Call me an idiot, and perhaps lazy for not Googling this but I wanted a straight-up clear answer.
Why is it important/why have people opted to buy an 'international' SGS3 as opposed to just an upright off the shelf normal one from their local shop/contract people?
The international version is quad-core, versus a dual-core with 2GB here in the States.
I own a 4S. My first ever iPhone. I really wanted an Android before hand because of all the additional capabilities, but now it's come to pass I've realised I really don't care about seeing the weather on my home screen. I suppose it's all personal, but I hated how the old OS was inherently laggy - which was a big no no for me. iOS was smooth, fluid-like and efficient, with a much wider app-support base.
Recently, however, I saw the SGN running 4.1 and I was quite surprised. Jellybean has got this 'Butter' thing up and running and the entire UI is just impeccably quick. People say iOS 6 is playing catch up with the rest of the world, and to some extent I agree, but at least they nailed what 'Butter' has taken countless iterations to achieve.
Another question I have, if anyone might help, is that if I decided to jump-ship due to Apple's poor offering this Autumn (it might happen, and it's looking that way), if I bought a Google Nexus phone, would I still be given regular and fast updates to the latest Android OS as opposed to a bog-standard phone which doesn't get the OS update?
Yes, that's the point of the Nexus line of devices.
Cheers