A question about the Galaxy S phones...

[SquareBare]

Hi, sooooo I'm looking to buy my first Android device! And this family of phones seems pretty Amazing, but I am pretty confused on a few things...

The phones aren't available in the US, yet there is one for sale on Amazon labeled as the Galaxy S i9000? Was that the Asian / Euro version?

Furthermore, will any of the 4 US versions be sold unlocked? Is there a chart somewhere that details the difference between them?

If I wanted to buy one unlocked, should I just get it from amazon now?
Amazon.com: Used and New: Samsung Galaxy S I9000 Unlocked Version. Quad-band GSM w/ 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHZ 3g. Super Amoled Capacitive Touchscreen. 8gb Internal Memory.

I saw a few videos where the interface was kind of slow and buggy, I wonder if these are still the early versions on sale above...

EDIT: Oh and will any of the versions be restricted in any other way such as At&t's version which won't be able to run apps outside the store? Going to be kind of a pain to Dev on that thing with it not being able to run your own apps and the emulator is slow as christmas.

 

[lordmaxx]

well, the only one that might be unlocked could be the us cellular one that is an actual galaxy s. You need to be careful checking the bands, make sure the 3g bands for your carrier are supported on the actual phone.

As for the slowness, all the ones we've seen in videos were pre-production models so a little laggyness might be acceptable as long as they got it fixed in final.

Sideloading apps or loading apps not from the market is only shut down on the captivate AT&T's version, but one of the ways you can get around this is by using the android SDK (which you would need if you were developing anyway!) So it is possible to develop and load your apps onto your phone.

 

[SquareBare]

well, the only one that might be unlocked could be the us cellular one that is an actual galaxy s. You need to be careful checking the bands, make sure the 3g bands for your carrier are supported on the actual phone.

As for the slowness, all the ones we've seen in videos were pre-production models so a little laggyness might be acceptable as long as they got it fixed in final.

Sideloading apps or loading apps not from the market is only shut down on the captivate AT&T's version, but one of the ways you can get around this is by using the android SDK (which you would need if you were developing anyway!) So it is possible to develop and load your apps onto your phone.

What I am looking to do is use the phone as Text-only with QWERT service and Google Voice call when I am back in my wifi spot. I just don't want to cough up close to a hundred dollars a month for service. It would be nice to just pay for data only with Verizon but they don't allow that unless your deaf.

So as far as just an unlocked phone without a carrier, should I get a Vanilla Galaxy S or hold out for an unlocked carrier specific one?

 

[lordmaxx]

I think your best bet then really is a tmobile nexus one. I believe they have a data only plan you can get fairly cheaply and all nexus ones are unlocked.