(Sorry, accidentally hit enter. There really should be a timed "edit" feature in the comment section that many sites already implement) Anyways, to finish my statement, this isn't something that should be tolerated or talked about like "well, it isn't great but it was bound to happen." It's only "bound to happen" if the public TOLERATES it. I for one will NOT be buying a new Samsung Note 3, even tho I'm a Android user and was hoping to upgrade from my 2-year Nexus 7.
As consumers, we need to not only voice our legitimate gripes with this opportunistic and evil practice but also vote with our wallets and not buy the Note 3!!!
There are plenty of other good options in the Android space that don't do these evil practices, all in the name of increasing their profit margins. That's the beauty of choice!! And by voting buy our wallets, we can make sure this doesn't proliferate in the smartphone industry because if it does, Consumers are the loser here.
2 year Nexus 7... what? It's been out like a year and a half no? How do you upgrade from a tablet to a phablet anyway... I'd agree with your sentiment in principle, I'm not Samsung's biggest fan to begin with, but voting with your wallet seems like a feeble recommendation given the general public's appetite for Samsung devices.
Oh, come on. Saying that "voting with your wallet seems like a feeble recommendation" is bullshit. This is how a free market enterprise works. If enough people don't by "x" product (and in this case because of some bullshit region locking) then said company is going to react to that sentiment by getting rid of said "feature".
And if you're going to say that never happens with such a big omnipresence company like Samsung, you need not look far into the past for only 1 such example. I.E. Microsoft. Why do you think Microsoft did a complete 180 degree turn on their ridiculous policy to implement online DRM check that WAS going to go into their new upcoming XBox 1 console?? It's because after they announced this ludicrous "solution" for online piracy, they saw the pre-order numbers of how many people were going to buy the PS4 in lieu of the X-Box One and they completely reversed their policy.
This is EXACTLY why voting with your wallet is such a powerful thing in a free market society
That sounds good in practice, but how is Samsung to know that the weak sales aren't due to the strength of another competitor, or any other myriad number of factors?
You assume everyone who doesn't buy it will be because of said "feature" on "x product", and more importantly, Samsung knows the reason why everyone who didn't buy it was such a "feature." That's a lot of counterfactuals.
In any industry, if a product isn't selling well, it could be for any number of factors.
Agreed. In the xbox one case there was an enormous amount of bad press. This is what made the difference, claiming it was voting with your wallet is strange, given that you can't even buy said product yet to begin with.
However, this is why it is important for the press and people to make a stand and show our outrage when we discover new practices we don't agree with. "Unfortunate, but expected" sounds a bit too complacent in my ears. And i guess that is what Dman23 referred to as well.
I for one really disagree with the practice of region locking cell phones. I just bought a Moto X of ebay since it wasn't for sale here in Sweden. I'd like to enjoy this freedom in the future as well. I'm fine with region locking globally available phones however (given that they are released at the same time and with the same specs worldwide).
"I'm fine with region locking globally available phones however (given that they are released at the same time and with the same specs worldwide)." - I'm not. I was lucky enough to live in Indonesia until recently, and travel to Vietnam, UK, Holland and Singapore. I bought my phone (S3 LTE) when I was 'home' in Australia, though it happened to be a Hong Kong import. My travels saw me purchasing and using SIMs in Indonesia, Vietnam, UK and of course Australia.
I very much doubt Samsung will foot the roaming data expense, and nor will they offer a free loan phone at the airport. SIM locking is already a terrible practice. let's not allow region locking to be added to that.
I bought my phone in Australia and have travelled in Thailand for 4 weeks and am currently in Norway for 2 years. I can't afford a new phone every region I travel in. I was considering a note 3 as a friend of mine has a note 2 and i was really impressed. I love to travel. Samsung will not get my money.
I'm lucky I'm into tech sites and I know of this now. Imagine the rage people will feel when they find out the hard way. Then that rage spreads through word of mouth. Not enough to take down the mighty Samsung but certainly a blemish. Stuff em, I'll buy a Sony phone, at least they are waterproof as well.
I'll vote with my wallet too. I do not buy this analogy with car industry. Very poor comparison, indeed.
Importing a car from gray market is putting in danger lives of many drivers, because it compromises the safety (not many countries practice the same laws in the name of safety) ... On the other side, importing a phone from the gray market is only putting your wallet into grave danger, the rest of the phone users will remain safe ...
I would never import a Mercedes from gray market, even if saves me a ton of coin ...
that may be true with chinese, but I wouldn't have any concerns about european cars. It's exactly the same thing in european countries, you can import american cars but paperwork and customs make it very difficult to do so.
this has little to do with safety, they're just protecting their market.
euh.. I dont think a Ford Pinto would ever be allowed to roll in Europe... But it is true the import regulations are just to protect local dealer. Even in EU the Rome's treaty encourages grey imports, but they are always bureaucratic papers to fill in to discourage you.
I have never been so disappointed in an Anandtech story as this; it's even worse than Anand's "well of course everyone cheats at benchmarks". Both this and the cheating is complete bullshit, and you seem to be saying "oh well, such is life". Take Samsung to task on this, take everyone to task on the cheating. We rely on you, the tech media, to stand up and represent the users and you're failing us.
Disgusting. Grey market imports exist in the first place due to the existence of an untapped market that the OEM has failed to address for whatever reason. If you buy something outright, it is your right to use it as you see fit for whatever purpose.
Samsung have become too arrogant for their own good and it's about time we avoided their gimmicky, plasticky products with restrictions locking down how and where you can use them.
Actually, au.KDDI sim lock accomplishes the same thing region locking does. You are forced to use the carrier you bought it from, rather than a local one at your destination
That means very expensive roaming charges if you are outside Japan. All other iphone 4S models will accept a different sim card, as long as you put in an IMEI number, but not au.KDDI's.
I understand that some carriers are especially difficult in regards to post-contract unlocking, but that's a different issue. This is a new type of SIM lock that is generally only found on unlocked devices that restricts usage to within a region unless unlocked for global use with a code issued by OEM.
For now, it seems that Samsung is going that route, which would make a lot of sense, but is much more difficult for the end user than the originally announced model that only needs initial activation with a regional SIM card.
What's the fuzz? You are quite unlikely to use a US device in Europe or the other way around due to network differences... Reading Samsung's semi-official statements, the issue of not being able to use bad SIMs feels like a bug rather than an actual ban. ("the regional sim card lock will not prevent customers from using the device abroad or using local sim cards, provided that the sim card used upon starting up the device is from [sic] a European sim card")
Also, were Samsung ban people to use an import Samsung device, then.. less people would buy stuff from them, what's the deal in this?
You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Plenty of people from the US travel to Europe and use their "US device" while in Europe. I am one of them. Used a Nokia 621 while in Europe this summer. Quite a few (probably most) sim phones can be used in Europe if they are unlocked from the US network. TMobile unlocked my gf's 621 so we could use it in Europe while we were there. Also, it occurs the other way around - plenty of European people successfully use their SIM phones while they are visiting the U.S. including several people that I work with.
Read again. That scenario should be allowed as normal. You just need to fire up the device with a correct SIM, but should be able to switch SIMs after. (If not, that's not a direct ban, just a bug, that happens even with SIM from correct zone.)
The device in the article, the EU version of Galaxy Note 3 supports only AT&T's 2G/3G and Sprint's LTE network, and only on a select frequencies (thus it sees partial coverage) as far as I can tell. I don't blame Samsung trying to stop people buying it in US, then getting complaints about a 'not working' device.
Great job for actually doing your research. The author of the article failed to mention that if you buy the Samsung phone in its original region and put in a local SIM card, then it becomes automatically unlocked. In many countries, if you are buying a smartphone in your local country, you may already have a SIM card, which makes it a moot point as your phone will be unlocked in minutes. Otherwise, if you plan on importing the phone, you can just buy a cheap SIM card from a local carrier.
Next time, please do more due diligence before publishing an article:
Update: Samsung's official Swiss Facebook account has stepped in with some information regarding the locking issue. According to the official source, a European SIM-locked Galaxy Note 3 could be used outside of Europe (thus become unlocked) as long as you activate it with a European SIM card first. Nothing to see here then - move along people. http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_simlocking_droids_...
90% of smartphones released in the last three years have had quadband UMTS making them work on AT&T's and Europe's 3G networks. If you only need quadband GSM, you can increase that to 99% of all smartphones since at least the original iPhone (I didn't really pay attention to any of this stuff before that) and include T-Mobile in the US.
What I find really appalling is not the practice in and of itself; the writer is obviously correct in that it is thoroughly unsurprising; rather, it's the fact that they can sell you an "unlocked" smartphone which is not at all unlocked. They at a bare minimum need to change the descriptors they sell under--an "unlocked" EMEA Note 3 is actually a region-locked Note 3.
I do hope European consumers vote with their wallets and take care of this shit, but if they're like US consumers, they never will because they just get their phone from their operators and probably don't even know what a region or SIM lock is (if they even know what a SIM card is).
Yes, that is correct, if I'm understanding this article correctly. To clarify, before, phones were carrier locked, meaning, if you bought the phone via AT&T, you could not use said phone with Verizon. Later, as people understandably enjoy travelling and using their phones while travelling, have learned to use 'unlocked' phones, so that they are free to use whatever carrier they want when they were travelling, or when they wanted to switch providers. The issue at hand now is region locking - you can freely switch carriers in that region, but you cannot switch carriers outside of your country (for example, might not be limited to country, but say UK/EU, asia, north america etc)
No, that is not correct. If you already own the Samsung Note 3 and used it in Europe, the minute you put any European SIM card, it becomes automatically unlocked and can be used with a GSM carrier like AT&T.
Not even a mention of how this blocks an owner's use of a properly obtained non-imported device while traveling abroad? That has nothing to do with blocking imports.
It's one thing to say that, as a US citizen, I can't buy a Kawasaki EX250H motorcycle from Canada (USA continued getting EX250F until both were replaced with the EX250J) but it's another thing entirely to say that a Candian's Canadian model legitimately purchased in Canada can't use it to visit his family member in California.
This region lock should only block sales, not use. Blocking use outside of the region for a device specifically sold for use between regions (it only affects unlocked phones) is MADNESS.
Originally Samsung claimed that activating with a SIM from the correct region would remove the region lock and allow for ANY SIM. Unfortunately, there is still a blacklist that will block many SIMs. If any region lock were removed in the first place, it's of limited use. If it freed up a UK phone for use in the US, for example, it doesn't help if you needed to go to HK (HK is still blocked).
There is a ton of misinformation out there on both sides of the issue, but I want to also point out that it doesn't affect locked or formerly-locked phones because the IMEI unlock also removes the region lock. It's technically illegal here in the US but several unlocking sites including a prominent one in Russia have shown this to be the case (100% success rate). Looking at Samsung's website, the US models are all carrier locked (no N900 or N9005 model like on the UK website). There is no sticker indicating a region lock but, even if they were, it would be removed in the IMEI unlocking process. An unlocked T-Mobile or AT&T Note 3 would no longer be carrier-locked OR region locked. While there are region-locked phones for use in "the Americas," they are models that are not officially sold in the USA.
That's the point of the article. SIM locking a phone to only SIMs from the original area of sale is equivalent to not letting him drive in bike, purchased legally in Canada as it's a Canadian model, to the US, because it isn't intended for sale there. He's not selling it there, he just wants to ride it there while on a trip.
I was seriously thinking about upgrading my SGS2 for Note3. And i can say for sure, i'm not considering buying samsung devices at all now. I won't be pushed to overspend $200 only because i live in Russia.
PS: About OTA updates. One day this spring my friend asked me to help him with a problem on his SGS2 (bought 2 years ago at Clove or Handtek, SIM Unlocked). His phone asked him to enter SIM unlock password. He still was on 2.x firmware and i tried to flash all kinds of different firmwares (including latest leaks) without any luck. I was able to unlock only with some app i found on XDA (probably Galaxy S2 SIM Unlock by Chainfire). I never got to what was the reason of that. May be some kind of AB-test from samsung. Who knows...
This is really stupid. What about those of us that have to rely on sites like amazon to purchase phones because they aren't sold where we live? Sucks to be us I guess....
It's also illegal (now anyways) to 'unlock' carrier cellphones in the US. Yes... It's a silly rule. But regardless of said laws, from what CZroe says, we're lucky that you can get rid of region lock with IMEI code unlocks, but imagine if that didn't work (i would assume that would be the next, logical step in this absurd, and seemingly pointless lock)
Wow, Region-locked new phones and they are locking even the older phones via OTA updates. No more Samsung phones for me, there are many other options in the market. Samsung is becoming all controlling, big evil empire now due to immense marketshare, mindshare and profits they have acquired.
Cheating on benchmarks and region locking phones. What's next Sammy?
This short-term greedy behavior will kill them off. These are the kind of activities that make people revile Apple, and previously made folks laugh at Microsoft and Sony for (and look where those two are now in the mobile market).
It will take a long time, but Samsung is going down if they don't change their ways.
I guess humans are still humans. Give them a little bit of money and power, and they somehow manage to ruin a good thing. I'd forgotten about the benchmark cheating, but seems they're off on some hell-bent adventure testing the limits of their power.
I'm not sure that is Samsung the biggest evil in this story. Carriers are the biggest customer of Samsung and they benefit most of blocks that they can impose to teh phone maker. If you go to Canada for a few days you would keep your US SIM, it's not so expensive, but if you go in Asia, then it is another story.
I have a Note 2, and have people happy to buy it off me if I bought a Note 3, which has been planned for early 2014.
But now, I'm not going to be upgraded if this mess isn't sorted out to the benefit of the consumer.
Also, system updates are now disabled, and I won't be accepting new Samsung firmware updates until others have tested them and confirmed they won't region-lock my phone.
What's next, Samsung? Installing a hidden carrier-iq app? Fully locking bootloaders? Stopping the sale of any sim-unlocked phones? Blocking the use of non-Samsung microSD cards? Removing multi-band capability so phones can only work on one carrier in one region?
Basically, I don't trust Samsung any more, and they won't be getting my money.
The author is deluded to equate saving money via shopping different markets and currencies with taking money from the OEM. If I want to sell apples for a dollar a piece to one neighbor and a dime a piece to another neighbor, I shouldn't be shocked when some party begins arbitage and I don't see any way of rationalizing these sales as a 90 cent loss per apple. In general terms, any economic system where tiered distribution is either required or prohibited is a corrupt system.
I'm glad that news outlets are picking up stories like this, but I could absolutely do with less armchair economic commentary. Present the facts and lose the personal bias and ignorance.
I disagree. Anand's reviews are so technically detailed, that he rises above accusations by some of being pro-Apple because he can back up his assertions. If he singled out Samsung for criticism, though they deserve it in this and many other cases, like the benchmark cheating, it might seem slightly skewed. At no point are they saying it is OK, they are letting you know that Samsung is doing it and the decision to buy or boycott is left upto you.
I haven't personally bought Samsung for a number of years because I disagree with their shady business practices and have had several run-ins with them over warranties and devices such as fridges and TV's that stopped working and poor service which takes months to get parts replaced. They also have been subject to a number of class action lawsuits for using substandard parts in their devices, chiefly capacitors which cause the devices to die shortly outside warranty periods. Funnily enough, if the service incident is about a fault related to a class action lawsuit where they have been found in the wrong, they are happy to fix it next day or thereabouts. I will not add to their coffers.
All I see being accomplished with region locking is the ability for manufacturers to be able to pice fix. The analogy to the automotive industry is not totally accurate to the scenario of smartphone region locking as the automotive manufacturers have to deal with far different safety standards country to country.
Must be a slow news day. This is a pointless article. I use a GSM phone from AT&T but I never travel outside the US. Even if I did there are other ways around this. Use an older feature phone with a local SIM. Buying a Euro spec phone is a bit silly since the frequencies and carriers are different, though it varies. It is interesting that AT&T has a service to allow for service outside of the US. Expensive.
I postponed the buying of two new smartphones for the time beeing. If Samsung continues its current course its gonna be HTC or Sony for me. I am totally unwilling to buy a crippled phone for full-price. I "could" understand if they region-locked carrier-subsidized phones, but not full-price phones on the free market.
Goodbye Samsung for now..... (and i am cursing myself for buying a S3 four months ago for my parents).
I bet HTC and other competitors could benefit from this - they do not have so large sales to feel need to protect US dealerships, and they could benefit from new customers.
And I would be one of those new customers that will leave Samsung if this is implemented for S5. I had S1, S3 and now S4, and in every one of them I used other SIMs when traveling outside of Europe.
ONLY way that I would consider buying such locked phone is if Samsung can ensure me that if I go to US and buy SIM+sub in AT&T or T-mobile, they could install new SIM and unlock it for me on spot in practically ANY of their shops.
Are you representing Samsung/smart-phone industry here or the general consumer, end-user? This is supposed to be a site which takes a critical view of the products of various manufacturers and provide a logical summary of the advantages and disadvantage of a product for an end-user who may not be as aware or educated on the technical under pinnings of a product.
Instead this article seems to take a technical view of the region-lock and works very hard to find earlier instances of similar manufacturer strategies(as if to condone the serious restriction on the freedom of a smart-phone owner after paying a mind-boggling sum to the Samsung). You are supposed to give a value advice-warning in the summary to prospective Note 3 owners about the undue risk they are taking by purchasing one. Coz That beautiful display, quad-core processor or the RAM/Internal Memory whose write/read speeds you waxed so eloquently about wont matter if you can't make a simple phone call on your near $800 piece of SMARTphone.
Increasingly Samsung has been channeling strategies which takes a dim view of the smartness of smart-phone owners; the same mistake which Nokia and Blackberry made and continues to make...Samsung doesn't care much of its competitors or their ability to compete.
For example they offer their Exynos processors in Note 3 for the rest of the world(except US and Europe?)...which can't take UltraHD video and many consider Snapdragon 800 a better choice both performance wise and their support to open development.
Region locking is Samsung's way of ensuring that even if consumers want the Snapdragon 800 Note 3, they are forced to use the Exynos version..thereby padding Samsung's bottom line better(More profit when using own components - Exynos processor).
As consumers, end-users and geeks each one of us need to educate our friends, colleagues and family to avoid buying Samsung smart-phones unless and until Samsung draws back their consumer-unfriendly and monopolistic tendencies. As an Android lover I feel that LG, Sony and the Nexus line provide competitive choices to Samsung's hegemony...!
And Anandtech & Joshua; we don't expect you to sound like cronies of anybody; we expect you to be partial to the consumer, not to the manufacturer...In short we expect you to be the powerful and knowledgeable voice of the ignorant end-user...
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60 Comments
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Dman23 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
God, the way this article reads, you talk about how this is unfortunate but that it is somehow something to be expected... That's RIDICULOUSDman23 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
(Sorry, accidentally hit enter. There really should be a timed "edit" feature in the comment section that many sites already implement) Anyways, to finish my statement, this isn't something that should be tolerated or talked about like "well, it isn't great but it was bound to happen." It's only "bound to happen" if the public TOLERATES it. I for one will NOT be buying a new Samsung Note 3, even tho I'm a Android user and was hoping to upgrade from my 2-year Nexus 7.As consumers, we need to not only voice our legitimate gripes with this opportunistic and evil practice but also vote with our wallets and not buy the Note 3!!!
There are plenty of other good options in the Android space that don't do these evil practices, all in the name of increasing their profit margins. That's the beauty of choice!! And by voting buy our wallets, we can make sure this doesn't proliferate in the smartphone industry because if it does, Consumers are the loser here.
Impulses - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
2 year Nexus 7... what? It's been out like a year and a half no? How do you upgrade from a tablet to a phablet anyway... I'd agree with your sentiment in principle, I'm not Samsung's biggest fan to begin with, but voting with your wallet seems like a feeble recommendation given the general public's appetite for Samsung devices.Dman23 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Oh, come on. Saying that "voting with your wallet seems like a feeble recommendation" is bullshit. This is how a free market enterprise works. If enough people don't by "x" product (and in this case because of some bullshit region locking) then said company is going to react to that sentiment by getting rid of said "feature".And if you're going to say that never happens with such a big omnipresence company like Samsung, you need not look far into the past for only 1 such example. I.E. Microsoft. Why do you think Microsoft did a complete 180 degree turn on their ridiculous policy to implement online DRM check that WAS going to go into their new upcoming XBox 1 console?? It's because after they announced this ludicrous "solution" for online piracy, they saw the pre-order numbers of how many people were going to buy the PS4 in lieu of the X-Box One and they completely reversed their policy.
This is EXACTLY why voting with your wallet is such a powerful thing in a free market society
wiz329 - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
That sounds good in practice, but how is Samsung to know that the weak sales aren't due to the strength of another competitor, or any other myriad number of factors?You assume everyone who doesn't buy it will be because of said "feature" on "x product", and more importantly, Samsung knows the reason why everyone who didn't buy it was such a "feature." That's a lot of counterfactuals.
In any industry, if a product isn't selling well, it could be for any number of factors.
larkhon - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
maybe they'll see a difference in sales number in some markets (I would guess Asia for one)larkhon - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
maybe they'll see a difference in sales number in some markets (I would guess Asia for one)MarcusMo - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
Agreed. In the xbox one case there was an enormous amount of bad press. This is what made the difference, claiming it was voting with your wallet is strange, given that you can't even buy said product yet to begin with.However, this is why it is important for the press and people to make a stand and show our outrage when we discover new practices we don't agree with. "Unfortunate, but expected" sounds a bit too complacent in my ears. And i guess that is what Dman23 referred to as well.
I for one really disagree with the practice of region locking cell phones. I just bought a Moto X of ebay since it wasn't for sale here in Sweden. I'd like to enjoy this freedom in the future as well. I'm fine with region locking globally available phones however (given that they are released at the same time and with the same specs worldwide).
Disorganise - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link
"I'm fine with region locking globally available phones however (given that they are released at the same time and with the same specs worldwide)." - I'm not. I was lucky enough to live in Indonesia until recently, and travel to Vietnam, UK, Holland and Singapore. I bought my phone (S3 LTE) when I was 'home' in Australia, though it happened to be a Hong Kong import. My travels saw me purchasing and using SIMs in Indonesia, Vietnam, UK and of course Australia.I very much doubt Samsung will foot the roaming data expense, and nor will they offer a free loan phone at the airport. SIM locking is already a terrible practice. let's not allow region locking to be added to that.
thecouchguy - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
I bought my phone in Australia and have travelled in Thailand for 4 weeks and am currently in Norway for 2 years. I can't afford a new phone every region I travel in. I was considering a note 3 as a friend of mine has a note 2 and i was really impressed. I love to travel. Samsung will not get my money.I'm lucky I'm into tech sites and I know of this now. Imagine the rage people will feel when they find out the hard way. Then that rage spreads through word of mouth. Not enough to take down the mighty Samsung but certainly a blemish. Stuff em, I'll buy a Sony phone, at least they are waterproof as well.
just2btecky - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
" If enough people don't by "x" product". LOL, drive by buying...:)bormasina - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
I'll vote with my wallet too. I do not buy this analogy with car industry. Very poor comparison, indeed.Importing a car from gray market is putting in danger lives of many drivers, because it compromises the safety (not many countries practice the same laws in the name of safety) ... On the other side, importing a phone from the gray market is only putting your wallet into grave danger, the rest of the phone users will remain safe ...
I would never import a Mercedes from gray market, even if saves me a ton of coin ...
larkhon - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
that may be true with chinese, but I wouldn't have any concerns about european cars. It's exactly the same thing in european countries, you can import american cars but paperwork and customs make it very difficult to do so.this has little to do with safety, they're just protecting their market.
lecaf - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
euh.. I dont think a Ford Pinto would ever be allowed to roll in Europe...But it is true the import regulations are just to protect local dealer. Even in EU the Rome's treaty encourages grey imports, but they are always bureaucratic papers to fill in to discourage you.
speculatrix - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
here in the UK you can import cars or build them from kits, but either way they have to become certified.for importing: https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/...
for kit cars: https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/kit-cars-a...
this seems perfectly reasonable. I think that there would be an outcry if the manufacturers formed a cartel to control imports.
Do people say "USA, land of the free" still?
Notmyusualid - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link
Because Japanese safety standards are not good enough?You know they privately put the GTR through testing in the USA, a first in the industry...and it passed.
vnangia - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Agreed.I have never been so disappointed in an Anandtech story as this; it's even worse than Anand's "well of course everyone cheats at benchmarks". Both this and the cheating is complete bullshit, and you seem to be saying "oh well, such is life". Take Samsung to task on this, take everyone to task on the cheating. We rely on you, the tech media, to stand up and represent the users and you're failing us.
WilcoR - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
I so agree, ill vote with my wallet, will not buy Samsung again, and advice all and everyone to do the same!pookguy88 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
this is such bullshitfic2 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Samsung is the new Sony.Kvaern - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link
Samsung has been the new Japan for quite a while now.r3loaded - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Disgusting. Grey market imports exist in the first place due to the existence of an untapped market that the OEM has failed to address for whatever reason. If you buy something outright, it is your right to use it as you see fit for whatever purpose.Samsung have become too arrogant for their own good and it's about time we avoided their gimmicky, plasticky products with restrictions locking down how and where you can use them.
Krysto - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
So what you're saying is that it's all because of greed, and so their carrier friends have as little competition on retail pricing as possible.No thanks, Samsung. I'll never buy a device from you again. Is it me or is Samsung getting increasingly greedier lately?
meacupla - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Erm, this has been happening in Japan for a while now.au KDDI iphone 4S is simlocked to au sim cards only, which makes it completely useless outside of Japan, even though it is an international phone.
JoshHo - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Ah, that's true, but that's a carrier lock, not a region lock applied to an unlocked international device.meacupla - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Actually, au.KDDI sim lock accomplishes the same thing region locking does.You are forced to use the carrier you bought it from, rather than a local one at your destination
That means very expensive roaming charges if you are outside Japan.
All other iphone 4S models will accept a different sim card, as long as you put in an IMEI number, but not au.KDDI's.
JoshHo - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
I understand that some carriers are especially difficult in regards to post-contract unlocking, but that's a different issue. This is a new type of SIM lock that is generally only found on unlocked devices that restricts usage to within a region unless unlocked for global use with a code issued by OEM.For now, it seems that Samsung is going that route, which would make a lot of sense, but is much more difficult for the end user than the originally announced model that only needs initial activation with a regional SIM card.
xdrol - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
What's the fuzz? You are quite unlikely to use a US device in Europe or the other way around due to network differences... Reading Samsung's semi-official statements, the issue of not being able to use bad SIMs feels like a bug rather than an actual ban. ("the regional sim card lock will not prevent customers from using the device abroad or using local sim cards, provided that the sim card used upon starting up the device is from [sic] a European sim card")Also, were Samsung ban people to use an import Samsung device, then.. less people would buy stuff from them, what's the deal in this?
fic2 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Plenty of people from the US travel to Europe and use their "US device" while in Europe. I am one of them. Used a Nokia 621 while in Europe this summer. Quite a few (probably most) sim phones can be used in Europe if they are unlocked from the US network. TMobile unlocked my gf's 621 so we could use it in Europe while we were there. Also, it occurs the other way around - plenty of European people successfully use their SIM phones while they are visiting the U.S. including several people that I work with.xdrol - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Read again. That scenario should be allowed as normal. You just need to fire up the device with a correct SIM, but should be able to switch SIMs after. (If not, that's not a direct ban, just a bug, that happens even with SIM from correct zone.)The 'probably most phones' you are talking about is by the way just a fraction of all devices, and even those are probably restricted to GSM, no 3G, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands#... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Deployments_by... there are ZERO overlapping between EU and US frequencies. (Good luck using that for data, and not carve your face off in the meanwhile.)
The device in the article, the EU version of Galaxy Note 3 supports only AT&T's 2G/3G and Sprint's LTE network, and only on a select frequencies (thus it sees partial coverage) as far as I can tell. I don't blame Samsung trying to stop people buying it in US, then getting complaints about a 'not working' device.
RussianSensation - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link
Great job for actually doing your research. The author of the article failed to mention that if you buy the Samsung phone in its original region and put in a local SIM card, then it becomes automatically unlocked. In many countries, if you are buying a smartphone in your local country, you may already have a SIM card, which makes it a moot point as your phone will be unlocked in minutes. Otherwise, if you plan on importing the phone, you can just buy a cheap SIM card from a local carrier.Next time, please do more due diligence before publishing an article:
Update: Samsung's official Swiss Facebook account has stepped in with some information regarding the locking issue. According to the official source, a European SIM-locked Galaxy Note 3 could be used outside of Europe (thus become unlocked) as long as you activate it with a European SIM card first. Nothing to see here then - move along people.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_simlocking_droids_...
teiglin - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
90% of smartphones released in the last three years have had quadband UMTS making them work on AT&T's and Europe's 3G networks. If you only need quadband GSM, you can increase that to 99% of all smartphones since at least the original iPhone (I didn't really pay attention to any of this stuff before that) and include T-Mobile in the US.What I find really appalling is not the practice in and of itself; the writer is obviously correct in that it is thoroughly unsurprising; rather, it's the fact that they can sell you an "unlocked" smartphone which is not at all unlocked. They at a bare minimum need to change the descriptors they sell under--an "unlocked" EMEA Note 3 is actually a region-locked Note 3.
I do hope European consumers vote with their wallets and take care of this shit, but if they're like US consumers, they never will because they just get their phone from their operators and probably don't even know what a region or SIM lock is (if they even know what a SIM card is).
danjw - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
So, you live in the EU and visit the US, you can't bring this phone with you and just get a SIM card? Is the reverse true, as well?Sushisamurai - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Yes, that is correct, if I'm understanding this article correctly. To clarify, before, phones were carrier locked, meaning, if you bought the phone via AT&T, you could not use said phone with Verizon. Later, as people understandably enjoy travelling and using their phones while travelling, have learned to use 'unlocked' phones, so that they are free to use whatever carrier they want when they were travelling, or when they wanted to switch providers. The issue at hand now is region locking - you can freely switch carriers in that region, but you cannot switch carriers outside of your country (for example, might not be limited to country, but say UK/EU, asia, north america etc)RussianSensation - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link
No, that is not correct. If you already own the Samsung Note 3 and used it in Europe, the minute you put any European SIM card, it becomes automatically unlocked and can be used with a GSM carrier like AT&T.http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_simlocking_droids_...
CZroe - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Not even a mention of how this blocks an owner's use of a properly obtained non-imported device while traveling abroad? That has nothing to do with blocking imports.It's one thing to say that, as a US citizen, I can't buy a Kawasaki EX250H motorcycle from Canada (USA continued getting EX250F until both were replaced with the EX250J) but it's another thing entirely to say that a Candian's Canadian model legitimately purchased in Canada can't use it to visit his family member in California.
This region lock should only block sales, not use. Blocking use outside of the region for a device specifically sold for use between regions (it only affects unlocked phones) is MADNESS.
Originally Samsung claimed that activating with a SIM from the correct region would remove the region lock and allow for ANY SIM. Unfortunately, there is still a blacklist that will block many SIMs. If any region lock were removed in the first place, it's of limited use. If it freed up a UK phone for use in the US, for example, it doesn't help if you needed to go to HK (HK is still blocked).
There is a ton of misinformation out there on both sides of the issue, but I want to also point out that it doesn't affect locked or formerly-locked phones because the IMEI unlock also removes the region lock. It's technically illegal here in the US but several unlocking sites including a prominent one in Russia have shown this to be the case (100% success rate). Looking at Samsung's website, the US models are all carrier locked (no N900 or N9005 model like on the UK website). There is no sticker indicating a region lock but, even if they were, it would be removed in the IMEI unlocking process. An unlocked T-Mobile or AT&T Note 3 would no longer be carrier-locked OR region locked. While there are region-locked phones for use in "the Americas," they are models that are not officially sold in the USA.
Daniel Egger - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Just curious: What is preventing you from driving your Canadian Kawa to California?cheinonen - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
That's the point of the article. SIM locking a phone to only SIMs from the original area of sale is equivalent to not letting him drive in bike, purchased legally in Canada as it's a Canadian model, to the US, because it isn't intended for sale there. He's not selling it there, he just wants to ride it there while on a trip.Mr.Prayer - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
I was seriously thinking about upgrading my SGS2 for Note3. And i can say for sure, i'm not considering buying samsung devices at all now. I won't be pushed to overspend $200 only because i live in Russia.PS: About OTA updates. One day this spring my friend asked me to help him with a problem on his SGS2 (bought 2 years ago at Clove or Handtek, SIM Unlocked). His phone asked him to enter SIM unlock password. He still was on 2.x firmware and i tried to flash all kinds of different firmwares (including latest leaks) without any luck. I was able to unlock only with some app i found on XDA (probably Galaxy S2 SIM Unlock by Chainfire). I never got to what was the reason of that. May be some kind of AB-test from samsung. Who knows...
deathgod - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
This is really stupid. What about those of us that have to rely on sites like amazon to purchase phones because they aren't sold where we live? Sucks to be us I guess....sx_1001 - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
So what is the problem with this?You guy an Unlock code and your phone is unlocked.. big deal.. we have had to do this for many years.
meacupla - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
that's not always the case.some handsets are not unlockable from the carrier it was purchased from with a code and requires a hardware sim card hack.
Sushisamurai - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
It's also illegal (now anyways) to 'unlock' carrier cellphones in the US. Yes... It's a silly rule. But regardless of said laws, from what CZroe says, we're lucky that you can get rid of region lock with IMEI code unlocks, but imagine if that didn't work (i would assume that would be the next, logical step in this absurd, and seemingly pointless lock)meacupla - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
like I said, au.KDDI does that already.BMNify - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Wow, Region-locked new phones and they are locking even the older phones via OTA updates. No more Samsung phones for me, there are many other options in the market. Samsung is becoming all controlling, big evil empire now due to immense marketshare, mindshare and profits they have acquired.hrrmph - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Cheating on benchmarks and region locking phones. What's next Sammy?This short-term greedy behavior will kill them off. These are the kind of activities that make people revile Apple, and previously made folks laugh at Microsoft and Sony for (and look where those two are now in the mobile market).
It will take a long time, but Samsung is going down if they don't change their ways.
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Ronakbhai - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
I guess humans are still humans. Give them a little bit of money and power, and they somehow manage to ruin a good thing. I'd forgotten about the benchmark cheating, but seems they're off on some hell-bent adventure testing the limits of their power.steven75 - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
Take everything you don't like about Apple, amplify it by 10, and you get Samsung.dylan522p - Monday, October 7, 2013 - link
Is this a new writer?lecaf - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
I'm not sure that is Samsung the biggest evil in this story. Carriers are the biggest customer of Samsung and they benefit most of blocks that they can impose to teh phone maker. If you go to Canada for a few days you would keep your US SIM, it's not so expensive, but if you go in Asia, then it is another story.speculatrix - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
I have a Note 2, and have people happy to buy it off me if I bought a Note 3, which has been planned for early 2014.But now, I'm not going to be upgraded if this mess isn't sorted out to the benefit of the consumer.
Also, system updates are now disabled, and I won't be accepting new Samsung firmware updates until others have tested them and confirmed they won't region-lock my phone.
What's next, Samsung? Installing a hidden carrier-iq app? Fully locking bootloaders? Stopping the sale of any sim-unlocked phones? Blocking the use of non-Samsung microSD cards? Removing multi-band capability so phones can only work on one carrier in one region?
Basically, I don't trust Samsung any more, and they won't be getting my money.
TerdFerguson - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
The author is deluded to equate saving money via shopping different markets and currencies with taking money from the OEM. If I want to sell apples for a dollar a piece to one neighbor and a dime a piece to another neighbor, I shouldn't be shocked when some party begins arbitage and I don't see any way of rationalizing these sales as a 90 cent loss per apple. In general terms, any economic system where tiered distribution is either required or prohibited is a corrupt system.I'm glad that news outlets are picking up stories like this, but I could absolutely do with less armchair economic commentary. Present the facts and lose the personal bias and ignorance.
robinthakur - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link
I disagree. Anand's reviews are so technically detailed, that he rises above accusations by some of being pro-Apple because he can back up his assertions. If he singled out Samsung for criticism, though they deserve it in this and many other cases, like the benchmark cheating, it might seem slightly skewed. At no point are they saying it is OK, they are letting you know that Samsung is doing it and the decision to buy or boycott is left upto you.I haven't personally bought Samsung for a number of years because I disagree with their shady business practices and have had several run-ins with them over warranties and devices such as fridges and TV's that stopped working and poor service which takes months to get parts replaced. They also have been subject to a number of class action lawsuits for using substandard parts in their devices, chiefly capacitors which cause the devices to die shortly outside warranty periods. Funnily enough, if the service incident is about a fault related to a class action lawsuit where they have been found in the wrong, they are happy to fix it next day or thereabouts. I will not add to their coffers.
Arbie - Wednesday, October 9, 2013 - link
Indignation here is unlikely to impress Samsung. It may be better to email their public relations company: samsungpr@edelman.compiroroadkill - Thursday, October 10, 2013 - link
The only Samsung product I'm a fan of is their SSDs.Their TVs, their white goods, their phones, they can keep them.
mauler1973 - Friday, October 11, 2013 - link
All I see being accomplished with region locking is the ability for manufacturers to be able to pice fix. The analogy to the automotive industry is not totally accurate to the scenario of smartphone region locking as the automotive manufacturers have to deal with far different safety standards country to country.EWTech - Saturday, October 12, 2013 - link
Must be a slow news day. This is a pointless article. I use a GSM phone from AT&T but I never travel outside the US. Even if I did there are other ways around this. Use an older feature phone with a local SIM. Buying a Euro spec phone is a bit silly since the frequencies and carriers are different, though it varies. It is interesting that AT&T has a service to allow for service outside of the US. Expensive.Cumulus7 - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
I postponed the buying of two new smartphones for the time beeing.If Samsung continues its current course its gonna be HTC or Sony for me.
I am totally unwilling to buy a crippled phone for full-price.
I "could" understand if they region-locked carrier-subsidized phones, but not full-price phones on the free market.
Goodbye Samsung for now..... (and i am cursing myself for buying a S3 four months ago for my parents).
Nenad - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I bet HTC and other competitors could benefit from this - they do not have so large sales to feel need to protect US dealerships, and they could benefit from new customers.And I would be one of those new customers that will leave Samsung if this is implemented for S5. I had S1, S3 and now S4, and in every one of them I used other SIMs when traveling outside of Europe.
ONLY way that I would consider buying such locked phone is if Samsung can ensure me that if I go to US and buy SIM+sub in AT&T or T-mobile, they could install new SIM and unlock it for me on spot in practically ANY of their shops.
TekGru - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Hi Joshua,Are you representing Samsung/smart-phone industry here or the general consumer, end-user?
This is supposed to be a site which takes a critical view of the products of various manufacturers and provide a logical summary of the advantages and disadvantage of a product for an end-user who may not be as aware or educated on the technical under pinnings of a product.
Instead this article seems to take a technical view of the region-lock and works very hard to find earlier instances of similar manufacturer strategies(as if to condone the serious restriction on the freedom of a smart-phone owner after paying a mind-boggling sum to the Samsung). You are supposed to give a value advice-warning in the summary to prospective Note 3 owners about the undue risk they are taking by purchasing one. Coz That beautiful display, quad-core processor or the RAM/Internal Memory whose write/read speeds you waxed so eloquently about wont matter if you can't make a simple phone call on your near $800 piece of SMARTphone.
Increasingly Samsung has been channeling strategies which takes a dim view of the smartness of smart-phone owners; the same mistake which Nokia and Blackberry made and continues to make...Samsung doesn't care much of its competitors or their ability to compete.
For example they offer their Exynos processors in Note 3 for the rest of the world(except US and Europe?)...which can't take UltraHD video and many consider Snapdragon 800 a better choice both performance wise and their support to open development.
Region locking is Samsung's way of ensuring that even if consumers want the Snapdragon 800 Note 3, they are forced to use the Exynos version..thereby padding Samsung's bottom line better(More profit when using own components - Exynos processor).
As consumers, end-users and geeks each one of us need to educate our friends, colleagues and family to avoid buying Samsung smart-phones unless and until Samsung draws back their consumer-unfriendly and monopolistic tendencies. As an Android lover I feel that LG, Sony and the Nexus line provide competitive choices to Samsung's hegemony...!
And Anandtech & Joshua; we don't expect you to sound like cronies of anybody; we expect you to be partial to the consumer, not to the manufacturer...In short we expect you to be the powerful and knowledgeable voice of the ignorant end-user...
A disappointed Anandtech fan,