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daffyducknj

daffyducknj

Android Enthusiast
OK, just got an old S3. Sprint version. Upgraded it all the way to Stagefright fix/KitKat 4.4.2. Not activated as I'm on Virgin Mobile USA. Not sure if it's prepaid or contract version.

1. Is it possible to activate on VM without rooting, and installing custom recovery and ROM? If not I'll use it as a WiFi device for games, streaming to tv, fm radio and as a mini tablet.

2. If I use a 64 GB card reformatted to fat32, will that work on the S3?

Thanks for any advice. :)
 
Virgin Mobile is another MVNO contracted with Sprint.

1. You should contact Virgin Mobile and ask if your S3 can be added to your account. If it's tied to it's previous owner with an open contract it's going to be complicated to get that all cleared up.
http://devicehelp.virginmobileusa.com/device/Galaxy_S_III_4G_LTE/Virgin_Mobile/en
As for patching it to completely fix Stagefright, you've still got a problem. Samsung dropped supporting the S3 so the updates/patches Google is pushing out just don't get passed along. You can install 'Stagefright Detector' and it will list out which Stagefright vulnerabilities are and are not fixed (there are several and it's not a fixed number, new ones are released out into the Internet) but aside from using a third-party texting service/app that itself gets updated properly Stagefright will still be an issue for your S3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zimperium.stagefrightdetector&hl=en
KitKat is the last Android version officially supported. If you want to update your S3 with a custom recovery and newer ROM you will need to root it.
2. If you're not going to be using that 64GB microSD card to transfer files between your S3 and any OS X or Windows computer, and if you're just going to leave it inside your phone as semi-permanent storage space, think about reformatting as ext4 instead. That's the file system of your phone's internal storage so both will be in parity.
 
Virgin Mobile has a "whitelist" of the ESNs of phones supplied for their service. They don't allow BYOD. In order to use the phone with their service, you'd need to convince them that it is (or belongs on) their whitelist.

The only phones that I know they add to that list are Sprint iPhones, because anyone who takes a Virgin Mobile iPhone to the Apple Store for warranty replacement gets a Sprint device. They specify on the website that you need to contact them in that circumstance.

There are plenty of Sprint MVNOs that do allow BYOD (Virgin mobile is owned by Sprint, so that may be why their rules are so strict). If you ever decide you want to use the phone as more than a Wifi device, you might want to look into them.
 
Thanks for the advice. For now I'll use it as a WiFi device. It certainly runs faster than my Tab 4 7 inch tablet, even though I rooted that and have an OC kernel on it. Will look to see if I can use it on Virgin Mobile. AFAIK the phone has been inactive for over 2 years.

Again, many thanks. I appreciate it!
 
svim said:
As for patching it to completely fix Stagefright, you've still got a problem. Samsung dropped supporting the S3 so the updates/patches Google is pushing out just don't get passed along. You can install 'Stagefright Detector' and it will list out which Stagefright vulnerabilities are and are not fixed (there are several and it's not a fixed number, new ones are released out into the Internet) but aside from using a third-party texting service/app that itself gets updated properly Stagefright will still be an issue for your S3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zimperium.stagefrightdetector&hl=en
Click to expand...

Samsung put out a Stagefright patch for the Boost and Virgin Mobile S3 back in December of last year. If up to date the firmware build should end in OJ1 for Boost and Virgin, or OH1 for Sprint. I believe the Sprint update was back in September. It fixed most but not all of the Stagefright vulnerabilities.

Other than that, enjoy your new toy daffyduck. :)
 
Last edited:
mydian said:
And we'll probably never get another patch for them.
Click to expand...

I don't need to worry, as I don't use messaging of any sort on my S3 (for now). I'm just amazed that it still rocks in 2016. Even some of the newer games run better on it vs my 2 year old tab 4.
 
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