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Downgrade 4.3 to 4.1

What's wrong with the 4.3 upgrade to the S3? I won't count the ways, but a large portion of this forum is about the bugs in that upgrade.
 
As long as you are flashing a previous version through a custom recovery you will be fine. If you have taken the OTA then you have the Knox bootloader and using Odin to downgrade will brick your phone because the bootloader is being replaced.
 
kwmetalfan said:
As long as you are flashing a previous version through a custom recovery you will be fine. If you have taken the OTA then you have the Knox bootloader and using Odin to downgrade will brick your phone because the bootloader is being replaced.
Click to expand...

My wife's phone took the OTA. So I guess it isn't going to work then?

Wonder why that guy wrote that article without stating the phone could be bricked.
 
I didnt read the article, maybe he knows something we dont but as far as i know, attempting to downgrade from 4.3 with official firmware will at least soft brick you (something can be fixed if you know what youre doing) and at worst hard bricks (wipes boot and pretty much kills the phone)
Best thing you can do is use a custom rom.
4.3 Custom roms that are pretty close to stock android aosp (same as you get on a nexus device) are really really fast and bug free.
4.4 custom roms are nearly as stable as that now and even faster.
If you go down that route theres no need for the s3 not to act like a modern flagship device.
Even using a 4.3 samsung touchwiz-based custom rom would help.
Whats the main bugs youre having anyway? Have you tried a factory reset?
 
Just not liking the way it handles text message notifications. Don't like that the stand alone Navigation app is gone and integrated into Google Maps instead. Terrain layer is gone from Google Maps. Don't like that there is no longer an option to display the weather on the lock screen. Don't like the extra bloatware and KNOX. Battery life is worse. The common stuff you read about the dislike of 4.3 on this forum and others.

I rooted my past 2 phones. The custom roms are nice, but there always seemed to be something that didn't work right with any of them. At this point I would rather just root and remove bloatware and be able use apps that require root access.

It appears I can root 4.3 without issue. Verizon SCHI535 is on the list...

[ROOT] Saferoot: Root for VRUEMJ7, MK2, and Android 4.3 - xda-developers
 
Yeah you can root verizon 4.3 without any problems but as far as i know the bootloader hasnt been unlocked yet so even if you wanted to, you cant flash anything unofficial onto it. Not even a custom recovery which sucks :(
I dont know about the other issues but the Maps thing is nothing to do with 4.3, the app just got updated. Theres probably old versions kicking around as APKs.
Lockscreen, i dont use one but have you tried a 3rd-party one?
 
funkylogik said:
Yeah you can root verizon 4.3 without any problems but as far as i know the bootloader hasnt been unlocked yet so even if you wanted to, you cant flash anything unofficial onto it. Not even a custom recovery which sucks :(
I dont know about the other issues but the Maps thing is nothing to do with 4.3, the app just got updated. Theres probably old versions kicking around as APKs.
Lockscreen, i dont use one but have you tried a 3rd-party one?
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats OK that the bootloader isn't unlocked. If I root, I have no plans to flash any custom roms or custom recoveries.

The thing is, with 4.1.2 you get the old version of maps, which has the zoom button, terrain layer and you get the stand alone navigation app. The OTA update to 4.3 forced the update to google maps 7.X and the stand alone navigation app disappeared.

I've installed Textra and Transparent weather clock to get around the text message issue and lock screen weather issues I didn't like with the OTA upgrade. But I hate having to install third party apps to do what stock was already doing.

Android 4.3 on GS3 for Verizon was a serious downgrade.
 
Yeah i think youre right, Maps doesnt update itself so if you went back to 4.1 you'd have the old version. well if you root you can uninstall Maps and find an apk of the old version :thumbup: i remember the uproar when it changed lol
 
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