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  • ExodusC - Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - link

    I am absolutely floored they would try to pull this.

    Verizon is the only carrier in the world who decided to lock the bootloader on the Galaxy S3. Then, Samsung is selling a "Developer Edition" that Verizon is willing to activate on their network, despite claims that these devices -supposedly- cause people to "abuse their network"?

    This is completely ridiculous, and I hope this fails like the RAZR Developer Edition, or even better, I hope it allows developers to find a bootloader unlock method for the rest of us.

    Absolutely disgusting.
  • OCedHrt - Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - link

    It's not just that. Verizon doesn't want to support phones with custom ROMs, for example. This puts the support on Samsung's shoulders.
  • ExodusC - Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - link

    While I am glad Samsung is at least trying to do SOMETHING about the situation, I honestly would have preferred they did what Apple would have done, and said "Sorry, if you want to mess with our phone, you get no phone at all."

    Unfortunately even Google had issues trying to do that with the Galaxy Nexus (supposedly- what with Google Wallet and all).

    Still, this blows my mind. I hope developers find a solid workaround to this nonsense.
  • Zoomer - Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - link

    Hopefully more people will switch to purchasing phones from phone makers, and buying connectivity from service providers. Shell or Exxon doesn't sell cars that run on their gas, why should providers sell phones than run on their pipes?
  • greylica - Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - link

    @Zoomer
    + 1 , best comment of the day !
  • prophet001 - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link

    ^ protip comment
  • robinthakur - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - link

    Yer, it works that way in the rest of the world really, so I don't know why not in America. Having said that, the SGS3 is no way worth $600. I've never purchased anything so expensive which felt so cheap and the back of the phone feels like a strong wind could snap it in two. More practically, the Home button feels really flimsy considering how often you have to push it and I think this is a major weak point in the design. After a week of ownership I was especially alarmed that there is now a big blob of dust under the camera lens. Coming from Apple devices, it seems pretty inconceivable that the lens wouldn't be sealed tbh, so I've made the decision to sell it and recoup my $600 and then wait it out for the iPhone 5.
  • phatboye - Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - link

    Let's place blame where blame is due, Verizon, not Samsung. Sure Samsung is a soulless/spineless blob but they are doing what any company would do to push their product to the consumer. At least they give you the option of purchasing the unlocked version of the phone if one chooses to go that route.

    If you want to be angry at anyone direct your frustrations solely at Verizon who is requiring Samsung to lock down the SGSIII. Send them an angry letter how you are sick of Verizon's crap and threaten to leave if they do not change their ways.
  • mevans336 - Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - link

    Does anyone see the link to buy one via the link in the article? I can't seem to find it.
  • Brian Klug - Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - link

    It isn't live yet, but will be from the Samsung developers portal page: http://developer.samsung.com/home.do

    -Brian
  • mevans336 - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link

    This is still not available. Did they give you any sort of hint as to when it will go live?
  • TrackSmart - Monday, July 30, 2012 - link

    Brian,

    Nice job on the previous Galaxy SIII review. I'll be looking forward to your update that includes battery life numbers on the Verizon version.

    Hopefully coming soon?
  • geniekid - Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - link

    Also, are we ever going to get battery life numbers for the Galaxy S3 on LTE?
  • SirKronan - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link

    Engadget posted some promising numbers here: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/09/samsung-galaxy-...

    So far, my experience with my Verizon SGSIII parallels their results, even with 4G LTE just rolling out today in my town. 4G has been quite sketchy, and I doubt it's the fault of the phone, rather of the new rollout. Despite the issues, and the severe lightning storm we had today that actually knocked out LTE and then even 3G for a bit, and despite driving around all day, in and out of range of LTE towers, I still pulled a full day on my SGSIII. Battery was down to 10% when I got home though. Pretty heavy use - phone calls, some gaming, lots of music and web browsing. Some tweaking and uninstalling/installing/updating, etc. going on too.
  • geniekid - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link

    Now if only I could get you to buy the Incredible 4G LTE and replicate your day ;)

    But seriously, that's good to hear. Battery life will probably be one of the biggest factors in deciding which phone is going to be my first 4G phone.
  • hormel - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link

    Will they be giving a rebate for this phone with a two year agreement?
  • DigitalFreak - Thursday, July 12, 2012 - link

    No. The only way to get it is to pay full price directly from Samsung.
  • fixxxer0 - Friday, July 13, 2012 - link

    honestly, i am very disappointed with my battery life on the verizon gs3. i know i just got it and i'm probably playing with it more than my last phone (droid x). but its just eh... im getting a little less than 10% drain per hour during the day. if i dont charge it, i will be close to dying by the end of my work day.

    i'm really not even using it THAT much either... i know, not very scientific, but im just saying.

    also my call quality, reception, and reported reception by the other party seem to be worse than on my DX.

    i dont know, theres a lot of stuff i like about the phone, but i'm just disappointed by these things. i expected more.

    i'm patiently waiting on anandtechs batt life numbers to see if they somewhat reflect what i have been experiencing.

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