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Samsung Galaxy S3 buries AT&T SII Skyrocket HD

Amid huge public interest the Samsung Galaxy S3 (S III) was announced last week and its fair to say that this is one of the most highly anticipated phones of the year. However for some people who had been patiently waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD on AT&T there’s bad news as the arrival of the Galaxy S3 has buried the Skyrocket HD.

The first news of the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD came at CES back in January with specs including a 4.6-inch HD Super AMOLED display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 4G LTE connectivity and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Plenty of people were eager to snap up the Skyrocket HD when it finally appeared and in March we told how although there had been very little recent news on the Skyrocket HD, it had finally cleared the FCC meaning a release may not be too far away.

Sadly for those still waiting, the Skyrocket HD has now been cancelled following the official news of the Galaxy S3. Samsung’s Ryan Biden spoke of the dilemma and said that because the Galaxy S3 has a more advanced chipset and will also have a large HD display it was felt by Samsung and AT&T that there was no need for two such similar handsets to be released closely together.

As Phone Arena, sourced from The Verge points out, there was criticism when Verizon released similar handsets such as the Motorola Droid Bionic, Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx within a short space of time and so it does make a certain amount of sense. Nevertheless there are bound to be a few disappointed people about. Galaxy S3 specs include a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD display, 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.9-megapixel front-facing shooter, and runs on Android 4.0 ICS so you can see it has as much to offer, and more in some respects, as the Skyrocket HD.

There’s still a certain amount of confusion as to the processor for the US Galaxy S3. The international version of the Galaxy S3 has an Exynos quad-core processor but we know that the US Galaxy S3 will feature LTE connectivity. It has been thought then that it will have the Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, which enables provision of LTE although in recent days we have seen reports that an US variant could have quad-core as well. Either way the Galaxy S3 seems to have plenty to offer for those who had been holding on for the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD.

An exact release date for the Galaxy S3 in the US has not been announced yet although we do know that in the UK and Europe the release date is May 29. For the US Samsung has not confirmed all carriers yet and as far as a release date goes, Samsung only mentioned that it would be in the summer.

We’d like to hear from readers about this. Were you waiting for the Skyrocket HD? If so, is the Galaxy S3 your most likely option instead? Maybe you’re fed up that you waited so long for the Skyrocket HD on AT&T, only to find out that it is now cancelled? Let us know with your comments.

Comments

13 thoughts on “Samsung Galaxy S3 buries AT&T SII Skyrocket HD”

  1. Shirley says:

    I personally wanted the Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket. But I am now waiting for Samsung Galaxy S3. I don’t own a Skyrocket but I think the Skyrocket owner should be able to trade in their Skyrocket for the S3 with a discount price whether or not they do an upgrade with their service provider if they want the S3.

  2. Stephen says:

    Thanks a lot Samsung!! You would think a company as large as yourselves wouldn’t be so stupid, but I though wrong. Great job managing your marketing and products (NOT!!).

  3. DM says:

    SIII doesn’t really sound much different than SII Skyrocket. 

    Still waiting for AT&T to deploy LTE to my market.  If it doesn’t happen soon, I will switch to Verizon’s much faster network when the next iPhone comes out.

  4. Banana_Justice says:

    My wife and I are waiting for the Galaxy S3 before we upgrade our phones. But if it’s going to be the dual core version instead of the quad core version, we will pass. I hope you’re listening!

  5. T15tom says:

    I have the Infuse. I should of waited for the Galaxy Skyrocket. Now going to wait for the Galaxy S3. It may not have the Quad core as Europeans have but still fast and Offers more then the Iphone 5 will. I highly doubt the New Iphone will beat out GS3.
    New Iphone will sell no doubt because of the following Apple has.

  6. I’m waiting on the Galaxy S3 with the quad core. I will not settle for the dual core. My contract on my third IPhone will run out in August.  If no quad core comes here with AT&T, then I’ll just cave in with the IPhone 5th gen!  Make it happen!

  7. Iann147 says:

    Having a phone over 4.5″ is a negative for me.  Too many times when it’s too useful to use just one hand with fear of dropping it.  S3 is not an attractive option unless i had fingers like an artic spider crab !

  8. Carolyn G says:

    i JUST got the Skyrocket last week. ughhhhh… i wont be upgrading because i dont want to pay full price. or do you think the 30 day thing will apply and i’ll be able to pay the difference?

    1. MO says:

      I feel you because I just got my Skyrocket too. It’s ok, the US version doesn’t have the quad core so by the time you’re ready to upgrade, you’ll have something a lot better than the S3 dual core, which our phone already has.

  9. eric in stl-F says:

    people, the quad core won’t work in the us, and for what we use the phones for, the quad core wouldn’t be any faster than the dual core right now. maybe in a couple of years it will make a difference, but right now, wether it’s dual or quad, it’s fast enough.

  10. Joe Doe says:

    Samsung has disappointed me yet again. First, there were major issues with the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate with its GPS problems and limited support for OFFICIAL OS updates and now only the internationals get the quad-core SGS3 phones and the Americans are stuck with dual core SGS3’s. Regardless of LTE they should of stuck with the same playing field this time around and made all phones equal. I am sure there is some kind of marketing scheme behind it all to make the money roll in so I am really not all that surprised this happened. After picking the brain of a trained Samsung rep at a local fair that was promoting the SGS3 with the upgrade option for SGS2 Skyrocket users I found out that all the extra highlight features that everyone is so googoo about like “pop-up” video, “s-beam” and “smart user interface” I already had on my SGS2 Skyrocket only they were free 3rd party apps from Google Play and not native to the ICS OS which I find better in case I want to remove one of the features if I get tired of it. Plus developer apps are always getting improved and constantly updated VS I got 1 official OTA update from my carrier within a year which is typical but lazy to say the least. And since Samsung promised that the SGS2 Skyrocket will or already has provided an official ICS release then when you get down to it the differences do not constitute paying to upgrade to the SGS3. If you have the original SGS then yes upgrade but from the SGS2 Skyrocket not worth it.

    So to be honest I will be keeping my SGS2 for a while because of this big screw up on the SGS3. People are saying that the Snapdragon dual-core and the Exynos quad-core are similar and one does not triumph over the other. I beg to differ and the benchmark tests will confirm once people start uploading them. It feels like since Samsung’s true HQ is in South Korea that we, Americans, get served last with their products, at least that can be said with their phones in my opinion.

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