yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] grayfox_one:
I want to buy an S3 and discovered that i9305 version, which seems slightly better. The thing is that I am in France and there is no LTE as of now. SFR will launch it next month in Lyon, but Paris - where I live - might be the last city (rumors say Summer or Fall 2013). I also intend to spend some time in Canada and the US in 2013, but I understand that the most you can get with the i9305 in the US is 3G+ with AT&T, and you could get it with the i9300 as well. I don't know so much about Canada, but in any case, I feel like I really shouldn't count on LTE and therefore my choice should mostly be made for the other updates, like the 2 GB RAM.

The chepeast i9300 I found (excluding HK stuff) is a brand-free one on Amazon for 494 EUR

The cheapest i9305 I found (excluding HK stuff) is an unlocked Vodafone-branded german one on eBay (I live near the physical store just accross the border, though) for 549 EUR

So, I would have a couple questions for you guys.

1) I am wondering if the 2GB RAM is worth the extra 55 EUR, especially considering the Vodafone bloatware that I will have to deal with and warranty "downgrade" (Amazon itself for the i9300 VS some shop on eBay for the i9305) ?

2) For those who own a Vodafone-branded i9305, what bloatware should I expect? Can I remove it easily? Are there good i9305 ROMs already?

Thanks!
[Galaxy S III General] vampyren:
I hate branded phones. By it from Sweden :)

My 9305 rocks bought from telia.
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
You can actually unbrand it yourself.

One way is just Flash a custom Rom. 2 are available at moment. Or

De bloat your self when you are rooted

And

Get rid of all carrier settings, logos and apps

All is possible as long as you do not have any ugly carrier logos on phone housing which I don't think I9305 does so all good.
[Galaxy S III General] Badelhas:
Do we really notice gains in performance with the removing of all the carrier bloatware? Regarding samsung, are there any programs not needed that also are best if removed?
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
its better in the sence that you now have removed apps that could have been in cache memory and it will now be replaced with more important apps that you actually use, which means when you open your application it loads up a lot faster then if it wasn't in cache memory.

I remove GMAIL, CHATON, TALK. MAPS. STREETVIEW and all those location apps. YAHOO news & stock, weather i think theres more i know when i look at them. There is around 13 applications that I always remove when I flash a rom, And these are all apps that come on an unbranded phone, so if its branded you will have extra apps to remove.

and I then upload all my apps for instance I have my own weather I like to use,Instead of all the map rubbish, I use 1 app (SYGIC)= awesome I use the stock Email app as My main account is with Hotmail, no need for gmail. But yeh there is a benefit of removing all un needed app and loading all your apps in. As the aim is loading it all up in your memory so everything is quick when you open it. whats the use off having all these unwanted apps in memory if you never run them
[Galaxy S III General] Badelhas:
Thanks mate, I believe I will have to learn more about rooting, flashing a rom and un installing rom apps. I do believe it will make a difference because I have a 9300 international version with 1gb Ram only. Do you think it's best to install the samsung unbranded jellybean rom and then un install all the bloatware? I am tech savvy so I think I won't have a problem with it, can you please point me to the right tutorial?
[Galaxy S III General] demlasjr:
1) the gt-i9305 will have the same pentile screen (I don't give a **** if it's pentile, lcd, retina, cathodic tube or whatever if it's working fine and I see the things and icons coloured with a hd plasma's quality.

2) as the US version, it have around 1.7 gb of RAM, from which 1.4 gb will be busy all the time (as LTE is using a lot and Android is designed to keep 80% of RAM busy with frequently used apps - as the 1gb ram can easily handle over 20 apps opened, 2 gb is stupid enough, useless) so you will not have much more free RAM than us (bahahaha) .

3) the lte version is Vodafone DE (Germany) exclusive, so if you want to get it you probably need a contract with them or to pay a lot of money to 3rd-party people for something useless with Vodafone boot screen, bloatware and other ****

Meanwhile, thanks Sammy for my gorgeous Intl. S3 pebble blue with 1 gb ram and quad-core.
[Galaxy S III General] IamIrene:
yea, unfortunately is can't

and SIngapore selling it at end of September
[Galaxy S III General] qsacage:
I can't even imagine why one would want more than 640 kB of RAM. It's useless!!
[Galaxy S III General] baileyjr:
I really do hope you enjoy your new phone and only "you" can decide if its a good deal or not.

However some of the comments show a lack of understanding as to how the Android OS works. In another thread you compared the extra ram like going from 1 to 2gb on a netbook and that is just not the case.
[Galaxy S III General] EdgaBimbam:
sorry but i have to say it- BULL**** ;D

watch this video and then u will understand that 2gb rams even with lte ownz 1gb ram.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr4A3mm8AgA

p.s. with 7 tabs, stock browser eats ~190mb rams, so that 1gb (available 833 at jb) is a drop in the ocean
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
I know its not like a netbook but it will make a difference which is what i was trying to say. If we have 20 tasks open on the I9300 well this phone will be able to handle 40 tasks

Soon ppl will have these phones and they wll be able to report back aswell and I will compare them side by side.

---------- Post added at 01:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 AM ----------

+1

Who knows why some people are cut for. LOL Yes this I9305 WILL BE BETTER deal with it.. just be happy. either get one or dont bag it just because you bought the I9300
[Galaxy S III General] baileyjr:
I think you are just excited because you have some new peace of tech on the way, and I would probably be the same myself being a complete gadget geek.

If I was on a LTE carrier then I would consider swaping out for i9305 myself, but not just for the extra ram... Like I said I think the i9305 is definitely the more desirable than the i9300 now if your in the market for a new one, and can make use of the LTE modem.
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
Who knows if its the The "t" or not but I saw one already for sale and it was unlocked and it was here in sydney and it was not carrying the "T" but it doesnt matter anyway they will be both the same. I have the GT-I9300T and Its exactly the same as the I9300 I have been flashing all of these custom roms exactly like my freinds I9300 . Wont make any difference what so ever if its the I9305T or I9305 . they are the Same specs
[Galaxy S III General] zulu99:
on the GT-I9305T the LTE not work in Europe

on the GT-I9305 the LTE work in Europe

the difference is not small

i ask this only because i want buy one and i'm in Europe
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
I think the GT-I9305T is only for telstra. ANd optus has the GT-I9305. We run LTE on the 1800mhz . I was sure europe lte is on the 1800 aswell
[Galaxy S III General] EdgaBimbam:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks ;D some europe countries uses 2600mhz also. ;D
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
I would not fully rely on PDadb.net those specs are not 100% i think especially the frequencies there is so much confusion about them

EDIT: there you go as above comment states europe is also on 2600 so If you are going to rely on PDadb.net it shows the I9305T running on 1800 and 2600 LTE which is what europe runs on
[Galaxy S III General] sidthegreatest:
Sucks that I bought what was the best phone in the world only for it be outdated within a month of me buying it :crying:
[Galaxy S III General] zulu99:
The best frequencies for the LTE is the 800 Mhz, and many european network use the 800 Mhz

For the 2600 not problem, are the same, the problem is for the 800 Mhz
[Galaxy S III General] EdgaBimbam:
yeh it is annoying a bit, but also it has positive side. You dont need to wait for better phone years or smt like that, like iphone users. After 3-4 months samsung releases newer/better smartphone ;D
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

I dont see Many using 800, Yes there is some but there is more european using 1800/2600 which is what Australia uses
[Galaxy S III General] bala_gamer:
Wait for a few more months, the whole s3 series will get outdated by exynos 5 series.

《spilled from dragon jellybean rom》
[Galaxy S III General] demlasjr:
Sorry mate, not using the stock browser (which can't be closed) and never open more than 2-3 tabs. More than that, I completelly close the browser when I finish, so the test is not relevant. Also, who need the Google Maps when browsing the internet. As you see, before opening those multiple tabs in the browser and opening the Google Maps, the 1 gigs S3 was answering as fast as the 2 gigs version and even looked much smoother. After that point, it was with 0.5 second slower. Even if the browser closed completelly because of used ram and it needed to start again, as you have seen, no tabs has been lost. Remember those phones with 256 mb of ram and with the clients happy (and the same 80% of ram occupied ?). Does the phones made problems. Does people complained ? For God sake, it's the same phone, we should fight against Apple and HTC X One, not S3 owners vs S3 owners :laugh: However, we will be conquested with the S4, S5 and so, for a 2 years phone, S3 is good as it is. I don't say that I'm not completely pissed because they released a version with 2 gigs or the Note 2 with 2 gigs, at least if they released them in the same time so the people could choose (I definitively would buy the free gt-i9305 this time), but I know that there is no such a big difference between them. Each one have pro and cons, but it's the same phone, so enjoy it ;)

Can you please tell me those 40 tasks you will do with your beautiful S3 with 2 gigs ? I want to know, no privacy abuse, just want to know. Please, forward me here, or by PM, a list with 40 apps and task you will use IN THE SAME time on your S3.

Come on...pleaseee....right now I'm writing from my laptop and I have about 10 things opened (php editor, browser, cmd, utorrent, wordpad, thunderbird, browser....) and the screen is much bigger than the S3 and I can really work on it (not as on S3). I have 6 tabs opened in my browser. And you need to do 40 task in the same time ? Jesus, it's that you ? :p

P.S Waiting for your list (and please don't act as a child saying that I'm jealous, because if I want, I can easily buy the i9305, but I don't want, I will buy the Galaxy S3.5 or S4 to be better than you, ha ! :cool:)

P.S 2 Hope you don't take it seriously (apart of that list :D) or feel offended as I have nothing with you and I respect 100% your words, I'm not pissed, I'm not making you stupid or trying to make you feel bad, it's just a discussion and I'm trying to make you understand ;) (I'm one of those trolls who answers in the way I made here - damn, I can't concentrate enough to get the synonym word)

Cheers guys !

P.S 3: In games, the 3G is a but faster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z-1AxppR48

But, as I said, 0.5 sec it doesn't matter... :P
[Galaxy S III General] stefankorun:
I just hope that the i9300 still remains the more actively developed one if there is difference in the firmware and separate ROMs are required.
[Galaxy S III General] Payam93:
Aren't all i9305 the same in terms of hardware? I found a i9305 with a good price on Negri Electronics, but they say that the i9305 they sell only supports 1800 MHz LTE frequency, whereas all i9305 support both 800, 1800 and 2600 MHz. I'm dependent on the 2600 MHz because that's what our country (Norway) uses. Really confusing.

If you guys find more reliable retailers selling this device to a fair price, please let me know. I'm really having a hard time finding a good price (here in Norway we have to pay 25 % VTA extra on all imported products upon delivery, so it's really expensive)

Thanks in advance
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
That sounds B S if you ask me, all I9305 should be the same why would samsung spend all that money in making a whole new variant , why not just have them ALL with 800/1800/2600 Like my one. I know the I9305T might be different in regards with frequency but thats it. all the rest are all the same im betting on that
[Galaxy S III General] vousie:
I do - I have the SGS3 4G - GT-I9305.

Right now, with not much open but on 4G network (full signal), it has 872MB used and 9200MB free.

So: No 4G does not use more ram than the non 4G version (GT-I9300) - I had it for a while before I had it exchanged, used about the same amount of ram, except it only had 1GB of ram, so I had very little to open apps in...
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
That is not the RAM that is the Harddrive space. But you are correct :)

I have the GT-I9305 aswell and I can confirm I have around 1.3gb Free ram with LTE on.and dont forget we have much more stored up in cache the more apps stored up the lower your ram goes. I have never seen my device go less then 800mb Free ram and thats HEAVY multitasking. I already said EVEN before getting the device that was a stupid rumour about the 4G ram usage. and guess what ? I was right :) LTE DOES NOT use much ram at all, When i am in 3G area the ram is the same there is no visible difference. I also owned the GT-I9300 for a few months before I this device
[Galaxy S III General] grayfox_one:
Just drove accross the border to that Vodafone store in Germany, and got back home with an i9305 for only 525 EUR. Now charging...

It's going to be feel good to switch from a Sony W100i (yes, that one...) to a Galaxy S3 LTE lol
[Galaxy S III General] mys3:
mines coming this week, cant wait!
[Galaxy S III General] joel.bourquard:
Awesome... Anybody got a plan for the 32/64GB versions already? Perhaps an ETA as well?
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
No news on anything other then 16gb...Just chuck a Sandisk 64gb class 10 ultraSD I now have around 80 GB.... And when the 128GB Ill buy it straight away :) 144gb... think that should do it haha
[Galaxy S III General] Badelhas:
Do you have some photos of your aluminum Grey s3 with the aluminum chrome case? It must look great!
[Galaxy S III General] vampyren:
Been using many i9305 for like 2 weeks now and really love it.

Also can confirm I have around 1,2gig free even when I ram many takes at once.

Im still amazed how well build it is. I'm coming from many years of iPhone use but can't say I mind the Samsung material choice.

I love the screen and sd card. And if you don't have s3 already of cource you should get LTE model. Otherwise I don't think you will see a huge difference.
[Galaxy S III General] Dovern:
Anyone try DC-HSPA+ (42Mbps) on S3 LTE ? Does it work?
[Galaxy S III General] kms108:
I think that depends on the service provider, whether they supports it's or not.
[Galaxy S III General] vampyren:
Exactly.
[Galaxy S III General] Badelhas:
Yeah but I would also like to know speed test results
[Galaxy S III General] Dovern:
anyone here who tried DC-HSPA+ before, what is the signal symbol looks like? H+ ? or DC ?
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
Ok Here are the details with the GT-I9305 and all the symbols I was just roaming around switching modes and talking to my technical support team at the same time here are the findings------Take note the Modes are actually what the phone options can be selected thee DC-HSPA+ & HSPA+ dont have seperate modes they are both WCDMA Mode.and will fluctuate between both as you are roaming.

When it is in 2G Mode It will Show an E Symbol (GSM Mode)

When It is in 3G Mode It will Show a quick Flash Symbol of 3G followed by H Symbol (WCDMA Mode) = HSPA+

This is the part where you will only catch it as it happens live, When you are in 3G+ mode aka DC-HSPA+ it is showing the the H+ symbol now JUST before it drops to HSPA+ it will show the Symbol 3G for a second followed by the H symbol. Now when you are roaming and it latches back onto the DC-HSPA+ It will just change symbols back to H+

When It is in 3G+ Mode it will show a H+ Symbol (WCDMA Mode) = DC-HSPA+ Edit: not 100% sure anymore

When It is in 4G Mode It will Show a 4g Symbol (LTE Mode)

Then there is AUTO mode which switches between all modes.

FUNNY THING is I have just done some research and it appears the the I9300 also supports DC-HSPA+ and I also have one in the house and I have confirmed it fluctuates between the H and the H+ symbol also

then I found this site which confirms my findings - crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-s3-has-dc-hspa-for-faster-3g-50008007/

So apparently the article says the I9300 also has DC-HSPA+

I also have done a test on the I9300 I roamed around untill i got a somewhat stable H+ symbol and then logged on Speednet. My score was 5.5mb Download and 3mb Upload.... I cannot test the I9305 as I am on pre-paid and dont want to put credit on right now :P << I have never been on a contract haha ALWAYS get my phones unlocked and love my pre-paid freedom :) EDIT: I put credit and went in the same position as the I9300 symbol was H+ and I got roughly same speeds so I am thinking that is not DC-HSPA+ area.... I checked the coverage and apparently there is not DC-HSPA+ in my area, but they are upgrading in the next month or so.

But really i was basically on the edge of a H+ and a H area.. So who knows it actually could be why it was low speeds. it could also be the provider there are many factors that can affect the speeds. To me this is not really slow its pretty good, For a mobile but it can be faster we all know this.

I hope this is all clear to you all
[Galaxy S III General] Dovern:
Thank you very much for the details given.

I have both S3 and S3 LTE version. Yes, S3 able to get H+ but i believe it is not equal to DC-HSPA+. According to my past experiences

H = 14.4 Mbps

H+ 21.6Mbps

DC-HSPA+ 42Mbps

Normal S3 = HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps

S3 LTE = HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps;

I have Huawei USB modem which is DC-HSPA+ support, i did the speed test at the same location, my laptop (with USB modem) able to get the speed up to 15Mbps whereas my S3 LTE and S3 both only able to get around 4.5Mbps to 5.5Mbps. Can you see the different?

We do not have LTE in my country at the moment, but DC-HSPA+ is definitely there. I wonder why my S3 LTE unable to hook to DC-HSPA+ network and get higher speed.
[Galaxy S III General] gary7dayz:
Annoyed at samsung!!!!

The main reason I dived right in and got a SGS3 i9300 was I have no patience lol and I really wanted the phone as soon as it was available but to be honest I wish I had just waited!!!!!!!

Can't believe samsung is doing this to all the samsung owners who shelled out a fortune for a S3 just to turn round 4 months later and say "well we were to stupid/lazy to include LTE capability in the original S3" I find it shocking. Now I'm gonna have to sell my phone and unroot it and probably pay a little extra to get myself a LTE version. Not a happy Samsung customer!!! The S3 should have shipped with LTE I can't think why they decided not to include it for me this has been a disaster for samsung and a huge flaw on their part.

---------- Post added at 07:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:02 AM ----------

I have a H+ symbol on my S3 on DC-HSPA
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
why does this article state that the S3 has DC-HSPA

crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-s3-has-dc-hspa-for-faster-3g-50008007/

I think HSPA+ and DCHSPA+ have the same symbol H+ which is confusing now because then what is the H symbol mean

technical support team also stated that it may not have to change symbols but you will automatically latch onto DC-HSPA+ if you are in the area. but when I mentioned H then H+ symbol they said Oh that is probably 3G aka HSPA+ and then 3G+ aka DC-HSPA+

I didnt know 3G has 3 different speeds. Isnt 3G only (3G and 3G+) which is HSPA+ and DC-HSPA+ ???

you posted this and its really confusing even the technical support team only told me there is 3G and 3G+

Then I saw that article which stated that the I9300 has DC-HSPA+ which makes perfect sense i mean come on really its samsungs flagship it should atleast have DC-HSPA+ ... The s2 had HSPA+ .. Isnt the s3-i9300 an upgrade... it should be DC-HSPA+.... But hey i might be wrong samsung could be really that stupid... but then i wonder why that article actually claims samsung has confirmed there findings I9300 = DC-HSPA+ ---- are we all confused much now...

you posted this which i have never heard of v v

H = 14.4 Mbps

H+ 21.6Mbps

DC-HSPA+ 42Mbps

Normal S3 = HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps

S3 LTE = HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps;

edit: i now see you got this from gsm arena how did you get 14.4 for H symbol ? So if I see a H on my I9305 its 14.4mbps and H+ =???? DC or not ..its too confusing.I am getting frustrated reading false info about devices like some places say s3-i9300 have DC-HSPA+ where do they get that **** from

I was told 3G comes in 2 forms HSPA+ and DC-HSPA+ Or maybe the dumass support team over the phone do not have a clue hahah now that does make sense :) EDIT: I now edited my previous post as I did another test. And I found out i am not in 3G+ area.. Honestly the support team at vodafone do not have a clue what color pants they have on they are absolutley USELESS for us. we better off do our own tests and research. I am never going to advertise things they say as it could be complete Bull**** I am actually considering printing out the coverage maps and driving to the areas just to test... thats what happens when your provider dont train there staff
[Galaxy S III General] Dovern:
Please have a look the following links

http://tasel.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/lte-hsdpa-dc-hsdpa-explain-this-alphbet-soup-of-4g-to-me/

http://www.starhub.com/content/mobi...r_content/par/image.img.jpg/1348023072204.jpg

H = HSPA Max: 14.4Mbps

H+ = HSPA+ Max: 21.6Mbps

I have never hook on DC HSPA+ on my phone before, i dont know what symbol it going to display... probably H+ as wel?
[Galaxy S III General] btemtd:
thats what i am thinking its probably the same symbol H+

Yeh i edited some of my previous posts because i found out on the coverage map that my area does not have DC-HSPA+ yet, So I am thinking to go for a drive to some areas and test it just for fun haha These people at vodafone are so stupid... They are working on upgrading there networks in the next month or so apparently my area will have DC-HSPA+ soon.... And in early 2013 will have 4G if this does not happen I am going to Port my phone number and switch to Telstra which has the best 4G coverage in australia. That is the great thing about Buying your phone unlocked and having a pre-paid Simcard :)

---------- Post added at 12:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 AM ----------

Now I am REALLY confused lol maybe they were right about having 3G+ but because they are working on upgrading its not that great right now not sure but I just downloaded an app called Radio Mon Free And it tells you what tower your connected on what connection type etc.... So I went on there And it fluctuated Between HSPA and EHRPD H = HSPA H+ = EHRPD And take note when It was in EHRPD mode the speed still flucuated alot... its real messy If they dont pick up there speeds Im moving to telstra

I google searched EHRPD and they say only LTE enabled devices can get this connection type and also eHRPD is a transitional technology to make the 3G/4G switch easier How weird !!!! And I did another Speedtest this time im in my room with my I9305 as I bought credit mainly to try areas and what different speeds I get and I got 9.5mbps Download and 3mbps Upload which is better then before when I tested the I9300... all this connection stuff is making my brain melt lol

Here are the signal type the app is detecting VERY rarely > UMTS, HSPA 50% EHRPD 50% Funny thing is UMTS and HSPA Show the same symbol on my phone as H but when EHRPD is on it show H+ I am really lost on all this