Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE I9305 - when?!?!

[Anonymous]

when is o2 getting this?? and how can a major network provider like o2 not have it yet?

compared to the I9300 it comes with better colours, better operating system, more memory, 4g etc...

the switch to another network provider like orange is inevitable.

[anticpated]

4G coverage is very limited at the moment, why the rush? Screw Kevin Bacon and his connected world 😉 .

[Liquid]

Read the reviews on 4g it really isn't all its cracked up to be.

Until the majority of networks adopt it I can't make an informed decision.

As for the phone buy it sim free then grab a O2 sim.

[MI5]

Why would O2 sell a 4G phone when they have no 4G network. It's only EE that have the i9305 it at the moment as their network is the only one with a fiddled 4G capability (not true 4G but that's another story).... You can buy the SIM free version off Amazon for £500 (same as when i9300 was launched) and use any SIM you like..... I'm also not sure why you think the phone is better than the i9300 either. The 4G modem uses far more battery than the 3G does and the only other difference is 2Gb RAM compared to 1GB which I've never had any memory stack overflow errors from on my i9300 no matter what I've had running on it......?

[anticpated]

"memory stack overflow errors"......now, that's really geeky.

 

[Anonymous]

Lots of Americans are stating that Lte / 4g strains battery too.

I live in a strong 3G area with 02 and won't been paying those silly tariff costs ee are charging.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Oct2012/4g-lte-launch-brought-forward-to-appease-vodafone-and-o2.html

o2 are planning to have 4g by first half 2013. yes, it's expensive and not necessarily better than 3g under all circumstances, but if i'm going to get an s3 right now, then i want the lte version!! i keep my phone for many years (i still have my old faithful iphone 3gs), so you may as well future proof your phone when you get a new one.

buying it sim free doesn't make sense financially when you can get the normal s3 on contract and subsidise the payments that way (it works out cheaper on a contract, do the maths with buying it ouright on a sim only contract vs monthly contracts!).

other benefits that it also ships with the latest operating system as standard (less faffing about upgrading the operating system/chance of bricking your phone), more memory, and don't forget the cool colours, titanium looks amazing! it has more memory, yeah, the normal s3 probably won't run out of memory, but it is still a benefit, you definitely won't run out of memory with s3 lte!

i'm still disappointed that a major provider like o2 doesn't yet offer the s3 lte... o2 yet again falling way short of customer expectations, it's a bad habit and one that will cost them in the long run.

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:

buying it sim free doesn't make sense financially when you can get the normal s3 on contract and subsidise the payments that way (it works out cheaper on a contract, do the maths with buying it ouright on a sim only contract vs monthly contracts!).

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I disagree with this point in particular. I've never known a contract to be cheaper than buying outright and using a PAYG sim.

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@Anonymous wrote:

other benefits that it also ships with the latest operating system as standard (less faffing about upgrading the operating system/chance of bricking your phone), 

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JB is the latest OS and all S3's are on that version already.....

[Anonymous]

MI5 says "I disagree with this point in particular. I've never known a contract to be cheaper than buying outright and using a PAYG sim." what a ridiculous statement. you can't compare a contract which provides free minutes etc to using a payg sim which doesn't give you any. what you're in effect saying is that if you don't make any calls/send any texts/use any data then "I've never known a contract to be cheaper than buying just the phone outright". well, that's obvious, well done MI5.

also, there are contracts where the call time is unlimited, so you'll always only pay a certain amount every month irrespective of calls, where you can in one month on payg rack up a bill of thousands in call time. to compare apples and apples we need to make a reasonable allocation of call time/text/data.

so, for someone like me who uses close to the monthly allocated call time on a pay monthly sim, a payg sim is in fact a lot more expensive!! so here's a scenario for someone like me who say sends 300 texts, uses 250mins of call and 300mb of data per month.

buying outright and using a pay monthly sim (which works out cheaper than payg sim)

galaxy s3 phone cost through o2 £449. instead buy through amazon at £388 and save lot's of money (never buy anything outright through o2).

then o2 simplicity 300 costs 21.5 per month (includes internet)

which after 24 months gives £904 (£388 + £21.5x24)

contract

300 over 24 months costs £27pm with an upfront cost of the s3 of £169

which gives £817 (£169 + £27x24)

so contract is cheaper than buying outright and using a pay monthly sim (which is cheaper than using a payg sim - unless you don't make any calls/send texts/use data/don't use the phone in other words)

so, unfortunately i'm left with the impression that MI5 has no clue when it comes to contract pricing, since all telecom providers are willing to partly subsidise the phones upfront cost to secure the contract & your steady income stream. that way they're guaranteed your business for the length of the contract. if buying outright was in fact always cheaper overall then why would anyone be on a contract (other than perhaps to save on the initial outlay of £388 vs £169 in my example). if contract was more expensive, you would then be paying more overall and not have any of the flexibility payg offers.

so, i challenge MI5 to find me an example where it is cheaper to buying outright and using a PAYG sim (or pay monthly) rather than through an equivalent contract - in the case of where i'm sending 300 texts, using 250mins of call and 300mb of data per month, or any other reasonable text/call/data usage.

[Liquid]

I agree with buying outright on the basis I can change phones/sell phone(when its still worth money) when I want.

With contracts that include the phone your locked down to the carrier for the life of the phone and when it comes to selling you won't be reaping a profit.

I brought my iPhone 4 sim free for £400 signed up to a contract and got another iPhone 4 for £120 which I then sold for £563 (sell value at the time) I then had the best tarif possible (for my needs) whilst also paying for 5 months of my contract through the "deal"

So try that in future to save money