Related
I mean this one....
http://www.2-phones-in-1.com/english/products/universal_digital_dual_sim_II_us.htm
Id like to try this software on my dual sim, just because I can
if so, PM me
I would suggest you send your sims to them to be cut by their machine, I destroyed 2 sims. Other people have reported success, it says on instructions that the metal on sim should not be cut, on many sims there is no chance of it fitting without cutting the metal tabs. I threw mine in the bin, that doesnt mean its no good though.
mine worked fine, cutting went perfect
Yeah, I've used a cut up dual sim with a UK 02-uk Contract and orange PAYG sims. Some people said the O2 doesn't work: I had no trouble.
I very much hope you're note paying 37 euro for it: I got mine for £1.75 from ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6415916094&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT
However, note that the STK menu is something special: it's a menu that gets loaded up when you load a program called "sim toolkit" built into most phones. Then you can choose your line. The one I bought doesn't have this, you go to flight mode on, flight mode off and it'll switch lines.
Cutting the sims requires a careful hand. Get them cut by machine if you can (the guy i got them from will cut them) but you get templates that you should follow carefully with fine scissors and you shouldn't go wrong.
The instructions say that you DO cut the metal tabs on the SIM, there's no other way, but that does not damage to the sim itself. But be careful, practice and try them one by one - you have something called a "Resume card" that is basically a holder for one of the tiny mini-sims. Try this with each cut sim individually to ensure they work, before putting them in the metal tray. I used a nokia to test.
Don't forget to REMOVE THE PLASTIC TEMPLATE. Jeez, this was so obvious but once you've nervously cut the sim up, you'll forget the transparent guide sticker is still on them. Remove this obviously!
In the Magician it took a lot of messing about to get the phone to recognise both sims, because I think there's not much pressure on the back of the sim in the phone's holder. I stuck a little bit of paper down the back of the metal slide to apply some pressure.
It does work, just persevere!
Vijay
PS I read via google that the STK software drains battery faster. I'm sure it wouldn't, but one review said it did? It's not much more effort.
PPS Don't use a sim copier if you're in the UK (eg 16 in 1). It'll destroy your SIMs, they're not compatible here.
For years now, I've been hearing about and seeing examples online of knockoff phones floating around. I never thought I would actually come across one, however, until today.
I work at a major retailer and a customer comes up to me today with a manilla envelope and says that she wants me to setup her phone. She had bought a SIM online from prepaid service and came to the store to buy an airtime card. She then pulls out a phone from the envelope. I see a white "Samsung" phone. It looked to be something similar to a Galaxy S III Mini or Galaxy Express. I didn't think of anything when I first saw it, but I did first look for carrier branding to make sure it wasn't carrier locked. I saw none. The phone also had a hard plastic case on it with a strangely-skewed Android logo on it.
Upon closer inspection when I took the phone over to my work counter, I noticed some oddities. The screen seemed a bit strange. It was resistive. That was the first alarm. I then noticed that the "Samsung" logos on the phone were actually decals or stickers stuck to the front and back of the phone as opposed to being screen printed on, like they should be. After prying the back off, I noticed a really lightweight, cheap looking battery, with no branding whatsoever. There were also two SIM slots with two different IMEIs. I know that some international variants of certain phones have two SIM slots, but I've never actually seen one. Another alarm was something that was printed on the back of the phone under the battery: "Model: i9300." This was defiantly not a Galaxy S III.
I called into the carrier and had the SIM activated. Everything on that end seemed to go through just fine. I put the SIM into the phone and booted it up. I was greeted with a really cheesy boot animation of a stylized Galaxy S logo. When the UI finally loaded, I noticed something reminiscent of a Gingerbread-based TouchWiz homescreen. The fonts were some really pixelated serif fonts and all of the icons and "widgets" on the homescreen were really bad looking icons. When I finally found the settings menu, I dug around looking for APN and after quite a while, I finally found them. I struggled to use the onscreen keyboard with a stylus and put in all the correct settings. I rebooted the phone and was unable to make any calls. A few other oddities that I noticed were an articulating extendable antenna popping from the top of the phone and a "WiFi" logo under the battery. I could find no actual WiFi functions in the software. After playing around with all the call and APN settings, I decided to break the news to the customer.
She said that a "tech-savvy" friend of hers bought the phone for her online for $80. It was hard to tell someone they just basically bought an $80 paperweight. She left and then came back after a short time (after saying she had cried) wanting to buy a "real" Samsung phone. So about $150 later, she had an actual Samsung that was actually able to function as a smartphone should.
Not sure what I want anyone to get from this story; I just thought it was interesting and I thought I'd share it. I just wish I had gotten pictures of the actual phone. Oh well.
Just wow. I've heard about good "fakes", but it's sad that that one was completely unusable.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
beanboy89 said:
For years now, I've been hearing about and seeing examples online of knockoff phones floating around. I never thought I would actually come across one, however, until today.
I work at a major retailer and a customer comes up to me today with a manilla envelope and says that she wants me to setup her phone. She had bought a SIM online from prepaid service and came to the store to buy an airtime card. She then pulls out a phone from the envelope. I see a white "Samsung" phone. It looked to be something similar to a Galaxy S III Mini or Galaxy Express. I didn't think of anything when I first saw it, but I did first look for carrier branding to make sure it wasn't carrier locked. I saw none. The phone also had a hard plastic case on it with a strangely-skewed Android logo on it.
Upon closer inspection when I took the phone over to my work counter, I noticed some oddities. The screen seemed a bit strange. It was resistive. That was the first alarm. I then noticed that the "Samsung" logos on the phone were actually decals or stickers stuck to the front and back of the phone as opposed to being screen printed on, like they should be. After prying the back off, I noticed a really lightweight, cheap looking battery, with no branding whatsoever. There were also two SIM slots with two different IMEIs. I know that some international variants of certain phones have two SIM slots, but I've never actually seen one. Another alarm was something that was printed on the back of the phone under the battery: "Model: i9300." This was defiantly not a Galaxy S III.
I called into the carrier and had the SIM activated. Everything on that end seemed to go through just fine. I put the SIM into the phone and booted it up. I was greeted with a really cheesy boot animation of a stylized Galaxy S logo. When the UI finally loaded, I noticed something reminiscent of a Gingerbread-based TouchWiz homescreen. The fonts were some really pixelated serif fonts and all of the icons and "widgets" on the homescreen were really bad looking icons. When I finally found the settings menu, I dug around looking for APN and after quite a while, I finally found them. I struggled to use the onscreen keyboard with a stylus and put in all the correct settings. I rebooted the phone and was unable to make any calls. A few other oddities that I noticed were an articulating extendable antenna popping from the top of the phone and a "WiFi" logo under the battery. I could find no actual WiFi functions in the software. After playing around with all the call and APN settings, I decided to break the news to the customer.
She said that a "tech-savvy" friend of hers bought the phone for her online for $80. It was hard to tell someone they just basically bought an $80 paperweight. She left and then came back after a short time (after saying she had cried) wanting to buy a "real" Samsung phone. So about $150 later, she had an actual Samsung that was actually able to function as a smartphone should.
Not sure what I want anyone to get from this story; I just thought it was interesting and I thought I'd share it. I just wish I had gotten pictures of the actual phone. Oh well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My friend got suckered into buying a phone that's similar to be the one you described. I took some pics of it. He's pissed as he paid $300 expecting a real GS3.
So two days after acheiving s-off with the new method for the s4 variant with the jb ota, my dad got the random simcard not detected error. After attempting various firmware flashes, it started getting worse to the extent that it showed the simcard icon and the x over the signal bars more often than not, so I tested his simcard in my amaze, and it worked fine. So we figured that it was a physical issue, so I read on another forum that the One X guys were fixing it by applying a layer of clear tape on the back for a tighter fit. So I had a roll of clear duct tape, applied one layer, and for a few minutes, it seemed to work. After handling the phone, the error came back, so I pulled the simcard and applied another layer of packaging tape. Now, its a tight fit, but I was careful that I was inserting it in the best possible angle so that I wouldnt damage the simcard slot. Popped it in there, played with the phone, so far so good.
Obviously this is a bandaid, but I already damaged the simcard slot by sticking a ghetto converted sim to micro simcard in, and because I cut it too narrow, it slid in kind of diagnally, and it bent some contacts, so these micro sim slots are very sensitive if not outright defective. I say this because for the past two days, I have searched google for thebproblem, and although this isnt unique to htc, there is a very high rate of simcard slot failures for the entire "One" line, including the new 'One'. I may contact htabout this, because this seems like a wide spread problem, and I already had to order a new slot, and it cost me $80 to have it soldered by the guyd at the Jacksonville,Fl branch of CPR, and as good as the technician was, it took him a second try to fix it, and weeks later, it started happening randomly, even though nobody touched the simcard. So thats the info that I have, if you have any questions regarding this issue, post it here so that everyone can see it for future referrence. Goodluck.
I'm sure plenty of you have had the dreaded "Sim card removed" error (as shown in the attached image) on your S4. I started getting this message mere months after purchasing my secondhand AT&T S4 (no warranty). But fear not, with about 20 minutes of your time and less than a dollar worth of parts, you can fix it!
(1st attached pic)
Why Does This Happen?
This error is usually due to a faulty connection between the motherboard and the SIM / MicroSD card tray. Likely it is due to a bad solder job on that connector.
Does a new SIM Tray fix it?
Extremely unlikely. Purchasing a new SIM tray will likely be wasted money. (EDIT: A new motherboard may fix the issue, and several people have had success with a new SIM tray)
How do I fix it already??
This is what you'll need:
Your S4
A micro Philips-head screwdriver
Scissors
A foam earplug (or something of similar texture)
Step 1: Disassemble your phone. Pull off the back cover, remove the battery and cards, then unscrew all 9 of the micro Philips screws. Then, take your fingernail and pry off the bezel from the rest of the phone, and slowly work your nail around the bezel until it pops off. (Don't force it!)
(Attached images 2, 3, and 4)
Step 2: Use your scissors or a razor blade to cut a section off of the foam earplug which is about the width of two dimes. I also cut a 1/4 segment out of mine so you don't see it sticking out when you put the bezel back together, but you don't absolutely need to do that.
(Attached images 5 & 6)
Step 3: Press down on the connector for the SIM / SD Card Tray until it "clicks" into place. (It may not click if it is still somewhat in place) This is the connector which has a bad connection.
(Attached image 7)
Step 4: Place your piece of foam on top of the connector in a way that it is right beside but not overlapping the camera (as pictured)
(Attached image 8)
Step 5: Replace your back cover, making sure not to move the foam you just installed, press down on it in multiple locations until it pops back together all around, and screw it back down. Note: if the bezel appears to be bulging out, your foam is too thick! This won't cause any problems, but it will be a noticeable bulge on your phone.
(Attached images 9 & 10)
Step 6: Replace your back cover and enjoy! Note that if you continue to receive the error, you may need either a thicker piece of foam, or you may need to reposition the foam, or even just press down on the connector a bit more before installing the foam.
Thanks to the folks over at Android Central in the thread entitled: Galaxy S4: Major problem - SIM card not detected for info on how to fix!
After applying this fix (took me three times to get it right) I have not seen the SIM card removed error in almost two months!
Post your success stories!
EDIT: A year after I posted this, and people are still using this thread to iron out their issues. I'm glad I could start up a conversation about this problem, with many good suggestions as to possible fixes. I don't use my S4 anymore, but it makes for a great backup phone!
Anyway, I just wanted to let anybody who is looking for the answer to this problem know that my fix may or may not work for you. It worked in my case, but several commenters have noted that the problem has remained in their situation. I would like to point out a few helpful comments and possible fixes right here so you guys don't have to go searching through pages of comments to find different solutions.
Best solution by far is by @Gonemad to re-flow the solder to that connector and to the NFC chip using a heat gun. See post #98 on page 10 and Post 114 on page 12, with a guide on post 122, page 13.
A replacement motherboard may fix the issue as well, but that's assuming you're getting a new one and not a used one. With used, the replacement board may do the same thing!
many of us have shimmed the connector 1000 different ways and still get the error. oddly enough, for me the only thing that has reduced errors was removing my sd card.
iateshaggy said:
many of us have shimmed the connector 1000 different ways and still get the error. oddly enough, for me the only thing that has reduced errors was removing my sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting, and a shame. There's not enough room on my phone for all my stuff, I need that extra 32gb!
"Does a new SIM Tray fix it?
Extremely unlikely. Purchasing a new SIM tray or even a new motherboard will be wasted money."
It did in my case. I got a sim/sd card tray from a Verizon S4, put it in my AT&T S4 and it worked great!
This problem is extremely annoying. Purchased a new tray too, and for a couple of days thought the problem is fixed. Nope. 5 days later same stupid message. I had already tried putting more support on the connector which did not fix the problem. They could at least make a cancel button on it instead of just "reboot". Will try without sd card. Apparently this happens on ALL high-end samsung phones. I am adding crapsung to the "never again" list (in addition to LG now).
If removing sd card doesn't fix it then it will either be new mainboard (they go for around $100 CAD shipped) or a new phone if I have the money. Nexus 6 looks good now. Don't buy crappy Korean brands. Even Chinese brands seem more reliable.
Question: Since you say that you've already replaced the sd/sim tray and the problem returned, did you try putting another sim card in there to make sure that it's not the sim card that's the issue?
Yes, new sim did not solve it. Now i am actually trying earplug thing. So far so good (2 days), but as with any other method the message is expected to pop up again. I am thinking i did try to add support before, but only for the connector part. Earplug will press on all the components around the connector and the connector itself. Will see. I did cut out a thicker piece than in the OP, and made a cut on the camera side instead of oppoate (like in OP).
Buyimg new mainboard seems like a waste of money now too. Since so many devices have this problem chances are another mainboard will be the same.
Edit: with or without sd card - same thing.
It's known that the IMEI numbers with the last 6 digits in this range: 000000 - 560000 have been known to have this issue. Mine was in that range and had the issue. I think the mainboards outside this range are fine.
Mine is not in that range.
Thanks a lot
It took me quite a few tries with the earplug foam to get it right. Finding the correct thickness and shape was the biggest thing. Eventually I got it right and I haven't had the issue return even once since. I'm glad some of you were able to get your phones to work by just swapping the SIM tray, that's pretty easy to do. I don't think I would even consider swapping the motherboard on a 2 year old phone, might as well just get a new phone at that point.
Sean89us said:
It took me quite a few tries with the earplug foam to get it right. Finding the correct thickness and shape was the biggest thing. Eventually I got it right and I haven't had the issue return even once since. I'm glad some of you were able to get your phones to work by just swapping the SIM tray, that's pretty easy to do. I don't think I would even consider swapping the motherboard on a 2 year old phone, might as well just get a new phone at that point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear that this is working for some users. I just went with the M9 about a week ago and am going to give my mother my S4. She wouldn't have any idea how to handle any sim errors so when I get some time, I'll be buying an earplug or two.
It has been 9 days and the error hasn't returned. Today i put in a thiner peice to get rid of the bulge on the back. Will see how that holds up, but so far so good. Thanks to the O.P.
As for the mainboard - I never loxk myself into a contract with a discounted phone, not that Wind Mobile Canada has an option for it. So i paid almost 600 CAD for this puppy and expected it to last. For me $100 is not bad for a fix compared to at least $600 for a new phone. Only if it was for sure, but is seems like a gamble to buy a new board. BTW my phone was locked to rogers so I had to unlock it and enable AWS band.
I would get(have tried other phones) but for all its bad the S4 is hands down the most durable and usable phone I have ever owned. I like my nexus 5, but it is a very fragile unit, and on its second screen replacement due to minor drops that the S4 takes with aplomb. I like the phone so much I have bought a used one off ebay just in case this one ever fails. MHO
fargonaz said:
I would get(have tried other phones) but for all its bad the S4 is hands down the most durable and usable phone I have ever owned. I like my nexus 5, but it is a very fragile unit, and on its second screen replacement due to minor drops that the S4 takes with aplomb. I like the phone so much I have bought a used one off ebay just in case this one ever fails. MHO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm right there with you. I still love my S4, despite the SIM error and somewhat slow updates from Samsung / ATT. It's getting older but my phone is still very fast, has a beautiful 1080P AMOLED screen, takes awesome pictures, and now it's even running Lollipop! The only thing that might convince me to switch phones anytime soon is if the 2015 Nexus 5 refresh has a 5" - 5.2" screen (5.5"+ is just too big!), USB Type-C and the specs blow me away. Since that probably won't happen, it looks like I'll be using my S4 for a few more years.
I don't have these earplugs foams at home.. Which other material can I use for that?
I can't say anything else will be the same material. Just buy earplugs at a dollar store or something. They are cheap.
Mine had gotten really bad, to where it was giving the "sim error" message a good six or eight times a day. Did the earplug thing...didn`t fix squat. I took a narrow strip of a business card and "shimmed" the sim card in it`s slot (like many others have), but I made my shim extra long and folded it over a few times on top of the sim card receptacle as well. Been two days and so far so good. We`ll see how it holds up.
I had actually contacted Samsung about the problem and they claimed they had no knowledge of it`s occurrence. I emailed back and they said "we really have no idea what`s causing it. Sorry." I would call it a design flaw as every single person I know personally with an S4 has the problem, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of tales on the ol` internet about it, and even Samsung can`t fix it.
I've used this solution after my s4 gave the "sim card removed" error 5 times this morning. I used a piece of power sponge i.s.o. an earplug. Since then no error. If error occurs i'll respond again.
Thanx Sean.
I was having this problem. I did this fix but just used some folded up plastic wrap. Hasn't happened again yet.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Free mobile app
Hi everyone,
I love my Note Edge 915A so much I got another one, when the screen started flaking out: Half my screen goes greenish - have read its a microfracture that will only get worse.
So I went looking for another phone and decided I dont like current offerings (I use the SD card and IR blaster a LOT), so I'll get the same for the time being, and ended got a 915F from ebay. Internet said it would work with AT&T. It doesn't look like it does. Questions I need help with:
- SIM card (taken from the 915A I have ) says "Invalid SIM Card". I've re-seated and sung sweet songs to it. Doesn't want to take.
- Read that 4G/LTE wont work on the 915F, maybe never? Have we found a solution to this yet?
- I've never flashed the 915A, but can install a custom ROM for the 915F to get 4G/LTE to work on AT&T?
Bottom line is, I would like some feedback on if I should just return it and look for an used 915A? I liked this one because it was new in box, but...
Thank you!
My friend, i have three solution for you, sens it seem your simm card is dedicated only for the A phone model simmlock.
1. Go to at&t shop to make the simm card for your new phone, they might ask for your phone perhaps to simmlock??
2. Flashing at&t room on new phone could be danger if it's different hardware chipsets, you are in your own!!!
3. Changing hardware board from A model in to F model it should work, that means you have everything in your phone you had before, just be careful you dont desttoy anything during removal of the board, use plastic gloves for any static demage might happen.