get an international verison from? Also would I have to pay full price for it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SIM in the Photon is just for roaming. Sprint does not use SIM cards - even their LTE phones have them embedded rather than user-accessible.
As the Sprint Galaxy S III is not a 'global' phone - i.e. does not have both GSM/UMTS and CDMA radios - do not purchase it if you have any intention of using it outside the US. CDMA is no longer a global technology.
Confuses me a little that people spend so much on devices without checking what networks they support. Ho-hum.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

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