4 ms·

I also forgot about consumer routers which sometimes ship totally different hardware under the same model number.

by magila 12y ago

kentonv 12y ago
Samsung has been known to ship Android tablets containing completely different SoCs under the same model. For example, the new Galaxy Tab S might contain an Exynos SoC or a Qualcomm SoC. They're essentially two completely different tablets with the same name and exterior. Though, my understanding is that in their case it's not so much a bait-and-switch as a supply chain issue: they actually want to sell more units than any one SoC provider can deliver. Big pain for developers, though, when they're trying to track down a user-reported bug on one of these things.
- tartuffe78 12y ago
  Another reason is 4G, for awhile (still maybe?) Samsung wasn't building any Exynos Chipsets with 4G radios, so markets where that mattered (US, etc.) they used Qualcomm
- dagw 12y ago
  My understanding is that it's due to the Exynos SoC not supporting 4G, while the Qualcomm does. If you buy the 4G version you'll always get the Qualcomm version, and if you buy the wifi version you always get the Exynos version. So it's not like it's completely random what SoC you end up with.
  - kentonv 12y ago
    Ah, that makes sense too. I've heard (from Android engineers I know) that supply chain issues have been the reason in the past, but I honestly don't know if that's the case for this particular device.
  - testrun 12y ago
    You are right, and they have different SKU numbers.
- MikusR 12y ago
  Except Samsung has different model numbers for different SOC's (Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 in N9005/Exynos 5420 in N9000) and those are in comparable speed.
wtallis 12y ago
It's extremely common to swap out major components without changing the name and number the router is advertised under, but in every instance I'm aware of there was a version number that was incremented on the packaging, eg. WRT54G v4.0 to v5.0 halved the memory (and v7.0 switched from Broadcom to Atheros and v7.2 switched back). It doesn't really help if you're buying online, but if you're buying from a brick-and-mortar store you can pretty much always know what you're getting if you read the fine print.

I also forgot about consumer routers which sometimes ship totally different hardware under the same model number.

by magila 12y ago

I also forgot about consumer routers which sometimes ship totally different hardware under the same model number.

Samsung has been known to ship Android tablets containing completely different SoCs under the same model. For example, the new Galaxy Tab S might contain an Exynos SoC or a Qualcomm SoC. They're essentially two completely different tablets with the same name and exterior. Though, my understanding is that in their case it's not so much a bait-and-switch as a supply chain issue: they actually want to sell more units than any one SoC provider can deliver. Big pain for developers, though, when they're trying to track down a user-reported bug on one of these things.

tartuffe78 12y ago
Another reason is 4G, for awhile (still maybe?) Samsung wasn't building any Exynos Chipsets with 4G radios, so markets where that mattered (US, etc.) they used Qualcomm
dagw 12y ago
My understanding is that it's due to the Exynos SoC not supporting 4G, while the Qualcomm does. If you buy the 4G version you'll always get the Qualcomm version, and if you buy the wifi version you always get the Exynos version. So it's not like it's completely random what SoC you end up with.
- kentonv 12y ago
  Ah, that makes sense too. I've heard (from Android engineers I know) that supply chain issues have been the reason in the past, but I honestly don't know if that's the case for this particular device.
- testrun 12y ago
  You are right, and they have different SKU numbers.
MikusR 12y ago
Except Samsung has different model numbers for different SOC's (Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 in N9005/Exynos 5420 in N9000) and those are in comparable speed.

wtallis 12y ago

It's extremely common to swap out major components without changing the name and number the router is advertised under, but in every instance I'm aware of there was a version number that was incremented on the packaging, eg. WRT54G v4.0 to v5.0 halved the memory (and v7.0 switched from Broadcom to Atheros and v7.2 switched back). It doesn't really help if you're buying online, but if you're buying from a brick-and-mortar store you can pretty much always know what you're getting if you read the fine print.