Watch The GALAXY Note 3 Neo Display Network Signal Without A SIM Card

Is it a software bug or intentional algorithm to boost the signal bars.

Chandrakant 'CK' Isi
11th Apr 2014

Follow @MiserlyGeek

Share this

Watch The GALAXY Note 3 Neo Display Network Signal Without A SIM Card

Smartphones comes their fair share of issues — battery woes, unresponsive screens, call drops, and whatnot. A few months ago, my good-old Nokia 6510 stopped picking up signals on Airtel. I’m sure many of you would have faced a similar issue at some point. If you get the “no signal” error when the SIM card is in the place, you can clean the SIM’s metal contacts and try again. However, what would you do when a phone shows full network coverage without a SIM card? Yes, you heard that right. This is exactly what's happening with the Samsung GALAXY Note 3 Neo, which I’ve been using for over a week now.

Perplexed? For more clarity, check out these screenshots.

Things get weirder when you insert a SIM card. Irrespective of the actual signal reception, the phone shows you full network coverage. So even if you're out of network coverage area, the phone makes you think otherwise. This can be disastrous when you're waiting for an important call, not knowing that you're unavailable on the cellular network.

Apple was embroiled in a similar issue back in the iPhone 4's time. In 2010, many users complained that holding the iPhone in a certain way resulted in complete loss of reception. Apple admitted that it exaggerated the visual representation of the signal reception. It was programmed in a way to show two additional bars over the actual signal strength. It turned out to be a double-edged sword. The same algorithm made the sudden drop in network reception look worse than what it really was. So there's a possibility that Samsung would have done a similar thing to make its signal bar look rosy. We've notified Samsung about this network anomaly. If you own the GALAXY Note 3 Neo, let us know if you're facing the same issue, and don't forget to check out the embedded video evidence.