SM-G900 ?

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mocsab

Senior Member
Aug 16, 2011
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West Milwaukee
www.shimmeringglass.com
Factory Outlet Store is selling the S5 and has models in stock right now. Pricing is a little high compared to what it will cost from TMOBILE or ATT - $799 - but they are unlocked and will ship in two days.

What seems odd to me is that they say the model is SM-G900 and don't mention a letter at the end? The sales floor at their site doesn't know but I guess it will be printed on the box if anyone buys it from them,.

What I am not certain about is how universal the International Versions will be - I assume they will all be very similar - but any difference in file structure could potentially lead to a brick -

I have never considered buying an international phone in the US before - has anyone here got any experience they can share good or bad with other phones?


*(Edited this after realizing the stupidity of my original question - I can really be a noob sometimes...)
 
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Hellscythe

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Sep 8, 2012
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straya kienttt
I agree with you in regards to the model number.
On websites like kogan and mobicity for me, in Australia, they don't even say SM G900. they just say Galaxy S5 LTE Model.
I think the model codes will become much clearer once the device is officially on sale. This is one of the reasons why i am slightly afraid to buy now, because i might buy a slightly less popular model with less dev support.

EDIT: sorry, i completely derped out, but i also meant to say that it is not clear exactly which model is the international model, so you should just wait out a little longer.
 
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mocsab

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I agree with you in regards to the model number.
On websites like kogan and mobicity for me, in Australia, they don't even say SM G900. they just say Galaxy S5 LTE Model.
I think the model codes will become much clearer once the device is officially on sale. This is one of the reasons why i am slightly afraid to buy now, because i might buy a slightly less popular model with less dev support.

EDIT: sorry, i completely derped out, but i also meant to say that it is not clear exactly which model is the international model, so you should just wait out a little longer.

Well, a little more research seems to indicate that the European Internation Version is SM-G900H - and from what I have been able to see - that is the model number offered by several web sites that are selling it and shipping now.


Something else ODD that I have seen - Most of these sites - EVEN SAMSUNG - lists the S5 as only having up to 64GB of MicroSD Storage. I checked the Samsung site tonight to see if there were differnt models with different micro sd sizes - and I was very surprised to see that Samsung had the phone listed as having up to 64 GB micro SD - where all the materials I have seen up to this point has said it has up to 128 GB.

I wonder is it possible that Samsung Changed their mind and did 128 after they released the original material or will different versions of the phone offer different amounts of Micro SD Storage? very ODD -
 

Hellscythe

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Sep 8, 2012
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Well, a little more research seems to indicate that the European Internation Version is SM-G900H - and from what I have been able to see - that is the model number offered by several web sites that are selling it and shipping now.


Something else ODD that I have seen - Most of these sites - EVEN SAMSUNG - lists the S5 as only having up to 64GB of MicroSD Storage. I checked the Samsung site tonight to see if there were differnt models with different micro sd sizes - and I was very surprised to see that Samsung had the phone listed as having up to 64 GB micro SD - where all the materials I have seen up to this point has said it has up to 128 GB.

I wonder is it possible that Samsung Changed their mind and did 128 after they released the original material or will different versions of the phone offer different amounts of Micro SD Storage? very ODD -

Sorry, what do you mean by European Internation Version? Do you mean the european version?
and yes, indeed that is very odd regarding the micro sd, but hopefull information becomes clearer at release
 

mocsab

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Sorry, what do you mean by European Internation Version? Do you mean the european version?
and yes, indeed that is very odd regarding the micro sd, but hopefull information becomes clearer at release
Yes, that is what I meant - actually, I should have said "western european" version - but then I am just making some assumptions based on what I have read on a number of different web sites - from Sammy mobile - to Samsung - to various Online Electtroics sites to Amazon.com and so on -

Patience is not one of my best virtues - but I will have to bide my tme and wait. I have a preorder for a TMOBILE phone but I got a feeling I am going to be sending it back - from everything I have read it appears more and more that TMOBILE has locked the bootloader on the S5 - I obviosly hope that is not the case - but time will tell....
 

Hellscythe

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Sep 8, 2012
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Yes, that is what I meant - actually, I should have said "western european" version - but then I am just making some assumptions based on what I have read on a number of different web sites - from Sammy mobile - to Samsung - to various Online Electtroics sites to Amazon.com and so on -

Patience is not one of my best virtues - but I will have to bide my tme and wait. I have a preorder for a TMOBILE phone but I got a feeling I am going to be sending it back - from everything I have read it appears more and more that TMOBILE has locked the bootloader on the S5 - I obviosly hope that is not the case - but time will tell....

it is almost certain that carrier branded versions will have a locked bootloader.
for the xperia z at least, bootloader unlocking is not possible for the t mobile versions. they don't even allow you to unlock it.
so you just have to watch out for that.
 

mocsab

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it is almost certain that carrier branded versions will have a locked bootloader.
for the xperia z at least, bootloader unlocking is not possible for the t mobile versions. they don't even allow you to unlock it.
so you just have to watch out for that.

I know - that is why I am starting to look at buying an International version - they cost a little more than the Carrier versions - but they are compatible with ATT from what I have been told and they are definitely unlocked. The only thing I am struggling with is knowing which version they are selling - they call it the SM G900 - but other sites call it SM G900H - which according to Sammy is the European version -
 

Hellscythe

Senior Member
Sep 8, 2012
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straya kienttt
I know - that is why I am starting to look at buying an International version - they cost a little more than the Carrier versions - but they are compatible with ATT from what I have been told and they are definitely unlocked. The only thing I am struggling with is knowing which version they are selling - they call it the SM G900 - but other sites call it SM G900H - which according to Sammy is the European version -

I contacted mobicity recently and they said the international version was called the SM G9005.
dunno if i can be certain about that though. But yeah, as you said before, you're a patient person so that will come in handy :)

EDIT: couldn't find anything on the SM G9005 :/ only found a bunch of leaks from january
 

abidcastaneda

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Jul 24, 2013
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Whatch out it's a fake!!

Hi, I'm not trying to pun on anyone, but I bought a SM - G900 (*no letter after it), it is an international phone, it is factory unlocked, works with a micro SIM, I have a 30 Gb micro SD card in it, rooted, making phone calls and connecting to the internet via my provider's data plan (Ultra Mobile) and through wifi, but here's the truth about this phone!:

* It says that it has 16 Gb of internal storage (BIG FAT LIE!), even though I says that in the settings, you will fill it up with a couple of applications, and it will quickly state that there's not enough space, I connected it to my computer using MKT drivers, and it still shows those 15.something Gb, but the files in it just take about 3, including the ROM, and it says I only have 500 MB left.

* There's supposed to be a 1.27 Gb phone storage (1.27? Really? not 2 Gb, not one, but 1.27), and that fills up pretty fast too. And displays it as an internal SD card in the file browser.

* I added a 30 Gb micro SD card, I actually purchased this card specially for this phone ... Which now it's just a waste of money, it mounts, but, when I installed Link2Sd on the phone, it just keeps transferring the applications from the internal to the phone storage to the phone storage itself, I tried formatting the card as ext4, ext3, ext2, swap and it keeps getting reformatted to fat32 every time the phone detects it, it says that the sd card is damaged and needs to be formatted, so you're pretty much stuck to whatever the real storage amount the phone has. I even tried making a 2nd partition with Mini Partition tool and Aparted, but then, the phone doesn't mount the 2nd partition, only the first one.

* The pictures and videos taken from the camera, can automatically go to the sd card, but they get corrupted after a reboot with no option of recovering them, **ssed me of because I had taken a video of my 2 yr old son saying "I love you daddy".

* It is rooted, but not through a custom rom or anything like it, I mean, IT ALREADY CAME WITH A CUSTOM ROM! So it was already rooted, I tried One Click Root and the application said that the phone was successfully rotted, but Super User had not been installed on it, downloaded SU from play store, only to find out that the phone already had root acces, just had to install SU to give apps permissions.

* The screen mirroring on Samsung smart Tv's doesn't work, it's not even picked up as a media device when connected through USB to it.

* The battery literally dies after only 3 hours of use (as opposed to the battery life on the real S5) without any low battery warning.

* The smart pause and smart scroll doesn't work correctly, the videos pause as you are watching them and the scroll actually makes the screen twitch.

* Cannot download any Samsung apps to it BECAUSE IT'S NOT REALLY SAMSUNG!

* Doesn't come with the Samsung Navigator, you have to download google maps, and, at least to me, Samsung navigator is better.

* Driving mode NEVER enables, even if you enable it manually or put it in a dock.

* IT IS NOT WATERPROOF!

* IT IS NOT A RUGGED PHONE!

* CANNOT flash another custom rom to it (or at least I have been afraid to do it) because there seems to be nothing compatible with it and don't want to turn it into a brick.

* The IMEI on the phone DOESN'T exist on the IMEI check list!

* Even though I had to use the MKT drivers to connected to the computer, I tried the original S5 drivers and it doesn't connect, and the mass storage driver never installs succesfully, so no mass storage device driver for it.

* Custom recovery? Well, it already comes with one ... IN CHINESE! So you really can tell what to click without erasing the phone.

* Stock recovery ... it does have it, so you press the volume up button and the power on button at the same time, and you get the dead android logo, then you press volume up again along with the home key and you get into the stock recovery, but can't partition from there ... lame.

* No gorilla screen on this one.

* It cost me $300.00 usdlls, which is not fair, the phone does exactly the same and works the same as a $50 - $100 usdll phone.

* It is a replica, there's no original Samsung anything in it, even tried Samsung live support (the one that you can see the live representative through google hangouts) and the guy said ... literally ... and I quote: "I'm sorry, I can't give out any support for your phone because that serial number is incorrect (I sent him the picture of the sn from the sticker inside the phone), the IMEI doesn't exist and Samsung doesn't make a SM - G900 model, it has to have a letter at the end of this for identification", and then he just closed the session, without any further explanation, just like that, without noticing me that the support session had to be closed.

End point being: DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS!