yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
So I got a chance to play with the AT&T version for several hours today in my office. I wont let my friend play with his shiny new blue AT&T version of phone :P

Preparations: I reverted back to stock on my International GS3 to give him a chance :) All I had to do was to revert to rooted stock CWM backup.

Comparison: The international version is a winner! Things load faster on it.

1. Benchmarking - Personally I think that benchmarking tools are the ones to trust when we are doing this micro level comparisons. The international version wins in all the benchmarks when we compare processors - be it single threaded (Quadrant) or multi-threaded (Antutu).

2. Stutter - The ATT version clearly stutters, it is the same difference that we had between international note vs. ATT note. You can clearly notice how Samsung optimizes the Exynos processor for their software. I got both the devices on WIFI and loaded the pages to be fair. Changing between tabs, and zooming pages made you feel the fluidity difference.

3. Opening Menus - International version won again in fluidity!

4. Internet speed in non LTE area - Strangely, I did two tests using speed test and International version won again! I was using DXLEA modem (thanks SlimJ87D for recommending it). My friend who is on $20 300MB plan did not let me do more tests as it was using his data plan :-P. I got about 6.2MB down and 2.3MB up twice and AT&T version got 4.3MB down and 2.5 MB up.

I would like to say that I wanted to be as much fair as possible but apart from the fact that AT&T version had about 1GB RAM free and I had 200 MB free AT&T one had nothing to brag about. Sadly in my area we don't have LTE yet so my poor friend couldn't even brag about that. :-P

I reverted back to CM9 immediately after this testing. And returned back the phone to my friend.
[Galaxy S III General] racerex:
My AT&T SG3 does not stutter. I've installed a ton of apps and it's still smooth as butter. So to summarize...

-2GB is better than 1GB RAM in the sense that you can have more browser tabs, apps, etc multi-tasked.

-LTE is faster than HSPA+

-Qualcomm 8960 is more efficient than Exynos 4212

These are the facts. Get over it.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Thanks for stopping by and posting your comments. Did you get a chance to hold both at&t and international version next to each other and then compare?
[Galaxy S III General] daveop:
Why are you even here? You have forums that talk about YOUR phone. We are tired of hearing you guys talk about the AT&T version as if we cared.

2GB is more than 1GB, WE GET IT. We don't agree that the OS takes advantage of it to the point where it would make a big difference. The GNEX runs well on 512MB of RAM, so clearly it's not an AOSP issue.

Yes, LTE is faster, but it's also not unlimited at 10$ a month. It's also in a very small part of the country, and will not continue to be as fast once it is saturated. It's already down to 8-12MBPS down here in SW Chicago, and dropping fast, or so says my GNote.

You can say it's more efficient, but nearly every review gives a slight edge to the Exynos. Regardless, we are happy with our phone, and we are getting really tired of you AT&T owners trying to start crap in here. We are here to talk about the advantages and disadvantages we have using OUR phones with AT&T.

Most of us are very happy to trade some of your points, for the VASTLY greater amount of development work that we have and will continue to have.
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
International Warranty on Samsung Galaxy S3 International Variant I9300??????

Hey Can you tell us if We can avail the Warranty for an International Variant of Samsung Galaxy S3 in USA???

I am planning to Buy the international Variant S3-I9300 in India before I fly to Detroit. So i am concerned about the Warranty Issues i.e. if I face any kinda problems.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Talk to the store from where you buy.
[Galaxy S III General] komugi:
You keep on saying 4212, but you're getting your "facts" wrong.

International version has Exynos 4412.

That said.. all this idiocy began after US users got their US versions.
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
I tried to compare the two on my own. In other to remove any vendor "tweaks", carrier bloat, etc. from the equation, and also to get a feel for the devices in a way I'll actually use them, I decided to use AOSP based firmware on both devices, and being its the most widely supported AOSP-based firmware, CM9 was my choice.

On the internation version, I loaded a fairly recently "nightly." The only known issues are a slow GPS lock and possible camera issues.

On the AT&T version... oh.. wait. We can only run samsungs firmware on this version. FAIL.

No need for a benchmark when I can't even run software that I want on my phone.
[Galaxy S III General] racerex:
My mistake. 4412 is just the quad version of the 4212. Either way it doesn't change the fact that the 8960 is more efficient than the 4412.

You guys can jump up and down all day about getting unlimited HSPA+ for cheaper which is grand. But you can't distort the facts and say you hardware is better than the AT&T GS3.
[Galaxy S III General] thran8:
I know this thread was created for AT&T but i was just curious about t-mobile.

If you get the T-mobile version, cant you simply change the rom and you will be ok with getting 4g speed on tmobile without changing your plan? Referring to Grandfather plans of t-zones

I apologize for my lack of knowledge but I have always had international phones myself so, I have never had a issue (Sony Ericsson Xperia x1, & x10)

Thanks guys for the heads up
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Weren't you given your own forum to feel god about? Why do you feel the need to come to international forum. Oh wait, you need to see how awesome the development forum here is and then you need to drool :P
[Galaxy S III General] IFireflyl:
The international phone is the better phone for gaming with Quad Core plus a better GPU. Other than that the phones run nearly identical. Stop being an AT&T fanboy and get your facts straight before running your mouth. The AT&T isn't better for everyone. It's different. Different people have different needs/wants with their devices. It isn't a one-size fits all. Stop acting like a boss.

No. It isn't based on the ROM it's based on the IMEI of the phone. That won't change with a new ROM so they'll still see that you have a T-Mobile IMEI.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99GplpFVWk

"I'll be the first to tell you the US version has a little bit of a speed deficiency in comparison to the international,,,I do notice a slight difference between this one and the quad core exynos processor. It is a noticeable difference"

And then talked about being stuck at the airport and there was lag on the US version. in all fairness he wasnt sure if it was a rouge app or not. But stated he did not have this happen on the intl
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Having held and used both phones now, I can clearly tell/confirm what Aaron at phone dog is taking about. US version is slow, looks like Samsung's software is optimized somehow for exynos. There is a noticeable lag in US version which you won't notice and will probably ignore of you haven't used the international version.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Yes, and another thing, Arron from phonedog always tries to present things to an end consumer instead of an enthusiast/modder so when he says there is a noticeable difference he is talking to the normal everyday user, so if normal users would be able to see a difference us Android fiends would surely be able to tell a difference even more so.
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
On phone with AT&T right now...

She asked what the phone type and iemi was, and I played dumb:

"...it's an international phone I bought from a guy in Europe.. it says "samsung" on it and it has normal number buttons on it. I think the style is called "candy bar.""

"IEMI? No, I don't think it has one of those. I don't have the phone in front of me right now, though. Oh, you can look it up in your system? Okay.."

She then comes back and tells me that it's a smart phone and she has to leave it on the current data plan. She read off to me that her system comes back with a make and model of "Samsung GT I9300."

Oops. ;)

I told her that I'd have to call back when I had the new phone physically in front of me so I could give them the real make and model and that "iemi" number so we could get this resolved...

Oh, well... it was worth the try.

This phone was an import from germany (via amazon) and had a CSC from vodafone... and it seems that AT&T has the iemi in their databse.

I guess I could try to pick up a gophone or some used cheap GSM phone, make a call or two, then call AT&T and try again.. but I suspect that if its made it's way into one database, it'll make its way into other databses and will soon be flagged as a smartphone on the medianet stuff...

(no, I'm not a troll.. )

Take care

Gary
[Galaxy S III General] crashck:
I've been on my gs3 for four days and att online hasn't updated my phone from my lg vu... Will they update it or not?
[Galaxy S III General] neyenlives:
I'll leave this here...to show an example of why what CPU is in the phone doesn't really matter. That's why LTE is such a pivotal feature, because both phones are equally capable in daily tasks....but if your data connection is boss, you will save far far more time than anything you perceive in the GUI experience as a "slower device".

Pocketnow Youtube Review

It's over 17 minutes long and worth every minute.....cheers :highfive:
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Didn't you say you werent going to post in here anymore? Couldnt resist could you? you and your ****ing LTE... WHO CARES.. It's not pivotal to me... a FLUID SMOOTH UI is... and Everyone reports the quad is smoother.. so seriously buddy.. again.. you're trying to push off what is best for you as what's best for everyone.. Do you see us going in the US variant threads and trolling, yet the US device owners are constantly coming in here trolling.. seriously go back where you belong because it sure as hell isnt in this forum.

The S4 is the better choice for you.. I got that.. but it's not better for me, the Quadcore is the better choice for ME and MY Needs.. You sir dont set the standards
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
What happened to you propagating that s4 will be faster? You are an epic fail mate.

You are posting videos that prove you wrong. I have both phones and I prefer my international version. And I stay in my forum.

Don't you realize that apart from the names these treo phones have nothing in common. Do you also go to HTC one x forums saying that your phone (whenever you get it) is better?
[Galaxy S III General] epso-sage:
upgrade

I have a att upgrade and was hoping to use it for the international s3. Im betting this wont work but was hoping someone would know how to do this if its possible.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
umm you cant use your ATT upgrade to get an international one.. if you want an international one you have to pay full retail price
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
It will work. Read the first post.
[Galaxy S III General] IFireflyl:
You're my hero. :)
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
I think he meant he wanted to use his ATT upgrade to get a international instead of a ATT branded?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Lol and I said it will work... :) the trick is in the first post. :)

Why would someone want to use upgrade? To get subsidized price. In first post I've mentioned that he can buy a subsidized price phone, sell it, and use that money to buy international version lol
[Galaxy S III General] IFireflyl:
That's not getting the international phone with his att upgrade discount...
[Galaxy S III General] epso-sage:
right I wanted to use my att upgrade to get the international version not the att version. I figured it would't work but thought id ask. thanks
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
ahh yes, there is that way.. but I pictured him walking in a store and saying "I'd like to use my upgrade on an international GS3" which wouldnt work. But your way would work. I just sold a new refurb skyrocket. I posted it for 300 but took 280 from a local guy.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
You are right. That will not work. :) Only the work around will work. :P
[Galaxy S III General] epso-sage:
I forgot about that.
[Galaxy S III General] neyenlives:
Why do you keep saying this "you keep trying to push it on others" garbage and "you sir don't set the standards"......I have not made any of those claims....I am simply doing as the OP asked

You guys keep talking about how superior the Intl version is as if you are trying to push the Intl. version......I am only supplying those looking for the "benefits" with facts that show those benefits are not as drastic as you claim.

Go spend 17 minutes to watch the review, it's clear that the only things that the Intl. version offers as a "benefit" are perhaps quicker access to some development software and ......a few benchmarks. The list of detractors such as warranty support and lack of LTE negate those.

At the heart of it this thread is really nothing more than an evangelistic way of trying to justify buying a device that has more limitations than benefits in exchange for cheap ill-gained data. Who want's to put their money where their mouth is and bet that a year from now you won't be able to use the cheap slow data loophole and there will be custom roms making good use of the extra memory in the US variants that the Intl. one can't make use of?

Hey, I'm on topic and not slinging about the personal comments like yourself. I suggest, as a "developer" that you get some thicker skin.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
You are making a good choice. Congratulations on your judgement and buying the international version.
[Galaxy S III General] epso-sage:
well i have it under good authority (you all) that the international version is the way to go. im planing on putting cm9 on it as soon as i get the thing and it looks like the international has a lager dev team so thats good.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
I was dead set on getting a 32gb blue version, until I read the "anyone switch" thread then I found this. I know someone has pics of one here but on video I have to say it doesnt look bad... now I'm debating if I should get the blue one or a white one and buy a blue back and do this

[YOUTUBE]vmK9ulRs9Y8[/YOUTUBE]
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
I have the blue at&t version and man; does it look cheap!
[Galaxy S III General] neyenlives:
i like the look of the white one with the blue back
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Wow look at that..we agree on something..who would have thought....
[Galaxy S III General] neyenlives:
ive been trying to show you i am a reasonable person....i dont want problems, just because we disagree doesn't mean we have to be verbally abusive to each other, and it certainly doesn't mean we have to disagree on everything just because we disagree on one thing :good:
[Galaxy S III General] Stevedion:
Canadian version

Fresh off one month with the One X, got the NA Galaxy S3. It does lag, heats up for nothing, has wifi connection issues (leave house come back, won't hook up the wifi). The lag is overall, specially in exchange email app. My 2 cents worth. Come on Sammy push out a firmware upgrade to fix these things.
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Stop talking out of your ass, I get a 2 years manufacturer's warranty from Samsung with my UK handset.

How about that Verizon handset of yours? Oh wait, you don't have one yet.

Wrong on both accounts. I've been using MediaNet since the HTC Touch Pro. Put up some real money, and I'm game.

And, if you think the dev support for the 9100 vs the I777 is even remotely comparable, then you're even more dense than I originally thought. I could give a hairy baboon's behind if you think that 1 or 2 ROMs/kernels from the I777 dev forum is fantastic, the 9100 is littered with fantastic options... THAT'S the point.

Seriously, at least get your **** straight. Either you're convinced you'll fool someone here, or you just really enjoy hearing yourself regurgitating nonsense.

Not sure about the CA version, but the Samsung F/W support for the US variants have been nothing short of ****ty. And as someone previously mentioned, there are 2 key reasons for this:

1) Exynos is internally developed and manufactured by Samsung.

2) It's a simple matter of engineering resources: With the Exynos version shipping worldwide and the S4 version only sold in the NA market, there will be far less internal development resources allotted to the NA version.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
That's one thing I will disagree with, as an owner of the i777. The i777 and the 9100 are VERY similar. Any rom that get's dev'ed for the 9100 we can easily port it with the hellraiser tool Entropy512 created or the flashoholic GUI ktoonz built off that tool to make it even easier. I believe the kernel and just some libs have to be swapped out. And when samsung released the ICS kernel source for the 9100 there were references in there for the i777 but just commented out.
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
I get that you COULD do that, but a straight up comparison of available kernels and ROMs still proves my point.

Plus, you're right, they had nearly identical hardware specifications which allowed for this major pita "porting." The Skyrocket vs the 9100 would be a more damning representation of what to expect with the NA SGS3 vs 9300 dev support given the Exynos vs Qualcomm chipsets.

Doesn't matter how you mix the bubbling pot-o-poo, all the above points still invalidate his argument.
[Galaxy S III General] Husam2011:
Now you're talking bull****. The i777 has the same processor and most of the stuff is the same as the 9100, thats why you could port roms. On the S3 side, we are talking about difference everything. GPU, processor, audio chipset, memory, and maybe even more.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
I just caught what you said here.. the whole "developer" in quotes and I take that as you being condescending. While I am still learning to dev in android and linux things I've done have been on android central and engadget and other sites so I'm definitely not a noob. And I have over 14 years of programming in the real world professionally and have been working with computers since 1995.

I was one of the first 5000 people in the country to ever get the MCSD certification as well as the MCAD cert when .NET was first released. so yes, I am a real developer.. with android development I will be the first to say I'm still learning and even linux is somewhat new to me but in the short time I have been tinkering with android(look at my join date, that's when I FIRST started playing with android) I sure have learned a lot and have contributed a lot to the community and I'm just getting started ;)
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Yes, you're right there.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Dude wtf are you talking about?? How am I talking bull****? read below all I was saying that I disagreed with that one statement he made. Not in general.. If you read the thread you would see I'm pro international.. I was just stating that dev support wasnt bad on the i777 because it was so close to the 9100 we could port anything.. never did I say porting from the Intl gs3 to the US gs3 would be as easy... so maybe you should read more before you accuse someone of talking bull****..
[Galaxy S III General] daveop:
I don't know why you guys feed the trolls. They wouldn't be here if they weren't jealous. They think extra RAM on an OS that has nexus devices with 512mb of ram is going to make a big difference, and that HSPA+ is a limiting factor for us, even though it's faster than most people's home internet.
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
To address LTE.. AT&T doesn't offer LTE in western PA. The latest projections are "perhaps by the end of 2013 or early 2014." By then, I'll be in the market for a new phone, and will be able to take advantage of the next generation of chips. I'd estimate that in the next 18 months, over half of AT&T's customers still won't enjoy LTE.

However, even when AT&T offers LTE in western PA, I probably won't care: I'm pretty confident it won't work anywhere near my home as I live in a pretty rural area. (Verizon's LTE, which is active in western PA, doesn't reach my home either.) On a side note, I did try verizon's LTE service (which works in downtown Pittsburgh) and found that I rarely got more than 6-7 MB/s anyway. AT&T's LTE network is still new and seeing 15+ MB/s seems to be common, but it'll get bogged down like Verizon's as more people are forced into buying LTE phones.

So, the whole "LTE" argument can really only be applied to a very small percentage of people anyway. Yes, the higher speeds ARE nice to have, IF they are available and as long as AT&T's network doesn't get bogged down.

To address your second point, about phones being equal in task, you are wrong. I couldn't care less about videos of other people doing benchmarks or making a biased point.

So, with the stock firmware on my i9300, I went into an AT&T store and performed a wipe on sgs3 they showed me. I did the same wipe on the i9300. I then "played" with the user interface and it was much more pleasant to use on the i9300. Same with web browsing. Same with a couple "free" games. The qualcommS4 version might get better optimized sometime in the future - but right now, it's almost as bad as using the qualcomm S3 devices... it just gets jerky in areas.

We also have to also consider other factors being this is XDA. The international version has, and always will have, more support from the development community. Look at the variants of the SGS2. The exynos devices have always had excellent support, while the qualcomm based devices have always lagged woefully behind. The exynos version of the SGS2 sold by AT&T (not the skyrocket) had pretty good dev support itself - but most of that only was the result of people porting from the international phone. I hope it'll be different with the qualcomm sgs3's, but I somehow doubt it will be.

Finally, keep in mind that Jelly Bean (android 4.1) is coming and it's finally better optimized to take advantage of multiple cores. At that point, all the rules will have changed. Ironically, that might allow even tegra3 devices to pull ahead of the pack... Only time will tell..

Take care

Gary
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
Samsung Galaxy SIII International or US Variant???

Hi all,

I will be flying from India to Detroit this August 2012. Planning to buy S3 and I am really confused between the International version and the US Variant.

Cost of International Variant of S3 in India Approx $660.

Cost of US Variant of S3 (At&t) without contract $549.

4G speeds really don't matter to me much as far as I can work on 3G.

Also I just can't live without custom ROMs. :D

My Main concern is The Quad Core Processor Vs The Dual Core Processor & 1GB RAM Vs 2GB RAM.

1. Will I require 2GB Ram in Case of Any future ANDROID OS updates or Is 1GB more than enough???

2. Also Can I buy The International Version in US from any store, or could you suggest me where to buy it from???

3. Also can I make use of the warranty for the International Version in US??

4. Also somebody said that the UK Model of Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300 has 2 years of manufacturer's warranty, so can that warranty be used in US?

OFF TOPIC QUESTION

5. I will be going for the Prepaid Plans so which plan do you suggest me from those mentioned below???

(keeping in mind the Usage of Data Pack to the Max ;) Depending on the Data bands the Handset supports)

At&t's $50 Monthly Unlimited Plan [att.com/shop/wireless/plans/prepaidplans.html]

OR

T-Mobile's $50 Monthly 4G Unlimited Plan?? [prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans]

Hope you don't mind answering my questions. ;)

Waiting for your suggestions!

Thanks in Advance :D