WTF? Samsung phones are now region locked.

[Eug]

No Gold S4 for you!

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/0...gions-putting-the-squeeze-on-phone-importers/

There's been a rather widespread discovery, mostly made by Note 3 buyers, that Samsung has started adorning the boxes of its devices with a new sticker - and that sticker has some bad news. As part of what is apparently a new policy for the company, a number of popular Samsung phones will be SIM-locked to the region in which they are sold. This has been confirmed by many an XDA poster with images of the stickers on devices purchased in the Americas and Europe, though the practice probably extends to other regions, as well. UK retailer Clove was the first to really publicize the news, yesterday.

The new policy, at this point, applies to Galaxy S III, S II, Note, S4, S4 Mini, and Note 3 devices produced after the end of July 2013.

 

[kyrax12]

Why do they lock the phones into a specific region?

 

[zerogear]

lmfao. Samsung is shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[dawheat]

As I have a Note 3 on order, I've been tracking this pretty closely over on xda. It's unclear as there is some conflicting information.

First not all phones/regions are affected as the T-mobile unlocked phone I'm getting was confirmed to not have this lock.

For phones that are affected, some folks are saying that you only need to initially activate the phone with a regional SIM after which, if your phone is unlocked, you can then use any international SIM (so basically to cut down grey market sales). Some believe that it's permanently region locked.

It'll take a few days before things get clear but this certainly is a mess, especially for a phone like the Note 3 which caters to the most affluent end of the Android spectrum.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

lmfao. Samsung is shooting themselves in the foot.

irrelevant in the US, but as for Europe, it seems like they lock it within the continent? Might not be so bad considering most Asians stay in Asia and most Europeans stay in Europe.

 

[thedosbox]

Can't really blame Samsung as they want to damp down the grey market. I am surprised they think it's a big enough issue to worry about given the different LTE frequencies in use nowadays.

 

[jpeyton]

Nobody knows whether this is a true geographical lock, or whether Samsung is simply restating the existing carrier-contract locks with poor wording.

We'll find out more next week when units actually ship.

 

[lopri]

What does Samsung gain by this? Do they think travelers will buy another of their phones when they travel abroad? Dumb move if true, and should be condemned. Consumers should not put up with this kind of crap.

 

[cronos]

This is stupid.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Nobody knows whether this is a true geographical lock, or whether Samsung is simply restating the existing carrier-contract locks with poor wording.

We'll find out more next week when units actually ship.

+1. Hope that's the case. It would be a blow to Samsung's popularity in the long run it true. I'm already leaning towards a nexus 5 for my next phone. This would definitely put me over the edge in that direction.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

irrelevant in the US, but as for Europe, it seems like they lock it within the continent? Might not be so bad considering most Asians stay in Asia and most Europeans stay in Europe.

Its really annoying if you end up traveling at all. I had to find another phone when I was living in Italy just cause of Verizon's shitty cdma.

 

[AViking]

irrelevant in the US, but as for Europe, it seems like they lock it within the continent? Might not be so bad considering most Asians stay in Asia and most Europeans stay in Europe.

No it's terrible. We travel all over the place with our 5-8 weeks of vacation every year. I personally am going to be buying a phone in the next month or so and I need one that works both in Europe, USA, Africa, and Asia just like my old phone.

My old phone works all over the world and I'm definitely not going to be region locked.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Can't really blame Samsung as they want to damp down the grey market. I am surprised they think it's a big enough issue to worry about given the different LTE frequencies in use nowadays.

Right lets kill the grey market for a product designed to carried around all over the globe. Well done.

 

[notposting]

Its really annoying if you end up traveling at all. I had to find another phone when I was living in Italy just cause of Verizon's shitty cdma.

How long ago? I had a hybrid GSM/CDMA phone from Verizon in 2007, and that wasn't the first one they had. I believe all of their current LTE phones are world phones as well. The Trophy I replaced my OG Droid with in 2011 was 3G CDMA/GSM as well.

 

[thedosbox]

Right lets kill the grey market for a product designed to carried around all over the globe. Well done.

Calm down. A corporation's agenda is rarely the same as the consumers. Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives - and you get the benefit of not having to use Touchwiz!

 

[Oyeve]

irrelevant in the US, but as for Europe, it seems like they lock it within the continent? Might not be so bad considering most Asians stay in Asia and most Europeans stay in Europe.

Exactly. Hell, if I was living in europe I would never leave nor vacation in the US.

 

[kasakka]

Considering how ridiculously expensive it can get using your regular SIM card abroad (even within EU), it makes sense to just get a local prepaid card during a vacation etc.

I don't see how region locking any device (as seen with DVDs) has done any good. It's an annoyance to consumers and less money to companies.

 

[cousin]

That's a really stupid thing they did. Why the consumers should care about it? If I need to travel around some continents, whether it is because of holidays, or because of my job, why should I worry about whether it is locked or not. Stupid issue I think.Or they think people will buy another gadget of their so that to be mobile in the region they need.

 

[WelshBloke]

Looks like its not the issue people thought it was.

Once you've activated it with a local SIM its unlocked to work in any region.

Android central linkage

 

[AViking]

Looks like its not the issue people thought it was.

Once you've activated it with a local SIM its unlocked to work in any region.

Android central linkage

So what do I do? I don't have a US SIM card but buy my phones when I'm home visiting. Do I just grab a friend's sim card, stick it in there, run through setup, and then give them back their sim?

 

[Red Storm]

So in other words this is only an issue for the gray market. Normal consumers are good to go.

 

[WelshBloke]

So what do I do? I don't have a US SIM card but buy my phones when I'm home visiting. Do I just grab a friend's sim card, stick it in there, run through setup, and then give them back their sim?

Eh? I'm not understanding you.

You're from Sweden visiting the US?

You want to buy a phone in the US and put a Swedish SIM in it?

Thats sort of the opposite that most people want to do.

 

[evident]

this is terrible and i hope it creates a huge backlash for them. i travel alot and was one of the reasons why i got my S2 back in the day. it was unlocked from the start and knew it could work anywhere in the world.

 

[s44]

So what do I do? I don't have a US SIM card but buy my phones when I'm home visiting. Do I just grab a friend's sim card, stick it in there, run through setup, and then give them back their sim?

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure this won't show up on any of the US versions anyway.

 

[Red Storm]

this is terrible and i hope it creates a huge backlash for them. i travel alot and was one of the reasons why i got my S2 back in the day. it was unlocked from the start and knew it could work anywhere in the world.

If you first activate the phone with a SIM from the same country then you're good to go.