Samsung Galaxy S III/S3 GT-I9300 Factory Unlocked Phone International Version $479 Shipped

Note, international version has a quad cores CPU. whereas, the US versions are dual cores.

Have this phone (U.S. version.) Love it.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the S3 (along with the Note II) are subject to the Sudden Death bug which can randomly kill your phone. I know, because I have a Note II that just suffered it. And these international phones are often imported, so you can't get Samsung US to fix them, and have to try to get Samsung in the host country (if you can figure out which one) to replace it, which they are sometimes not eager to do since you didn't directly buy it there (its a grey market phone).

So, still a good deal, but keep in mind the risk or get a SquareTrade warranty. For more information about the brick bug (again, I personally experienced it on a Note II which was working fine, never rooted or otherwise tampered with, and just crashed and will NOT power back on at all) see

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.vinagre.androi...

I'm still not sure if Samsung UK (where mine came from) will take care of me or not, but I'm already paying $50 in postage for the roundtrip over the pond and back... for a bit more, could have gotten the SquareTrade warranty

bopc1996 said:   Nexus 4‘ is available for $300.

any link?

even though the international version has a quad core it also only has 1gb ram opposed to the us version which has 2gb which is a big deal. actually i think the ram is more important then going from a dual core to a quad core, but thats just my opinion now
just a little more info

techrox said:   jtroye32 said:   bopc1996 said:   Nexus 4‘ is available for $300.

Not on Verizon though.

Neither is the one in OP.

Whoops, read Version as Verizon, but then it wouldn't be an international version would it.. Didn't think that one through

I want the Note. Any deal on the international version (factory unlocked) of the note?

finally, the price is starting to come down.

720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches,306 ppi pixel still cost $480, while next months most of the phone came out will be 1080 x 1920 pixels, 441 ppi pixel and cost about the same, if u compare them side by side, u would notice immediately how sharp it is for the 1080x1920.

Farmer said:   I'll wait for the BlackBerry Z10 coming out on March 1. It's much better phone.

Why not wait for Z15....I hear it will be "much better". Oh wait a minute.... BlackBerry may be out of business in five years....free #1 Android vs. dying BlackBerry platform that is not free....geez...I wonder what company is willing to pay a licensing fee to BlackBerry when they can put free Android OS on their smartphones....let's ask Samsung.

BlackBerry will be the next Palm.....except there will be no HP to buy them out. Don't open your Z10 and save it your grandkids.....tell them it makes a nice paper weight.

pitflyer said:   Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the S3 (along with the Note II) are subject to the Sudden Death bug which can randomly kill your phone. I know, because I have a Note II that just suffered it. And these international phones are often imported, so you can't get Samsung US to fix them, and have to try to get Samsung in the host country (if you can figure out which one) to replace it, which they are sometimes not eager to do since you didn't directly buy it there (its a grey market phone).

So, still a good deal, but keep in mind the risk or get a SquareTrade warranty. For more information about the brick bug (again, I personally experienced it on a Note II which was working fine, never rooted or otherwise tampered with, and just crashed and will NOT power back on at all) see

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.vinagre.androi...

I'm still not sure if Samsung UK (where mine came from) will take care of me or not, but I'm already paying $50 in postage for the roundtrip over the pond and back... for a bit more, could have gotten the SquareTrade warranty
i've heard squaretrade warranties aren't valid for "out of country purchases" specifically someone that had bought a cheap chinese made phone and had warranty issues, and they were denied coverage - so, make sure to CALL square trade to verify and tell them EXACTLY what you are doing first, otherwise you may be denied coverage as well (I think they just refund your purchase if you try to make such a claim)

looks like its $550 now?

cpabster said:   S4 is coming there will be an S3 fire sale soon so hold out if you really want one.

Not true. The SIII has been out 9 months and the SII is only $50 less.

Lvscott said:   pitflyer said:    And these international phones are often imported, so you can't get Samsung US to fix them, and have to try to get Samsung in the host country (if you can figure out which one) to replace it, (

This is totally untrue. Samsung will not fix anything regardless of where you bought it. Samsung does not provide warranty service. They already have your money so it doesn't make sense to provide warranty service. They will make you send in the product at your expense and send it back without repairing it. They know you will soon tire of paying reopeatedly for shipping only to have your item come back unrepaired.

That is why they always have a note in their products telling you NOT to take it back to where you bought it if you have problems. That is because the retailers have buying power that you don't. Samsung doesn't care if you never buy a product or theirs again. They know a billion other people will. With the retailers, it is a different story. If they don't credit a retailer for a returned product, the retailer can stop buying from them.

Always take a product back to a retalier if it is wthin the return period. That way you get an instant refund or replacment and they can deal with the manufacturer. Why wait three to eight weeks for a manufacturer to do something?

Remember, companies do not have to provide warranty service. They only have to appear to do so. Having you ship your product to them and them returning it to you unrepaired is how they do it.

Sorry you've had bad experience with that, but I had a Samsung Galaxy Tab that I bought at Target that developed some spots while it was under manufacturer warranty. Called Samsung and yes, I had to pay to ship it to them (or their repair company), but it was in the USA so not a big expense. A week later they shipped me back one fixed, no problems since then. The problem occurred after the Target return period had ended but before the 1 year Samsung warranty had expired.

So at least for me, Samsung warranty has been fine when I've bought from a US reseller a Samsung US product. It's the international product that's troublesome, and yes, I've heard Squaretrade may not support grey market phones. It's frustrating as I've had dozens of phones, many grey market, and can fix nearly any issue myself, but this Sudden Death Syndrome on the S3 and Note II are only repairable by the service center as they have to replace the whole motherboard of the phone. The phone simply won't turn on no matter what you do, so there's no bootloader, no special code, no software I can run to bring it back to life. It's the definition of 'bricked'.

cpabster said:   docjoo said:   cpabster said:   S4 is coming there will be an S3 fire sale soon so hold out if you really want one.

Why wait for S4....why not get S5? Geez... just buy and enjoy it. S3 is good enough and works very well

I agree as you can end up in an infinite 'waiting game' BUT the S4 is just one month from announcement and probably not longer than that from release, so it's prudent to look at the product cycle.

But you are forgetting one important concern...price....S4 without a contract will sell for at least $600...and you will have to wait till at least end of the year before you see it for less than $499. I doubt a slight improvement is going to make it worth paying extra. S3 works well and price is not too bad. For example, I rather pay $100 less for iPad 3 than pay $100 more for iPad 4. I don't see any reason I should give Apple extra $100 for iPad that are going to give very similar user experience. But to each it's own...there are people who are willing to pay a full retail price when a new model comes out instead of taking advantage of a sale like this one.

I am waiting to Galaxy S4. Rumours say that it will come next month.

docjoo said:   
But you are forgetting one important concern...price....S4 without a contract will sell for at least $600...and you will have to wait till at least end of the year before you see it for less than $499. I doubt a slight improvement is going to make it worth paying extra. S3 works well and price is not too bad. For example, I rather pay $100 less for iPad 3 than pay $100 more for iPad 4. I don't see any reason I should give Apple extra $100 for iPad that are going to give very similar user experience. But to each it's own...there are people who are willing to pay a full retail price when a new model comes out instead of taking advantage of a sale like this one.

That's true it will be more than $479 for sure. As with everything each person has a different view of what something is (or isn't) worth. Now on that iPad 3/4 I have to say (having owned both) the extra $100 is money well spent on the 4th iteration. I know a lot of folks think it's just a lightning port but there's several other key differences (A6X & the FaceTime HD are key for me) and that $100 isn't much in the grand scheme of things...

Then again we're debating price on a site where every dollar is critical for a true FatWallet'er so...