Development difference International vs North American variants? - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I just want to know how different the development will be for the international version compared to either the Canadian/US version (which presumably will be the same with S4 & 2GB RAM). People are posting that Samsung will give the international version updates earlier but is it that much sooner than other variants (or do the NA variants not get updates at all)?
I'm not sure which to order since I'm from the US (I have no use for LTE but price and ease of warranty are factors).

This is my problem too, which to get?. I'd love to have more development options, but at the same time I want faster speeds.
At a glance it appears that the internation one is going to be HSPA+ 21Mbit/s connections. But the LTE North American models will have LTE support and if LTE isn't avalible in your area then it defaults down to DC-HSPA 42Mbit/s not to mention the 2GBs of ram.
This is a hard choice :/

Both will have great development. Look at the intl note and the north america note for example
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium

I also don't know which version to choose... Less pricy 2gb dual core with LTE or international with more support quadcore better GPU but less ram and no LTE...
I wanna know which one is better for multitasking, also if the battery life is better on the dual core or not and if 2gb vs 1gb really matters...

Id choose the usa version but i just hate that awful carrier logo on the front of the phone, it ruins all the beauty!

Totòòò said:
Id choose the usa version but i just hate that awful carrier logo on the front of the phone, it ruins all the beauty!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thankfully my carrier doesn't brand there model number on the phone itself. I think they do this because they sell there phones in an unbranded/unlock versions to other non-major tel companys in Canada (don't know if this holds true for the SGS3 when it comes out though)
I've made my decision I want more ram and faster connection speeds through LTE and DC-HSPA. So now I'm just waiting for the thing to release lol. Also waiting to hear back from them if i can get it cheaper as an upgrade, otherwise their full price will be $599
Sent from my GT-I9100M using XDA

Don't mean to drag this back up, but I was going to create a new post until I found this one.
I am in the same predicament. I'm wondering if I should get the Intl or US model.
I'm on T-Mobile, and they will be refarming their PCS band for HSPA+. I wonder if it's a safe bet to get the Intl model and rely only on a single 1900 MHz band for data, or go with the carrier's model and enjoy the potential of 2 HSPA+ bands (1700/1900)...
Plus, there's the development support issue as well. I've enjoyed my Intl SGS2 when I was on AT&T because of all the developer support - love the mods and the ROMs. Then I moved to a GNex when I went to TMobile.
My ideal ROM situation: CM9 ROM, stock Android Experience ROM, and modified Samsung ROM (themed to look/feel like ICS so I can keep the camera app while enjoying the stability and the highly optimized framework). I love using Titanium Backup and ROM Manager to basically change ROMs without loosing much data whenever I'm in a different mood.
I'd like to eventually have 1 SGS3, 1 iPhone (the next model, esp when TMobile's PCS band gets refarmed), and I'll keep my GNex for shiz and giggles.
Just not sure which to get - both seem to have their pros and cons.

Related

SGS2 for T-mobile USA?

T-Mobile to get Samsung Galaxy S 2 says official Twitter account
ANDROID CENTRAL | FEBRUARY 17, 2011
http://pulsene.ws/11Khk
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Nvm didnt read the bottom part mode delete this please.
Sorry I got too happy and didnt read the full article and just copy and pasted the link.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
yup false alarm...........
I don't think the retraction of the tweet is any indication T-Mob wont be getting the S2. With the Galaxy 4G coming out in a few days, if mainstream customers new there was a phone twice as good on the horizon it would obliterate S4G sales. Plus from my understanding there's nothing in the specs that eliminates T-Mob as a possibility. 90% chance T-Mob gets this phone, which I'm of course stoked about.
This phone is said to be shipping with AT&T's 3G, but that it will work with any carrier. So, for you T-Mobile users, it will probably work, but only for 2G speeds. Sorry.
There is absolutely no way Samsung will make this super phone and limit its data potential to Att's ****ty 3G.
sirdowski said:
There is absolutely no way Samsung will make this super phone and limit its data potential to Att's ****ty 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://galaxys2.samsungmobile.com/html/specification.html
dont forget tmobile has a 5gb limit its NOT unlimited
Per the link you supplied:
HSPA+ 21Mbps/ HSUPA 5.76Mbps
EDGE/ GPRS Class 12
Quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Quad band UMTS 850/900/1900/2100
Seems to me T-mobile's HSPA+ will be compatible, unless I'm completely missing something.
And to the above comment, 5G is plenty, even for most heavy users.
Won't this device support both 3G company's? From the specs of the link
false alarm
sirdowski said:
Per the link you supplied:
HSPA+ 21Mbps/ HSUPA 5.76Mbps
EDGE/ GPRS Class 12
Quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Quad band UMTS 850/900/1900/2100
Seems to me T-mobile's HSPA+ will be compatible, unless I'm completely missing something.
And to the above comment, 5G is plenty, even for most heavy users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, T-Mobile UK is compatible
T-Mobile US's HSPA+ uses 1700/2100 or AWS.
Funk2641 said:
Sure, T-Mobile UK is compatible
T-Mobile US's HSPA+ uses 1700/2100 or AWS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotcha. I don't see why T-mobile wouldn't get this phone, as i said before, suppressing of information seems to be just a marketing strategy to not crush S4G sales coming up.
they wont get this phone immediatley as it will complete with the sgs 4g which they are getting.. eventually they may get it.
If the device is coming out in march outside the states, I'd think the new one will come out in some form in June or July like the last one did. That will give tmo a few months to sell their vibrant 4g and then allow it to be a decent midrange model thereafter. Considering that the 4g is going to be 149 with contract, its already the price of of a non flagship T-Mobile device. That could mean we have a small chance of getting this phone in April or may. They still need to make an aws version in order for us to have the phone on tmo. Given how much market share they made with the last galaxy I really think Samsung will want to not lose their lead in android market share. We will get at least some version of this phone. I hope now that US carriers all have ffc and the other features left out of the previous galaxy s for the states, that they won't need to give us a stripped gs2. Just my 2 cents.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
i'm waiting for the AWS version of the SGS2.... it's gonna be a long loooooooong wait, with the SGS4G stuck in between
I'm almost certain it is.
At least I'm hoping
MartinB6927 said:
I'm almost certain it is.
At least I'm hoping
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's one thing you do not need to worry about
look at the line of Galaxy S (Generation 1) phones, they have practically 1 variant for each single cell phone carrier on the planet.
some carriers even have 3 models of the same Galaxy S family
for example Tmobile USA have:
Galaxy S Vibrant
Nexus S
Galaxy S 4G
so we'll see our own flavor of SGS2 in due time
knowing their crazy naming scheme
i'll not be surprised to hear Galaxy S Vibrant II LOL
and probably comes with something chopped off like missing FFC or who knows what.
Hopefully they'll get some version of it... ATT blows..
So... any idea on how we're going to know which is the original phone model?
I guess we would just go off of the one coming out in March, and then try to buy that model off of whichever carrier carries it?
Because I wasn't very fond of the different versions of the Galaxy S - the Vibrant, the I9000 (which might be the same), the Captivate, the... who knows what else? Each carrier here (Rogers, Telus and Bell) had different versions. I don't even know what other ones like Virgin or WIND may have had for it (if they carried it).

[Q] Atrix or Atrix 4G?

I'm in New Zealand and i use telecom XT network (umts 850mhz) so obviously the at&t version will work fine. I also perhaps have the opportunity of buying the umts quadband version (850,900,1900,2100) which would probably not have the same restrictions as the at&t 4G.
However, from lurking here i can see that there seems to be more dev happening on the 4G, is this correct or would i be better off with the vanilla quadband 3g version? (im not 100% sure where the local stores source these vanilla phones from)
One day i might change to another provider in which case i would need 900 umts but if there is more chance of getting more bang for my buck with the 4g i will go that way.
Yeah it would be easier just to buy a galaxy 2 but its big and cheap feeling and i just dont trust samsung build quality or gps as much as the Moto.
thanks in advance.
the 4G is a marketing term from AT&T. its just 14mb HSPDA+
Whether a local version vs AT&T version is worth it, that is up to you
tjjensen23 said:
the 4G is a marketing term from AT&T. its just 14mb HSPDA+
Whether a local version vs AT&T version is worth it, that is up to you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep i understand that the 4g is just a marketing buzzword. What i'm asking is to me it looks like the vanilla phone appears to be identical hardware just with an extra 3g band? Also which model is likely to have the better dev support and moto support if they do decide to unlock the bootloader for certain ops?
Is the atrix 4g only sold on AT&T or are other operators also selling htis elsewhere in the world?
I'm just wanting to make sure i buy the model with the best support moving forward as it has to be a keeper for a while. I've flashed the absolute hell out of my milestone and sadly realise that due to the ram its never going to amount to much more.

[Q] Snapdragon S4 w/ 4G LTE or Exynos w/ 3G?

Which one should I wait for or get?
I know with 4G it'd be more expensive though but it will have Snapdragon, which I don't really like.
But Exynos should have a better performance and I could brag about the new Exynos chip but the downside is LTE doesn't work with it.
Sir-Awesome said:
Which one should I wait for or get?
I know with 4G it'd be more expensive though but it will have Snapdragon, which I don't really like.
But Exynos should have a better performance and I could brag about the new Exynos chip but the downside is LTE doesn't work with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. S4 is actually a decent SoC
2. If you live in an area with decent HSPA speeds then it might not be too bad to go with 3G version
Depends on where you are located. If you are in the US where LTE is supported, I would go for the 4G since you will be paying alot less than the international price. If you are in the UK, I would get the quad core version with a carrier that gives you a plan on that. I'm in the US and if any carrier offers the quad core version, I would take that instead of the 4G because I don't even have 4G in my area, and I think more phone power would be better since WiFi is everywhere now.
GS3Central said:
Depends on where you are located. If you are in the US where LTE is supported, I would go for the 4G since you will be paying alot less than the international price. If you are in the UK, I would get the quad core version with a carrier that gives you a plan on that. I'm in the US and if any carrier offers the quad core version, I would take that instead of the 4G because I don't even have 4G in my area, and I think more phone power would be better since WiFi is everywhere now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in Australia, we just got LTE last year but only on one carrier.
And they're gonna be expensive, probably like around 70 dollars a month.
The smallest LTE plan is 59/month, the HTC Velocity.
There's also the S2 4G for 64/month.

SIII only Dual Core??

So... Galaxy SIII in Europe comes with quad core processor - or so I've read... Why does the US only get dual core?? Can I use a European SIII on US T-Mobile network if I can get one?
svavrek said:
So... Galaxy SIII in Europe comes with quad core processor - or so I've read... Why does the US only get dual core?? Can I use a European SIII on US T-Mobile network if I can get one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The US version has qualcomm chip which supports LTE, the Exynos does not... INTL version has 1GB RAM, and qualcomm has 2GB RAM, yes you can use an unlocked INTL I9300 on T-Mobile but will not get LTE and have less RAM... The trade-offs are up to you...
svavrek said:
So... Galaxy SIII in Europe comes with quad core processor - or so I've read... Why does the US only get dual core?? Can I use a European SIII on US T-Mobile network if I can get one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because the Exynos processor doesn't work with T-Mobile's non-standard 42Mbps on AWS (1700 MHz) and it also doesn't work with the LTE. You can use the international one on T-Mobile but you'll only get EDGE data. If you use it on AT&T though you'll get up to HSPA+ because most of Europe uses the same bands as AT&T (850/1900 MHz). If you want to use international phones, T-Mobile is the worst carrier to be on in terms of data speeds, but they're moving to the same frequency as AT&T, so eventually you'll be able to use it on T-Mobile with up to 21 Mbps.
B-Naughty said:
The qualcomm chip supports LTE, the Exynos does not... INTL version has 1GB RAM, and qualcomm has 2GB RAM, yes you can use an unlocked INTL I9300 on T-Mobile but will not get LTE and have less RAM... The trade-offs are up to you...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair, the i9300 is a lot faster than the US models. But to be honest, unless you game, you won't notice a different. The 2GB of RAM was a "whoops, my bad" from Samsung for having to switch processors; RAM does not affect performance unless you have too little RAM. Even the Nexus 7 comes with 1GB of RAM. But anyways, it depends how you use your phone. The other big thing is that the US models have the "bug" or "feature" where you might lose your IMEI when flashing anything to the phone, with no chance (so far) to get it back, meaning you'd have to do a warranty swap to get a working phone. The i9300 also gets major updates first. Development, I would say, is about the same for both though.
svavrek said:
So... Galaxy SIII in Europe comes with quad core processor - or so I've read... Why does the US only get dual core?? Can I use a European SIII on US T-Mobile network if I can get one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try to reply in a nice way before you get flamed by someone. The quad core version (International) does not support LTE, hence we have the dual core setup which does support LTE. You can use an international device on ATT and T Mobile minus LTE. If I recall correctly you may not even get HSPA + either but I don't know if that is true or not.
---------- Post added at 09:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 AM ----------
Product F(RED) said:
Because the Exynos processor doesn't work with T-Mobile's non-standard 42Mbps on AWS (1700 MHz) and it also doesn't work with the LTE. You can use the international one on T-Mobile but you'll only get EDGE data. If you use it on AT&T though you'll get up to HSPA+ because most of Europe uses the same bands as AT&T (850/1900 MHz). If you want to use international phones, T-Mobile is the worst carrier to be on in terms of data speeds, but they're moving to the same frequency as AT&T, so eventually you'll be able to use it on T-Mobile with up to 21 Mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn you beat me to it.
Damn we be on this one... LOL
Slight correction. There is a quad-core Exynos that supports LTE. Korea got it, but it wasn't completed by the time the US variants were in full production.
The Root said:
Slight correction. There is a quad-core Exynos that supports LTE. Korea got it, but it wasn't completed by the time the US variants were in full production.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because the LTE radio is separate from the Exynos SoC. The Exynos itself does not support LTE. Think HTC Thunderbolt. What this results in is horrible battery life. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 did the same thing with the Exynos dual-core, adding a separate LTE radio with the Exynos processor. If you need LTE, you're better off with the Snapdragon S4 (which is no slouch btw). We're at a cell phone generation where all CPU's perform pretty much the same (current gen meaning S4 - Tegra 3 - Exynos Quad) until you really push them. So again, unless you're benchmarking or heavily gaming, you won't notice a difference.
Also, yes you'll get HSPA+ on AT&T (I'm using my i9300 on Straight Talk), but only EDGE on T-Mobile.
Product F(RED) said:
The other big thing is that the US models have the "bug" or "feature" where you might lose your IMEI when flashing anything to the phone, with no chance (so far) to get it back, meaning you'd have to do a warranty swap to get a working phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm starting to think even Samsung doesn't have a clue what's really going on with that... or a very ingenius way to sell some phones at full price... Hasn't deterred me any...
B-Naughty said:
I'm starting to think even Samsung doesn't have a clue what's really going on with that... or a very ingenius way to sell some phones at full price... Hasn't deterred me any...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung supports developers. They gave the entire CyanogenMod team Galaxy S II's when they first came out. They hired Steve Kondik (Cyanogen), and they worked with XDA devs to try and fix the ICS recovery perma-brick issue on the SII, Note, and other phones. It's probably the carriers that messed with the software without knowing what they were doing.
if you haven't heard already from previous posts the USA s3 supports lte and the UK one doesn't and we also have 2gb of ram they do not but they have a quad core chip to even it out and to be fair.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2

Which version to buy?

Hi.
I have been wanting to get the Galaxy for some time, and now even more after reading up on the iPhone 5 and slowly losing faith in it's domination of the market. I am currently undecided as far as what version of Samsung Galaxy S3 to buy. I have been reading that the international version is pretty pathetic due to frequency and network speed capability among a few other complaints. I am currently a Tmobile customer. Should I buy the phone from TMobile AND unlock it or should I buy the international version of this device.
Thank you all for your help.
omfgwhat said:
Hi.
I have been wanting to get the Galaxy for some time, and now even more after reading up on the iPhone 5 and slowly losing faith in it's domination of the market. I am currently undecided as far as what version of Samsung Galaxy S3 to buy. I have been reading that the international version is pretty pathetic due to frequency and network speed capability among a few other complaints. I am currently a Tmobile customer. Should I buy the phone from TMobile AND unlock it or should I buy the international version of this device.
Thank you all for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you in the US? If you are in the US then the international will only get 2G speeds on TMO unless you are in one of the newly converted areas(which is unlikely because only 5 or so markets have been converted so far). And the international is HSPA+ which is what TMO is, It's not LTE so it wont be too much faster. I do think the US TMO version is 42mbps HSPA where the International is 21.
I'm on ATT and I had the choice to get either the US version with LTE and 2GB of Ram or get the international version. I chose to get the international. LTE really isnt important to me as I'm on wifi 90% of the time and HSPA+ serves me well for the 10% of the time I'm not on wifi
I will be using 4G most of the time rather than the WiFi, are you suggesting I should go with the TMobile version of this device?
Thanks.

Categories

Resources