If you want to be among the first people in the United States to get the brand-new Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, you can have it as soon as June 1, but you'll have to pay quite a steep price. Amazon has started taking U.S. pre-orders for Samsung's new flagship Android smartphone and it can be yours for $800 unlocked.
Samsung and U.S. wireless carriers have not yet announced their versions of the new Galaxy smartphone. Generally, versions vary both internally and externally from one carrier to another. The $800 price will get you the 16GB SIM-free international version of the Samsung Galaxy S3. It is available in either blue or white, and sports a huge 4.8-inch display, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich topped with lots of Samsung software tweaks.
What You Get & What You Don't
Using the international version of the smartphone in the U.S., however, does imply some compromises. The global model does not support 4G LTE connectivity, therefore it can only connect to AT&T's HSPA+ network. Meanwhile, the model would be able to make calls on T-Mobile, but it lacks support for the carrier's 1700MHz band, so connecting to high-speed data is out of the question. Also, the unlocked international version is a GSM device, meaning it won't work on Verizon Wireless and Sprint.
On the bright side, the $800 version of the Samsung Galaxy S3 does come with a quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor. It is not yet certain whether U.S. versions of the smartphone will feature the same processor. Carrier-customized versions of the third-generation Galaxy phone are expected to feature a dual-core chip such as the Snapdragon 4 in order to offer LTE support.
Buy Now or Wait for U.S. Versions This Summer?
If you don't care much for 4G LTE connectivity, don't mind using AT&T's network and can afford to indulge in an $800 smartphone extravaganza, you can soon get the international, unlocked version of the Galaxy S3 from Amazon. The U.S. carrier-customized versions, however, will likely cost about $500 less with a contract and can use faster 4G LTE speeds, although they won't feature the same quad-core processor. According to Samsung, the U.S. versions of its new flagship phone will be available in the summer.
