Samsung Galaxy S3 Launched

[lomatopo]

Maybe some delays on the Blue version? Pre-orders on the SGS3 are said to be 9.5 million units, which is remarkable.

Samsung facing manufacturing issues with Pebble Blue Galaxy S III

By: Sahil 'Bones' Gupta | May 28th, 2012 at 12:39PM 510Filed Under: Galaxy S III, News

Earlier in the day we reported that the Samsung Galaxy S III would go on sale in India on May 31st itself, the day Samsung will officially unveil the device in India, however in only Marble White. And adding cadence to our report, the guys at Androidnz.net our also reporting a similar situation with the Telecom NZ preorders, and other retailers who have told them that the Pebble Blue will only come by mid-june. Furthermore, their ounces have confirmed that there is production issue with the color matching process of the back casing on the Pebble Blue model and for the time being production has been ceased, till the issue has been resolved. The report also states that the problem is not restricted to New Zealand that buyers in Thailand and Malaysia are also facing similar problems and even in Dubai where the device is on sale, only the Marble White model is available.

Even dutch tech site Tweakers.net have joined the party, and they are reporting that Samsung Benelux PR Manager Vivian Peters has confirmed this and the company has destroyed 600,000 rear casings, but claims that adjustments have been made to the production and no delays are expected. And finally Samsung has also come clean with this report on its Swedish Facebook page and have confirmed the AndroidNz report.

Edited May 28, 2012 by lomatopo

[lomatopo]

Samsung Galaxy S3: full review

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 is the phone of the moment for good reason, says Matt Warman

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology

29 May 2012

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 phone has been much promoted – it is, after all, the device that will compete with Apple’s iPhone 5, and carries in many ways all Google’s best hope for its Android operating system.

I had some time with the device before it was released, and now, the day before it launches, I’ve been able to spend several days living with it. Although there are some niggles, I like it now even more than I did before.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/samsung/9295535/Samsung-Galaxy-S3-full-review.html

Review: Samsung Galaxy S III is a technological triumph

Physical measurements for the Galaxy S III are almost identical to HTC’s One X, its most direct competitor, and in practice you really cannot tell a difference between the two. When you factor in that Samsung’s phone fits a significantly larger battery (2100mAh versus the One X’s 1800mAh) and actually lets you swap it out thanks to the removable cover, you have to hand the functional design advantage to the Galaxy S III. Its microSD card slot also makes it more versatile in terms of storage, however you can’t hot-swap Micro SIM cards on the Galaxy S III the way you can on the One X. Still, my general impression of Samsung’s new flagship is that the closer your scrutinize this phone, the more impressive it becomes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-review/2012/05/29/gJQAtTxZyU_story_1.html

Samsung Galaxy S III launches in 28 countries, to be available in 145 by July

By Dieter Bohn on May 28, 2012 11:42 pm

Although some retailers are saying they don't expect to have inventory right away, Samsung is officially claiming that it has launched the Galaxy S III in 28 countries today. That's a massive launch, but the phone maker has even grander claims, saying it will be offered by a grand total of 296 carriers in 145 countries by July. The last rumored date for the US and Canada was June 20th, which would obviously mean Samsung will have done a faster (and perhaps more successful) launch with the Galaxy S III than it did with its predecessor. The Galaxy S II reportedly owns ten percent of the total Android ecosystem, so if the Galaxy S III comes even close, Samsung will have another blockbuster on its hands.

In any case, if you're in one of the 28 launch countries, which include much of Europe and the Middle East, you can begin your hunt for a Galaxy S III today, though obviously we suggest you absorb our comprehensive review first.

[Shurup]

SGS3 can be preordered (unlocked version) in Canada for $750 CAD (about 23,000 baht). Probably gray imports with no warranty as it happened in Canada with SGS2 until it was officially available there.

[Somtamnication]

But only a duo core. Quad core is not going to Canada. http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/05/30/canadian-galaxy-s-iii-will-launch-on-june-20th-packing-lte-1-5ghz-snapdragon-s4-and-a-monstrous-2gb-of-ram/

Edited May 31, 2012 by Somtamnication

[YipYipYa123]

But only a duo core. Quad core is not going to Canada. http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/05/30/canadian-galaxy-s-iii-will-launch-on-june-20th-packing-lte-1-5ghz-snapdragon-s4-and-a-monstrous-2gb-of-ram/

a 1.5 dual core snapdragon and 2GB of ram not enough ? i dont know what apps will run faster with 4 cores than 2 ?

nearly any phone with a 0.8+ dual core is very smooth and can do anything you throw at it (iphone 4 etc )

this new galaxy s3 seems to be OTT for a phone at the moment but applications will catch up im sure ,what can a phone do right now that needs 2GB of ram ?

[Somtamnication]

Mine is a toy. I need power!!!!!!!!!!! It has to not only bathe me, but also dry me.

Huge amount of dev work with that 2 gig ram.

[JunoJingo]

Hi,

Does anybody know where I can lay my hands on one of these phones, I'm really struggling to find an outlet with stock in Bangkok.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[lomatopo]

^ Most shops are expecting stock tomorrow, Thursday, 7 June 2012. YMMV.

[lomatopo]

I was at Seacon today, they have a large Mobile Phone showcase, perhaps as a tir-in to the COMMART Show at Queen Sirikit Center, in the main atrium area and they have SGS3's. They seem to be selling briskly.

[BuddhistVirus]

I was at Seacon today, they have a large Mobile Phone showcase, perhaps as a tir-in to the COMMART Show at Queen Sirikit Center, in the main atrium area and they have SGS3's. They seem to be selling briskly.

I was there too.

SG 3 priced at 21,900. Samsung booth was the busiest.

[lomatopo]

Anybody know when True will have this in their shops?

Thanks,

Tom.

I guess I would assume they have them now? Perhaps not every single True shop but certainly many? At Seacon, in addition to Samsung, DTAC, TrueMove H and AIS had booths and were selling the SGS3 all with a boatload of promotions: calling/data plans, add-ons ( uSD cards ), ice cream sandwich pillows...

Note that the SGS3 takes a micro SIM. My cousin had a DTAC SIM in her SGS2 which had the uSIM attached. We just snapped out the uSIM and installed it.

[Somtamnication]

Apparently it has a different pin out for the HDMI dongle. The ones used for sgs2 will NOT work on the sgs3.

[lomatopo]

Quick question, can I buy one from a different network from my own (True)?

Yes.

Quick question, Or are they locked to the network?

No. Phones are not locked to networks here.

It appears as though there may be a I9300T version, again perhaps "enhanced" for 850 MHz 3G for Telstra in Australia. Maybe TrueMove (H) and/or DTAC will hawk this model here? My cousin purchased an I9300 direct from Samsung - I specifically examined this and recommended this version - with some AIS branding on a sticky label. She installed a DTAC uSIM and was seeing ~ 9 Mbps/3 Mbps on a first speedtest. The I9300/I9300T are of course both quad-band 3G. As with the I9100/I9100T, or even N7000/N7000B, option I always recommend going with the 'standard' version, i.e. I9100, I9300, N7000.

[Digitalbanana]

Using uSIM has already put me off getting an S3! I travel a lot, got a few prepaid mini SIM cards I like to load up fro each country. Never seen or needed a uSIM before. What a pain this will be or am I over worrying?

[ShanePashen]

Think I'll be keeping my money in my pocket just for now, I see the note 2.0 has a proposed october release date, I will keep my nexus until I see what that offers, quadcore 1680 x 1050 5.5" screen 12 mp camera, 1.5gb ram unbreakable screen.

And not least of all Jellybean!

http://news.mk.co.kr/english/newsRead.php?rss=Y&sc=30800011&year=2012&no=360619

sounds good for this Phablet.

Edited June 22, 2012 by ShanePashen

[funlovinkid]

Quick question, can I buy one from a different network from my own (True)?

Yes.

Quick question, Or are they locked to the network?

No. Phones are not locked to networks here.

It appears as though there may be a I9300T version, again perhaps "enhanced" for 850 MHz 3G for Telstra in Australia. Maybe TrueMove (H) and/or DTAC will hawk this model here? My cousin purchased an I9300 direct from Samsung - I specifically examined this and recommended this version - with some AIS branding on a sticky label. She installed a DTAC uSIM and was seeing ~ 9 Mbps/3 Mbps on a first speedtest. The I9300/I9300T are of course both quad-band 3G. As with the I9100/I9100T, or even N7000/N7000B, option I always recommend going with the 'standard' version, i.e. I9100, I9300, N7000.

Lomatopo, what do you mean by the I9300T being "enhanced" for 850 MHz? I happen to live in Chiang Mai, and I went to the largest shopping mall here today with the intention of buying a new SGS3 I9300 model, and the only model that was available (in any shop, and I went to many) was the I9300T. I was with a Thai friend at the time, and so I asked him to ask the shopkeepers what the significance was of this, but all they could tell him was that it was the DTAC/True model, but that an AIS SIM card would work fine on it as well (I happen to be an AIS customer, and pretty sure I want to stay that way). They also kept saying something about it being significant to 3G performance (similar to your comment above).

I remembered having read this thread, so decided to postpone the decision until I fully understand what the difference is. The fact that all the I9300 models got snapped up, but not the I9300T's, makes me a bit leery. The Samsung shop sells only the I9300 model (and I think their box has an AIS logo on it). I can't really believe that a different model number gets assigned to a phone that is 100% identical to an existing model number, and I don't want any surprises down the road (like--oh, look, it doesn't work in Europe! or whatever). I happen to be an engineer (most recently, a network engineer), so I think I understand the technology pretty well. Both models seem to have the same specs on the box (quad-band, same frequencies, etc), but I'm wondering if maybe the version of Android is slightly different, or the installed apps are different (thereby suggesting possible future issues with support), etc, etc. I know phones in Thailand technically aren't 'locked' to a particular carrier (like they are in the U.S.), but the fact that they seem to be marketed as specific to one carrier or another has me wondering.

Any thoughts, anyone?

[lomatopo]

Any thoughts, anyone?

This is pure conjecture on my part, based in part on my understanding of the SGS2 variants (I9100/I9100T).

I have only seen/used I9300 - SGS3's on DTAC.

For the SGS2, Telstra seems to have requested a special version tuned to the 850 MHz 3G network. This tuning definitely utilizes a unique firmware/baseband modem version (verified), and perhaps specialized, unique hardware (unverified). Since DTAC and TrueMove H operate 3G on 850 MHz they seem to have decided to market this version, perhaps in an effort to differentiate the phone, and entice customers to purchase from them/their channels?

I have not seen nor heard about any potential issues with i9100 or i9100T models other than perhaps having to wait a bit longer for the Android 4.0.x upgrade. The versions seem to be plug compatible.

I am saying that this may also be the case with the I9300/I9300T SGS 3 variants. Personally I would recommend the I9300 version, but I think either version would be fine, and be considered equivalent. These two versions have the same features, functions, capabilities, UI, apps. Android ver. etc. I suspect that they have different baseband modems but have not been able to confirm that.

Edited July 2, 2012 by lomatopo

[funlovinkid]

Quick question, can I buy one from a different network from my own (True)?

Yes.

Quick question, Or are they locked to the network?

No. Phones are not locked to networks here.

It appears as though there may be a I9300T version, again perhaps "enhanced" for 850 MHz 3G for Telstra in Australia. Maybe TrueMove (H) and/or DTAC will hawk this model here? My cousin purchased an I9300 direct from Samsung - I specifically examined this and recommended this version - with some AIS branding on a sticky label. She installed a DTAC uSIM and was seeing ~ 9 Mbps/3 Mbps on a first speedtest. The I9300/I9300T are of course both quad-band 3G. As with the I9100/I9100T, or even N7000/N7000B, option I always recommend going with the 'standard' version, i.e. I9100, I9300, N7000.

Lomatopo, what do you mean by the I9300T being "enhanced" for 850 MHz? I happen to live in Chiang Mai, and I went to the largest shopping mall here today with the intention of buying a new SGS3 I9300 model, and the only model that was available (in any shop, and I went to many) was the I9300T. I was with a Thai friend at the time, and so I asked him to ask the shopkeepers what the significance was of this, but all they could tell him was that it was the DTAC/True model, but that an AIS SIM card would work fine on it as well (I happen to be an AIS customer, and pretty sure I want to stay that way). They also kept saying something about it being significant to 3G performance (similar to your comment above).

I remembered having read this thread, so decided to postpone the decision until I fully understand what the difference is. The fact that all the I9300 models got snapped up, but not the I9300T's, makes me a bit leery. The Samsung shop sells only the I9300 model (and I think their box has an AIS logo on it). I can't really believe that a different model number gets assigned to a phone that is 100% identical to an existing model number, and I don't want any surprises down the road (like--oh, look, it doesn't work in Europe! or whatever). I happen to be an engineer (most recently, a network engineer), so I think I understand the technology pretty well. Both models seem to have the same specs on the box (quad-band, same frequencies, etc), but I'm wondering if maybe the version of Android is slightly different, or the installed apps are different (thereby suggesting possible future issues with support), etc, etc. I know phones in Thailand technically aren't 'locked' to a particular carrier (like they are in the U.S.), but the fact that they seem to be marketed as specific to one carrier or another has me wondering.

Any thoughts, anyone?

================

EDIT: I think I might have just answered my own question. After posting the above, I dug around a little using Google, and came across the following very interesting link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1740061

The key takeaway from the link above: "All modems are interchangeable between both these models. The I9300T modem is optimised for the 850 MHz band, but it may not be the best for you. Try, test and find out "

Because DTAC and TrueMove use the 850 Mhz frequency for their mobile communications, anyone using their service would benefit from using a phone which has a modem which is optimized for this frequency. On the other hand, because AIS currently uses the 900 MHz frequency for both 2G and 3G communications, I'm pretty confident any AIS customer WOULDN'T want the I9300T phone, because you might find yourself with nagging connectivity problems (i.e. weak signal, dropped calls, poor call quality, etc).

Bottom line: I'm glad I waited until the I9300 becomes available again (hopefully soon!)

Edited July 2, 2012 by funlovinkid

[funlovinkid]

Any thoughts, anyone?

This is pure conjecture on my part, based in part on my understanding of the SGS2 variants (I9100/I9100T).

I have only seen/used I9300 - SGS3's on DTAC.

For the SGS2, Telstra seems to have requested a special version tuned to the 850 MHz 3G network. This tuning definitely utilizes a unique firmware/baseband modem version (verified), and perhaps specialized, unique hardware (unverified). Since DTAC and TrueMove H operate 3G on 850 MHz they seem to have decided to market this version, perhaps in an effort to differentiate the phone, and entice customers to purchase from them/their channels?

I have not seen nor heard about any potential issues with i9100 or i9100T models other than perhaps having to wait a bit longer for the Android 4.0.x upgrade. The versions seem to be plug compatible.

I am saying that this may also be the case with the I9300/I9300T SGS 3 variants. Personally I would recommend the I9300 version, but I think either version would be fine, and be considered equivalent. These two versions have the same features, functions, capabilities, UI, apps. Android ver. etc. I suspect that they have different baseband modems but have not been able to confirm that.

Thanks, Lomatopo, looks like you hit the nail on the head, see posting immediately above...

[lomatopo]

Because DTAC and TrueMove use the 850 Mhz frequency for their mobile communications, anyone using their service would benefit from using a phone which has a modem which is optimized for this frequency. On the other hand, because AIS currently uses the 900 MHz frequency for both 2G and 3G communications, I'm pretty confident any AIS customer WOULDN'T want the I9300T phone, because you might find yourself with nagging connectivity problems (i.e. weak signal, dropped calls, poor call quality, etc).

Bottom line: I'm glad I waited until the I9300 becomes available again (hopefully soon!)

I think you may be over analyzing this. I am pretty sure the baseband modem on the I9300T would work fine with AIS. Certainly call quality and connectivity wouldn't be affected at all as those are GSM capabilities. I suspect the I9300T would work fine on AIS, but their 3G network seems to be the worst performing here so maybe that would be challenging to verify?

In the case of the I9100/I9100T, some anecdotal experience indicates that the I9100 actually performs better on Telstra's network.

Assuming you can find CWM-flashable modems it is fairly easy to flash different versions. On my SGS1 variant I flashed ~ 50 different modems until I found the best one for 3G, GPS, and call quality.

[funlovinkid]

Because DTAC and TrueMove use the 850 Mhz frequency for their mobile communications, anyone using their service would benefit from using a phone which has a modem which is optimized for this frequency. On the other hand, because AIS currently uses the 900 MHz frequency for both 2G and 3G communications, I'm pretty confident any AIS customer WOULDN'T want the I9300T phone, because you might find yourself with nagging connectivity problems (i.e. weak signal, dropped calls, poor call quality, etc).

Bottom line: I'm glad I waited until the I9300 becomes available again (hopefully soon!)

I think you may be over analyzing this. I am pretty sure the baseband modem on the I9300T would work fine with AIS. Certainly call quality and connectivity wouldn't be affected at all as those are GSM capabilities. I suspect the I9300T would work fine on AIS, but their 3G network seems to be the worst performing here so maybe that would be challenging to verify?

In the case of the I9100/I9100T, some anecdotal experience indicates that the I9100 actually performs better on Telstra's network.

Assuming you can find CWM-flashable modems it is fairly easy to flash different versions. On my SGS1 variant I flashed ~ 50 different modems until I found the best one for 3G, GPS, and call quality.

Fair enough, but I'm still gonna get the I9300 version!

[negreanu]

9300T DTAC, Truemove works fine on AIS. With no dropped calls, call quality and 3G speeds.

Not exactly sure where that nonsense came from.

[funlovinkid]

Well, as promised, I finally went out and bought an I9300 version of this. Very happy with the phone so far, so now I would like to upgrade the software to the latest OS, etc. However, when I start the upgrade process, it automatically selects Thailand (written in Thai) as my country, and I'm wondering if this would be the wisest choice. Although the phone will be operating primarily in Thailand, I'm wondering if this choice will affect any of the language displays, which of course I want to be in English. Obviously, I have already configured the phone for the English language version, so I'm a little surprised when the list of countries comes up written in the native language of each (whether it be Thailand, China, Arabic countries, etc). Should I download the upgrades which are intended for, say, the UK or US?

[aussiebebe]

Hi everyone, this seems to be the unofficial Thai Visa S3 thread so I thought I'd ask here - what's the best deal anyone has seen on the S3? Are there any sellers offering cash-back deals with credit cards or anything like that?

cheers