The Samsung Godiva is a midrange device for Verizon that has seen its fair share of leaks when it comes to photos and spec sheets. It will be featuring the dual-core Snapdragon S4 MSM8960, which is the same chip used in the US versions of the Galaxy S3 and will be featuring a fairly similar external design to the Galaxy S3 with the only major difference being an all capacitive buttons on the bottom, similar to the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket. With the basically the same internals and externals of the Galaxy S3 the timing of this product is questionable since it has been almost a year since the Galaxy S3 was released and the announcement of the Galaxy S4 is just around the corner. It does raise questions, why is Verizon only releasing this now? What will differentiate it enough to cause people to buy it?.
The FCC report does answer some of those questions. The Godiva will not only support Verizon’s CDMA and 4G LTE networks, but also GSM roaming and NFC, which makes this an essential device for individuals that travel the global a lot, since majority of the world’s carriers do use GSM networks and the inclusion of NFC, while not exclusive to the Godiva, since it is now featured on a number of devices including the S3, will help future-proof the device with the announcement of MasterCard’s MasterPass system.
The hardware of the device is also dated now, what was cutting edge a year ago is now fairly mediocre, so this device will most likely be priced as a midrange device to help supplement the market’s desire of decent smartphones without breaking the bank. Whether or not this phone will succeed or be lost amongst the shadows of its older and younger brothers remains to be seen. Do you see the Samsung Godiva being the forgotten middle-child? Or will the support for majority of the world’s carrier networks be enough of an incentive for people to purchase this Verizon exclusive?