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Worth Using Upgrade on S3?

N

NativeTxn

Well-Known Member
So I am eligible for an upgrade with AT&T. I currently have the Skyrocket and for all intents and purposes, it is fine. So I don't need a new phone. However, now that I only have one line on my account, it seems like a waste to just sit on an upgrade for a long period of time as you are sort of just delaying the start of the 18-months until your next upgrade. Plus, the fact that the S3 just came out this month is nice.

Also, I am pretty confident that I could sell my Skyrocket for enough to at least cover the cost of the new one plus the upgrade fee (based on prices I've seen recently on the notorious internet auction site), and if I could it would essentially mean I can upgrade for "free."

I suppose part of this is just the desire to rationalize getting a new phone, even though I haven't had the Skyrocket for that long.

So I guess the question to those of you who have the S3 (and especially those that have used/owned the Skyrocket), in your opinion, is it worth going ahead and using my upgrade on the S3? I can't imagine that there is something significantly better on the near horizon, but I've been surprised before...
 
Engadget thinks that the Galaxy Note 2 is going to be announced in August. I went from an iphone 4 to my GS3 and love it to death. I wanted a Note for a long time and I have big hands but now I'm glad I went with the GS3 because the screen on the Note would have been a lot harder to use now that I see just how big this screen here is.
 
Yeah, I've played around with the Note before, and it just doesn't do it for more personally. It's just too big for my taste...
 
My wife and I were in a similar situation this month and decided to upgrade to the S3. The Note 2 sounded tempting, but I also am very tempted to pick up a Nexus 7, and the S3/Nexus 7 combo seems much more complimentary than a Note / Nexus 7 combo.
 
scooter1942 said:
what does the maxx hd offer that the SIII does not? besides an ever so slightly larger battery and a kevlar backing (woop-de-doo) it has the exact same chipset, same pixel dimensions, similar thickness...
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Radio, Radio, Radio (i.e. much better reception) and better battery life :)

Can make a difference for some. Again, I am happy with my Galaxy S3, but something for others to consider....

Some other thoughts here.
 
laptopquestion said:
Radio, Radio, Radio (i.e. much better reception) and much greater battery life :)

Can make a difference for some. Again, I am happy with my Galaxy S3, but something for others to consider....

Some other thoughts here.
Click to expand...

now we're getting conflicts. this article calls it the razr hd, and the other one calls it the razr maxx hd. this one says it has a 3300 mAh battery, and the other one said something like 2200-2500. are motorola phones known to have better reception than samsung's?

also on the camera, once you get to a certain point (at least with the form factor we're dealing with), megapixels dont matter anymore. the image sensor has to be a certain size, or else all those extra millions of pixels are simply useless...
 
scooter1942 said:
now we're getting conflicts. this article calls it the razr hd, and the other one calls it the razr maxx hd. this one says it has a 3300 mAh battery, and the other one said something like 2200-2500. are motorola phones known to have better reception than samsung's?

also on the camera, once you get to a certain point (at least with the form factor we're dealing with), megapixels dont matter anymore. the image sensor has to be a certain size, or else all those extra millions of pixels are simply useless...
Click to expand...

Removed the MAXX -> Motorola Razr HD.. Does that help after tweaking?
 
laptopquestion said:
Radio, Radio, Radio (i.e. much better reception) and better battery life :)

Can make a difference for some. Again, I am happy with my Galaxy S3, but something for others to consider....

Some other thoughts here.
Click to expand...

Well, not so fast now. The new chipset/radio in the S3 is obviously better than in some previous Sammys. So given the fact that the Motorola will be using the same chipset as the S3, it's a bit premature to say the Razr HD will have better reception. It may or may not.

I would say that link is heavily biased toward the Motorola. For example the writer mentions nothing about the fact that because of the physical home button on the S3, there is considerably more screen real estate on the Samsung. I always get a bit suspicious when I see articles like that, that seem to only find pluses in one direction and nothing in the other.
 
scooter1942 said:
also on the camera, once you get to a certain point (at least with the form factor we're dealing with), megapixels dont matter anymore. the image sensor has to be a certain size, or else all those extra millions of pixels are simply useless...
Click to expand...

Yes. Typically more pixels on the same size chip will result in poorer low light performance.
 
NativeTxn said:
Is the Razr HD going to Verizon?
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If you are on AT&T, and considering the RAZR, there are unlocked GSM versions available on Amazon.com for $300-$400...no LTE however.
If you want a reasonable facsimile, take a look at the At&t Atrix HD. I picked it up about a week ago. I'm partial to Motorola, but also have the AT&T branded Note. FWIW, I think that the Atrix HD's reception capability is slightly less (~1dBm-4dBM at any given time) than the Note's. Neither can achieve the signal levels of my older, less expensive Motorola Defy, which has At&t 3G bands, despite being a T-Mobile branded phone.

The UI is very nice, esp. the circle, phone, and mail widgets. As far as performance, it seems much smoother, as far as gaming, video playback, and menu/Web page scrolling.

I was hesitant about having to switch to a micro SIM, as I want to use it for my T-Mo acct., along with the fact that out has a "fixed" battery, but it looks like I can get over 24hrs of "my" normal use from one charge.
 
Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm still torn, as it seems silly to hold on to an upgrade for too long given that it just delays the start of the cycle until your next upgrade. If the the S3 had been out for 6 months or something like that, I'd be more inclined to wait a few months and see if anything new and exciting was about to surface.

I wouldn't really be considering it if I didn't think that I could sell my Skyrocket and recoup most, or possibly all, of the cost of the new S3.

Tough decision to a certain extent. Guess I'm just going to have to go to AT&T and look at the phones in person and see what I think.

Any additional thoughts are certainly appreciated.
 
colnago said:
If you are on AT&T, and considering the RAZR, there are unlocked GSM versions available on Amazon.com for $300-$400...no LTE however.
If you want a reasonable facsimile, take a look at the At&t Atrix HD. I picked it up about a week ago. I'm partial to Motorola, but also have the AT&T branded Note. FWIW, I think that the Atrix HD's reception capability is slightly less (~1dBm-4dBM at any given time) than the Note's. Neither can achieve the signal levels of my older, less expensive Motorola Defy, which has At&t 3G bands, despite being a T-Mobile branded phone.

The UI is very nice, esp. the circle, phone, and mail widgets. As far as performance, it seems much smoother, as far as gaming, video playback, and menu/Web page scrolling.

I was hesitant about having to switch to a micro SIM, as I want to use it for my T-Mo acct., along with the fact that out has a "fixed" battery, but it looks like I can get over 24hrs of "my" normal use from one charge.
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Negative for the HD though is in spite of a similar overall footprint, has a significantly smaller display, especially when factoring the fixed navigation bar taking up space. That bar is easy to touch baby accident if a gamer.

That said, if not a gamer or do not mind the reduced display space, nice device none the less.
 
I stopped by an AT&T store today to check out the S3. They had a blue one on display, which is the one I had planned on getting if I chose to make the move. However, in the store, it looked more periwinkle/purple-ish to me - not what I was expecting.

Anyone else have that same experience? Is it more "blue" in different lighting? Or does it always have the purple hue to it?
 
NativeTxn said:
I stopped by an AT&T store today to check out the S3. They had a blue one on display, which is the one I had planned on getting if I chose to make the move. However, in the store, it looked more periwinkle/purple-ish to me - not what I was expecting.

Anyone else have that same experience? Is it more "blue" in different lighting? Or does it always have the purple hue to it?
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yeah, some people have been complaining about that. different people see colors differently. i have one, and love it. it looks like a very dark navy blue to me
 
scooter1942 said:
yeah, some people have been complaining about that. different people see colors differently. i have one, and love it. it looks like a very dark navy blue to me
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Interesting - It did seem to me that the back looked darker (i.e. less purple and more like what I was expecting) but the sides looked to me to be more lavender/purple than blue.
 
NativeTxn said:
Interesting - It did seem to me that the back looked darker (i.e. less purple and more like what I was expecting) but the sides looked to me to be more lavender/purple than blue.
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oh the bezel? well, looking at it now, that does seem like a very light shade of lavender... when looking at it from the side. when im just focusing on the screen, the deep blue on the face makes it look more blue as well.
 
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