Korean Note 4 to be used in the US

[abice]

I'm looking for some advice here, I tried replying on another thread here on the forum but I don't think my question was in the right thread. I currently have the Note 3 and I'm using it on At&t, I have watched the Note 4 and Edge through its release, I'm a huge Samsung fan, all my electronics are Samsung, so it is a no brainer for me to continue on with the Note 4, I think the Note edge presents a different dynamic and I almost wished they went with one design over the other because allowing for two different phones to be purchased presents a debate for me to try both. Since I currently have an edge on order and next week I will begin testing it to see if I like it. However, I am most interested in the Octa-Core Note 4, if I could get my hands on that I wouldn't considered the Edge. So I really want the Note 4 with the Exynos processor. I have been looking on ebay and have found many unlocked Note 4's from S Korea and I have been contacting sellers and researching the compatibility with using it here on my At&t account. From what I have learned and heard, the seller is telling me the difference in LTE towers is the issue as the SK LTE is dual-band and our US LTE towers are brand new and not as advanced. Since the Korean phones are made specifically for the LTE towers in SK, the seller was telling me the LTE network would not work here in the US and that the HSPA+ would be what the Korean Note 4 would be able to use in the US mobile networks. I was ready to give up and go with the US Qualcomm version of the Note 4 after digging into this a bit until I tested my Note 3 today. I monitored the mobile network that I am connecting to in North Carolina, my Note 3 is showing that I have 4G coverage and I am connecting to the HSPA+ and HSPA mobile networks. So from what it seems, the phone is unlocked so that is not an issue it can easily use the At&t SIM card, and even though the seller is telling me the phone is built for SK LTE towers and that it would only be compatitible with HSPA+, that seems to be the best mobile network I'm using here in the US anyways, so that doesn't seem to be an issue. I also have asked a couple At&t representatives, one said it would be fine, the next was a little skeptical, and my wife who used to work there just wants me to get an iPhone. So that's my situation I'm just looking for some confirmation here or advice in regards to what I'm trying to accomplish.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rukbat]

According to the specs I can find, the SM-N910S (Korean version) has Cat6 LTE - that's 2600MHz. AT&T uses the 700, 850, 1700/2100 and 1900 MHz bands for LTE, so the frequencies aren't compatible for 4G. Both the phone and AT&T use 850 and 1900 for 3G, so that's what you'll probably get.

The other consideration, even if the frequencies weren't a problem, is whether the Korean system is FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) or TDD (Time Division Duplex). AT&T uses FDD. If the Korean system uses TDD, even on the same frequency, the AT&T signal would be just noise to a Korean phone.

(As far as an iPhone, that's a totally different matter.)

BTW, the measured performance between the Snapdragon and Exynos usually puts the Snapdragon just a bit ahead. Not enough to matter, unless you're trying to sift primes or some other really long, CPU-intensive task. Which you wouldn't be using a cellphone for anyway. (The fact that a CPU has 8 cores doesn't mean that all 8 are being used all the time - the OS and the app have to be written to take advantage of it. Running a 64 bit CPU with 8GB of RAM would probably give you a snappier phone with 2 cores, with the way Android currently runs.)

 

[abice]

Thanks for the response, and I understand what you are saying, In a perfect world they would have waited to put the Snapdragon 810 in to start or went with a 64-bit processor. I guess for now I will try out both the edge and note 4 and see which I like better, hopefully the S6 has some of the newer technology. I just see the larger phablets especially the note 4 with a higher core processor for all the multitasking that can be done. Maybe it is overkill in some peoples opinion, but isn't a large phablet screen overkill in itself, so the concept of buying these phones is to embrace the more is better type concept. I just wished they would have offered the Note edge at a premium price to the note 4 with the 64bit 8-core processor for the US market.

 

[MightyMike]

Many conflicting reports on the SD810 in Korea. This one says it is Not getting the 810. The one I read 2 days ago said it would. Who knows. http://www.xda-developers.com/android/korean-note-4-revision-will-not-feature-a-newer-chipset/

MAY THE 4 BE WITH YOU!