Samsung Galaxy S3 users who pushed the "stability update" onto their devices were faced with a rather unpleasant surprise: while the update did bring some improvements, it also disabled the universal search feature without any warning. This means the update disabled the phone's ability to search through contacts, apps and other on-device data though a single interface. The universal feature has been pulled out from the international version of Galaxy S3 as well, not just the U.S. model.
The removal of the universal search feature was linked to an Apple patent, as it came shortly after Apple won an U.S. injunction against another Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus. Universal search, i.e. the ability to pull results from the Web as well as on-device data through a single search, was central to Apple's case, and Samsung said it was seeking to work around the feature.
Samsung then removed the capability from Sprint-flavored Galaxy S3 smartphones in the United States, but removing the feature from the international version as well was not necessary, which is why it took everyone by surprise. The patent battle between Apple and Samsung is global, but different territories have different approaches to patenting. While the U.S. allows software patents, sometimes granting exclusive rights over concepts rather than technical implementations, the European Union (EU) is much more restrictive in allowing such rights to be obtained.
Samsung has now admitted to removing the universal search feature from the international version of the Galaxy S3 by mistake. "The most recent software upgrade for the Galaxy S III in the UK included the inadvertent removal of the universal search function," the company said in a statement on Thursday, July 26, according to The BBC. "Samsung will provide the correct software upgrade within the next few days."
The "stability update" came with no warning that it would remove the advanced search function, and users who downloaded the update had no idea they would lose this feature. After installing the software on the GT-i9300 (Samsung Galaxy S3) models available in the UK and other areas outside the U.S., the universal search function was gone without a trace.
According to the BBC, it seems that Samsung only intended to prevent some U.S. models from using a Google-powered search tool to deliver information sourced from within the phone's memory. Removing the feature from the global version was an accident, and should be remedied shortly through another software update. Hopefully, this one will come with no additional surprises.
