Samsung Galaxy SIII

Tushon

A hopefully simple question that can be answered here. My family shares a cell plan and my younger brother has an upgrade available that he won't use. Will getting the SIII for myself be as simple as ordering phone through his upgrade then activating it myself? $200 is much more attractive than $549. Guidance wanted. Also, if @Thrax already has a Nexus vs SIII comparison, a link would be marvelous. Danke!

Info

AT&T if if matters

BlackHawk

What you want can be done but my family and I have always done it through the store.

Kwitko

Yes, it can be done. I upgraded my phone by using my wife's upgrade.

Thrax

Using the Nexus as the baseline, the S3:

Faster GPU (only matters in 3D games), faster CPU, same screen, slower software update cycles (TouchWiz vs. stock Android), same RAM, roughly the same battery life, less carrier support (GSM Nexus works with ANY GSM carrier, whereas S3 is not compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile at the same time).

Your upgrade will renew the contact he has.

Tushon

Thank you all very much

Tushon

Using the Nexus as the baseline, the S3:

Faster GPU (only matters in 3D games), faster CPU, same screen, slower software update cycles (TouchWiz vs. stock Android), same RAM, roughly the same battery life, less carrier support (GSM Nexus works with ANY GSM carrier, whereas S3 is not compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile at the same time).

Your upgrade will renew the contact he has.

Okay, I imagine I'll be loading CM9 on it as soon as builds are ready. I'm not sure there will be a big impact on my from not having T-mobile access. The radio advantage is that S3 has LTE antenna whereas to go with Nexus you'd have to pick either GSM (world phone) or LTE (LTE markets only, CDMA), right?

AlexDeGruven

Correct. The LTE Nexus is only for the current CDMA carriers that have LTE.

Tushon

With that in mind, I think I am pushed over to S3. Now to await my brother's upgrade response, and cajole/threaten/beg if he says he'd rather use the upgrade.

ardichoke

Horray, with the S3 coming out, perhaps the S2 will drop in price to a more reasonable level which I will be able to procure it at.

Thrax

Using the Nexus as the baseline, the S3:

Faster GPU (only matters in 3D games), faster CPU, same screen, slower software update cycles (TouchWiz vs. stock Android), same RAM, roughly the same battery life, less carrier support (GSM Nexus works with ANY GSM carrier, whereas S3 is not compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile at the same time).

Your upgrade will renew the contact he has.

Okay, I imagine I'll be loading CM9 on it as soon as builds are ready. I'm not sure there will be a big impact on my from not having T-mobile access. The radio advantage is that S3 has LTE antenna whereas to go with Nexus you'd have to pick either GSM (world phone) or LTE (LTE markets only, CDMA), right?

This is a shot in the dark, but I would try to make certain you get the T-Mobile or AT&T Galaxy S III if you're going to buy the US variant. These two carriers are easiest to develop for.

The LTE/CDMA version of ANY phone will only work with that specific carrier.

Tushon

Oh I'm certainly getting the AT&T variant, I9300 I believe.

Thrax

No, none of the US variants will be the I9300. We'll have to wait and see what they are.

Tushon

Oh, weird. They announce the pre-order before knowing the model number? Seems ... very AT&T.