# Is it worth buying a Galaxy S III knowing that...



## trparky (Sep 3, 2011)

Is it worth buying a Galaxy S III knowing that the Galaxy S IV is just right around the corner?


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## thesoldier (Jan 25, 2012)

Is it worth it? Yes. Would it be the best choice? Not sure.

It's definitely an amazing phone and one hell of an upgrade over the gnex, but the S IV is right around the corner...so who knows if it will cause the development to drop on the S III or what.

Are you going to use an upgrade or buy it outright? If you were to use an upgrade, I'd probably wait to at least hear more info on the specs and release date. If you're gonna buy it elsewhere, then yeah it's probably a good choice for the right price.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Chocu1a (Jan 24, 2012)

It is still a pretty bad ass phone. I had one prior to my Note 2. I loved it. Very fast, sleek & amazing phone. Pick one up off craigslist for no more than $250. I see them for that price all the time.


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## trparky (Sep 3, 2011)

I'd be getting it from another carrier, not Verizon which I have now. Verizon's coverage has been rather poor as of late in my area. I drop calls all the time. So I'm going to another carrier. I have about four months to make a decision since my contract is up in June.

I'm just wondering that if given the choice to get a GSIII on the cheap, should I go for it? Or should I go for broke and go with the GS IV? Obviously buying the phone would lock me into a two year contract.

As for rooting and ROMing it, I'd most likely keep it stock. I've done the whole AOSP scene and I'm burnt out. Constantly tweaking this, that, and the other thing. Sure, it was fun at first. I learned a lot about Android in doing so but lately the constant tweaking has burnt me out.


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## iamjackspost (Oct 13, 2011)

The S3 is definitely a great phone, but if you have 4 months to decide I'd wait it out and see what else comes up. Either you'll end up with something great, or the S3 is going to get cheaper the longer you wait.


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## ArmedMonkey (Sep 22, 2011)

it'll be a while before things like cm10.1 work well on it. if that matters to you.


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## trparky (Sep 3, 2011)

Rumor has it that the S4 will have a quad-core CPU in it. The S3 only has a dual-core CPU.

I have a Galaxy Nexus right now and that only has a dual-core CPU in it and it's starting to show its age in the sense that some of the most mundane tasks seem to make the phone become sluggish.

When I buy this phone I'm going to be obviously locking myself into a two year contract so that means I'm going to be shackled to the phone for that much time. Obviously I wouldn't want to be stuck with a phone that's obsolete and slow some time in the future.

So if the S4 is going to be out soon and you had a choice, which would you choose? Wait for the S4 or grab the S3? I just don't want to be stuck with a paperweight a year from now.


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

trparky said:


> Is it worth buying a Galaxy S III knowing that the Galaxy S IIIS is just right around the corner?


Fixed that for you


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## SlimSnoopOS (Jan 19, 2012)

If I were you then I'd wait to purchase the presumed S4 since that's what I did for the S3. From when my contract ended, I waited maybe three months to preorder/upgrade to the S3 on Big Red. I know my carrier well and Big Red doesn't get nearly as many flagship devices as other US carriers so waiting for the phone of the year wasn't a hard sell.


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## trparky (Sep 3, 2011)

I have an early upgrade on Verizon available to me now. I'm going to skip that and wait until my contract is up, kick Verizon to the curb, and go to AT&T with the Galaxy S IV. My contract officially ends with Verizon on June 24th.


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## Spotmark (Jul 17, 2011)

Chocu1a said:


> Pick one up off craigslist for no more than $250. I see them for that price all the time.


You have links to these ads, for all these $250 S3s?


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## sooner7 (Mar 31, 2012)

Spotmark said:


> You have links to these ads, for all these $250 S3s?


Exactly, with the brand recognition that Samsung has now, their products are starting to hold value longer.


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## Spotmark (Jul 17, 2011)

All one has to do, is visit Swappa or eBay, to see that $250 is currently unrealistic for an S3. You might come across one once in a great while, but not "all the time". Gotta call BS on that one.


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## TenderloinShadow (Nov 4, 2011)

Ok, I have several things to add to this thread.

First, the S3 is a great phone. Don't buy into the "Oh, s4 will have quad core" hype. The S4 probably will have a quad core, but the number of cores is not the biggest factor in CPU performance. In fact, benchmarks show the dual core S3 to be equal to if not better than the quad core S3 in performance. That being said, I'm not at all arguing that the S4 will not be a better phone than the S3. In fact, I'm certain that it will be.

So then it comes down to are you willing to wait? At this point, given that the S3 will be a year old by the time your contract is up, I would suggest waiting for the S4. Newer is usually better, after all. 

As for development on the S3, an earlier commenter suggested that development might drop off after the S4 comes out. I highly doubt that will happen. Millions of people have bought the S3, and most of them won't be upgrading for a while. My old Droid X saw great development the entire time I owned it. Even right before I upgraded to the S3, there were still top of the line ROMs being ported to it. And that phone had a locked bootloader, whereas ours does not. So I would not be worried about a development dropoff on this device anytime before 2014 at the earliest.

Lastly, I notice the OP mention that he's gonna kick Verizon to the curb and go with AT&T. Can I just ask why? Not to try and defend Verizon here, I am one of their loudest detractors. In fact, I joined OPMOSH and spammed Verizon's Facebook page with hate mail to protest their bootloader policy. Verizon may be the worst possible carrier for an Android user to have, in terms of how they manage to repeatedly mess up our beautiful devices with their restrictive crap. That being said, though, I wonder what's making you choose AT&T over them? AT&T gets a big plus in my book for allowing unlocked bootloaders, but their data plans are priced just as poorly and their network isn't anywhere near as good as Verizons. Not saying that sticking with Verizon is the greatest thing in the world (because it's not), but I've stuck with them because at the moment I just feel that there isn't a good alternative yet.


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## trparky (Sep 3, 2011)

Well for me, Verizon's network has really gone down the tubes in my area. It used to not be bad, I used to be able to make phone calls quite easily without having to worry about dropping a call. Now, I have no idea what changed between now and when I went to Verizon but their network has been next to useless for me. I practically have to stand on one foot and whistle Dixie in hopes that I don't drop a call. Verizon has even stated to me that area is a marginal service area but that wasn't always the case.

I don't know what the issue is in my area but it seems like Verizon has abandoned my area. I can go into some of the more affluent areas where people own houses worth more than half a million dollars and they're still puttering along at 3G. The map says that 4G *should* be there but if you take your phone into that area 4G is nowhere to be found.

Verizon seems to have no interest in correcting the obvious network issues in my area despite the constant barrage of complaints that I've sent their way. Believe me, their support teams must hate me over there in Verizon Customer Support and my complaint list must be as long as my arm. And it's not just me, other people I have talked to have also told me that their Verizon experience in my area has been garbage as of late.

AT&T on the other hand has been great in my area according to those who I've talked to.


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## zerocool79346 (Jan 10, 2012)

trparky said:


> Rumor has it that the S4 will have a quad-core CPU in it. The S3 only has a dual-core CPU.
> 
> I have a Galaxy Nexus right now and that only has a dual-core CPU in it and it's starting to show its age in the sense that some of the most mundane tasks seem to make the phone become sluggish.
> 
> ...


Since you're switching carriers, is wait on the S4. That being said, the S3 is a ridiculous amount faster than the GNex, not even comparable in my opinion (just switched a few weeks ago).


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## shoman24v (Jul 17, 2011)

I got the S3 a few weeks ago for $100... plus the shitty full price tax. Better than my Galaxy Nexus in most respects especially battery life. I got just under 5 hours of screen on time with 6% remaining. I think even with 2 batteries the GNex couldn't do that.

Should I have waited for an S4...? I guess I could have, but really it would have cost me at least $200 more, unless it launches at $199. The note 2 just came out and being so close to the S4... it looks like an S3.

Don't really know what's in store for an S4, but it still won't be out until a few months from now anyways.

Can't necessarily buy on that basis of 'well, I should wait for the next device...'

I'm happy with what I have. I have no desire to root it, I was able to disable a bunch of apps which was nice. Next phone may or not be a Nexus. I plan on sticking with Verizon for their awesome network. I just hope they get the Nexus 5 then my choice of a new phone will be tough.


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