A couple of months ago, we heard rumours that Samsung was pondering a plan to block third party accessories from some of its devices, like cases, chargers, car kits and the like, especially where those accessories mimicked functionality offered by Samsung-branded accessories.
It seems that these rumours might be a step closer to reality today, with reports that the Android 4.4.2 update for the popular Galaxy Note 3 handset is blocking third-party S-View cases from functioning.
The Spigen S-View case (pictured above) lacks the small identification chip of the official S-View case from Samsung, and thus while it still functions perfectly well as a case, the S-View feature — allowing users to view content from the device’s screen through the window on the case — no longer functions.
It seems that there are two work arounds at the moment, but none are particularly ideal:
- If you’ve got an original S-View case for your Note 3 and you don’t really like it much, you can butcher it and implant the identification chip in your third-party S-View case (XDA Developers) to get it working, or
- If your Note 3 is rooted, you can install an Xposed module that will trick your device into allowing the third party case to work (XDA Developers).
Reports on SamMobile suggest that this is the only accessory currently affected, which by extension suggests that perhaps this is just a trial by Samsung to see whether it’s something they want to roll out more widely. One hopes that this doesn’t spread more widely.
