Galaxy S3 4.3 Upgrade - Battery / Charging Issues

[mbressman]

I updated my Samsung Galaxy S3 (Sprint) from Android 4.1.2 to 4.3 the other day via USB cable and Samsung's KIES software, and it first everything seemed fine. The phone seemed to respond faster and so I was happy with the update. However, in the past 24 hours or so, I've noticed some major battery / charging issues.

First, last night, I charged the phone up fully while watching TV around 8ish, and by 10 or 11 it was almost dead again (and I hadn't really been doing anything on it during that timeframe). Then, overnight, I had it plugged in to charge, and when I woke this morning it was EXTREMELY hot (the battery I assume) and had a message stating "Charging paused - battery temperature too high" although it seemed to be almost fully charged. I turned it on to airplane mode, left it unplugged, and went back to sleep for a little while longer, and when I woke again it was much cooler and the battery had hardly drained. Now, I just turned it off airplane mode and it's getting slightly hot (although nothing near how hot it was earlier) and the battery seems to be dropping at a much more rapid rate - from 93% to 90% in the past few minutes.

Anyone have any ideas?? Do I maybe need a new battery? Just an FYI - I'm not using the USB charger that came with the phone - I've been using others - could that make a difference?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[SoreAintya]

Generic (off brand) chargers have been known to fry phones, exploding in extreme cases.
Try using the Samsung or other high quality charger and see if that changes things.
That said, after updating my wife's S3 (AT&T version) to 4.3 her battery life has went down considerably. I bought her a Anker replacement battery months back so it's not a huge issue, but still a pain to swap batteries throughout the day.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

For prior OTAs. the general advice has always been to do a factory reset if problems arise.

 

[mbressman]

Ahhh...I was afraid someone was going to say that...I hate the idea of having to do it though because it will take me so much time to put everything back on the phone - it's such a productivity killer!

I'm going to first see if I can go through the settings and try to optimize the phone a bit more...and also going to explore purchasing a bigger battery..

 

[mbressman]

So, one setting that I've changed that has helped has been: Settings -> Connections tab -> Wi-Fi -> Advanced -> Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep -> Always

Now, when I'm at home (or elsewhere that I have a constant, good wi-fi connection), my battery actually lasts most of the day. However, I still notice that when I'm out and about, the battery drains extremely quickly. It seems (although I'm not 100% on this), that it drains faster when connected to 3G than when connected to a 4G network. Still, I never had this issue when I was running Android 4.1.2, so I'm wondering if anyone has any other optimization or configuration change tips that might help me get my battery life under control?? Thanks!!

 

[richardcbristol]

To add to this I'm also seeing an issue with my S3 LTE (on EE in the UK) after taking the OTA update to 4.3. Haven't noticed an issue with hot battery but I am finding that sometimes the battery isn't fully charging overnight or it's also reporting itself fully charged after an unusually short amount of time plugged into the laptop or charger.

I think it's getting better (3 days in) and it's just the battery stats being wiped and recalibrating after the upgrade. But it is annoying. Saw the battery drain completely after 2 hours in good lte coverage the first day.

A search reveals other instances of this, mostly solved by letting the phone get used to it's charging and discharge cycle again. Factory reset is an option but it really is the equivalent of "have you tried switching it off and on again?".

 

[vks007]

I also have the same issue. Since my update to Andriod 4.3 my S3 has started draining very soon. Earlier my battery used to last for a day , now it barely crosses 7 hrs.
there's one other issue, since the update my computer cannot recognize my phone. Have tried many things to solve these. Any ideas?

 

[monsieur mauricio]

After endless chats and emails I finally found the solution to my S3 not fully charging. Turn OFF power saving mode when charging. This is not mentioned anywhere online or in the user manual, but a Samsung chat agent confirmed my finding when he said the company's data base had this info but it's not in any manual. Since discovering this little publicized fact I've never turned it on again and am very pleased. I've owned this phone for almost 2 years and am on just my second battery (a Ray O Vac from Batteries Plus). I believe this started after the Jelly Bean update but am not able to verify that coincidence.

 

[Fritz Merkel]

Re-turning off [Battery Saving] while charging.
Do you have to do that even when the phone is OFF?
Did the tech support provide any rationale for this?