Samsung Galaxy S8

[ninjaman509]

Vodacom adds their apps and usually a horrible custom red Vodacom boot screen.

I'm not 100% sure on this but I think Telkom and Cell C don't add anything, also I think the Telkom deal is probably the best of all the providers.

Thanks for the reply bud, will keep that in mind. Any CellC or Telkom or MTN S8 owners here? I would like a clean experience, with updates as soon as Samsung decides that it's ready not when the service provider has finished their boot animation. Ultimately I'm waiting for the May brochures to drop to see whether a contract or R70 airtime a month and buying it cash from Samsung or Takealot will be cheaper

 

[Soul Assassin]

Thanks for the reply bud, will keep that in mind. Any CellC or Telkom or MTN S8 owners here? I would like a clean experience, with updates as soon as Samsung decides that it's ready not when the service provider has finished their boot animation. Ultimately I'm waiting for the May brochures to drop to see whether a contract or R70 airtime a month and buying it cash from Samsung or Takealot will be cheaper

You're not going to get that experience with any of the local phones.

You will have to flash the phone to a better region that gets fast updates.

 

[Nimz]

Thanks for the reply bud, will keep that in mind. Any CellC or Telkom or MTN S8 owners here? I would like a clean experience, with updates as soon as Samsung decides that it's ready not when the service provider has finished their boot animation. Ultimately I'm waiting for the May brochures to drop to see whether a contract or R70 airtime a month and buying it cash from Samsung or Takealot will be cheaper

I got mine with MTN and there is no boot logo or apps installed yet.
I say yet as I'm still waiting for my port to go through from Telkom

 

[ninjaman509]

You're not going to get that experience with any of the local phones.

You will have to flash the phone to a better region that gets fast updates.

Thanks Soul Assassin. So all of the local providers add a bit of delay with updates? So I would be better off buying directly from a Samsung store or Takealot or similar?

Having been off contract and on custom ROMs ever since I got my S1 I'm used to just flashing new ROMS so I think I would be annoyed waiting for service providers to catch up. Silly I know but I like having the latest version of Android whether it be offical or custom

 

[bokka1]

I am not getting any MTN startup logos.

I actually have nothing suggesting that I have a MTN contract.

 

[Soul Assassin]

Thanks Soul Assassin. So all of the local providers add a bit of delay with updates? So I would be better off buying directly from a Samsung store or Takealot or similar?

Having been off contract and on custom ROMs ever since I got my S1 I'm used to just flashing new ROMS so I think I would be annoyed waiting for service providers to catch up. Silly I know but I like having the latest version of Android whether it be offical or custom

I would still get it on contract, I'm just going to use Telkom as an example here, their entry level S8 contract is R629 with free messages, Whatsapp is zero rated so it doesn't use data, you get free calls to Telkom mobile and landline numbers and you get the accesory pack with the wireless charger.

R629 x 24 = R15096

If you buy the phone at Takealot it's R15499 and you get nothing and it's going to be on the same firmware region so you're still going to get the updates at the same time.

 

[Nimz]

Battery life seems awesome so far and better than what I ever got on my S7 Edge. Let's see how long that lasts
Everything full blast - wqhd+ , location, Bluetooth etc

 

[ninjaman509]

I would still get it on contract, I'm just going to use Telkom as an example here, their entry level S8 contract is R629 with free messages, Whatsapp is zero rated so it doesn't use data, you get free calls to Telkom mobile and landline numbers and you get the accesory pack with the wireless charger.

R629 x 24 = R15096

If you buy the phone at Takealot it's R15499 and you get nothing and it's going to be on the same firmware region so you're still going to get the updates at the same time.

I appreciate the post bud. This is why I am waiting for the May brochures to release so that I can make all of these comparisons. Because Takealot like you say is R15499 and the Samsung stores are R14999. So if the contracts are just over R600 then its is worth it.

And Whatsapp data not being counted its a big plus. I send a lot of gifs. Like from my gif collection not from giphy.

I'm only concerned about Telkom's coverage. That being said I am with CellC at the moment (contract that went over to Prepaid) so I am used to bad coverage outside of major towns. Even at work I struggle, though the Structural Steel building/warehouse may be attributing to bad signal.

 

[Soul Assassin]

I'm not personally with Telkom but I've heard good things and remember they have a roaming agreement with MTN albeit limited to 3G.

Check out all the SP prices next month, open a couple of tabs in your browser with coverage maps for all of them and then you weight the pros and cons.

 

[ninjaman509]

I'm not personally with Telkom but I've heard good things and remember they have a roaming agreement with MTN albeit limited to 3G.

Check out all the SP prices next month, open a couple of tabs in your browser with coverage maps for all of them and then you weight the pros and cons.

Will do thanks for the help Soul Assassin

 

[Soul Assassin]

Will do thanks for the help Soul Assassin

You're welcome.

 

[milan188]

Will do thanks for the help Soul Assassin

I would still get it on contract, I'm just going to use Telkom as an example here, their entry level S8 contract is R629 with free messages, Whatsapp is zero rated so it doesn't use data, you get free calls to Telkom mobile and landline numbers and you get the accesory pack with the wireless charger.

R629 x 24 = R15096

If you buy the phone at Takealot it's R15499 and you get nothing and it's going to be on the same firmware region so you're still going to get the updates at the same time.

FreeMe actually costs R99. To compare like with like it's actually R530x24 which is much cheaper or you could wait a month or 2 and get it on carbonite for under R10k

 

[Soul Assassin]

FreeMe actually costs R99. To compare like with like it's actually R530x24 which is much cheaper or you could wait a month or 2 and get it on carbonite for under R10k

That's not going to happen, the S7 Edge still sells for R6500-R7000 secondhand.

The S8 isn't going to be under R10000 for quite some time.

 

[vorman]

Quick one, I'm noticing calls are not ringing immediately on my phone. Tried this by dialling myself from a landline. It is not a network issue because I dialled 2 other people in the house with Vodacom sim. It is also not a sim issue because I replaced the sim and tried again. Can anyone try this and provide feedback please. Much appreciated. Just call yourself and see how long it takes to start ringing.

 

[Thor]

Quick one, I'm noticing calls are not ringing immediately on my phone. Tried this by dialling myself from a landline. It is not a network issue because I dialled 2 other people in the house with Vodacom sim. It is also not a sim issue because I replaced the sim and tried again. Can anyone try this and provide feedback please. Much appreciated. Just call yourself and see how long it takes to start ringing.

I had that exact same issue on the S6 (pre-ordered), it was fixed with a software update according to Vodacom.

Probably related?

 

[vorman]

I had that exact same issue on the S6 (pre-ordered), it was fixed with a software update according to Vodacom.

Probably related?

Did you have to wait for the software? How long? Did you approach Vodacom ?

 

[faniebraai]

Quick one, I'm noticing calls are not ringing immediately on my phone. Tried this by dialling myself from a landline. It is not a network issue because I dialled 2 other people in the house with Vodacom sim. It is also not a sim issue because I replaced the sim and tried again. Can anyone try this and provide feedback please. Much appreciated. Just call yourself and see how long it takes to start ringing.

Is your phone on 4G/LTE when you phone yourself? This is normally when your VoLTE is not activated, it takes a while for your network to drop you into the HSDPA/3G network before they can connect the call.

Do this test: Force your phone onto 3G (Settings->Connections->Mobile Networks->Network Mode->Select 3G/2G (auto connect)) and then phone yourself, compare the experience.

 

[faniebraai]

Did you have to wait for the software? How long? Did you approach Vodacom ?

It's definitely not a software issue.

 

[vorman]

Is your phone on 4G/LTE when you phone yourself? This is normally when your VoLTE is not activated, it takes a while for your network to drop you into the HSDPA/3G network before they can connect the call.

Do this test: Force your phone onto 3G (Settings->Connections->Mobile Networks->Network Mode->Select 3G/2G (auto connect)) and then phone yourself, compare the experience.

Many thanks, tried it and it was that. It also did not connect me immediately when I tried calling out. Seems ok with forced 3g only.

Question is, what is VoLTE? Different from LTE? I know I did have LTE activated. If this is different do I just phone Vodacom to activate?
Thanks bud.

 

[faniebraai]

Many thanks, tried it and it was that. It also did not connect me immediately when I tried calling out. Seems ok with forced 3g only.

Question is, what is VoLTE? Different from LTE? I know I did have LTE activated. If this is different do I just phone Vodacom to activate?
Thanks bud.

VoLTE - Voice over LTE. VoLTE is a seperate activation, Vodacom don't do it by default, because there aren't a lot of phones yet that support it. Yeh, just phone Vodacom.