Database Users

Snapdragon 600 for the UK says Tech Sites, Three says Otherwise

So like many of us, the chip a Smartphone has is one of, if not the most important feature. So the Galaxy S4 just like its predecessor, is going to have two different variants, one with the Snapdragon 600, the other with the Exynos 5 Octa.
I live in the UK, and I have been looking forward to the arrival of the S4 and may even consider upgrading to it. However, I already have a smartphone with an S4 Pro, and I would only get my Visa out for something a bit more than a slight upgrade. So the question I wanted answering was: Which chip was the UK going to get?
Apparently, Samsung has said that the UK was to receive the Snapdragon 600, as the UK is starting to receive 4G and also because the Exynos 5 Octa isn't quite yet in mass production. However, Three says otherwise. On their website (https://www.three.co.uk/Discover/New_Samsung_Galaxy?ID=1394), they state it will come with the Exynos 5 Octa, the model lacking LTE. This makes sense, as Three are constantly boasting how their DC-HSPDA is just as fast as EE's 4G but is available nationwide, not just in a few cities. This makes me cautiously happy, as I have always been with Three and their coverage and Data prices are second to none.
So, what do you think? Is anyone able to shed a bit more light on the situation?

i cant see three being the only company to have the non lte variant , as everyone else will be using 4g . three have brought into 4g , they also apparently got a big slice for free

It's confusing because I have read that 8core SOC will also support 4G
So not sure which will have the LTE chip and which not?

I'm sure it won't be too difficult to get the either version even if it means getting it from abroad.
Sent from my Nexus 4

Many retailers seem to have both octa and LTE listed in the specs based, I believe, on what they were told last week *however* Clove stated in their blog a few days ago that they were still waiting for confirmation from Samsung re specs and price - so it's very likely that currently no retailer has this info either.
If all the stuff that started going round yesterday is true then it looks like we'll get the quad. It's all a bit of a mess really...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

Phones 4 u confirmed Snapdragon version
Oops wrong thread lol
Sent from The Loony Bin Waiting 4 My Galaxy S4 To Arrive

You can see here which countries will get the octa core version and which countries will get the Snapdragon version
http://goo.gl/EePDg

So the UK will get both then
Sent from my Nexus 4

Since the 21st March, the Three site has listed the 1.9GHz Snapdragon as the device it is selling so maybe at (and only) the time/day you posted this they incorrectly listed the Exynos.

Discrepancy in S4 specs?

According to phoneArena, the S4 has a 1.6 and a 1.2 quad. However, on Sprint and Best Buy's site (all US carriers, supposedly), it's only got a single quad 1.9. I've already pre-ordered, so it's not exactly a game-changer (especially coming from the Evo3D), but can anyone confirm what it's supposed to be? I'm on Sprint, but I'd be curious to see what people say about the other carriers as well.

I'm pretty sure it will be the LTE version. Phonearena are not from US if I'm not wrong, so they are not updating those things frequently and accurately. At east when they talk about carriers in US
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

The US, UK and a whole bunch of the rest of the world are (initially) getting the 1.9 snapdragon variant which is the one going on sale at Best Buy. The phone that PhoneArena tested was the Octa variant that has the big little configuration and no LTE which goes to the rest of the world except some Korean phones which gets an Octa with LTE on at least one carrier. If you are shopping online be aware that many of the sites have reposted Samsungs language from one of the press releases verbatim and the version they have for sale may or may not be what their website says, best to confirm before buying.

[Q] korean shopping fever, did i make a mistake?

i was walking around yongsan in seoul and i ended up buying a new s4 for something around 700$, is it too much? i don't know but what worries me now it's if i can use this thing in europe. Do i?
even just a software update needs a local sim card, now i'm sure that i can't have back my money but at least i can try to switch between the different version sold here in korea: SHV-E300S, SHV-E300K, SHV-E300L (actually i have the one named SHV-E300S)
wich one do you suggest is the most appropriate to use in europe or canada?

Good news/bad news. The good news is that you might be able to sell it for more than you paid for it.
The bad news is the bands on the SKT version you bought aren't compatible with the U.S. carriers. Although you'll get HSPA+ data on T-Mobile in markets they refarmed. I think the Korean carriers use different bands so I don't know if flashing another ROM on it will allow those bands to be exposed. It won't if they are h/w specific.
Here's what you bought.
http://www.samsung.com/sec/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/skt/SHV-E300SDS3SC-spec

Seems too pricy. My friend bought a second hand in yongsan for 520k won.
It is 32GB internal memory.
Sent from my GT-I9500

BarryH_GEG said:
Good news/bad news. The good news is that you might be able to sell it for more than you paid for it.
The bad news is the bands on the SKT version you bought aren't compatible with the U.S. carriers. Although you'll get HSPA+ data on T-Mobile in markets they refarmed. I think the Korean carriers use different bands so I don't know if flashing another ROM on it will allow those bands to be exposed. It won't if they are h/w specific.
Here's what you bought.
http://www.samsung.com/sec/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/skt/SHV-E300SDS3SC-spec
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Well in fact, your good news is a bad news and your bad news could be changed to a good new.
The guy you mentionned on ebay still sell the octa core lte for 1180 dollars, which is totally crazy. He doesn't realize that the octa core one's processor is totally broken and doesn't work properly as Samsung expected and that the price of the octa core has dropped a lot in the past month. You just need to know how to search on ebay and which seller to choose. With 70 feedback, I highly doubt that the crazy guy you mentionned is trustable. Here is what you can get for only 829 dollars now.
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/NEW-UNLOCKED...ell_Phones&hash=item4ac555263f#ht_3024wt_1393
This guy doesn't know that the new Snapdragon 800 LTE Advanced galaxy S4 will be available very very soon at the end of this month. You should know that the Snapdragon 800 scored 35000 points in Antutu benchmark and 21000 in quadrant(against Exynos 5410 27000 in antutu and 12000 in quadrant). So the Exynos 5410 one will cost nothing. I just hope that you can sell yours for 700$,
Concerning the LTE bands problem, a lot of E300 buyers have mentionned that they successfully found some hidden option in the phone, and managed to switch the band to the US band thanks to some application that I forgot the name. Just search in the general E300 owner section.

Best place to buy Exynos version in US

Like the title says, what's the best place to buy unlocked international phones in US.
I also might have an option to buy while traveling to UK and looking for suggestions.
Will be using it on AT&T.
thanks!

The US has Snapdragon, the UK has Exynos

Super-Veloce said:
The US has Snapdragon, the UK has Exynos
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thanks for the eye opener, now back to my question "Best place to buy Exynos version in US"

In the past, I've had the best success with well rated ebay resellers. Having ebay back your purchase is important because they are so buyer centric. If there are any issues at all, they will force paypal to refund your money. The only downside to this, is that you'll likely pay a little more - especially if you purchase right at release time.
Wonda Mobile and Expansys are also great/reputable online resellers that will surely sell the S8 and S8+. You'll pay closer to the retail price of the device (no ebay fees, price gouging, etc) and their return policies are good. That said, YOU will pay return fees back to Korea if there are issues and you're 100% at their discretion for returns/replacements/restocking fees, etc.
Hope this helps.

morbidz said:
thanks for the eye opener, now back to my question "Best place to buy Exynos version in US"
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I got my Galaxy S7 Edge (G935F) on Amazon and was going to get the NOTE 7 EXYNOS from https://www.bhphotovideo.com/
They are a good retailer - I am hoping we can get preorder from them - (they did offer a preorder for the NOTE but it never happened because batteries started exploding before the NOTE 7 Was released.

Silly question - but why would one prefer the Exynos version over the Snapdragon? Is there a noticeable difference in performance, or some other factor?

From what I hear, the performance on the Exynos variant is better than the Snapdragon variant. Also, the SnapDragon variant has been bootloader locked as of lately (Note 7, S7, and S7 Edge) while the Exynos variants have been unlocked.

So I pre-ordered a sim unlocked s8+ through samsung's UK site. not sure if they will ship to US though

Greetings from Canada,
Would anyone know which "soc" goes in the Canadian variant?
Thank you.

cguarino said:
Silly question - but why would one prefer the Exynos version over the Snapdragon? Is there a noticeable difference in performance, or some other factor?
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thats so naive from you..see the galaxy s7 exynos variant was unlock the past year where the s7 820 was not, what that means ?
basically means that you was not able to root any western device , but only exynos variant can... and root a device is crucial to open a lot of possibilitys like overclock
and responding to the question of this guy, basically in every latin country on america you can find the exynos variant, which is kind a weird cosidering that allways all america used the qualcomm variant in the past , and because a lot of mexicans carriers dont have the culture of wait until the oficial release of the smartphone i will expect some people to buyit long before

samteeee said:
Greetings from Canada,
Would anyone know which "soc" goes in the Canadian variant?
Thank you.
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Canada is getting the snapdragon like the USA unfortunately.

Handtech and Clove are both reputable UK shops that many on this forum have used and recommend. Be aware if you're​ a first time buyer at either you may have to jump extra hoops to clear your credit card. This is normal and due to the high degree of fraud in international cell phone sales​.

mocsab said:
I got my Galaxy S7 Edge (G935F) on Amazon and was going to get the NOTE 7 EXYNOS from https://www.bhphotovideo.com/
They are a good retailer - I am hoping we can get preorder from them - (they did offer a preorder for the NOTE but it never happened because batteries started exploding before the NOTE 7 Was released.
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BH has it listed now, but just to notify when available. It has it listed as SM-G955. It doesn't say whether or not it is SD or exynos though.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._sm_g955_64gb_gry_galaxy_s8_sm_g955_64gb.html
I know with the international S7, Samsung Pay would not work in the US. Not too worried about that, but are there any other drawbacks? Will it work on all the LTE bands for AT&T?

I think for those that really want the international version, you'll have to find overseas sites that ship to the US or get them from a reputable seller on eBay such as never-msrp. The downside, as always, to importing is a higher price and generally, no warranty. I generally get quarterly trade where if anything happens and no one fixes the phone, they'll just give a full refund of the phone price. Anyways, just make sure it says SM 950F or SM 955F. The F are the true international unlocked models. Samsung pay may now work in the US. Check out the S7 threads to see how they got pay to work in the US
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk
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PuffinNugz said:
BH has it listed now, but just to notify when available. It has it listed as SM-G955. It doesn't say whether or not it is SD or exynos though.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._sm_g955_64gb_gry_galaxy_s8_sm_g955_64gb.html
I know with the international S7, Samsung Pay would not work in the US. Not too worried about that, but are there any other drawbacks? Will it work on all the LTE bands for AT&T?
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The s7 had all AT&T and tmobile bands. Volte didn't work and wifi calling also didn't work on tmobile tho even though the s7 had band 12. It just would not connect. I now have att so that's no longer a concern with me
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

Ordered from SamsungUK, they didnt reject my US address, so we will see what happens.

morbidz said:
So I pre-ordered a sim unlocked s8+ through samsung's UK site. not sure if they will ship to US though
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I contacted the UK samsung web page and the sim free version still need to make a 5 minut call in the uk first to be truly unlocked, as it has region locked.

Check out clove UK. They have the cheapest pricing for the S8 and the s8+ and you get the international model. Picking mine up Soon
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

morbidz said:
So I pre-ordered a sim unlocked s8+ through samsung's UK site. not sure if they will ship to US though
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Click to collapse
You don't want them to ship it. The EU phones have region lock. To use a SIM from a country different from the phone's selling country you have to make a 5 minute call on a SIM native to the selling country on a network native to the selling country. That's why all the grey market phones on eBay are mostly from Asia.
Here's an article on it.
http://www.androidcentral.com/your-...8e43&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

PuffinNugz said:
BH has it listed now, but just to notify when available. It has it listed as SM-G955. It doesn't say whether or not it is SD or exynos though.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._sm_g955_64gb_gry_galaxy_s8_sm_g955_64gb.html
I know with the international S7, Samsung Pay would not work in the US. Not too worried about that, but are there any other drawbacks? Will it work on all the LTE bands for AT&T?
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Click to collapse
LTE on ATT works fine on the International Varients - the only thing missing is WIFI Calling and VOLTE - if those are big deals for you, yoiu need to stick with an ATT Phone. I haven't missed them - LTE speeds for me have always been great - I don't need WIFI Calling - and HD VOICE, well, I am not so sure it is everythign it is cracked up to be - call quality for me has been very good - so I personally am not missing anything.

I have wondered for a while if the snapdragon model in the US isn't something paid for by the NSA to be a the only US variant offered. Like more backdoors, etc built in to the Snapdragon variant. Unless there is some other obvious reason why the US gets only the Snapdragon variant.
It really doesn't matter for daily usable or noticeable performance however. Bet you'd never be able to tell which variant you were using if they were set up the same and you didn't check in the settings to cheat to see which variant it was.

World S8/8+ = 4gb RAM 64gb ROM -vs- China S8/8+ = 6gb RAM 128gb ROM

Ouch! Why will there be a difference?
"China to Get High-End Version of Galaxy S8+ with 6GB RAM & 128GB ROM"
Could it be that the market has more competitive Phone choices?

I was looking for the 128Gb version because I kept seeing it would be released and the only version Tmobile is releasing is the 64Gb version. Seemed odd.

I think its retarded too, they should of just sold one model (6GB RAM/128GB) worldwide. When I had a Mate 9, I had to buy the CHN version for 6/128 compared to the normal 4/64. I might have to do it again if the CHN version supports all of TMO LTE bands. One thing I've experienced with CHN vs US phones is I get better reception with the US version even though the CHN supports all of TMO bands.

It's costs, it's probably cheaper over there, the price increase for 6gb/128gb in the UK would make the S8+ nearly 1000 quid!!!!!

Don't know what's going on... I'm in China and will hopefully grab one once they are up for sale... Worries me that there are no pre orders yet. Also... Needs to have an exact HK variant. If they aren't the same model as the HK variant, then I won't be able to exchange firmware, and then there is no way I will put myself through the torture of a phone without Google.NO WAY! I guess I'd wait until summer to pick up the 4gb version in my home country... Probably the metaphorical smoke will have cleared by then and things will have calmed down a bit to see what battery life is like. Worried I'll purchase another​ battery lemon like what happened to my 6p... Man, that battery died in a year and a bit.

Tangopro said:
Ouch! Why will there be a difference?
"China to Get High-End Version of Galaxy S8+ with 6GB RAM & 128GB ROM"
Could it be that the market has more competitive Phone choices?
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Click to collapse
Chinese model = no warranty so thats a deal breaker for me
6GB vs 4GB RAM you probably wont notice the difference in real world use
You can buy a 128GB SD card for much less than the difference in RRP between world and chinese models
Finally will the chinese model support the LTE bands required for your region and carrier?
Too many unknowns for me

it my have a global modem that supports all bands (bar cdma in the sd 835). agree, you wont notice much of a difference between 4/6 gb...

Will 6gb affect battery life in a negative way? I still doubt this will happen, but nonetheless, don't mind investigating thoughts on this matter.

Things to remember if you get the CHN version is no warranty, stuck on CHN ROM unless you root and install a different ROM and possible no wifi calling if your US carrier supports it.

mikey_sk said:
it my have a global modem that supports all bands (bar cdma in the sd 835). agree, you wont notice much of a difference between 4/6 gb...
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RMXO said:
Things to remember if you get the CHN version is no warranty, stuck on CHN ROM unless you root and install a different ROM and possible no wifi calling if your US carrier supports it.
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I agree that being stuck on CHN firmware is a horror show if you are not a Mandarin/Chinese language user.
From another perspective, so long as there is a HK firmware for SAME model number, you should be able to change firmware to HK firmware from CHN Firmware using ODIN. Pretty simple process. I have managed to do this on several Samsung phones no worries. Only with the C7 (2016) did I recently come across some weirdness that was solved by an XDA member who prescribed a relatively painless ordering of ODIN processes.
However, Samsung used to have weird China only models that did not have a HK firmware variant... which completely sucked - My Note 4, SN-9108v was a horrible experience due to this firmware and model isolation practice. Also, there are some phones that are only sold in China and only come again with Chinese Firmware (possibly the C9 pro (2017) is an example - can't remember). If Samsung have chosen the same isolationist Chinese model practice for s8, then avoid it like the plague... You'll be buying into a joyless and expensive sans google experience that will only be tolerable with decent Mandarin skills to enjoy the plethora of Chinese app store equivalents to google.
At this stage, I cannot find any reliable links to Chinese and HK model numbers. Perhaps a Chinese based Mandarin XDA user can clarify. I am very interested in preordering this mythical Chinese s8+, but I am not in the industry and am a little time poor in terms of being able to research this. There certainly seems to be very little reputable information (in English) or easily found reputable information (via translate) that details exactly when or how pre-orders in China or HK will operate. Just unsubstantiated re-reported links and news stories about the 6Gb variant and blah blah blah.
Would be really great to hear from someone legitimately more informed than me in this matter.
Cheers!

http://www.samsung.com/sec/smartphones/galaxy-s8-plus-g955/SM-G955NZKESKO/
128gb available in Korea ... interesting. Fingers crossed this type of deal pops up in China (and importantly, HK).
SM-G955NZKESKO/

That is because China has many local brands provide adequate device with only one third price. If you can maximum your specks. You will fail there!

Nope. I'm off the Sammy train. Thinking Xperia xz premium

Read an article that says Samsung is mulling over bringing the 6Gb to the US and other markets besides China / Korea. If this happens I would like to know who made the original not to release in other markets so I can kick then in the nuts.

I don't care if it is 4GB or 6. Just so long as it is NOT Snapdragon. Speed tests seem to already be confirming that the typical $#!++y ram management is still present in the Snapdragon S8 and S8+ phones. Also; If I were to buy the Snapdragon model, I would not be able to activate mobile hot spot on Cricket. You can with International phones (Exynos).

I wonder how much extra battery the 6gb version uses. I remember the ram upgrade ont he Uni used to eat battery.

YellowGTO said:
I wonder how much extra battery the 6gb version uses. I remember the ram upgrade ont he Uni used to eat battery.
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I have 6gb ram 955N and battery is fine ^^

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s327374 said:
http://www.samsung.com/sec/smartphones/galaxy-s8-plus-g955/SM-G955NZKESKO/
128gb available in Korea ... interesting. Fingers crossed this type of deal pops up in China (and importantly, HK).
SM-G955NZKESKO/
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oh man reading the specs this has all global LTE bands activated including the infamous European BAND 20 that most Asian variants have traditionally not supported!
may get my korean mate to buy over there and bring over. the korean rom will have english as an option as well as play store

YellowGTO said:
I wonder how much extra battery the 6gb version uses. I remember the ram upgrade ont he Uni used to eat battery.
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mikey_sk said:
---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------
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oh man reading the specs this has all global LTE bands activated including the infamous European BAND 20 that most Asian variants have traditionally not supported!
may get my korean mate to buy over there and bring over. the korean rom will have english as an option as well as play store
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Click to collapse
Yes, if you know an app which can see band avaible, i could see you.
For the GPS : yes it do glonass/beido/ and galileo ^^
Fast phone.

androidrouen said:
Yes, if you know an app which can see band avaible, i could see you.
For the GPS : yes it do glonass/beido/ and galileo ^^
Fast phone.
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that link lists all the supported bands under spec. goggle translate teh page on chrome and go down to full specs