Will the s5 I bought in Panama work in the US??? Please HELP!

[brewkeeper]

I recently was the victim of losing my Samsung Galaxy S5 (that I originally bought in the states) in Panama City while down here on an extended traveling adventure. Since I have been down here for a while and plan to stay a while longer, I had unlocked the phone and have been using a local SIM card. First off, is there anyway to recover this old phone? I tried using AndroidLost, but the phone is already off. Any hope?

If losing the phone wasn't bad enough - I may have done something worse by buying another one. I thought I would fix the problem, since I was assured by all sales people here that the phones here would work anywhere since they are unlocked. Made sense at the time - but I have not had access to the internet until now, so I was unable to fact check this. Now I am wondering - is there hope? I have a different SIM card in the phone now, but they switched over my number from the old one.

Also, on a separate note - the keyboard on this phone is much different from the phone I had previously. Why is that? No text-to-speech option, and there are not punctuation keys over any of the letters - very annoying for typing.

Hoping I didn't screw myself twice...
-Brad

 

[TheMonkeyDonkey]

If it's unlocked I don't see why not. The only problem that you might have is that your particular model is not able to use the GSM bands that are used in the US, but that would seem unlikely. Just to make sure, have a look at what particular model you have (settings->about device->model number) and look it up on google.

For the keyboard, have a look at what keyboard you're using (settings->language and input) and maybe download a new one if necessary.

 

[AZgl1500]

I think you are probably okay, what is your carrier back home in the states?

the only real issue is that not all models of the S5 cover the same set of frequency bands, as already mentioned in the previous post.

Unless your home carrier is Sprint, or Verizon you won't need CDMA.


Do as he said, look up the specs on the version you just purchased and find out if it matches the same band requirements for you home carrier.

I'm betting it will be just fine.

 

[brewkeeper]

Thanks very much for the help. Sorry this reply is so late. I do in fact have Sprint - which I will not be able to use this phone with unfortunately. Theoretically I could use it with another carrier - but since I am on a family plan, I would rather not switch carriers. Any suggestions for selling it close to the amount I paid for it?

Version is SM-G900H and it is running 4.4.2.

P.s. I found some other keyboards - but none comparable to the default Samsung Keyboard that actually punctuation options over the letters. Another reason to sell - this phone does not support 4G LTE.