T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S III gets overclocked to a whopping 2.1GHz (and doesn’t explode!)

I’ve owned my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S III since the day after it launched. I’ve cherished the phone since I got it, and the development scene has treated the device especially kind.

We’ve been privy to some of the earliest leaked Jelly Bean OTA updates, as well as official support from the CyanogenMod team for their CM10 project. As if this wasn’t already enough to keep us T-Mobilites busy, there’s also a handful of Ice Cream Sandwich-based custom ROM’s over in the device’s Android Development forum on XDA.

Just when I thought my phone couldn’t get any better (without the help of an official Android 4.1 update, of course), I stumbled upon a ROM that’s a new one to me, called WICKED by XDA Recognized Themer, evil1art. The ROM itself is stock TouchWiz-based and runs on Android 4.0.4. It has a ton of customizations and, from what I can tell so far, is rock solid stable.

In the process of reading through the ROM thread before installing (something I suggest anyone does, every time they flash a new ROM), I discovered a new kernel that other forum members were speaking highly of — and boy, am I glad I did.

This new kernel is named KT747, and comes to us thanks to XDA Recognized Contributor, ktoonsez. Have a look at the details from the original thread:

KT747 ICS kernel features
•Must have a TMO Samsung ROM to use the Sammy Kernel
•Must have a TMO AOSP ROM to use the AOSP Kernel
•Must have custom recovery installed: (Here is one suggestion)
•Linux kernel 3.0.42
•Samsung open source
•Optimized kernel configuration
•Updated USB driver
•Updated wifi driver
•custom bootanimation
•unsecure root adb
•init.d support
•New Governors (PEGASUSQ, ADAPTIVE, SMARTASS2, LULZACTIVE, KTOONSERVATIVE)
•New Schedulers (CFQ, BFQ, VR)
•Voltage interface
•CPU Overclocking
•CPU Underclocking
•Boots on stock table (USE KTweaker app to enable OC steps all the way to 2106mhz)

Now, take a long hard look at that last line. 2106mhz, also known as 2.1GHz, is a huge jump from the device’s stock 1.5GHz — and the results are enjoyably noticeable. What was once a zippy-fast, awesome smartphone is now an even zippier-fast, even more awesome smartphone.

I figured I’d end up with the device running hotter than a frying pan, but with a couple of hours of use now and no “hot pocket”, it seems like this might be a new daily driver for me. I also expected the battery to drain faster than a pregnant woman’s bladder, but so far so good on that front.

If you’re feeling frisky and want to give your T-Mobile (yes it HAS to be T-Mobile) Galaxy S III a dose of  ’roid rage, head on over to the original kernel thread on XDA for the download, instructions, and discussion.

Make sure to hit that thanks button and tell ‘em OMG!Droid sent you. Keep up the good work, Ktoonsez!

Enjoy!