Benefit Unlocked vs Locked in US vs European

[tunie]

I searched for this information, but couldn't find anything that directly related to to my questions. I've seen a lot of opinions here and elsewhere, but I can't find feature specific answers. I know we don't know what features the US carriers have damaged but, if anyone can provide their best guestimates, that would be great. Also, does it matter that much if I buy locked? It seems there are ways around the restrictions the carriers place on the phones I'm seriously considering buying an unlocked US version but, before I do, I'd love to know if the differences between locked and unlocked are so dramatic that it's worth spending the extra $$$.

US S2 unlocked
Pros? Cons?

European S2 unlocked
Pros? Cons?

US S2 locked to a carrier
Pros? Cons?

I really appreciate any input from the Android gurus. Coming from a fossilized Blackberry, I'm just a tad out of my element here.

 

[boondoc]

you can buy one of the US ones off contract but they won't probably won't be unlocked. of course you can always ask/pay for an unlock code. the downside of that is, say you like what att does with their gs2, if you take it to tmob you'll be stuck on EDGE data. same goes in reverse. tmob and att don't share the same 3/4g freqs. cons, possibly slow updates if you're not into rooting and roming.

getting a Euro s2 you'll get faster updates if things go the same way as they did with the first GS. you'll also not have NFC. same applies with regards to data, you'll get 3/4g with att but be stuck on EDGE with tmob. there's no point in mentioning either sprint or verizon because you can't easily take their phones to the other CDMA carriers and you can't use them on a gsm network at all.

US locked? pros, subsidized phone. cons, locked into contract for 2 years. again, possibly slow updates.

 

[tunie]

you can buy one of the US ones off contract but they won't probably won't be unlocked. of course you can always ask/pay for an unlock code. the downside of that is, say you like what att does with their gs2, if you take it to tmob you'll be stuck on EDGE data. same goes in reverse. tmob and att don't share the same 3/4g freqs. cons, possibly slow updates if you're not into rooting and roming.

getting a Euro s2 you'll get faster updates if things go the same way as they did with the first GS. you'll also not have NFC. same applies with regards to data, you'll get 3/4g with att but be stuck on EDGE with tmob. there's no point in mentioning either sprint or verizon because you can't easily take their phones to the other CDMA carriers and you can't use them on a gsm network at all.

US locked? pros, subsidized phone. cons, locked into contract for 2 years. again, possibly slow updates.

As much as I hate it, I think I'm stuck with AT&T because I have unlimited data that I'd like to keep. I thought buying off contract meant the phone was unlocked? Geez, I know less than I thought. So the only reason people buy unlocked is to avoid the 2 year contract? I also thought the European S2 had NFC. Should that be a deal-breaker? I kind of don't like the idea of purchases being integrated into my phone bill. I mean, I don't think I need that...do I?

So, if the lack of NFC isn't an issue, it seems like buying an unlocked European phone might be the way to go? Of course, AT&T won't support the phone either, right? If something goes wrong, I'd have to send it back to Europe or go to Samsung? Will Samsung support the phone or will they tell me to send it back to where I bought it?

Thanks for the great info...I'm always learning in here

 

[boondoc]

ah another benefit of buying and EU model would be you can use the unlimited data for non-smartphones (because they wouldn't recognize the imei number) for $15/month but, and here's the rub, the minute you switch to the cheaper internet option you lose your grandfather'd status. that's what happened to me when i was using a g1 on AT&T for a while. didn't notice i had been put on the lower plan and when i did they told me i couldn't go back to unlimited for smartphones. the only real benefit of buying off contract would be if you used Tmob. they at least let you select a cheaper plan for people bring their own phone.

so far other than the phone that went through fcc yesterday the only gs2 that has nfc is the korean model and they use CDMA freqs that we don't so importing it would be pointless. and yes, depending on where you bought it from you could end up with no warranty at all, or one that you have to ship your phone back to the retailer and have them send it to samsung to fix. you would get 0 support from samsung directly and of course your carrier would tell you to shove off.

 

[tunie]

ah another benefit of buying and EU model would be you can use the unlimited data for non-smartphones (because they wouldn't recognize the imei number) for $15/month but, and here's the rub, the minute you switch to the cheaper internet option you lose your grandfather'd status. that's what happened to me when i was using a g1 on AT&T for a while. didn't notice i had been put on the lower plan and when i did they told me i couldn't go back to unlimited for smartphones. the only real benefit of buying off contract would be if you used Tmob. they at least let you select a cheaper plan for people bring their own phone.

so far other than the phone that went through fcc yesterday the only gs2 that has nfc is the korean model and they use CDMA freqs that we don't so importing it would be pointless. and yes, depending on where you bought it from you could end up with no warranty at all, or one that you have to ship your phone back to the retailer and have them send it to samsung to fix. you would get 0 support from samsung directly and of course your carrier would tell you to shove off.

Why do they make this so hard.<sigh> Even though I'm on a Blackberry plan right now, could I just put my sim into a UK S2 and have a working phone? If they won't recognize the imei number, shouldn't that work? If that works, is there anything stopping me then, from swapping my sim between the phone and a tab? I just don't understand why, if I have unlimited data, I can't use it on whatever device I want. Then again, If Samsung and AT&T won't support a UK phone, I probably won't buy it from there. I have an associate who makes regular trips to the UK and I was going to have him pick one up for me. I guess that's out.

Does NFC really matter anyway? For me, anyway, it's not a deal breaker.