Thread: What problem would i face if use an american smartphone in india?

I'm planning to buy Galaxy s2. My friend is on a trip to america and he is going to bring it.I'm buying the phone on contract and my brother working there is going to pay the rest. But my concern is that, even though i unlock it here. Would i face any other problems? (because my friend quoted that he was not able to install third party apps on his galaxy S that he got from USA). Please help and also kindly offer an advice on how to rectify the problem if there is any. Thanks a lot

The GS II isn't actually out just yet in the US. However, the GS II that you see in the US is not the same GS II that is sold in other countries. They have 3 different variants for 3 different carriers and they all look different to each other.

If you were to unlock it, you won't really face much problems with calling and messaging and etc.. However, that's if you actually buy the right GS II from the US. Remember, there are 3 different variants. 1 of them won't work in India as it only works on CDMA networks which India doesn't use (that would be the Samsung Epic 4G Touch which is one of the variants you'll find and it's the best one. It's bigger than the International one). You will have to get one of the two variants of GS II: Samsung Galaxy S II AT&T (which is most similar to the international version) and the Samsung Galaxy S II T-Mobile (this one is rounded and is bigger).

Third-party apps won't work because AT&T and other carriers over there are tight and evil which is why it's also almost impossible to get an unlocked and unbranded GS II in the US. Plus, what's worse is their lack of support. In other words, say if the international version of the GS II gets an update like say from 2.3 to 4.0, you will have to wait for like over a year to receive it in the US because of how lazy they are. The international version would've received it like as soon as Samsung releases it.

To rectify these problems, you will have to root the phone and install a different custom ROM (eg: Cyanogenmod 7). Rooting is also the method to unlock the phone too. If you would like to know how, check out XDA dev forums.

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