yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] miatawnt2b:
Here is my issue. When it comes to smartphones, I am a IOS guy from the start. I upgrade every 2 years, selling the old on craigslist which pays for the latest iPhone upgrade.

What I like is that there is active (i won't call it development but rather tweaking) in the jailbreak community for that 2 year period mainly due to the fact that all the apple devices run the same code. We all know that...

Well... frankly the iPhone5 bores me, and I think I may go android. However, some things bother me.

One is the plastic/cheap feel of the S3. Apple seems to have build quality way above and beyond the S3 here. No worries, an aluminum bumper and battery cover solves that issue for me.

More concerning is the development path for any particular android device. It seems like manufacturers stop development and release of new OS's in about a year of release which means 3rd party devs need to take the slack. I have a Asus Transformer tablet and this is exactly what happened... however I have found that dev roms are usually not full featured and buggy, especially when you want a new android build. (like going from ICS to JB for instance)

I do however tend to tweak my phones for about the first 6 months and leave them... my iPhone is still on IOS 5.0.

I'm just concerned about getting the latest code on the android since some newer apps don't work on old android. Just dont know what to do.

Any thoughts?

-J
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] gunnyman:
The S3 is the best selling device Android has ever had. You have nothing to worry about. Since you've come to xda you don't have to be concerned about official updates to the firmware. The development community will be putting stuff out for this device for years to come.

The only device on Android with Apple style update support is a Nexus device. If official firmware updates are your main concern get one of those. But the current nexus is getting old. New one is expected by the end of this year.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] garyd9:
An attempt at a fully honest reply to your concerns...

Compared to Apply devices, the S3 _is_ made with a cheaper shell and does "feel" cheaper. Not only is the shell and battery cover made of plastic, its made of super thin and flimsy plastic. If that bothers you now, the concern will only fester over time and you might be better off looking for another phone. HTC phones have a higher shell build quality. While I personally don't like the device overall (and wouldn't seriously suggest it), the take a look at the overall "outside quality" of the HTC OneX.. it just feels like it's built better (but at the expense of other things.)

What's INSIDE the phone is usually of a better quality. Having the removable battery and microSD can be a really big deal. The only two current concerns I have with the North American version of the SGS3 is that Samsung seems to be providing the wrong driver for the LED and the battery life isn't as good as the international version (when comparing the two phones on non-LTE networks.) The former should be correctable with a proper LED lib (or perhaps re-worked kernel functionality) and the latter with more tweaking.

As for updates, the North American phone is likely to be a mixed bag. Samsung usually will support their "flagship" phones (such as the original SGS3) for 2 years. However, it appears they drop support for the variants of those phones earlier. For example, the international SGS2 is better supported than the US t-mobile variant of the same. (The AT&T SGS2 is an oddity as it shares the same processor as the international version, so people port the international firmwares to the AT&T one with ease.) The North American version of the SGS3 (qualcomm S4) is a variant of the actual flagship S3 device. Will they continue to support it? It's hard to say - and adding in the fact that carriers (AT&T, etc) seem to control updates, it's possible that a carrier branded SGS3 will lose support before 2 years elapses.

All that being said, Samsung seems to be better (at least lately) with updating their devices than HTC. Motorola is an unknown right now as they used to really suck, but might get much better with Google now owning them. (It didn't help moto's rep that nearly all their phones in the US were Verizon phones and Verizon is infamous for blocking updates.)

On other point on the updates is that ALL the US variants of the SGS3 are pretty much the same, making any effort to update them more worthwhile.

Finally, you have a final concern about apps not working on older phones. I actually disagree with that statement. Every single app on my current phones will work fine under Gingerbread which is a few years old already. I'd be confident saying that if you buy a phone today that's sure to get jelly bean, you'll be good for apps for at least 3 years.

Take care and good luck

Gary
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] SevenSe7enSeven:
I don't think you have to worry about apps being incompatible in the next 2 years for the s3. Majority of apps are compatible all the way back to donut. My s2 on gingerbread hasn't ran into this issue either.

I think you will be fine for the next 2 years because of the development with the first galaxy s series alone. But if you want the latest and greatest you might be tempted to get something else next year.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] husky55:
I love my SGS3 but I agreed with the plastic cover being thin and feeling cheap. Samsung just announced that a S4 will be released early next year so I guess a lot of development will go for the newer phone. The micro SD and 4.8" screen did it for me.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] optimus43:
build quality
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] garyd9:
No, everyone doesn't. I haven't used any type of case on a phone since I was using an ipaq. Some people prefer using them "naked" and might carry them in some kind of belt clip holster. (I used a thin strip of rubber tape to deal with the iphone4 antenna issue.) Some use a case - some don't.

I can't speak for the iphone 5 or "3s", but in regards to the original iphone, the 4 and 4S, this statement isn't true. The coating on the back of the S3 is so sensitive that if you sneeze near it you'll have a new scratch.

This is actual experience with the international SGS3 (blue), AT&T SGS3 (blue) and AT&T SGS3 (red) as well as the above mentioned iphone's. (I can also compare to a range of nexus devices, a couple of HTC devices and at least 2 moto android-based devices.)

On the other hand, it IS easy to replace the back cover (assuming you can get a replacement - AT&T doesn't sell them and the various ebay sellers don't seem to have OEM red ones yet. OEM blue ones ship from China the last I checked. I don't have a white phone so can't comment on that.)

I don't want to get into a pissing contest between this phone and that phone. The OP asked I gave a frank and honest response. My own (personal) device that I use most commonly is the international SGS3, but I do own all the mentioned devices (and more.) Is the sgs3 the best device currently? Well, I think it is today (but I don't mind a few scuffs on the back plate of my phone, insist on a replacable battery, don't like being locked into apple, etc.)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] jasvncnt1:
I was with the iphone for a long time But then finally jumped over a while ago. Even after looking at the new iphone..there is nothing..nothing at all Apple has done or offered to make me even think about going back.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] optimus43:
Perhaps 'everyone' uses a cover is an overstatement but I would say that nearly everyone uses a case is not to far off base.

so far I have had no scratches on my sg3 (although I do have a case on it) I would also suspect that the aluminum will be less scratch resistant than the iphone glass was. Of course we dont know yet but... drag your keys acros the top of a mac book it will definitly scratch.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] k2snowboards88:
The Captivate (AT&T Galaxy S1 variant) still has active cyanogenmod development. I think that it's very likely that this will too.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] cheetablaze:
What amazes me is that people actually put the s3 into their pockets without a case... One drop and the screen is toast. Please buy an Otterbox commuter case.... My 18 month old chucks it and not one issue so far. S3 will have a ton of development. Let's hope the S4 does not use a larger screen, except if they get rid of all the buttons and go full screen without any bezel gaps. Going to sell this puppy on amazon and get the S4 when the time arrives.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] thatsupnow:
Sorry please delete me
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] zmore:
It's mostly teenagers who think they don't need a case, since at that arrogant age they tend to think that both they and their tech are invincible.

And On-Topic: The S3 is on track to sell 30 million devices, so it'll be seeing support for at least 2 years. My less popular 2.25 year-old Captivate got CM7, CM9, and CM10 updates afterall.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] abhaxus:
30, no case. Haven't had one for any phone and haven't needed one. Have dropped a gs2 from 5 feet onto asphalt without a scratch. Cases are for people who are not careful with their devices, or have a mission critical need for their phone. Although really, cases are for people that get suckered in by the salesman who has to meet his accessory quota. Or any other ridiculous generalization you want to make.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] garyd9:
I wish I was a teenager again. At 41, and prefer not to take a thin phone and make it thick with a case. I do use a belt holster, however, to carry it around. (I have too much other stuff in my pockets to put my phone in there.)

Oh, and I'm still arrogant... that has nothing to do with age. ;)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] zmore:
Hah. You guys are outliers! And the kids are still in school right now. :)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] g2tegg:
I couldn't agree with you more. Although every phone I have owned I've spent the money and had a Zaag screen protector. No matter how careful you are with the phone, one small item in your pocket and the glass is scratched.

I have 3 cases for my S3, all of which I used for up to an hour and took it off. Especially the OtterBox. I couldn't stand it.

And to the father's who hand their phones out to their young children. Your nuts. I have enough old phones they can play with but there not touching my S3 haha
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] garyd9:
A further reply on this comment - and concerning the references to apple/iOS. As you said, Apple tends to keep OS updates going for at least a couple years.

However, you didn't mention what level of updates they actually get. A year after I got an iphone4, iOS 5 had a new feature called "siri." For some reason, apple didn't give that to the iphone 4 users. (The jailbreaking community proved that the older phone could easily handle running it.) This year, iOS6 is being pushed to my iphone4. There are SEVERAL "new" features of the OS that aren't appearing on my iphone4 including several related to the maps, navigation, siri, etc, etc.

Essentially, while apple does send out OS updates to a phone for two (or even more) years, they aren't complete updates and really are no better (and in many cases quite a bit worse) than the updates you'll see with an android device. At least Samsung doesn't send out an update called "jellybean" that has jellybean features stripped out of it.

Example? The SGS2 (over a year old now) is getting google's voice search(similar to siri) with the JB update (even if Samsung doesn't push it, there are already CM10 ports available for it), already has the map features that the iphone4 will never get, etc.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] csjesse:
The Rock 'quicksand' cases are the only ones I can tolerate. Add a good screen protector and you have a slim but protected s3.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] kinghorsey:
For a quick answer to your question go check out the threads for the sgs1 (I9000). Pawitp is an awesome dev and that device has a great cm10 ROM.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] theraffman:
Ever hear of accidents? Yes, they happen. To say that cases are only for people who aren't careful it's ridiculous, who wouldn't want to protect their 500 dollar investment with a 25 dollar case. I can make the same lame generalization as you. "I think people who don't use cases are reckless, irresponsible and cheap"...see what I did there?

Obviously, cases are a matter of preference, but don't go assuming everyone with cases are clumsy, it's called protection of investment, and anyone with a brain can rationalize a 25 dollar case saving a 500 dollar phone from physics.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] corythug:
Or you could look at it as, anyone with a brain wouldn't want to cover there beautiful 500 piece of tech with a 25 dollar piece of plastic ;)
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] theraffman:
I guess covering the back and sides does really take away from the quality and view of the screen...:rolleyes:

And last I checked, the phone is made of plastic... that excuse may go over with the iPhone, not so much for the sgs3.

Let's put this to rest, I like cases, you don't...class dismissed

Carry on
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] werked:
I'm still trying to figure out how a thread about dev support turned into a case vs no case argument. I am tired of reading these posts from people who think those of us who use cases are clumsy or stupid. Wish they would get over themselves.

Funny thing is we will never be able to laugh at them when they clumsily drop and bust their phone bc they will be too embarrassed to come here and tell us. Lol
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Gadgetz:
I wish I was a psychic bro, I'd answer your question. Unfortunately you're just gonna have to buy a device and hope the dev remains active for as long as you own it.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] theraffman:
Yea, to a degree it is a gamble, there have been phones left dead in the water shortly after launch, but the sgs3 is probably one of the safest bets, the international version more so, but I love me some lte.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] Gadgetz:
Yep, like the Atrix HD.....oh, my bad, it's been dead ever since launch :p

Like you, based on the sheer number of GS3's sold, I think the dev for it will remain strong for the forseeable future.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] icd-evil:
I'm in the same boat. I used an iPhone since the original, only skipping the 3GS variant, all the way to the 4S. I also had a brief venture into using the Captivate (Original Galaxy S) and the Atrix 4G (First dual core phone) But neither impressed me and only lasted a month or so each.

My last few phones were the Galaxy Nexus, HTC One X(L), and now the GS3. I have enjoyed my time with the GS3 more than any other phone. It's insanely customizable and capable. Given how many of these Samsung has sold and the power of the onboard hardware, I would imagine development will be going strong for a long while.

Nothing Apple displayed in the iPhone 5 release impressed me. After using iOS for several years I became very bored with it. If all we have to look forward to with apple is the same OS and playing catch up with hardware, I don't see myself ever moving back to an iPhone. People may knock the build quality, but I just bought an Incipio feather case for my phone and feels every bit as solid as any phone I've ever owned.

I'd go with Android at this point. If you like to tinker, go with Android. The GS3 is a great option.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] gunnyman:
I put a TPU case on mine for one simple reason. Without one the phone is slippery. I'm probably going to order a carbon fiber battery cover soon and that will solve the problem too.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] AngelsNecropolis:
So many baseless assumptions about age and how people treat their phones. It amuses me. =p

I can agree that you won't need to worry about app compatibility. I'm still on my GS2 but getting a GS3 today. But I've used custom ROMS for gingerbread, ICS, and now JB and I haven't had any problems with app compatibility and I've got 98 apps installed.

I agree with the previous posters who say "build quality" isn't as important as people think. If you drop an unprotected phone there's a high chance it will crack, scratch, or scuff. Look on YouTube for the drop test between the GS2 and iphone.

Even though the Galaxy S phones come with gorilla glass buy a screen protector anyways. I put mine in my pocket and thought the gorilla glass would be okay. Nope. I have a small scratch. So now it has a screen protector over it. I did have an otterbox like case but hated its bulkiness. I don't throw my phone or drop it from the 2nd story but it has hit concrete from chest height and my current TPU case did a fine job protecting it. I'm getting a TPU case on Amazon for my GS3 as well.

3rd party Rom development for the GS2 is great and I believe that it will also be great for the GS3 seeing how popular it is already.

Sent from my Galaxy S II running AOKP Jellybean
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] zmore:
Not baseless; based on observation, and I bet $100 that if a proper study were done the same age to case use correlation would be clear.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] AngelsNecropolis:
Well teens are known for being less than careful with most things. So you're right its not as baseless. :p

Sent from my Galaxy S II running AOKP Jellybean
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] darkconz:
I too jumped from iPhone to S3. I am loving this phone more than my iPhone because it offered more gadgets to play around with and more customization. I wouldn't be too concerned with the support because at the end of the day, there are still third party active developments going on around here.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] stan.s:
Here's my reason why I think this will work out for a few years:

1. it's easy to root and tweak to your heart's content.

2. Samsung will certainly update it for 18 months at the least, however AT&T (et al) has a large part in the say of what will be updated and when. So without a US compatible GENERIC Snapdragon S3 phone being offered there won't be a generic Snapdragon version of the firmware (without the customization/bloatware). No one has reported that they will ever release a generic Snapdragon version of the phone and without that, they won't release the base version publicly.

3. Cyanagen- there is incredible CM10 (and CM9) mods already available for the phone. If Samsung doesn't update it, then there will be a stable CM9/10 and maybe CM11 to go to. The amount of progress in the 3 months the phone has been available is just astonishing. While I'm new to TouchWiz- I have CM9 on my Touchpad, I sorta like Touchwiz, if it gets boring or won't support the latest Gmaps, I'll move over.

4. I've spent as much on the accessories as the phone. Since I got this in June, I bought a OTG 4 port USB adapter so that I can connect any kind of memory stick, external drive (I even tested a USB Floppy Disk!), keyboards, wireless keyboards with IR/BT dongles form Logitech, my bridge camera connects and allows me to upload/copy photos from it's SD card. I'm thrilled with this. I just got a MHL adapter, and it hooks up to my HDTV, and I can so really silly stuff like play music and run a visualizer app and show it on the TV, too as well as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube. (Yes, I have a streaming box besides, but now I can do it when I travel, and I almost always have free wifi or internet and a HDTV in the hotel).
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] paniro187:
This its kind of like the HTC evo that thing is still seeing development. Seems numbers are the name of the game
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] kangi26:
From what I've experienced, I just reciently purchased the SGSIII coming from the Captivate(SGSI). and Honestly, there is still development for the SGSI (Well over 2 years old) and they are now even rolling in with JB on the Captivate. What I have seen here on XDA, is the more popular the device is, the longer it sticks around, and the longer the development continues. The development of a specific ROM may change developers as the "top" dev's move to the latest and greatest devices, but the deveoplment is usually past down.

That being said, the SGSIII has become WILDLY popular, and I fully expect the development to easily continue well past the 2 year mark
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] abhaxus:
Clearly the ability to read the last sentence of my post was too much for you.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] 78c10:
I admit it; I'm clumsy. I've already dropped mine twice, but I've had a $16 Ballistic SG on it since I unboxed it.

A friend had his S3 for 3 weeks, and decided to 'go naked' because of the bulk of the Otterbox . Dropped it, cracked the glass. He claims replacement with the insurance through AT&T is a $200 deductible. Ouch.

I think I'll keep mine in it's thick wrap. I don't mind the extra bulk at all; in fact it seems kind of small when I take it out for demonstration purposes for all the iPhone guys here at work.
[AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III] stan.s:
Absolutely correct, $200 with INSURANCE from AT&T plus a $50 handling fee.

I would love to use it naked, it's so thin. But I put a $6 TCP Ditztronic case on it with a little lip over the front. It's Fugly on it. I've dropped it several times. No scratches.

I would like a Spectre tempered glass protector, but I cancelled by original order when they announced a colored border. Now I'm still considering it but have to wait until Mid Oct to see what the results from the 3rd version is.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] non1oson:
hello,

so I've sent my galaxy note n7000 back to samsung under warranty because of the mobo emmc error. they have come back with water damage. true or not I'm now out of pocket $250USDish.

what are my options? they claim it's water damage, but I claim it's the mobo emmc error. I honestly think they are trying to avoid the warranty period, I've got 1 month left on it.

to buy a new mobo where I live it's $400USD. kind of defeats the purpose as the phones are $318USD new....

am I suppose to just cut my losses? I mean, this is a joke.... if so I won't ever buy another samsung product again. handtec won't do anything to help me either, who I bought it from. so I canceled my note 2 pre ordered with them. over this...
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] praetorius:
It's either:

1. You are lying

2. Samsung techs are lying.

If #2, sue them for not honoring the warranty and claim compensation for emotional anguish of having to suffer withdrawal symptoms from being away with your device.

If, however, #1.... You can:

1. Smile sheepishly that they did not believe you.

2. Fork out the 250 bucks for repair

3. Get a new phone at the price you mentioned.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] non1oson:
is there a small claims sort of tribunal in the UK?

thanks

well there is and after doing some research samsung do the whole "water damage" a lot. anovo or whatever the repairs companies does this heaps. easy get out of jail free card for them.
[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] The Lum:
Reading between the lines of the original post it appears in my opinion your not exactly saying there is no chance it could be water damage. Maybe its a language thing.

Is there any chance of it having been damaged by water?