Hey guys, I've been planning on upgrading my phone which is literally like 6 years old some lg slider type of phone for texting.
I was planning on getting the S2 (international since I'm in Canada) even after knowing the release of S3. One reason was to save money $0 for S2 and 150 for S3 on a 3 year contract. But the main reason was the hardware, I know the cpu is pretty on par with the international exynos quad core but the gpu seems to fall short right? Not to mention they took out the Wolfson sound chip which I was really anticipated on since I rather just use my phone as a multimedia player than buying for example a cowon mp3 player.
The thing thats really holding me back is I guess the gpu. I own an ipod touch and never in the world did I think would be playing games on such a small device but nevertheless, it kills time pretty quickly and keeps me from being bored throughout the day or at work.
I just wanted to know if anyone who has the American variant of the S3, are the current games graphically looking and fluidity decent enough even though it uses a Adreno 225? Is it worth getting the S3 with the Adreno 225 than the S2 with mali400? Just curious if the Adreno 225 performs better than the S2's mali400.
If not, I'll probably just stick to getting the S2 and maybe wait to import the international or just wait it out for the next "S4" or the next "big" thing aside from apple's iphone .
Thanks guys!
S2 is year old phone, go in S3 forum and ask what games and stuff works...
Try to get an S2 off-contract it's gonna save you some cash because you won't be stuck in a 50$ contract and you can change phone anytime. I got mine brand new for 450$ in January you can find some for 300$ now. I tried the S3 and it's now big of an upgrade. It's up to you if you
duykhang524 said:
Try to get an S2 off-contract it's gonna save you some cash because you won't be stuck in a 50$ contract and you can change phone anytime. I got mine brand new for 450$ in January you can find some for 300$ now. I tried the S3 and it's now big of an upgrade. It's up to you if you
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I always, wondered what kind of plan people would get with a bought outright phone? Like in canada the texting plans are 20-30 with no caller id/voice msg. And to get that is like another 15 dollars, and if you want data atleast another $10 for 100mb or so. In the end won't it be the same price as the normal $50 ish plans????
Related
There are rumors that the S3 will be launched this April. Im interested in getting the S2 now but it costs US$579. Should I wait until April? Do you think that the S2 will get down to US$449 after the S3 is released? Thanks.
It will become cheaper. But how much, nobody knows.
S3 won't be out in April I reckon bit later so you maybe waiting a bit, try and pick one up second hand in good condition.
Prices s/h have fallen quite a bit here in the UK compared to new sim free.
I'd suggest looking at SGS1 pricing, particularly if you can get historical info, since you know when the S2 came out... That should give an idea, but IMO samsung phone tend to hold a high residual value. The SGS1 is still £200 iirc
I currently have an HTC Vision/G2 (CM 7.2) from Canada that I bought off contract and am using on ATT. I have a special plan from ATT that I don't want to give up - an old 'smartphone' unlimited data plan that is discounted a further 15%. So I am essentially paying $12 a month for unlimited internet. I've used well over 80gigs some months. ATT doesn't seem to be able to recognize my phone type.
Anyway, my current phone is getting a little long in the tooth, so I want to get an S3, but I don't want to get it from ATT on contract and don't want to screw up my data plan. I'm also unsure if I really want the ATT version or the International version, since the international version has a quadcore but lacks LTE. I am also concerned I will miss the physical keyboard.
So my three questions are:
1. If I go with the US version, where can I buy it from other than ATT and not have ATT change my plan?
2. Do I lose a lot with the dual core rather than quad core?
3. Is there a better Android phone I should be looking out for - and maybe one with a keyboard?
Gracias.
As far as buying the device, you can probably buy outright from att even, or look to eBay, Craigslist etc etc.
And to be honest you are not losing much missing out on quad core the second generation s4 inside the siii can go toe to toe really well against the exynos quad ,and you get much better battery life plus lte. And on top of that you get a whopping 2gb ram on the s4 version vs international. IMO all these gains make even the dual core siii a good buy against the international .
As far as your last question, not really, the siii is literally the cream of the crop right now, the best nothing even comes close (maybe the HTC one x) but after having owned both I like the siii much better . The siii is likely to remain the best for a while till at least November when we see the new nexus .
Hope I helped, good luck!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
So I have until about the middle of next month to decide if I'm keeping this or getting something better. I started a new Sprint contract (welcome me to the club?) and the Photon 4G was free with new activation. I've always been a big fan of Tegra 2 devices, I used to own a Transformer but I had to sell it to buy college books.
Now, I have the extra money to either buy a Nexus 7 tablet in that time (or whatever competitive tablet to the Nexus 7 is out at that point) or the S3 and maybe a cheap Allwinner tablet or something. Now if the phone is really THAT good, I could pony up for the S3 and still get a Nexus 7 but I'm trying to get the best 'bang for buck' performance.
My question is, is the S3 worth it? Would an over-clocked Tegra 2 hold its weight? Is the S3 even better for gaming? I was under the belief that the Snapdragon S3 processes faster than the Exynos quad core, the GPU on the Exynos is actually better. I do play games.
The one thing I don't like is that it seems like all the cool roms, like CM 10 hashes and heavily modded roms, tend to kill 4G. I actually am in a spotty 4G area but it's here and there so I like to have it when I can. I also feel like the dev support isn't as high as HTC/Samsung devices but root/unlock is there so it's not that big of a deal to just mod minimally and let apps take care of the rest.
The screen size isn't huge but it's big enough and while the resolution isn't 720p, it's a phone so that's not TOO big of a deal.
The thing is, I'll be locked to whatever device I get for at least 20 months and that's a long time, especially if LTE drops in San Diego.
The one thing holding me back is that while the device is great NOW, what about 8 months from now? Even the S3 will be skipping a few beats in 8 months.
What do you guys think? Pony up and potentially skip the Nexus 7, keep the Photon 4G, mod the crap out of it and pick up some cheap Allwinner tablet for my book reading or man up and buy both?
Essenar said:
So I have until about the middle of next month to decide if I'm keeping this or getting something better. I started a new Sprint contract (welcome me to the club?) and the Photon 4G was free with new activation. I've always been a big fan of Tegra 2 devices, I used to own a Transformer but I had to sell it to buy college books.
Now, I have the extra money to either buy a Nexus 7 tablet in that time (or whatever competitive tablet to the Nexus 7 is out at that point) or the S3 and maybe a cheap Allwinner tablet or something. Now if the phone is really THAT good, I could pony up for the S3 and still get a Nexus 7 but I'm trying to get the best 'bang for buck' performance.
My question is, is the S3 worth it? Would an over-clocked Tegra 2 hold its weight? Is the S3 even better for gaming? I was under the belief that the Snapdragon S3 processes faster than the Exynos quad core, the GPU on the Exynos is actually better. I do play games.
The one thing I don't like is that it seems like all the cool roms, like CM 10 hashes and heavily modded roms, tend to kill 4G. I actually am in a spotty 4G area but it's here and there so I like to have it when I can. I also feel like the dev support isn't as high as HTC/Samsung devices but root/unlock is there so it's not that big of a deal to just mod minimally and let apps take care of the rest.
The screen size isn't huge but it's big enough and while the resolution isn't 720p, it's a phone so that's not TOO big of a deal.
The thing is, I'll be locked to whatever device I get for at least 20 months and that's a long time, especially if LTE drops in San Diego.
The one thing holding me back is that while the device is great NOW, what about 8 months from now? Even the S3 will be skipping a few beats in 8 months.
What do you guys think? Pony up and potentially skip the Nexus 7, keep the Photon 4G, mod the crap out of it and pick up some cheap Allwinner tablet for my book reading or man up and buy both?
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While getting photons ICS drivers complete our JB and ICS builds is seemingly inevitable, we don't have that same promise for an unlocked boot loader. So if by all means you 'need' 4g but still want to mod the hell out of your phone, go on and get the S3. In many ways, the Photon is a much better phone in my (perhaps biased) opinion. An extra two cores in your processor is well and good and all, but will those cores make a huge difference in the every day use of the phone? Would you be able to tell the difference past being able to crank up the settings in the games you play? Probably not enough to justify dropping 200 bucks and getting a totally different phone. The photon is already a beast at stock and blazingly fast after some modifications. And if Moto drops those drivers next month, **** is about to get really exciting up in here soon. Besides, its September, the new Nexus will be getting announced in like a month and a half. If you're considering a new phone, that would probably be the device to wait patiently for. As for me, I'm jump on board with whatever Nokia wp8 device drops in sprints lap (if it ever does).
Get the S3. It will last you much longer and you won't regret it after you get it. If you have to spend the money, spend it. You will get a greater return on your investment over the next 2 years.
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda app-developers app
Acvice said:
While getting photons ICS drivers complete our JB and ICS builds is seemingly inevitable, we don't have that same promise for an unlocked boot loader. So if by all means you 'need' 4g but still want to mod the hell out of your phone, go on and get the S3. In many ways, the Photon is a much better phone in my (perhaps biased) opinion. An extra two cores in your processor is well and good and all, but will those cores make a huge difference in the every day use of the phone? Would you be able to tell the difference past being able to crank up the settings in the games you play? Probably not enough to justify dropping 200 bucks and getting a totally different phone. The photon is already a beast at stock and blazingly fast after some modifications. And if Moto drops those drivers next month, **** is about to get really exciting up in here soon. Besides, its September, the new Nexus will be getting announced in like a month and a half. If you're considering a new phone, that would probably be the device to wait patiently for. As for me, I'm jump on board with whatever Nokia wp8 device drops in sprints lap (if it ever does).
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The lines are even blurrier than that.
The US Galaxy S3 doesn't have a quad core so it's Tegra 2 vs. Snapdragon S4 Krait dual core. The S4 dual core is hands, feet, shoulders and head better than the Tegra 2 in terms of CPU performance. However, the S4 GPU is actually 'worse' than the Exynos and Tegra 3 GPU. So the question is where the Tegra 2 GPU stands against the S4 GPU. And the game settings are absolutely part of the reason I'll choose one over the other. I plan on playing the latest games, PSX roms, etc with the device over the two years I own it. That's also why I'm considering if even the Galaxy S3 is powerful enough.
The other issue is LTE network. I have NO idea when Sprint's LTE will drop in San Diego but I know it won't be two years. Once LTE drops, I'll be on the archaic, spotty inconsistent WiMax 4G connection. I miss LTE and I'm not sure if the Photon 4G will be LTE compatible.
I also wonder if it's worth it to just pick up a clean-ESN Photon 4G on Craigslist or Ebay and using that until the US quad-cores drop because the S3 maybe isn't 'enough' of an upgrade to justify the two year commitment when new phones might be on the horizon.
Essenar said:
The lines are even blurrier than that.
The US Galaxy S3 doesn't have a quad core so it's Tegra 2 vs. Snapdragon S4 Krait dual core. The S4 dual core is hands, feet, shoulders and head better than the Tegra 2 in terms of CPU performance. However, the S4 GPU is actually 'worse' than the Exynos and Tegra 3 GPU. So the question is where the Tegra 2 GPU stands against the S4 GPU. And the game settings are absolutely part of the reason I'll choose one over the other. I plan on playing the latest games, PSX roms, etc with the device over the two years I own it. That's also why I'm considering if even the Galaxy S3 is powerful enough.
The other issue is LTE network. I have NO idea when Sprint's LTE will drop in San Diego but I know it won't be two years. Once LTE drops, I'll be on the archaic, spotty inconsistent WiMax 4G connection. I miss LTE and I'm not sure if the Photon 4G will be LTE compatible.
I also wonder if it's worth it to just pick up a clean-ESN Photon 4G on Craigslist or Ebay and using that until the US quad-cores drop because the S3 maybe isn't 'enough' of an upgrade to justify the two year commitment when new phones might be on the horizon.
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Photon unfortunately doesn't support lte. And if it makes you feel better I check out all the latest games and run psx ROMs all the time without a hitch. Most are developed for tegra 3 and almost all seem to be tegra 2 compatible and the ones that arnt usually note that they will be. Iono man, I just seriously advise against using your two year upgrade on the s3. I can almost promise that within two months something will come out that you'll be like "damn I really want this phone, I should have waited". One thing I've figured out about technology over the years is that after doing your research, if the product doesn't absolutely speak to you, just sit tight for a product that does.
If you are still within a time frame that you can switch out your photon for an SG3, than you might be also within the timeframe to cancel your contract without ETF reprecussions.
Based on the available phone lineups and uncertainty (LTE in sandiego, etc), locking in on a 2yr contract would be a poor investment. I would recommend going with a prepaid cell provider and getting a phone for that network that has a pretty good resell value.
examples:
pentaband galaxy nexus from google play store - tmobile walmart plan ($30/month)
CDMA phone from craigslist/ebay - straightalk
Try to get a photon 4G off craiglist!! I got mine for 80$ u can later sell it for an upgrade photon is a GSM phone more options to sell than the s3 from sprint and later in couple of months perhaps u can upgrade. Am also waiting on a better gsm/lte option from sprint as the photon Q has the gsm sim card embedded
Sent from my MB855 using xda app-developers app
Hey guys,
Just wondering when do you guys think is the best time to sell your s3 before upgrading to Galaxy S4.
So that you don't lose too much value of your handset before the next model is announced
gger123 said:
Hey guys,
Just wondering when do you guys think is the best time to sell your s3 before upgrading to Galaxy S4.
So that you don't lose too much value of your handset before the next model is announced
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honestly this phone is pretty decent. i guess if you are the like of those who are always on latest then you can sell it when the S4 is announced. if you sell it before that no one may buy coz of high value. but when the next comes the price will drop and some people will get interested about it. for me as i said its pretty decent and i think i won't sell it for another 5 yrs before i change phone again.
Only thing this phone is lacking, imho is the 2gb ram.
I reckon the best time will be when you are ready to buy the S4
Seriously...what kind of a question is that?
To late price has dropped now if you look around for new phone .
jje
Hello fellow noters
I recently out of decided to sell my galaxy note to get the nexus 4 ( to use on simple mobile) and to my dismay the g-note i717 has a really really low resale value. From what I have seen on ebay and craigslist the average cost for a i717 is around the low 300s, which for me is bad, Very bad. If you take into account the money that paypal and ebay take for the commission of the sale you are left with 250 something. This probably has to do with the release of the note2 only 6 months later than the original note.
I'm not complaining because this is still a great device but the loss of value took me by surprise, but I will definitely think twice before getting another Samsung device close to its release date.
In conclusion my friends I would advice you that if you want a Samsung device wait 4-6 months and buy it out of contract for 1/2 the price and if you are planning on reselling it later take a deep breath before looking for the resale values.
IMHO I see the Nexus 4 as a Downgrade from the Galaxy Note 1...
NO SD CARD.
Non-Removeable Battery
Max 16 Gigs of Storage.. Max..
Smaller Screen....
But.. Enjoy
All android phones lose there value fast because theres a new better one every week. The reason something like iphone hold there value so long is because there is only 1 a yr.
RaiderWill said:
IMHO I see the Nexus 4 as a Downgrade from the Galaxy Note 1...
NO SD CARD.
Non-Removeable Battery
Max 16 Gigs of Storage.. Max..
Smaller Screen....
But.. Enjoy
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I see it as a huge upgrade because
I don't need more than 16GB of storage because I don't put 50000 songs on my phone when I don't listen to them all anyways.
I don't really need to remove the battery ever, and it has better battery life than my note which is horribly awful.
It has android 4.2 official from the get go, and will get future android updates a week or so after announcement. Current note doesn't have official 4.1 yet, and 4.2 is out! And CM10 is still not stable. I'm so done waiting 6 months for an android update, especially with how awesome the changes have become.
Screen is a bit smaller yes, but it's higher PPI.
2GB of RAM is very necessary for anyone who is a power user. I constantly have to reload apps.
Quad core krait is awesome and should never lag. note1 lags often.
It doesn't have LTE which does actually suck but will be better for battery life and HSPA 42 in Canada is pretty good
And it's $350!
You could argue the Note2 is a better phone than the nexus4 and in many ways it is, but I still think getting android updates is more important for me. And the price is great.
I'll be selling my note1 for $300 next week. It's lower than I'd like but allows me to upgrade to the nexus4 for very cheap!
Sound Like They're Getting Your Money.
I"ll Keep My Note *1* And My $30.00 A Month T-Mo Plan And Jamie's ParanoidAndroid JellyBean Rom All Day Long Over A Phone That Won't Allow Me To Expand My Memory Forcing Me To "The Cloud" And Not Even Allowing Me Access To My Phone's Battery Making Me A *Slave* To A Charging Outlet...
Enjoy Your Nexus 4....
The main reason I'm switching is because even with the blaze radios my speeds are very very slow. I am going to miss the spen, and my 32 gb sd card but due to the lack of support from Sammy to their devices and the low resale value I refuse to spend 700$ on a note 2.
The reason for this post is to tell you guys to get prepared for the loss of value when you try to upgrade from the note.
chiwire2000 said:
The main reason I'm switching is because even with the blaze radios my speeds are very very slow. I am going to miss the spen, and my 32 gb sd card but due to the lack of support from Sammy to their devices and the low resale value I refuse to spend 700$ on a note 2.
The reason for this post is to tell you guys to get prepared for the loss of value when you try to upgrade from the note.
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I will only spend 100 for my new Note2
Sent from my SGH-I717M using xda app-developers app
I bought my og note when att was doing their $50 refurb note upgrade deal. Mines legit very rarely reboots even at 1836mhz . I'm gonna wait till something better is available for another deal like that. Then you don't have to trip on ever losing money.
Sent from my SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't like contracts much less with att. This is mostly for people like me that buy off contract and use pre paid that the depreciation of the phone affect us. IMO signing a contract with att or Verizon is like selling your soul for a discount on a device you end up paying triple by the end.
that sucks you should have waited and sold it on CL and would have received more money...You were in to much of a hurry to sell if that you lost money...Everyone else is getting 350 min for there device....And the nexus 4 sucks...YOUR complaining the note 1 has no value??? Good luck selling that Lg phone.. lmao...you'll get 100 dollars for that LG ...You make no sense...Note 2 crushes that toy!
wish777 said:
that sucks you should have waited and sold it on CL and would have received more money...You were in to much of a hurry to sell if that you lost money...Everyone else is getting 350 min for there device....And the nexus 4 sucks...YOUR complaining the note 1 has no value??? Good luck selling that Lg phone.. lmao...you'll get 100 dollars for that LG ...You make no sense...Note 2 crushes that toy!
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I haven't sold it yet and I'm not complaining, I love this thing. I don't really mind if the nexus loses value because it only costs 350$, but that is another topic.
the Note does have a low resale value if you take in to account that it used to cost around 700$ and now you have to negotiate with someone to barely get half of your investment. Samsung products do devaluate quite fast because they flood the market with their phones, release new version every 6 months and they give retailers the option to sell the phone at the price they want. I got an S3 four months ago for 615 and I went to the same store today and saw it for 500. There is nothing bad with that, if you use it to your advantage and wait a while to get a great product for 2/3 of the its first retail price.
chiwire2000 said:
Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't like contracts much less with att. This is mostly for people like me that buy off contract and use pre paid that the depreciation of the phone affect us. IMO signing a contract with att or Verizon is like selling your soul for a discount on a device you end up paying triple by the end.
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How do you figure it is triple? I have been on At&t since 1994. Not going to change. Have 5 lines with them. Always had great service. It would make no.sense not to get it subsidized for me. Going to to pay same price for service whether off or on contract.
from a galaxy far far away....
The triple is for the overpaying the service (I used to pay 120 more or less monthly on att for the past 5 years now I pay 50 everything unlimited) and if att works for you awesome, but all of this talk about subsidizing strays from the fact that the note devaluates pretty fast.
I've never seen a phone hold value...Technology is constanly upgraded and replacing other models every month..Just the way it is..Computers are worth half as less in about 3 months as well...
Ello mate!
Honestly if you want to sell your note then that's perfectly fine. You don't need to justify your decision to sell to the people on this forum because what is it to them if you sell or keep? Lol I don't know why people get butt hurt over it when it has nothing to do with them. Will they be using the phone or is it for you? Also don't let people's opinions discourage you. The nexus 4 is awesome and I want to get one as well....note is great but i have decided it's just too big for me. I am a very active person and it is actually getting in the way rather than simplifying my life. Can't go running with it. Can't take it to the gym..nope! Can't walk around the gym with the note in my gym shorts lol. I don't want to shell out additional money for another mp3 player.
I agree with you on the resale value. I put mine up on Craigslist for 430 and got so many low ball offers it's ridiculous. I am just going to keep it now ... meh.
I am buying a Note II this week, but only because my corp plan lets me it it for $200. The Spousal Unit would never allow a $750 + tax phone purchase in this house.
If I get $300 for the Note I then I am happy, since it lets me purchase the next upgrade for next to nothing.
That said, I am thinking of holding on to the Note I until December when the official JB comes out. The Note I does lag on stock rom a bit (never tried the custom JB ones), and I want to be able to sell it to non-XDA folks with full S-pen support. I am thinking that the Note I stock experience will be much better in December, and that if I show it to a couple of people I know they will be happier with it then. If an offer comes by before then, I'll let it go at that time I suppose.
My brother just sold his Note for $300 to a guy in Sudbury. He was a bit disappointed as well.
I told him it's a niche phone with low demand in a small market.
#FirstWorldProblems
Mad383Max said:
How do you figure it is triple? I have been on At&t since 1994. Not going to change. Have 5 lines with them. Always had great service. It would make no.sense not to get it subsidized for me. Going to to pay same price for service whether off or on contract.
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chiwire2000 said:
The triple is for the overpaying the service (I used to pay 120 more or less monthly on att for the past 5 years now I pay 50 everything unlimited) and if att works for you awesome, but all of this talk about subsidizing strays from the fact that the note devaluates pretty fast.
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Read the important part in red which you missed. If you have ONE LINE, non-contract makes sense in some cases. If you have more than one, nope.
As for the OP's whinge, who cares, everything that isn't a "durable product" devalues fast, think about how many THOUSANDS your car devalues the second it's "used".
wish777 said:
that sucks you should have waited and sold it on CL and would have received more money...You were in to much of a hurry to sell if that you lost money...Everyone else is getting 350 min for there device....And the nexus 4 sucks...YOUR complaining the note 1 has no value??? Good luck selling that Lg phone.. lmao...you'll get 100 dollars for that LG ...You make no sense...Note 2 crushes that toy!
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100% true! the nexus 4 will be worth nothing as Google drops its price, and I sold one of my skyrockets for 350 on Craig's list so I'd sell my note 1 for $400 up, and I'm in Fl too. Its all about the condition of the phone. If your note is mint like mine you'll sell it for $400 cause people will rather pay $400 for perfect condition than $300 for some old scratched up junk. In 6 mo. Your $350 nexus will be worth $199 or less cause its used. How's that for devaluation.
jietzer said:
All android phones lose there value fast because theres a new better one every week. The reason something like iphone hold there value so long is because there is only 1 a yr.
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Well that and Apple sells all their hardware at a high margin keeping the prices high at retail.