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Not all Samsung Galaxy S III smartphones will be created equal. AT&T and Verizon wireless have opted out of the Samsung offer to add 48GB of storage to the free 2GB that Dropbox offers at sign up, according to Dropbox. The full offer essentially gives customers 50GB of free space for two years.
The Verge first discovered that on a Dropbox support page the cloud-based company explained: Select carriers have opted out of the promotion on phones otherwise eligible. Unfortunately, AT&T and Verizon are among these carriers not currently participating.
A Dropbox Pro 50 plan, adding 50GB to the free 2GB Dropbox offers start with, is priced at $9.99 a month, or $99 a year. Those users allowed access to the promotion, are essentially saving $200the price of the phone with a two-year contract.
Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular didnt immediately respond to emails about whether they would honor the Dropbox promotion. (Details will be added as they arrive.)
Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint have priced the 16GB version of the Galaxy S III at $199 with a two-year contract.
Verizon will also offer a 32GB version for $249.99. It began accepting preorders June 6, but hasnt yet announced an on-sale date.
AT&T, for those wanting a 32GB version of the phone, will sell a 16GB MicroSD card for $39. It will also exclusively offer a red version of the phone, in addition to Pebble Blue and Marble White options. Like Verizon, it began taking preorders June 6 but offers no word yet on a sales date.
U.S. Cellular will sell 16GB and 32GB versions in blue and white. It will begin accepting preorders June 12, and making pricing information available the same day. The phone will arrive in stores and online, it said in a June 4 statement, sometime in July.
T-Mobile, while unclear about pricing, says it will begin selling blue and white versions starting June 21.
Sprint, also selling a 32GB version for $249.99, willlike T-Mobilebegin selling the GS III June 21.
Sprint is the only national U.S. wireless carrier to offer the Galaxy S III preloaded with Google Wallet, enabling the phone to act like a personal wallet using near-field communication (NFC) to make safe purchases at more than 100,000 participating retailers, Sprint said in a June 4 statement.
Its also the only U.S. carrier to pair the phone with an unlimited data plan.
Samsung, now the worlds top-selling maker of both mobile phones and smartphones, is unique in its tactic of offering a device through so many carriers. While with its Galaxy S II it tweaked each version for the various carriers, which each gave the phone a distinct name, the Galaxy S III will be largely identical across the five U.S. carriers, save for the apps that come preloaded.
Google made headlines in May when The Wall Street Journal reported that Google planned to try its hand again at selling phones directly to consumers, instead of through the carriers. One of several motivations for going this model-busting route, said the report, would be avoiding the frustrations that Google and other handset makers face, in wireless carriers often blocking certain apps. Verizon, for example, kept Google Wallet off the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Analyst Roger Kay, calling the carriers service generally abominable, told eWEEK that Google was likely trying to improve consumers overall experience with their phones, by taking over more of the relationship.
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