Despite the fact that even some of Samsung’s own devices with just 512MB RAM run KitKat just fine, the company still claims the international Galaxy SIII’s and SIII mini’s 1GB of RAM is not enough to run KitKat.
In order to facilitate an effective upgrade on the Google platform, various hardware performances such as the memory (RAM, ROM, etc.), multi-tasking capabilities, and display must meet certain technical expectations. The Galaxy S3 and S3 mini 3G versions come equipped with 1GB RAM, which does not allow them to effectively support the platform upgrade. As a result of the Galaxy S3 and S3 mini 3G versions’ hardware limitation, they cannot effectively support the platform upgrade while continuing to provide the best consumer experience.
Do not buy Samsung phones.
Or you can keep buying whatever the hell phone you like that does what you want and then rely on third party upgrades if you don’t upgrade your phone every 12-18 months as is.
I’m happily using a GNII with 4.1.2 on it still and probably wont bother with the official upgrades until I resell it for a GN4.
My GNII has 2gb of ram in it with ~1.7gb user usable, and it groans under the weight of 4.1.2 when multitasking hard. multiwindow mode would be a nightmare in 512mb/1gb.
Or yo could pick up that new Oppo N1 which will be shipping with Cyanogenmod installed by default.
If I install a dedicated 120 GB SSD for swapping, could it help to install KitKat, a phone operating system, where Symbian was feature full in less than 100 MB ?
Kochise
Does this mean that my phone won’t have the hundreds of megabytes of bloatware of unnecessary apps?
If only my CM10 install would give a sh*t.
——
I have been using my old S3, I have a Note3 now, as a poor-mans-media-center connecting to Netflix, YouTube and my NAS (plus all the photo apps). Only thing I have added to my remote was a bluetooth wireless mouse. Who the hell needs an Apple TV or Roku?
I have a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 running 4.3 and a Galaxy Tab 8.4 running 4.4, and I don’t even notice a difference. (I could update 4.4 on the Note, but I’m not sure if I’d lose root, so I don’t even bother.)
This rant would’ve meant something a couple of years ago, but Google has been in the habit of breaking things and removing features in Android for quite some time. (For example, in 4.2, they broke CIFS and removed SD card support from stock, plus some bluetooth controllers (like the Wiimote) wouldn’t work anymore. And putting most of the good stuff in Play Services, so this issue is hardly as pertinent as it used to be.
In 4.4, SD card app transfers are a little iffy now. It’s like Windows, where you wonder what they’re going to f**k up in the next update. As long as they update previous versions to patch big security holes, I’m good.
Edited 2014-05-10 19:01 UTC
I really hope that these Samsung apologizers are getting pay some how, if don’t, how pathetic they are.
The SIII still is pretty well specced and has more than enough juice to run kitkat. From what i’ve heard, kitkat actually runs faster on older phones.
Perhaps what they mean is “it can’t run all of the new useless crap we’ve come up with since we came out with the SIII.”
Sounds more like it …
Is quite simple, in the Samsung world “upgrade Android” means “upgrade Android+Touchwiz+Aboatloadofcrapware(TM)”.
So, if you change “1GB is not enough to run Android KitKat” for “1GB is not enough to run Android KitKat+Touchwiz+Aboatloadofcrapware(TM)” maybe it can be more plausible.
And believe me, I have a Note 3 and this device amazes me all the time, its one of the finest pieces of hardware I ever bought, but the ever increasing amount of crap Samsung puts in their devices is making me sick.
After having a Galaxy S2, S3, Note 1 and Note 3 I reckon my next device wont be a Samsung…that’s as soon as someone puts a Truck battery or a nuclear generator inside an android device
My SIII (now a hand-me-down to my daughter) has been running KitKat since last December. Thank you cyanogenmod.
God I hate Touchwiz and Samsung ROMS. Samsung should stick to hardware and hardware only. When I got an S4 last August, I think I waited all of two days before rooting/wiping/flashing CM.
What update exactly? Today I checked cyanogenmod for my SIII and Kitkat was marked unstable with lots of bluetooth and camera issues on the forums.
Edited 2014-05-10 23:27 UTC
While that is true,a while back the cynogenmod S3 maintainers pretty much quit, due the behaviour of samsung, i.e. no drivers etc.
That may be different as now there are google play editions…
Edited 2014-05-10 23:51 UTC
Google themselves did not provide a KitKat update for Galaxy Nexus, which is almost identical to GS3 hardware-wise, saying that it’s “too old”.
Not really, GNex used OMAP SoC, Internetional GS3 used Exynos. So, it seems like even Samsung ran into similar issues as devs trying to put custom roms on these phones
)
I tell people this over and over. They have a lower planned obsolescence rate than every other android units out there.
Except they lack SD card support and Google seems anyway to replace them with something else in the upcoming months.
In this case, though, following that advice wouldn’t have been of much use. The Galaxy Nexus – which was the Nexus available when the S3 came out – didn’t get an update to KitKat either. I can’t see any technical reason for this. Verizon released a KitKat update for its CDMA version, and the GSM version wasn’t so fundamentally different as far as I know.
Now is Samsung, a few years ago it was HTC. Desire anyone?
Replace Samsung by whatever OEM, they won’t change this behaviour.
It is plain and simple how the OEM and mobile operators always worked. They will never change.
Apple managed to work around it, because they control the whole stack.
Even Microsoft just has a kind of mixed Apple/Google behaviour to avoid pissing the OEM too much.
So unless this OS Developer != OEM != mobile operator chains is broken, every year we will complain about a different OEM, that is all.
As long as you get different elements in the chain, there will always be this stupid talk about product differentiation and added value.
PS: I own a S III
Edited 2014-05-11 08:21 UTC
Well, it will be interesting to see what kind of an update support timeline the Google play store editions of phones will get. It might be embarrassing of the GPE versions get upgraded while the OEM skinned version doesn’t.
After reading all the comments, it just reinforces my decision to buy another iPhone.
It just works, and I my old 4s runs the latest version of iOS. (now relegated to my bike computer).
Getting a Oppo phone as they cooperate very strongly with Cyanogenmod to insure the phones and the developers have the documentation they need.
I have a Moto G which has 1GB RAM and 4.4.2 kitkat on it and it runs really really fast, im surprised at the number of apps this thing can run at the same time, it’s purely the bloatware samsung stuff which is holding up this phone.
considering kitkat was supposed to be more optimized for lower-end devices. We all know it’s not about the ram though, gotta push those new phones somehow.
My old asus tf300t runs waaay better on kitkat cyanogenmod compared to official asus 4.2 roms.
Reeks from top to bottom of marketing making up bullshit to try and get you to buy a S5, instead of continuing on with an “older” model that’s given away free with most plans now.
Marketing departments these days make up all kinds of fantasy-land bull about older products; unfortunately most consumers don’t know enough on the topic to recognize it for what it is — 100% bunko.
Even my Droid DNA got Kitkat. Poor little S3… 😉