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Comment by ajross | Hacker News Reader

You seem not to have read the linked article, which is about one of the CM developers dumping work on one of the GS3 (there are a bunch of different phones labeled with the same name) devices because of unsolvable problems and poor support from Samsung.

Seriously: Buy. A. Nexus. Phone. Almost everything else is going to bite you.

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Interestingly, I have a GS3 as well and have no problems with the things the developer is mentioning here.

The article is 3 months old. In that time, CM10 hit stable release for all US carriers (and international, IIRC) and is honestly rock-solid. All those "unsolvable" issues were solved. I'd recommend it without hesitation to every GS3 owner.

10.1 is buggy/crash-prone, admittedly, but the team's only been working on it for a few weeks. Bluetooth and Wifi tethering work solidly, some of the newer Google Apps (like Gallery and Photosphere) are a little hacky. Touch to focus works great.

Every issue Codeworkx cites as his frustrations with the S3 have been resolved by the great folks at the CM/TeamHacksung. The article is a non-issue.

I'm willing to bet that you have a US market "GS3". That's a Qualcom Snapdragon S4 phone, not Exynos (seriously: it's an entirely different set of electronics in the same box). It works much better largely because it shares the same SoC as the Nexus 4.

And yet, in comparison with it's cousin the N4, it's not nearly as well supported or trouble free. Buy. A. Nexus. Phone.

Nexus 4 has one major flaw -- you can't tell people to buy a phone that is not on the market. :) I can wait until my n900 breaks down (which won't happen any time soon, that thing is built like a rock), but N4 would be so much better if it was, you know, there.

Sure, there are issues with certain GS3 models. That doesn't mean that, as a consumer, you can't get one that works with CM. Plus, I have no special loyalty to Samsung or the Galaxy brand. It could be an LG, or HTC, or Sony, for all I care.

And getting a Nexus isn't an option for me, not anymore. I have a Galaxy Nexus on Verizon (a great phone) at the moment, and none of the other carriers have as good coverage where I live. They definitely don't have 4G, which Verizon does. Plus, I have grandfathered unlimited data, which I'm never giving up.

I'd love to get another Nexus, but that's not an option for me. After the fiasco with the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, I don't see Google releasing another Verizon Nexus, not for a long time.

So I'll probably buy a phone that's 6-8 months old, has been unlocked/rooted, is quite popular, and was a premium model when it was released. Then I'll install CM on it and go on my merry way.

Unless you're on Verizon (unlimted LTE) and can't get Tmo, or won't deal with greater of all evils (ATT).

Plus most of CM gripes with the S3 are related to Exynos SoC and not the Qualcomm SoC.

Actually I have a not-quite-a-nexus-anymore "Verizon Galaxy Nexus" (toro) in my pocket, so I feel your pain. If anything this supports my point, doesn't it? I tried to follow the "Just Buy A Nexus" advice and still got burned because Verizon/Google couldn't support the device on AOSP.

Though to be fair, the CM 10.1 builds on toro work just fine. I sweat a little at every update though.

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