Samsung Galaxy S3 Android 4.2.2 firmware leaked with Galaxy S4 features

By V-Tech
in Back Page News

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

V-Tech

Posted
Posted

s3-422.jpg

Lock screen widgets, re-vamped settings, driving mode and more

Samsung has a track record of bringing key software features to older phones with major firmware upgrades, and it seems last year's Galaxy S3 is about to see such an update along with Android 4.2.2. Leaked firmware obtained by SamMobile brings the international Galaxy S3 -- the quad-core Exynos-powered GT-i9300 -- up to Android 4.2.2, and adds many features previously reserved for the Galaxy S4.

New features include a familiar array of lock screen widgets and unlock effects, new display modes, a re-tooled quick settings area in the notification pull-down, a new driving mode and an updated version of the S Voice assistant app. Some of the headline Galaxy S4 features like "Air view" hover-touch abilities aren't included -- that's because they're dependent on the S4's internal hardware.

SamMobile has published the new -- and very much pre-release -- firmware version I9300XXUFME3 online, and it comes with all the usual warnings associated with using unfinished software on your phone. In addition, it'll increase your binary counter (the difficult-to-reset counter telling you how many unofficial ROMs you've installed) by one, even though it's marked as an official Samsung firmware.

http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3-android-422-firmware-leaked-galaxy-s4-features

Mentor

DeadEndAccount

Posted
Posted
They better address the space issue or this will **** off a lot of S3 users.

The space issue could be easily addressed by Samsung releasing a firmware upgrade without any crapware - it would free up space and it would take a modest installation footprint rather than the multi-gigabyte mess it does now. It basically re-enforces why I would never get an Android device given that almost ever 'premium' phone shipped from Samsung and HTC is chocked to the brim with crapware.

Grand Master

techbeck

Posted
Posted

The space issue could be easily addressed by Samsung releasing a firmware upgrade without any crapware - it would free up space and it would take a modest installation footprint rather than the multi-gigabyte mess it does now. It basically re-enforces why I would never get an Android device given that almost ever 'premium' phone shipped from Samsung and HTC is chocked to the brim with crapware.

What you call crapware is not what a lot of others apparently call it since its their most popular selling device. And never heard of the Nexus line of phones? Pure Android OS with no crapware installed. S

Grand Master

+Nik Louch Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

What you call crapware is not what a lot of others apparently call it since its their most popular selling device.

Old argument resurrected... Yes TouchWiz is considered by some to be great and some to be terrible. But the fact the phones also ship with installed apps that cannot be removed makes them crapware.

Grand Master

techbeck

Posted
Posted

Old argument resurrected... Yes TouchWiz is considered by some to be great and some to be terrible. But the fact the phones also ship with installed apps that cannot be removed makes them crapware.

I was talking about the extra software to go along with the features the SGS4 has...and which causes the space issue. People who use these features would call them crap. There are other apps on Samsungs Galaxy line that are junk and different from the features they added in the new SGS4.

Mentor

DeadEndAccount

Posted
Posted
What you call crapware is not what a lot of others apparently call it since its their most popular selling device. And never heard of the Nexus line of phones? Pure Android OS with no crapware installed. S

1) 'Drop box' and other crapware isn't valuable or useful by any stretch of the imagination - they aren't a selling point or a strength but merely a way for Samsung to milk even more money from its customers from an already premium high margin device.

2) Customers buy what ever is shoved in front of their face by a sales rep or what their friends have - it occurred with iPhone so don't some how think that Galaxy is any different. Most people buy iPhone because it is the 'in thing' just as people buy Galaxy's because it is the 'in thing'.

3) Nexus line is not available globally - don't assume that the whole world revolves around the United States and a small handful of countries that Google decides to serve.

4) The applications aren't the features but bundled applications from third parties - there is absolutely no value to the customer by refusing to allow them to uninstall it - it is nothing more than a money grab at the customers expense (see lack of free space).

Mentor

daniel_rh

Posted
Posted

I installed this yesterday and I must say I don't like it, it's slow compared to the modified ROM I had before with the 4.2.1... I guess I have to wait until a more optimized ROM is released or the official one

Grand Master

techbeck

Posted
Posted

1) 'Drop box' and other crapware isn't valuable or useful by any stretch of the imagination - they aren't a selling point or a strength but merely a way for Samsung to milk even more money from its customers from an already premium high margin device.

That junk software isnt what is taking up all the space tho. It is the software that comes with the SGS4 and their new features that is doing it.

2) Customers buy what ever is shoved in front of their face by a sales rep or what their friends have - it occurred with iPhone so don't some how think that Galaxy is any different. Most people buy iPhone because it is the 'in thing' just as people buy Galaxy's because it is the 'in thing'.

True, but that is the customers fault for not asking the right questions or researching on their own. Info is freely available online and reviews often come out before the product does. If the customer is confused at what the sales person is telling them, then that should be a clue to hold off and think about it.

4) The applications aren't the features but bundled applications from third parties - there is absolutely no value to the customer by refusing to allow them to uninstall it - it is nothing more than a money grab at the customers expense (see lack of free space).

Again, the problem with the SGS4, which I was commenting about and what the OP was about (and the SGS3) is the problem. Its the software that is on the SGS4 that Samsung put out with their new features. 3rd party apps isnt causing the huge space problem. The SGS3 didnt have space issues and neither did the SGS2.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Ford execs say they made a mistake when they replaced human engineers with AI

      By TsarNikky · Posted

      How many other companies will follow Ford's lead? Or, have they already gotten lazy and become enslaved to AI--and now can't figure out how to get out of that mess.
    • The Trump administration doesn't want you to use OpenAI's GPT-5.6 without its approval

      By TsarNikky · Posted

      Why would any self-respecting intelligent person follow any recommendation by Donald's GOP administration? With almost two years of fabrications, deceit, and blatantly illegal behavior, why believe them now? They had best be gone after the November 2026 election, so we'll wait and see.
    • AltSendme 0.4.1

      By Copernic · Posted

      AltSendme 0.4.1 by Razvan Serea AltSendme is a minimal, cross-platform application designed for fast, secure, and private peer-to-peer file transfers. It allows users to send files or entire directories directly between devices without relying on cloud servers, accounts, or any personal information. Everything is encrypted end-to-end using modern protocols like QUIC and TLS 1.3, ensuring both strong security and low-latency performance. Transfers are verified with BLAKE3 for data integrity, and interrupted downloads automatically resume, making the experience reliable even on unstable connections. You can transfer anything—images, videos, documents, and more. Integrity checks are performed on both ends, so your files are automatically verified for correctness during both sending and receiving. AltSendme works seamlessly across local networks or long-distance links, capable of saturating multi-gigabit connections for extremely fast delivery. With built-in NAT traversal and encrypted relay fallback, it connects devices almost anywhere. The app integrates with the Sendme CLI and will soon support mobile and web platforms. Fully free and open-source, AltSendme offers a lightweight, privacy-first alternative to traditional cloud-based services, removing size limits, upload costs, and unnecessary data exposure. AltSendme 0.4.1 changelog: Release Highlights Self-hosted relays: Run your own iroh relay so transfers don't rely on public infrastructure. Includes a full deployment template in deploy/relay/ with Docker Compose for a VPS and configuration examples for production use. Fly.io support: One-click deploy template for Fly.io, including a quick-start config (fly.dev.toml) for testing without a custom domain, plus production setup with Let's Encrypt and your own hostname. Relay settings UI: New Settings → Network panel to choose how AltSendme connects: automatic public relays, custom self-hosted URLs (with optional auth token), or disabled. Test connections, verify latency, and see live relay status in the footer. Disable relays: Turn off relay servers entirely when you only need same-network transfers (e.g. LAN). Direct connections only. No relay hop required when devices can reach each other. Android graduates from beta: Android is now part of the regular release cycle alongside desktop. APKs ship with each version (universal, arm64, and armv7). Other improvements Private relay access control via shared auth token Relay fallback notifications when a custom relay is unreachable Broadcast mode toggle in sharing settings Android release build fixes (split-per-ABI APKs, universal APK preservation) UI polish: mobile safe-area insets, dropzone layout, transfer progress animation Bug fixes for minification-related serialization issues and system tray icon loading What's Changed feat(relay): add relay status functionality and settings UI (a120cdf) feat(relay): implement custom relay server configuration and verification (51276c7) feat(relay): add configuration for private relay access and enhance observability features (48fbabf) feat(relay): enhance relay URL validation, display connection status (d4fffa0) feat(relay): add RelayChangeGuard component and enhance relay-related translations (16ba514) feat(broadcast): add toggle setting for broadcast mode in sharing UI (ca6d977) fix(relay): correct QUIC discovery port, pin image, templatize fly.dev (52a2ba5) fix: More broken serialization due to minification (67491a9) fix(android): preserve true universal APK across per-ABI builds (e9f256f) fix(ui): conditional safe-area insets padding on mobile (1182f0e) refactor(transfer): CircularRing component animation fix (944572b) chore(android): drop x86 and x86_64 release APKs, keep universal+arm64+armv7 (34ada0b) Download: AltSendme 0.4.1 | ARM64 | ~9.0 MB (Open Source) Download: AltSendme for MacOS | Android Links: AltSendme Home Page | GitHub | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Why Delta Chat is the best decentralized messenger you have probably never tried

      By zikalify · Posted

      You are mostly right about the ephemeral nature of it. As I mention in the article, if you dont add a second device or take a backup of your account before uninstalling it, then yes you will lose access to your account. That said, in terms of actual user experience when you sync multiple devices your message history carries across and there's also a Saved Messages chat like there is on Telegram to send messages and attachments between your installs. But yh, what you point out are correct and its not trying to emulate Messenger or Telegram.
    • You've tried DuckDuckGo and Brave Search, now get serious with SearXNG

      By zikalify · Posted

      OK so SearXNG is a meta search engine that you can install locally or use via a public instance. It scrapes other search engines which you choose and then sorts the results. Not as complicated as multiple relays

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      225
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      150
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!